But why?

How a movie about sheep helped me get unstuck on a script and 5 other movies that mean more than their premise.

Baaa

I first heard about The Sheep Detectives several months ago when an executive mentioned it to me during a general meeting. I had just said how much I’d always wanted to write a murder mystery but that it was hard to find an angle that felt fresh. That’s when he asked me if I was excited about this new movie coming out about a flock of sheep who investigate the murder of their shepherd. My answers were:

1. no

2. omg

That certainly sounded like a fresh take on the murder mystery.

It also sounded like if Babe the pig had to find out who killed James Cromwell and if that wasn’t a winning proposition, I don’t know what would be.

At the time, I was looking around for my next project. I had just turned in my adaptation of a novella I’d been hired to write and ready for something new to tackle. I had lots of ideas (this often feels like a curse rather than a blessing) and had no clue which ones (if any) were worth pursuing.

Dead Ends and Brick Walls

I started down a few roads but kept hitting dead ends until at some point one of them somehow led me back to an old idea I’d had for a murder mystery several years ago. It was a fun premise and when I pitched it to people they were amused, so I decided to give it a go.

And yet…

There I was running head first into a brick wall not long after. Maybe this wasn’t the right idea? But something told me, no, you’re just missing something.

Enter: The Sheep Detectives

When I realized the sheep movie (I know it’s not called the sheep movie but it’s what I call it, okay?) was finally coming out I was elated, and not just because I looked forward to seeing it. I knew I needed inspiration. I needed fun. I needed perspective.

As my husband and I left the house Saturday night to go see it, we ran into a neighbor who asked us what we were going to go see. When we told them it was the sheep movie, they could only shake their head in confusion. Wasn’t that just a dumb kids movie?

I certainly hoped it wasn’t.

I mean… E.T. wasn’t, right?

Isn’t a great movie still great regardless of its perceived intended audience?

Emma Thompson FTW

By the time we had endured a million trailers and poor Nicole Kidman in her pinstripes and that Coke commercial where I always wonder at the end why the girl is in a movie theater holding a GLASS of coke (like, what movie theater gives out GLASSES of coke?), and then the AMC bit talking about how their laser projectors are…. good for the environment… (Um, okay, AMC. Sure.), we looked behind us and realized the screening was sold out. I’d say a fraction were kids.

Here is where I’m sure you’re thinking I’m going to tell you what an amazing movie it was but I’m not. It was not amazing.

It was good, though!

And, beyond being good… it unlocked something for me.

I cried my eyes out a few times in this movie, I laughed, I had some profound thoughts, and when it was all over I was left with a gift.

Meaning.

The movie was ABOUT something.

In this case, it was about death (pretty heavy for a kids movie!).

Solving the case was the central plot, yes, but it wasn’t the purpose of the film. It wasn’t why this story was being told. It was secondary to its reflection on mortality, grief, and how to move on after we lose someone close. It was poignant, it was emotional, it had substance.

And my script had none.

That’s what it had been missing.

My script thus far was nothing more than a premise. A fun premise, but a premise all the same. If you had asked me why I was writing it, I would have said because I always wanted to write a murder mystery. And that was a terrible answer.

I had to find the STORY behind the premise.

I couldn’t help but shake my head at myself seeing as how this is a note I often give students and clients who ask me for feedback on their work. Not only that, but it is also at the center of what I teach people to do when pitching their scripts:

Tell us why this story needs to be told. WHY

WHY WHY WHY

How I had forgotten the Why?

Because it’s easy to get wrapped up in ‘ideas’.

It’s hard to get in touch with feelings.

Here are a few other films that I think have a great WHY hiding behind their plots.

1. Wall-E

Living vs Surviving. What’s the difference? Connection. This movie is beautiful.

2. War of the Planet of the Apes

Empathy vs Revenge. Woody Harrelson is cuckoo bananas in this as a Colonel Kurtz type character. These movies were so much better than they had any right to be, and a large reason for that is they are all about something. I cried in this one.

3. Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio

There are so many themes in this film, but the one that sticks out the most for me is its depiction of fascism. Sometimes, disobedience can be a virtue.

4. District 9

This movie has kind of fallen by the wayside, most likely because the director’s subsequent films have not been very good. Opposite of good, really. Which makes one question how much of this brilliant film was actually directed by Peter Jackson. An incredible allegory for apartheid. It’s very disturbing and incredibly moving. The trailer is brilliant.

5. Night of the Living Dead

Before Get Out, there was Night of The Living Dead.