Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker

by Bart Gavigan | Published February 3, 2007

Joseph Fiennes and Claire Cox in Luther.

It's Good to be Neurotic.

The biggest advice I give to people is this: we're all neurotic about what we're good at. Ridley Scott is neurotic about the images of his film; he'll never do a bad image. Other directors may be neurotic about the direction, and not the image. What we must do is surround ourselves with people who are not us, who don't have the gifts we have and become neurotic about what we're not good at. The easiest way to achieve that is to find someone who's really good at it.

It's All About Your Team.

If you want to make a great film, you have to have a team, you have to honor that team, they have to honor each other and you really have to be a safe place for each other.

On the Questions to Ask Before Writing a Script.

The first question is: Whose story is this? It sounds simple, but it's not. Then: What do they want? And that want has to last the whole film. And then: Why should we care? Are we going to be participants in this film, or spectators? Then: What's the cost for the hero? What price does he or she have to pay? Is it life or death? Is the point of view that rigorous in the film or does it go all over the place? What's important is how rigerously you address these questions: Does the hero own every bit of that film? Does he own everyone in it? Every scene? Every action? How does Joe the Hero own the scenes he's not in?

The Importance of Research

I think research is critical; sometimes the way to approach the story comes out of that. Sometimes it's important to know the story well before you do any research. I don't think there's any set answer to that.

The Dngers of Collaboration.

What is dangerous is where I've let other people do my research and what I've learned is to always stay close to your research; either do it yourself or if others are doing it for you always try and review it all. Because just a sentence or phrase or insight can help you to suddenly get it. With Luther, just reading his words sometimes would really spark things, and suddenly 10 minutes would write themselves. Suddenly, one line would open a door.

On Character Versus Plot.

Character vs. plot. I hate that. You need them all. You need inspiration, you need perspiration, you need craft. Just don't deny one of them.

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