This interview is published in the Jan./Feb. 2002 issue of SCREENTALK magazine.

David Arata

Spy Game’s Writer Who Never Shut Up

By Rita Cook

David Arata is friendly, enthusiastic and with his latest script, Spy Game, he is a name that Hollywood is going to know for years to come. Arata’s current film Spy Game is about two men, Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) and Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), who have traveled the world facing danger. The movie is set years later when Muir is on the verge of retirement and Bishop has gone rogue. Muir hears Bishop is to die in 24 hours for espionage and he realizes he must save him.

Arata’s choices are unique, both in his approach to life and to his writing. The feeling that he is a writer on his own terms is what stands out about him. Surely a person who makes his own rules, after talking to him, there is a feeling that he is strong, but gentle; certain of his path, but ready to venture down new paths as well. He most recently began working on a project with Sean Connery and he said it was "really cool" when Connery read a few of his scenes and said, "That’s pretty good."

Tell me about Spy Game and how you ended up working on it.

That seems like a long time ago, but that is the latest one being made.

Yeah, you are probably onto three or four other things since then, huh?

Actually two, but it just seems like they take forever. Let’s see, I got a call about Spy Game … it was a rewrite, and I didn’t want to do any rewrites. I went in and read the script. There was something about the potential for this character and I liked the ending. So, I went in and met the producers–Mark Abraham and Doug Wick, and Michael Nozik (head of Redford’s production company), and a group of other people who were there in the room and I said, "This is how I see the story."

Sometimes, I think people approach projects that are in the works and say, "What do you want to do?" And I find that never works out. The best thing to do is say, "Okay, if this was my project what would I do?" Then, you go in and tell them exactly what you would do, and it either clicks or it doesn’t click. In my case, it did click and so here I am. Ironically, it was a job I wasn’t going to take, because, it was not a project I wanted, and I was thinking this was the time to make my movie, which was not a very expensive piece, it was a low-budget piece and I really wanted to be working on that.

I took the job [rewriting Spy Game]. I wrote four drafts. The fourth draft we sent in to Redford. Then, we waited. I knew the agents loved it … I knew it was really good and they were going to be fools if they didn’t want to go for it. So, I bought a bottle of champagne and then got the call from Doug Wick, which confirmed that both Brad Pitt and Robert Redford had committed that night. So then, Tony Scott came on pretty soon after that.

How do you feel about rewrites?

I think it’s a lot of work any way you are going to write. I think the good thing about a rewrite is that there is already interest in the project and you are not alone. That is a good reason that you might want to do a rewrite.

It pays too.

Again, I like doing spec scripts, but there is that other thing where you just have an idea and you go and pitch your idea and they pay you to write it. Actually, Brokedown Palace, although the movie didn’t do much business, the original script had a lot of buzz. It was one of those scripts that was kept under close wraps, but everyone had their Xerox machines running. Shortly after I wrote that project they greenlighted the first draft which was a very strange thing to do, because that never happens. I think they had many little groups of development people and junior agents who created a lot of buzz by saying, "You have to read this script." So, suddenly, I had a lot of job offers.

Is that how you got to the point where you are now?

Yeah, I guess. I always think about it like, you never know what tomorrow is. Brokedown Palace … that was a real coup. From that project, I must have had 100 jobs pitched to me. And with 100 jobs, a lot of those jobs you’d be crazy to do. Only an insane person would do that. Brokedown Palace was an interesting process too because I was on the set. I think the big deal for me was that I learned the most important thing for a writer is never to shut up. Because I did, and, I think at a certain point, you are buying into the whole process … I mean, I do buy into that it is all a collaborative piece and that eventually you are not going to be the person making the final decision–it’s going to be the director or a producer or/and a studio. But, if you quit talking, you really do everybody a disservice. So I didn’t on Spy Game, which is why I think they brought me into the editing room. Because, all along, I was saying, "No, we can’t do that."

How was the experience? What about writers being on the set?

If somebody doesn’t want you on the set, you are not going to be there. I mean, no matter what. Being a screenwriter, the only way you are going to have power is if people want to give it to you. And how you get that power is being dogged and being right.

So they respect what you have to say?

Right. I think screenwriting is a great job. I think it is the hardest job and it is absolutely the most underrated part of moviemaking. Keep in mind this is coming from a person who will probably end up being a director, and directors usually don't think screenwriting is the hardest, most underrated part! Being a screenwriter is the last place I thought I would end up, really. I was much more the visual guy, the painter, the cameraman, but this is the hardest job and it’s the most challenging. You know Woody Allen said that he could understand giving up making films, but he could never fathom giving up writing.

Tell me about the craft of writing. How did you get started?

There are two parts of the craft that I could talk about. How I started writing my first script was, I imagined myself as a filmmaker, and I would close my eyes and imagine the entire scene and write it as if I was watching a movie–which is probably a silly way. I think the biggest thing about the craft, is structure. People say that they think of structure in three acts or whatever, but it’s not only that. The truth is, the real film structure is this thing that you never quite see … the skill of actually being able to put together a real screenplay is so rare. Ninety nine percent of the films that we see don’t quite work, or, they work in a very ordinary way.

I think a lot of films don’t really deal with characters anymore, and I think that is the most important thing, to try and figure out how the character and the plot interact. To think about why this character needs to be in this plot and why this plot needs to go this way because of this character. For instance, in Spy Game, if I am doing a rewrite I always come in and read the best version and say, "What do I like about this?" I always try to hold on to every single thing that is good. Number one, because I know that the other writer put a lot of sweat into it, and number two, because it was there and that is what you should start with. Then, you ask, "What is it?" Which can usually be answered by asking "What it is not?"

In Spy Game, the original piece had a flashback structure. But it was more than that. The story was really the present day and the flashbacks were a listing of events, and there is no place in the present day story where the main relationship exists, because the Robert Redford character is never with the Brad Pitt character in the present day story. You know that the heart of the movie can’t be there. So then, I envisioned that the flashbacks would be the first and second acts of the movie. So as soon as you envision that, then you know the requirements of the first and second act. You have to introduce characters, and they have to meet creating issues that have to be dealt with, and it just kind of gave me a path. I am not saying that there wasn’t a path, obviously the characters met in the earlier draft, but it was a completely different approach. I was always trying to find the best way to take this idea and expose it or exploit it in a way that hadn’t been seen before which would be the most thrilling, and, at the end of the day, would tell you something about people.

When you said you close your eyes and actually visualize the scene, how were you able to get everything down on paper?

You know, I have always typed … not necessarily in format! In that first part, especially when things are coming into my head, I know that I will be getting these ideas and they might be ahead of a different idea, so I am writing almost shorthand as fast as I can, and then I go back and I rework it.

But, you don’t do that as much anymore, …why?

I don’t as much, but I do think about not being generic. I do think getting extremely specific always gets you back on track because I write a lot of bad scenes and no one sees those bad scenes. How I always get focused again is by trying to find that specific little detail or maybe some visual thing in the room, or some little thing with the character to make them come alive again.

Is Spy Game a character-driven or a plot-driven script?

That is kind-of an interesting question. To me, it is always character-driven. There is a lot of plot, it is a very complicated, deeply plotted piece. But to me, all of the plot is just there to expose the issues in these characters.

Which do you prefer writing, character or plot-driven scripts?

I wouldn’t do a piece if it wasn’t character-driven, although China Town is an extremely plot-driven movie that I find is character-driven. What I would not want to do is a piece that doesn’t deal with humanity. I don’t really like glibness.

As far as being a screenwriter, take a look back at your past and tell me how you think all your experiences built on one another to get to where you are today.

Definitely when you have a little bit of success, it makes it much easier. I think there are a number of reasons why it gets much easier. One, you have more choices, so you can pick better people to work with. And that means, if you pick better people, generally you will have more of a voice. Mark and Doug were great to work with. They were really smart. One time, Doug and I had a meeting and I had handed in the draft and there were notes and direction but I just knew it was the wrong direction. And I knew I was outnumbered, but at the end of the day, I signed a contract and I was going to have to do these notes. So as we were going down the elevator I said, "You don’t want to do this…" and he turned to me and said, "David, we didn’t hire you to do our notes–that is the last thing we want. We hired the entire you and we want what you think is important, and if this doesn’t work for you, just find something else that does, and I’ll be fine." I don’t think that is rare. I think the thing is that people give up. Tony would say, "I want those notes in the morning"–not that he accepted all my changes but he opened up the door that if there was something that I disagreed on and I could always go back to him and say, "I really still think you are making a mistake. I think this makes a better movie instead."

Obviously, Tony has his ideas and I have my ideas. His ideas didn’t always mesh with mine and which was good. He was the director and I wasn’t. I didn’t have the responsibility of making the movie. I, as a writer, always want a director who has a strong opinion like that. And again, I think you are doing everybody a disservice if you are quiet.

Don’t you think your upbeat personality and attitude has something to do with why producers and directors like you?

I am sure that contributes. I have a friend who is a phenomenal writer who can’t function at all in Hollywood. Partly because his pieces are not quite commercial and he is not interested in doing anything else. So I think there is kind-of a window of what people think are marketable movies, but sometimes that window is open a little wider, like American Beauty and Being John Malkovich. I thought it was really cool that movie got made.

I am always willing to turn down the job. You have to be that way. If you aren’t, they ‘have you’, and once they have you you can’t do your best work. It’s about the work at the end of the day. I mean, I could tell you right now there are a number of people that are much slicker, but I have to say I am not sure if it really matters, but it honestly might. It is just not what I am interested in …

What compels you to keep going in this business?

The business is very unsure. You never really know … people lose their jobs and aren’t hirable sometimes. Take Hitchcock–there were three times in his life when he was afraid he wasn’t going to be able to get arrested [get a job]. So there is that part of it. But I like this business a lot and I like the people I deal with, I like and hate writing, I mean I love it, but I make myself do it and it’s difficult to start. I am not one of those people that says, "Gee, I am just dying to write today." I really love having written and I know that I have to do it.

So you procrastinate a little bit?

The only thing that keeps me from procrastinating is fear.

Rita Cook is a SCREENTALK staff writer. She is a writer/producer with over a decade of diversified experience. Credits include: Associate Producer on Route 666, Producer on The Limited and Associate Producer on the film One Hell Of A Day. Other production credits include Marty & Virginia, Naomi’s Web, Two American Idiots, All About The Money, and Norm Crosby’s Celebrity Golf Challenge. She is currently the Vice-President of Cinewomen and Vice President, Reviews for the Film Advisory Board, and lives in Los Angeles