Posted on 12/27/2016 2:52:16 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
It’s time for another TMS video history lesson, this time about Carrie Fisher’s unsung skills as one of Hollywood’s most notable script doctors! The video above details Fisher’s career history working as a punch-up writer on some of the greatest films of the 90s—as well as a few unsalvageable stinkers. Read the transcript for our video below.
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Carrie Fisher is still best known for her role as Princess Leia, in spite of the fact that her legacy in Hollywood—both on-screen and behind the scenes—stretches way beyond her Star Wars debut decades ago. Fisher deserves to be remembered, but not necessarily as the gold bikini-wearing sex symbol that will likely pervade her search engine results for decades to come, in spite of her own wish that she’d fought against that outfit. In that spirit, let’s give Carrie Fisher a little more recognition for a very different and very significant role that she took on in the world of film, over and over again: script doctor.
Script doctoring, or script consulting, is a skill that often goes uncredited and unacknowledged in Hollywood. Writers will get hired to polish up an existing screenplay; just like doctors, they diagnose problems and suggest solutions. In the case of script doctoring, that means anything from adding in a few new jokes, to implementing massive structural changes or reworking entire characters and scenes.
Carrie Fisher’s career as a script doctor became the stuff of legend in the 1990s. Fisher was responsible for fixing up Hook in 1991, Sister Act in 1992, Lethal Weapon 3 in 1992 and The Wedding Singer in 1998. In 1992, Entertainment Weekly called Carrie Fisher “one of the most sought after doctors in town”—high praise, and one of the only accolades that Fisher would ever receive in printed form, given that she was not credited by name as a writer for any of the films in which she had a hand.
There are some projects to which Fisher might not have wanted her name attached, however. Fisher has been said to be one of the script doctors on board to fix all three of the Star Wars prequel scripts. Even Fisher’s writing skills and Star Wars savvy must not have been enough to save those projects! Not all patients can be cured, as every doctor knows.
In 2008, Fisher told Newsweek that she hadn’t done script doctoring for a few years, but that it had once been a very lucrative career for her. Nowadays, she says, the process is very different: in order to be considered for script consulting gigs, you have to submit your notes and ideas ahead of time. But then they can keep those notes and not hire you, Fisher points out. She calls it “free work”—“that’s what I always call life-wasting events.”
Take it from Carrie Fisher, young writers: don’t let other people take advantage of you. Own your worth; fight on your own behalf; be your own best advocate. That should be the Carrie Fisher legacy.
Wedding Singer,,,
Truely Funny writing,
I don’t remember the death of a celebrity taking up so much airtime as Carrie’s - may she Rest in Peace.
I found this report on MSN listing the names of entertainment giants who died in 2016. I was unaware that Frank Sinatra Jr. had died.
Yes, script doctors are most needed in lousy screenplays and the folks who do it are often well-paid if unsung. Neil Simon is called “Doc” Simon because of his talent in “punching up” scripts. He punched up the brilliant “Chorus Line” b’way show a thousand years ago...
George Michael immediately comes to mind........LOL! You must not have been paying attention........
post#3 the link will bring up 142 slides of all the names with photos and short notation.
You are correct;) There was also Prince and Bowie. Getting old and forgetful.
Prince’ death went on for weeks!
There are quite a lot of FReeper threads on Carrie’s death today. As the daughter of Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher; it’s quite remarkable how successful and grounded she was. Her childhood must have been tumultuous.
Have the fanboys started lining up for the viewing yet?
Every other “lineworthy” show these days does pre-sales online or via VIP “beat the line” access.
Holiday season. Real writers taking time off. Interns in charge. My guess - anyway :-) (How many millennials read Watership Down?)
The article is from November 9th.
David Bowie was the Starman, was Carrie Fisher the Starwoman?
You haven’t been around a truly endless celebrity obituary unless you were around for John Lennon.
Except maybe Princess Di.
“Nowadays, she says, the process is very different: in order to be considered for script consulting gigs, you have to submit your notes and ideas ahead of time. But then they can keep those notes and not hire you, Fisher points out. She calls it “free work”—“that’s what I always call life-wasting events.”
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Didn’t know she did script-doctoring. That is “free work”, the way it’s down now. With the Hollywood bunch you want your money upfront before you hand over your time & talent.
She was so damn smart and an excellent writer. I’m not surprised.
I didn’t know that Dan Aykroyd was about to marry her though. She should have chosen him over going back to that megalomaniac Paul Simon. I have never heard anyone say one bad thing about Aykroyd. (I know there was a lot of sex and drugs but aside from that)
I mean, about to marry her years ago.... with right and date etc. Not now before her death.
“George Michael immediately comes to mind........LOL! You must not have been paying attention........”
You are so correct! Carrie Fisher was not a homosexual. George Michael was.... Enough said!
I'm sure she was a very talented writer, but those pictures must have been really awful before they were "fixed."
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