Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino, both contemporary auteurs, spend their lives writing and directing modern day classics. From The Royal Tenenbaums to Reservoir Dogs, Bottle Rocket to Kill Bill, these two filmmakers create films that become immediate modern classics. While the two filmmakers take on a sizable amount of work in producing their films – they write and direct all their films and even spend some time operating the camera – it is necessary for them to attain help in the production process. Rather than working with new cinematographers, editors, camera operators, and actors on each film, both directors have forged collaborative relationships with numerous individuals and repeatedly work with these individuals on many of their films.
For the sake of simplicity, I will define collaborations as relationships between the director and one other individual who works with the director (an actress, editor, camera operator, etc..). These two-sided collaborations are essential to the filmmaking process because they allow the director to establish working relationships with his or her crewmembers. Within these relationships, a “baseline of collaboration” is created. The “baseline of collaboration” is simply an understanding of a collaborator’s style, motivation, and work ethic. Once this baseline is created, the director and his crewmembers are able to more easily work together.
Due to the understanding of a baseline, these duos are able to work together and bounce ideas off of each other. Initially, these ideas remain in the confinement of the baseline. However, after becoming comfortable with working in the defined baseline, collaborators are able to mutually evolve their style, motivation, and work ethic.
Tarantino and Anderson have forged numerous collaborations over their careers. Each of their collaborations are unique, and each lends itself differently to the filmmaker’s style. Over his seven-feature film career (counting Kill Bill volume 1 and 2 as one film), Tarantino has formed especially important collaborations with editor Sally Menke, and cinematographer Robert Richardson. Anderson, who’s directed eight feature films including his most recent Grand Budapest Hotel, has forged significant and longstanding relationships with cinematographer Robert Yeoman, and screenwriter and producer Roman Coppola.
Sally Menke, Tarantino’s most frequent collaborator, edited six of Tarantino’s seven films up until her death in 2010 (QT and SM #1). Tarantino and Menke first worked together on Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and immediately, their mutual style was evident. Tarantino explains that he felt Menke had...(Will continue)
Tarantino and cinematographer Robert Richardson have worked on Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchanied together. Over their almost ten year collaboration the two developed a unique style that is evident in their most recent collaboration, Django Unchained. Along with a unique style, the two industry legends have grown to trust each other. In previous collaborations with Richardson, Tarantino would copiously write out shot lists for the day’s shooting. However, Richardson divulges, while shooting their most recent film, Django Unchained, “Tarantino was willing to come in and develop a scene based on the moment, which was a little unusual in [Richardson’s] experience with [Tarantino]” (RR and QT #2). This ability to almost play it by ear was fully dependent on Tarantino’s trust in Richardson.
Tarantino and Richardson also worked on adapting their style for Django. They watched classic Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci films and noticed the effective use of snap zooms in these films (RR and QT #3). Together, the collaborators decided to implement some of these snap zooms in the film. Richardson, who, like Tarantino, is copiously invested in the details of his films, pulled the snap zooms himself rather than having an assistant camera operator pull them (RR and QT #2). In fact Richardson spent a great deal of time operating the camera during the film (RR and QT #2 BTS video).
The trust that has developed between Tarantino and Richardson was not initially there. On Kill Bill, their first film together, Richardson brought his own camera crew with him. Richardson explains that “[Tarantino] hadn’t worked with someone who came with his own crew,” and Tarantino “was afraid [Richardson and his crew] would battle him” (RR and QT #4). However, Richardson explains, “the director is the on with the vison, and we serve him or her. The only path to creating a great film is to support the director.” Finally, Richardson adds, “Quentin is the master” (RR and QT #4).
Anderson has worked with cinematographer Robert Yeoman on all his live action feature films as well as the short film “Hotel Chevalier” (RY and WA #1). Yeoman and Anderson have developed a style so signature that it takes only seconds to identify a Wes Anderson film. In an interview with JustSeenIt on youtube, Yeoman talks about how “prep [for a Wes Anderson film] tends to start months in advance” (RY and WA #2). Yeoman explains that he and Anderson “have a long collaboration by email about the look of the film.” Anderson sends Yeoman pictures and references along with the script so the two can begin to create an overall look. (RY and WA #2).
Anderson and Yeoman’s collaboration is essential to the feel and rhythm of their films. Yeoman explains that Anderson “has a very particular and strong sense of every aspect [of his films]” (RY and WA #1). Yeoman makes the effort to “get [Anderson’s] vision on film” (RY and WA #1). Another aspect of Anderson’s style that makes filming difficult is that “everything is carefully designed” (RY and WA #1). Yeoman adds that “pretty much everything that we shoot gets used” (RY and WA #1). Because of this precision and lack of extra footage, it is crucial that Anderson can rely on Yeoman to get every shot perfect.
Due to their numerous collaborations, it is easy for Yeoman to understand what Anderson wants and to do it with the precision Anderson calls for. As Yeoman stated, Anderson goes through an extensive amount of preparation for each of his films. Generally, Anderson’s prep involves Yeoman. Together, “Yeoman and Anderson spent a lot of time scouting locations in Germany and Poland” (RY and WA #3) ...Will Continue
Anderson has also worked on numerous collaborations with screenwriter and producer Roman Coppola. Coppola and Anderson share screenwriter credits on The Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, and a handful of short films. Anderson and Coppola’s first collaborative script, The Darjeeling Limited, was the product of a trip Anderson, Coppola, and Coppola’s cousin, Jason Schwartzman, took to India. The baseline of Coppola and Anderson’s relationship was quickly established through their trip. Together, Anderson explains in an interview with the Writers Guild of America, they wrote a story that “very much came from [their] experiences” (RC and WA #1). Anderson adds that the script was “an especially collaborative thing” (RC and WA #1).
After writing the Darjeeling Limited together, Anderson and Coppola embarked on Anderson’s most ambitious project since the Life Aquatic. Together, they wrote the screenplay for the Oscar Nominated Moonrise Kingdom. At a press conference at the film’s premiere at the Cannes film festival in 2012, Coppola explained that during the writing process his job was to “help [Anderson] pull [the script] out of his mind and imagination” (RC and WA #5). Coppola adds that the script is Anderson’s “with [his] help as a sort of mid-wife to guide [the script] out and to let it find it’s shape” (RC and WA #5).
In an interview with Empire Magazine, Coppola elaborates on his role as a writing collaborator. Coppola explains that “since [Anderson] is the director, it’s all going to be filtered through what he sees is right…so he actually composes [the script]” (RC and WA #4).
Over the past five months, I’ve worked on a short film of my own. The film has been both a creative foray into the filmmaking process, as well as an exercise in collaboration. When I first began the pre-production process of coming up with a concept for, outlining, and writing my film, I felt as if I was drowning in the complexity of the project. I had made a couple of short videos with my brother, but none of our amateur home videos had been based off of a script - we had ad-libbed the dialogue and improvised the plot.
Thinking up a concept for the film was, in all honesty, one of the most difficult parts of producing my film. While I consider my self a fairly creative person, it was extremely difficult to think up an original and enticing idea. I decided to search for some help. Initially, I turned to Blake Snyder’s best selling book on screenwriting, Save The Cat. While Snyder’s book proved to be a fantastic resource for my actual scriptwriting, it did not help out in thinking of a concept. After trying Snyder’s book, I decided to turn to Kelsey Fox, a friend of mine who is well versed in writing for theater.
Fox was my first collaborator on this project. We had previously talked about writing and filming a short film together, but unfortunately, the project had never happened. I figured, however, this was the perfect opportunity for us to work together, and it would be an invaluable learning experience for me as a writer. Fox and I met a few times over about a month to discuss ideas. After much deliberation, we came up with two concepts that would work well as a short film. After coming up with the ideas, I wrote brief outlines for each film, and we discussed character development and plot structure. Finally, we settled on the story we thought was stronger, and I drafted a more detailed outline and went on to writing the film. Collaborating with a seasoned writer like Fox was crucial to the success of my project. Fox, who has a comedic background in theater, helped me think about situations that would be subtly comedic as well as emotionally gripping and combine the two into a film that would captivate audiences.
After working with Fox on establishing the concept for the film, I wrote the screenplay on my own. While it would have been a great experience writing with a partner, I felt it would be a learning experience for me to write the script on my own. I also felt I could finish the screenplay much faster if I wrote it by myself. I started the script at the end of January, and finished a third draft by the first week of March. It was not until my third draft that I really started to feel like I had something I was proud of. The first two drafts were full of extraneous details and weak scenes that did not add to the plot. To help me weed out which scenes were beneficial and necessary to the plot, I turned to my next collaborator, my good friend, Emmett McCleary. McCleary read draft one and draft two of the script and provided me with useful notes about what he enjoyed, what he thought was realistic, and most importantly, what he felt should be changed or take out. To be quite honest, McCleary helped me get rid of almost a third of the script. I went from 18 pages in my first draft to 13 pages in what would become my final draft.
I felt it was really important to get a fresh set of eyes to look at my script. It was also important that I had someone read my work and not hold back any criticism. That’s why I turned to McCleary. He was honest with all of his criticism, and while it was criticism, it was highly constructive. He highlighted what parts of the dialogue I had written seemed unnatural, and what parts of the plot made no sense.
After polishing my drafts, I started looking for actors. My film called for two lead actors and an array of supporting actors. One of the lead parts was written for my sister, and she agreed to play the part even before I wrote the script. Casting my male lead was a little more difficult. I approached a few friends with my script, and all were interested in being in the film, but scheduling constraints impeded their ability to participate. Finally, I showed Dan Minihan the script, and he loved it and agreed to play the part.
It would only be fair to call Minihan my next collaborator. He helped me refine much of the dialogue, and really brought the film to life with his portrayal of my main character. Minihan really was instrumental in the production process, and because of his help with both refining the script and assisting with production duties during principle photography, Minihan is receiving a producer’s credit on my film.
For the sake of simplicity, I will define collaborations as relationships between the director and one other individual who works with the director (an actress, editor, camera operator, etc..). These two-sided collaborations are essential to the filmmaking process because they allow the director to establish working relationships with his or her crewmembers. Within these relationships, a “baseline of collaboration” is created. The “baseline of collaboration” is simply an understanding of a collaborator’s style, motivation, and work ethic. Once this baseline is created, the director and his crewmembers are able to more easily work together.
Due to the understanding of a baseline, these duos are able to work together and bounce ideas off of each other. Initially, these ideas remain in the confinement of the baseline. However, after becoming comfortable with working in the defined baseline, collaborators are able to mutually evolve their style, motivation, and work ethic.
Tarantino and Anderson have forged numerous collaborations over their careers. Each of their collaborations are unique, and each lends itself differently to the filmmaker’s style. Over his seven-feature film career (counting Kill Bill volume 1 and 2 as one film), Tarantino has formed especially important collaborations with editor Sally Menke, and cinematographer Robert Richardson. Anderson, who’s directed eight feature films including his most recent Grand Budapest Hotel, has forged significant and longstanding relationships with cinematographer Robert Yeoman, and screenwriter and producer Roman Coppola.
Sally Menke, Tarantino’s most frequent collaborator, edited six of Tarantino’s seven films up until her death in 2010 (QT and SM #1). Tarantino and Menke first worked together on Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and immediately, their mutual style was evident. Tarantino explains that he felt Menke had...(Will continue)
Tarantino and cinematographer Robert Richardson have worked on Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchanied together. Over their almost ten year collaboration the two developed a unique style that is evident in their most recent collaboration, Django Unchained. Along with a unique style, the two industry legends have grown to trust each other. In previous collaborations with Richardson, Tarantino would copiously write out shot lists for the day’s shooting. However, Richardson divulges, while shooting their most recent film, Django Unchained, “Tarantino was willing to come in and develop a scene based on the moment, which was a little unusual in [Richardson’s] experience with [Tarantino]” (RR and QT #2). This ability to almost play it by ear was fully dependent on Tarantino’s trust in Richardson.
Tarantino and Richardson also worked on adapting their style for Django. They watched classic Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci films and noticed the effective use of snap zooms in these films (RR and QT #3). Together, the collaborators decided to implement some of these snap zooms in the film. Richardson, who, like Tarantino, is copiously invested in the details of his films, pulled the snap zooms himself rather than having an assistant camera operator pull them (RR and QT #2). In fact Richardson spent a great deal of time operating the camera during the film (RR and QT #2 BTS video).
The trust that has developed between Tarantino and Richardson was not initially there. On Kill Bill, their first film together, Richardson brought his own camera crew with him. Richardson explains that “[Tarantino] hadn’t worked with someone who came with his own crew,” and Tarantino “was afraid [Richardson and his crew] would battle him” (RR and QT #4). However, Richardson explains, “the director is the on with the vison, and we serve him or her. The only path to creating a great film is to support the director.” Finally, Richardson adds, “Quentin is the master” (RR and QT #4).
Anderson has worked with cinematographer Robert Yeoman on all his live action feature films as well as the short film “Hotel Chevalier” (RY and WA #1). Yeoman and Anderson have developed a style so signature that it takes only seconds to identify a Wes Anderson film. In an interview with JustSeenIt on youtube, Yeoman talks about how “prep [for a Wes Anderson film] tends to start months in advance” (RY and WA #2). Yeoman explains that he and Anderson “have a long collaboration by email about the look of the film.” Anderson sends Yeoman pictures and references along with the script so the two can begin to create an overall look. (RY and WA #2).
Anderson and Yeoman’s collaboration is essential to the feel and rhythm of their films. Yeoman explains that Anderson “has a very particular and strong sense of every aspect [of his films]” (RY and WA #1). Yeoman makes the effort to “get [Anderson’s] vision on film” (RY and WA #1). Another aspect of Anderson’s style that makes filming difficult is that “everything is carefully designed” (RY and WA #1). Yeoman adds that “pretty much everything that we shoot gets used” (RY and WA #1). Because of this precision and lack of extra footage, it is crucial that Anderson can rely on Yeoman to get every shot perfect.
Due to their numerous collaborations, it is easy for Yeoman to understand what Anderson wants and to do it with the precision Anderson calls for. As Yeoman stated, Anderson goes through an extensive amount of preparation for each of his films. Generally, Anderson’s prep involves Yeoman. Together, “Yeoman and Anderson spent a lot of time scouting locations in Germany and Poland” (RY and WA #3) ...Will Continue
Anderson has also worked on numerous collaborations with screenwriter and producer Roman Coppola. Coppola and Anderson share screenwriter credits on The Darjeeling Limited, Moonrise Kingdom, and a handful of short films. Anderson and Coppola’s first collaborative script, The Darjeeling Limited, was the product of a trip Anderson, Coppola, and Coppola’s cousin, Jason Schwartzman, took to India. The baseline of Coppola and Anderson’s relationship was quickly established through their trip. Together, Anderson explains in an interview with the Writers Guild of America, they wrote a story that “very much came from [their] experiences” (RC and WA #1). Anderson adds that the script was “an especially collaborative thing” (RC and WA #1).
After writing the Darjeeling Limited together, Anderson and Coppola embarked on Anderson’s most ambitious project since the Life Aquatic. Together, they wrote the screenplay for the Oscar Nominated Moonrise Kingdom. At a press conference at the film’s premiere at the Cannes film festival in 2012, Coppola explained that during the writing process his job was to “help [Anderson] pull [the script] out of his mind and imagination” (RC and WA #5). Coppola adds that the script is Anderson’s “with [his] help as a sort of mid-wife to guide [the script] out and to let it find it’s shape” (RC and WA #5).
In an interview with Empire Magazine, Coppola elaborates on his role as a writing collaborator. Coppola explains that “since [Anderson] is the director, it’s all going to be filtered through what he sees is right…so he actually composes [the script]” (RC and WA #4).
Over the past five months, I’ve worked on a short film of my own. The film has been both a creative foray into the filmmaking process, as well as an exercise in collaboration. When I first began the pre-production process of coming up with a concept for, outlining, and writing my film, I felt as if I was drowning in the complexity of the project. I had made a couple of short videos with my brother, but none of our amateur home videos had been based off of a script - we had ad-libbed the dialogue and improvised the plot.
Thinking up a concept for the film was, in all honesty, one of the most difficult parts of producing my film. While I consider my self a fairly creative person, it was extremely difficult to think up an original and enticing idea. I decided to search for some help. Initially, I turned to Blake Snyder’s best selling book on screenwriting, Save The Cat. While Snyder’s book proved to be a fantastic resource for my actual scriptwriting, it did not help out in thinking of a concept. After trying Snyder’s book, I decided to turn to Kelsey Fox, a friend of mine who is well versed in writing for theater.
Fox was my first collaborator on this project. We had previously talked about writing and filming a short film together, but unfortunately, the project had never happened. I figured, however, this was the perfect opportunity for us to work together, and it would be an invaluable learning experience for me as a writer. Fox and I met a few times over about a month to discuss ideas. After much deliberation, we came up with two concepts that would work well as a short film. After coming up with the ideas, I wrote brief outlines for each film, and we discussed character development and plot structure. Finally, we settled on the story we thought was stronger, and I drafted a more detailed outline and went on to writing the film. Collaborating with a seasoned writer like Fox was crucial to the success of my project. Fox, who has a comedic background in theater, helped me think about situations that would be subtly comedic as well as emotionally gripping and combine the two into a film that would captivate audiences.
After working with Fox on establishing the concept for the film, I wrote the screenplay on my own. While it would have been a great experience writing with a partner, I felt it would be a learning experience for me to write the script on my own. I also felt I could finish the screenplay much faster if I wrote it by myself. I started the script at the end of January, and finished a third draft by the first week of March. It was not until my third draft that I really started to feel like I had something I was proud of. The first two drafts were full of extraneous details and weak scenes that did not add to the plot. To help me weed out which scenes were beneficial and necessary to the plot, I turned to my next collaborator, my good friend, Emmett McCleary. McCleary read draft one and draft two of the script and provided me with useful notes about what he enjoyed, what he thought was realistic, and most importantly, what he felt should be changed or take out. To be quite honest, McCleary helped me get rid of almost a third of the script. I went from 18 pages in my first draft to 13 pages in what would become my final draft.
I felt it was really important to get a fresh set of eyes to look at my script. It was also important that I had someone read my work and not hold back any criticism. That’s why I turned to McCleary. He was honest with all of his criticism, and while it was criticism, it was highly constructive. He highlighted what parts of the dialogue I had written seemed unnatural, and what parts of the plot made no sense.
After polishing my drafts, I started looking for actors. My film called for two lead actors and an array of supporting actors. One of the lead parts was written for my sister, and she agreed to play the part even before I wrote the script. Casting my male lead was a little more difficult. I approached a few friends with my script, and all were interested in being in the film, but scheduling constraints impeded their ability to participate. Finally, I showed Dan Minihan the script, and he loved it and agreed to play the part.
It would only be fair to call Minihan my next collaborator. He helped me refine much of the dialogue, and really brought the film to life with his portrayal of my main character. Minihan really was instrumental in the production process, and because of his help with both refining the script and assisting with production duties during principle photography, Minihan is receiving a producer’s credit on my film.