The Meaning of Love (and flexibility through Creative Commons)

Or: why Creative Commons licensing makes sense for short film screenplays. 

How many times have you said, “I love you”?

How many things have you meant when you said it? I desire you. I want you to feel guilty. Will you make me a sandwich?

Words, particularly written words, are the surface of a larger meaning. A particular director working with a particular set of actors can interpret a script many ways. Stage plays stand the test of time because they are constantly renewed and redefined for new generations. Ibsen wrote a play about someone dying of syphilis, but it can easily be updated to refer to people dying of AIDS. The play is meaningful beyond the details.

Such flexibility of interpretation indicates the relevance of a creative work.

Working with actors and writing things for specific actors and actresses has taught me that a good creative team making a film will tend to find a voice, visual, interpretation, or twist that makes good writing even better. Sometimes startling the writer. In a good way.

That is why Creative Commons licensing makes so much sense to me when publishing a collection of scripts. The short film screenplays in my book are designed to be taken apart, updated, and revised. This makes them flexible to meet the needs of a particular director, actor, actress, student, class, teacher, or producer. They can be tweaked to accommodate different cultures, resources, genders, and technical means.

Each story holds interpretive surprises that are beyond what I, the author, could ever dream of. Giving filmmakers freedom to make their own choices with the material means that each product, while owing something to my screenplay, will be completed by a different team realizing something of their own in the resulting film.

The license makes my scripts accessible to people who can’t afford to pay the going rate for professional screenplays, yet want a little inspiration for a first film, a student project, a portfolio piece, or a film made just for fun.

Sound like a good deal? It is! Get all 26 Screenplays now. The license also allows me to make a buck from my writing – but only when you buy the book. Thanks, and happy filmmaking!