The 21st Rewrite – Details, episodes & analysis

Guy Hibbert is a BAFTA-winning screenwriter and playwright. He has written numerous stories for film and television with a particular focus on conflict and compassion in some of the most troubled areas of society. In this episode we talked about his screenplay ‘Eye in the Sky’ which is about the ethics of drone warfare, released as a film directed by Gavin Hood in 2015. Additionally we cover his route into becoming a writer after leaving school with little formalised education, his thoughts on how a screenplay can change the world, and what he thinks connects all of the stories he has written so far. It was an honour to speak with such a genuine person who cares so deeply about the art of writing, and I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation!

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Writers' Workshop - How do you write a film with a twist ending?

This week, William takes a look at M. Night Shyamalan's 'The Village', a film that was released with high audience expectations from a writer-director who had notoriously become so associated with the 'twist ending' that the anticipation and predictions possibly undermined the story he was trying to tell. This episode covers the allegory at the heart of this story, thoughts about how to build terror and suspense in writing, and an insight into a critical element of twist endings that might help you write a great one yourself!

Bonus: Hear how the original screenplay 'The Woods' ends.

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Episode navigation:

Introduction and podcast update (0:00)

Audience expectations (8:50)

This week's big question (10:57)

How an ensemble of characters makes a village (14:08)

On distractions and red herrings (20:56)

What you cannot see or describe is scarier (23:36)

The midpoint and Shyamalan's statement (26:41)

What really makes a twist work (29:26)

The best character moment in the screenplay (31:45)

Truth(s) revealed, the power of nightmares (35:55)

Who is affected by the final 'twist' (39:29)

This year’s Austin Film Festival may have been held virtually, but the screenwriting competition was a strong as ever and brought our attention to some great writers. Edward Drake, whose latest project ‘The Young Woman’ won the Dramatic Screenplay category, calls in to talk to William about how he first heard about the true story the script is based on, his approach to writing and filmmaking, and he thoughts on getting things made following all of the necessary adaptations the film industry has had to implement due to the pandemic.

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Kieran Hurley calls in this week to discuss his first film, 'Beats', which was released to a good deal of acclaim in 2019. It's a fun and often hilarious story of two teenagers in Scotland in the mid-nineties figuring out who they are and what they want to be, all set to the backdrop of the then-popular rave subculture. Learn how Kieran adapted his original stage performance into a screenplay with director Brian Welsh, and listen to his thoughts on regional representation in British cinema, his personal approach to writing and what he learnt over the course of the journey from stage to screen.

You can purchase and enjoy the original version of Beats from Oberon Modern plays.

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We have a history, language and screenwriting conversation like no other for you this week, as Dr. Christine Schreyer and writer Dan Wiedenhaupt talk about their work on the 2018 film ‘Alpha’. Dan is the screenwriter who wrote the script for the film’s director Albert Hughes, and he shares his experiences researching and writing a story set in the distant past. Christine has now worked on creating languages for three films, and she explains about how she got involved in this work, her background in anthropology and the joys of creating languages. If you are interested in world-building and imaginative storytelling, you’ll certainly gain a lot of insights as they share their expertise.

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This week, William is joined by writer Ralph Leonard to discuss one of his favourite films, Paul Thomas Anderson's magnificent 'There Will Be Blood'. They start the conversation by talking about the history of California and Upton Sinclair's novel 'Oil' which served as the inspiration for the screenplay - then they discuss their interpretations of the film, the Biblical and Marxist concepts in the story and the fascinating character of Daniel Plainview.

You can read Ralph's essays on Unherd.com or follow him on Twitter @buffsoldier_96.

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Screenwriter John Collee is joining William this week on a very socially-distant recording, calling in from 7,511 miles away! We discuss John’s thoughts on living an exciting life that gives you the inspiration to write, collaborating and building relationships, and his ideas about story structure, and then talk about the screenplay to ‘Hotel Mumbai’, which he co-wrote with director Anthony Maras.

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We celebrate another run of 21 episodes with the latest edition of ‘The 21st Recap’! The first part of this episode is intended as an introduction to to listeners who are unfamiliar with the show and who want a guide to what we do and what we talk about. This summary of our latest episodes including clips highlighting some of the great guests that have been on the show recently.

For our veteran fans, we also present the second round of ‘Rewrite’ awards, with every screenplay up for nomination. Skip ahead to 1:40:00 to hear the awards and jump over the recaps.

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In this episode, William and Alan discuss Martin McDonagh's powerful exploration of anger, blame and the drive for taking revenge. The inhabitants of a small rural town are brought into conflict as a result of a bereaved mother putting up three billboards directly attacking the police chief of failing to investigate her daughter's murder. Having read the full version of the screenplay we share some of the details of scenes that were taken out from the film, explore how McDonagh made the characterisation and dialogue so effective, and try to define precisely what we think this story is about.

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What happens when a visionary director chooses to adapt a novel, without actually reading the whole book? ‘Children of Men’ is one of the greatest science fiction films of the early twenty-first century, and results from a collaboration between Alfonso Cuarón and no less than four other writers (all of whom, presumably, did read the book). William and Alan take a look at this remarkable screenplay and its origins in the pages of P. D. James’ 1992 novel ‘The Children of Men’, while drawing out some of the key elements that make the story work on the page and on the screen, and explore the concept of finding hope when humanity feels it no longer has a future.

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Want to comment, get news and join episode discussions? Join the community on Syncify: https://syncify.fm/podcast/the-21st-rewrite. Instagram: @the21strewrite. Website contact page: https://www.the21strewrite.com/contact