Screenwriter Profiles: Jeff Arch
"Sleepless in Seattle" Writer on BLOCKBUSTER

TWS: What's the hardest thing for a writer?
JA: The hardest thing for any writer is to organize. You have all these ideas in your head and you need to organize your thinking. And that is where Blockbuster is outrageously helpful.

TWS: Why's that?
JA: Because you fill in all these little Blockbuster boxes and that helps you organize. Most people say, "Oh I've got a great idea for a movie . . ." and then they can't tell you any of the details. So with the Blockbuster boxes, you realize that "Oh I'm going to have to add a second revelation right around here." Even if your final movie doesn't end up with that second revelation there, it's nice to put one on the map. Then you know what you're doing and what you're not doing. Otherwise you're just making stuff up out of nothing.

TWS: What do you do when you run into a dead end?
JA: When I get into trouble, then I take a look at what's going on. And usually I go to John's structure stuff. I'll say "Oh, I see he [the character] needs to learn something here." Or a piece of information has to happen. Or I need a revelation. Then I ask myself how can I construct a scene that will fulfill that need. Or I look at some examples of what other people did. One of the most useful features is the onboard Examples. I can say "How did they do that step in the Godfather." "How did they do it in Star Wars?" "How did they do it in Vertigo?" That it is very comforting. Because these classic movies will live on forever-yet they have the same problems. And [with the Examples] you see how they solved it. And you also realize that not every single movie has to have every single structure element in it. Story structure is just a framework.

TWS: How do you handle the collaborative process?
JA: The thing that drives me crazy about the Studios, (being lucky enough to be in this situation) is that they want you to tell them everything that's going to happen in advanced. Then they get married to it. But it's going to change when you get in there and start doing it. Because most writers don't want to know exactly what's going to happen. We want to know the direction and then go on the journey with the character and see. It's a process.

TWS: Do you have a technique you use for tracking the protagonist?
JA: I keep a "4-point opposition" in mind when I'm tracking a protagonist through a story. There are millions of little details. I find if you remember at each point the hero is in the face of one of the 4 oppositions then they kind of define themselves. You have to put the squeeze on a main character in every situation and the squeeze has to increase until he has had enough and can't take it anymore. There are certain common things that each [writing] teacher uses. But each of them also brings something unique and John brought more things that were unique to the party than any of the other guys that I learned from. And the "4 point opposition" one of those ideas.

TWS: How does that apply to romantic comedy?
JA: If it's a romantic comedy the opposition is probably going to be the rival, the fiancée and the best friend. So for your next scene, you just say which one of you three wants to be next. You can go between writing scenes with each of them till the movie is over. It [4 point opposition] is a great way to get through [the middle]. So it's not one character fighting your hero for 60 pages. It's four people fighting for 15 pages.

TWS: How do you think Blockbuster can be most helpful to writers?
JA: I haven't seen all Blockbuster can do. But the beauty of the software is that it has so many different areas. There is a difference between the truly successful writer and most writers. Most people do not want to pay attention to the areas where they are weak. They just want to keep strengthening the areas where they are strong because that doesn't involve any pain. And if [Blockbuster] gets them to work on these other areas because it's fun, then we're going to be seeing better movies. If you use this software and you have no talent and no originality you're going to write a lousy movie that hits all the right steps. If you have talent and some originality and you use this software, you're going to take what's there and you're going to give it your own spin-and I think you are capable of writing a masterpiece. But discipline, organization, forward movement and no wasted scenes, that's what it's about and Blockbuster can help you as much as anything out there.

TWS: What are you most interested in as a writer?
JA: My work is all about emotional danger. If I'm doing a spec script I'm not going to be thinking of an action thriller or something like that. I'm thinking of problems people have to get themselves out of, their own emotional issues. Relationships are just fascinating. I think I relate more to the problems of falling in love. So romantic comedies were easier for me to explore than some guy standing there with the rattlesnake coming at him.

TWS: What are you working on now?
JA: I'm rewriting my own romantic comedy called Longfellow Bridge. New Line bought that and we're getting around to the rewrite now. And I'm writing an animated feature for Warners but I'm not allowed to mention what it's about.

Jeff Arch's screen credits include Sleepless in Seattle and Ironwill. He has written scripts for most of the major studios, Columbia, Universal, Warners, Paramount, Tristar and for directors Penny Marshall and Ron Howard. Arch recently sold a spec script (Longfellow Bridge) to Warners for a figure "approaching the million dollars a script mark."