6. Your Audience Are Way Smarter Than You
Never stop thinking this when you're writing a screenplay:
Your audience are way smarter than you. Even if it isn't true, it doesn't matter: it will help you to write a better screenplay, because you'll have the added fear that somebody will take your script up, read the first page, and call "bullshit." After months and months of hard work, it isn't worth taking that risk, is it? In any good movie, novel or television show, it's the extensive research process that writers carry out beforehand that ensures you're not constantly being pulled out of the experience, frowning and saying, "Uh,
really?" As human beings, we have a great radar for knowing when something - even on subjects we're not well-versed in - don't ring true. We instinctively pick up on bullshit, and
Prometheus is absolutely filled to the brim with questionable moments that feel like the stuff of vague speculation. That's to say,
Prometheus is mostly dealing with scientific theories and concepts that just don't exist - a result of the movie being set in the distant future. Here's where we can happily except terms and words that we wouldn't ordinary hear - as long as the characters sound assured, we feel assured. But it's the characters themselves that don't ring true here: not a single one of the ship's crew feels like they're who they say there are. And that's because the scientific nature of their personalities has been dumbed down, likely due to a lack of research on the part of the writers. That aside,
Prometheus took so much liberty with its plot, that it emerged as the most plot hole-addled movie of 2012. I won't go into all the "plot holes" here, because there are just too many to count and they've been covered extensively elsewhere - most of which are genuinely legitimate concerns. But the point is, never put anything into your script that you're unsure about, or know subconsciously that you haven't explained properly. The fact that the
Prometheus crew are briefed on their mission hours before they reach the planet (and not
before they sign up for the mission) is ludicrous: how did something like that make into this screenplay? In a sci-fi script, especially, audiences are actively looking for details like this - not because they want to find reasons to dislike the movie, but because sci-fi movies (especially Ridley Scott sci-fi movies) invite close scrutiny. It's the details and research that
make movies like this, and
Prometheus is bizarrely flat when it comes to the details. Research will make or break your script: it's arguably the most important factor. Simply watching other movies and using them as a guide will come back to bite you on the ass.