We’ve all heard it said that too many cooks spoil the broth. Experience tells us that the cliché is quite often true. It’s not just broth-making, either. You could also say that too many painters spoil the masterpiece, or that too many writers spoil the movie. If you need a case in point, look to a film that employed a staggering thirty-two writers for its screenplay: The Flintstones. I probably don’t have to remind you how many Oscar nominations it received.

In contrast, screenplays that are written by one person alone are some of the best in the field. The Piano by Jane Campion, American Beauty by Alan Ball, Almost Famous by Cameron Crowe: what would have been the terrible result if thirty-one more writers had put their grubby hands on these scripts?

It probably appears that I’m making a case for creators to work alone. I’m not. These examples represent two extremes. Some good movies had several writers (Gone With the Wind had fifteen), and some singular visions are lucky to have even been made (anything by Ed Wood, Jr.)

The truth is that splendid things can happen when great minds collaborate. In 1954, a movie was made based on Cornell Woolrich’s noir short story “It Had to Be Murder.” John Michael Hayes single-handedly turned it into a screenplay. Grand master Hitchcock directed it, and Jimmy Stewart starred. The result: Rear Window, which received four Academy Award nominations and is #48 on AFI’s list of the best films ever made.

Do you see the difference in this kind of collaboration and the Flintstone’s kind? Rear Window‘s collaborators weren’t all working on the same part of the machine, like the writers all unsuccessfully tinkering on the same film script. Each person had one job, and they did it singularly well, whether they were acting, writing, or directing. Several minds played to their unique strengths and culminated in a film masterpiece.

You might think that you work best alone. You may even be right. There’s nothing wrong with writing your novel, sketching your illustrations, or composing your music completely by yourself if you need to. But what might happen if you let another creative person add a new layer once your product is finished? What would your novel look like with illustrations? What would your painting look like if it were animated? How would your music sound as the background of a short film?

The key to successful collaboration lies not in several people all trying to do the same job, but in each person bringing their own brand of creativity, in their own way, to the project to make a single stunning product. Give it a try. The result could be the next Rear Window.

Of course you could always stick it out alone and try for the next Plan 9 From Outer Space. It’s your call.

by Elizabeth Kelly

Oozil aims to connect creative people of all types. The beginning of your successful collaboration could start here. Questions? Comments? We’re anxious to hear what you think.

Tags: collaboration, creativity, filmmaking

This entry was posted on Monday, May 18th, 2009 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Tips and Tricks for Creative Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response