WandaVision: Genre, Structure, Theme, Engine and Your Voice as a Writer
WandaVision: Genre, Structure, Theme, Engine and Your Voice as a Writer When you watch WandaVision, you just can’t help but think: “I am so frickin’ lucky to be writing in this golden age of television!” The fact that Jac Schaeffer and these writers could actually get away with WandaVision, not as an experimental thesis project for film school, but part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe on Disney Plus, with a gigantic budget shows you is that the lid has literally been blown off of what you can and cannot do as a screenwriter today. WandaVision reminds us of a screenwriting concept we discuss on this podcast all the time, the idea that as a screenwriter, success doesn’t come from following some formula, it comes from finding your voice as a screenwriter. It comes from going inside and finding that story that literally only you could write, telling that story that literally only you could tell, finding that unique voice that only you have. There’s a habit that we all have of surrendering our power. We want to play nice, we want to play by the rules, and we want to do the things that we’re supposed to do. We often think that if we play nicely like that, and if we follow the rules and if we follow the formulas, that somehow we are going to have the Hollywood life that we envisioned for ourselves or that you could sell out into the future that actually works. And of course, that’s exactly the opposite of what’s true. What’s actually true is there are way too many experienced writers who can write a clear well-told story with a good premise. The thing that breaks you in as a writer is that unique voice, that unique take, that unique thing that literally only you could come up with. Sometimes, it’s the script that doesn’t get made that breaks you in as a writer. Sometimes, the script that people don’t have the courage to write makes people decide, “I need to read more of their work. I need to work with this person because they have this incredible voice.” You may have noticed as I’m talking about your journey as a writer, it sounds oddly similar to Wanda Maximoff’s journey in WandaVision. That’s because WandaVision is more than just a history lesson in television. WandaVision is more than just a thematic lesson in how to build a superhero movie that’s actually about something. WandaVision is more than just a structural lesson about how to focus even the wildest work into a shape that a mainstream audience can connect to and understand. WandaVision is also a commentary on the journey of every writer. Just like Wanda, we come from influences. We grow up watching shows. We grow up watching movies. We grow up inspired by other writers and believing that we are supposed to have a life like theirs. We buy into other people’s vision. And often in the process, we end up surrendering our voice and surrendering our power, or trying to please those around us and trying to hold onto this vision of who we are supposed to be. We also hold onto that vision in the way we structure our scripts. We make these beautiful, very clear outlines that seem to make “so much sense.” We come up with a great pitch. We come up with a great logline. We come up with a great synopsis that makes us feel like we know exactly what story we’re telling. We have a vision for that story, and where does that vision come from? It often comes from (even though we’re not conscious of it) what society is telling us a story is supposed to be or what Hollywood is telling us a show is supposed to be, or what we’ve already seen on film or television, rather than from our own voice and our own experiences and the truth of what actually is. We get attached to that vision. We get attached to that structure. And sometimes, along the way, we end up smothering our characters– just like...