Screenwriting gurus and consultants

I’ve been taking advice from a number of self-styled screenwriting gurus, these include Syd Field, Robert Mckee, Blake Snyder, and Pilar Alessandra. While I was adding one more to this list, Jeff Kitchen, I couldn’t help but wonder what use this was. With the exception of Blake Snyder, none of the advisers made their daily bread from screenwriting. They were all professional consultants and lecturers. Why am I taking screenwriting advice from people who haven’t been able to/interested in achieving success as a screenwriter?

This isn’t meant to reflect directly on Jeff Kitchen and his Full Day Screenwriting Seminar. Although, truth be told, I’ve found his input significantly less educational than other consultants’. But this might just be because I’ve come to him last and he’s restating what I’ve already heard from others – it could also be that he made a comment about there being principles behind acupuncture, which is tosh.

Whatever the reason, I decided to start viewing advice from screenwriting consultants with a bit more criticism. I don’t mean to say : “because they’re not screenwriters you shouldn’t listen to them”. I’ve had quite the opposite experience as an editor and a writer in journalism. Two very distinct roles. Some people are much better copy editors than they are writers but their advice on your work is often immeasurably valuable. This might be analogous to screenwriters and consultants.

I suppose the key is in not taking the advice as gospel truth (indeed I don’t take the gospel as “gospel truth”). Sure it’s fine to experiment with the ideas or processes taught in the books and videos of screenwriting consultants, but if it doesn’t work you shouldn’t take on that responsibility. By which I mean, you shouldn’t say “I must be doing this wrong”. You might be doing it wrong, but so might the consultant.

This reminds me of an debate I had recently concerning Strunk & White’s Elements of Style. I think this is an excellent book with some great advice. However, a lot of people despise the book. They say it contradicts itself – and indeed it does – and that it often breaks a rule in the expression of that rule, which is true. But I think those people are missing the point, sometimes these are deliberate jokes, but really none of these things are “rules” they’re suggestions. They serve as solutions for problems you encounter, not as a template for your work. In a similar way, I may only turn to a lot of these consultants’ ideas as a set of tools for when I feel stuck.