I am reminded of how artists develop methods to create their work.  In 1991, I was at Paramount Studios working as an office production temp and a director’s assistant to Bruce Robinson, who was in the completion stages of his script “Jennifer Eight.”  The film had yet to receive a green light from the studio.  Robinson was grappling with making required changes and script rewrites.  Since he was the type who banged scripts out with a typewriter, I was hired because I knew how to use a computer and scriptwriting software like Final Draft, which was new on the market. 

Robinson’s script style was a challenge to reformat and update.  Besides justifying the left margin with a simple carriage return, the right margin was filled with misspellings, unnecessary spacing, and other things to maintain a clean line on that side.  Later, he would reveal how he enjoyed repairing antique Swiss watches.  There wasn’t a need to justify the script’s right margin, but as he explained, it helped him focus on the creative process.  Perhaps the system and methods I outlined in this post about making a documentary are similar to mine in that regard.  As I’ve always said, find what works for you and let it become your muse.

Better Be Brilliant!

BRUCE ROBINSON – SCREENWRITER, DIRECTOR

For those unaware of Robinson’s work, he is arguably most famous for writing and directing the cult classic “Withnail and I” (1987). The film possesses comedic and tragic elements, and is set in London in the late 1960s, where Robinson revisited his youthful experiences as a “chronic alcoholic and resting actor, living in squalor.”