Huffington Magazine Issue 58 | Page 36

Voices guy says to the operator, “Shit, he’s running.” WRITER: Right. HEAD WRITER: I don’t understand. He’s running? Running from what? He didn’t do anything, so the only thing the kid would be running from would be the guy? WRITER: Hmm. Maybe that’s not clear. The Head Writer thumbs forward a few pages. HEAD WRITER: Then somehow, out of the blue, the kid has the man on the ground, a struggle ensues, and the man pulls out a gun and shoots him in the heart? WRITER: The guy had no choice. It’s self-defense. HEAD WRITER: I don’t understand. The guy on the ground is yelling, “Help, help.” And then the guy on the ground screams? And right after he screams he shoots the kid. WRITER: Exactly. HEAD WRITER: You ever see a scene in a movie where a person screams and then shoots someone? It’s normally the other person who screams and then gets shot. This is just too illogical. WRITER: Okay, I’ll finesse that. HEAD WRITER: Why doesn’t the BARRY LEVINSON guy just shoot the kid in the arm? Or the leg? Or the stomach? WRITER: It was a struggle. HEAD WRITER: Yeah, but when I read the script it’s not credible. It’s more like a shoot to kill. WRITER: No, it’s a self-defense scene. HEAD WRITER: I don’t buy it. It’s much easier just to shoot the kid in the arm or the leg. It would take more effort to raise the gun up. The guy aims for the heart. Therefore he knows he’s going to kill him. It’s too illogical. Change it. WRITER: But this is what happened. HEAD WRITER: It doesn’t have the credibility to be a dramatic episode. Unless we want to chase the ghost of Paddy Chayefsky and get into absurdism. You know, like he did with Network. Unless you want to make a satire on how screwed up the legal system is, show me a script that makes sense. So you can see the dilemma of trying to write a script based on this tragic event. The logic evades us. And the reality haunts us. Barry Levinson is an Academy Awardwinning film director and screenwriter. HUFFINGTON 07.21.13