Every year, at least one major Hollywood movie based on real-life events becomes a commercial or critical favorite -- and is then promptly vilified for deviating from historical fact. This year's winner of the John "A Beautiful Mind" Nash Memorial Your Movie Sucks Because You Didn't Make the Hero a Raving Anti-Semite Award is Frost/Nixon, the Ron Howard-directed recreation of the post-Watergate grilling of the disgraced 37th President by British TV talk show host David Frost. In this case, the historical purist's knives are out because, among other reasons, 1) The interviews did not really occur in the order they are shown in the movie, 2) A dramatic late-night drunk dial by Nixon to Frost never actually happened and, 3) Nixon's key "If the President does it, it's not illegal" pronouncement was twisted out of its original context and made to seem far more damning than it actually was.

(Tom Cruise's recent thriller Valkyrie, a story based on the well-documented plot to assassinate Adolph Hitler during the waning months of WWII, fell victim to similar historical nit-picking.)

Fortunately, such criticisms have not dampened Frost/Nixon's overall critical reception, nor its standing with the motion picture Academy, which saw fit to nominate it for five Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay for Peter Morgan, who transferred his own hit stage play to the screen. Yet, the fusillade of faultfinding that followed Frost raises a fundamental question all writers must face at some time: How much fidelity to "reality" must we have when writing about "real life" events? How much can we bend "facts" in our quest to show the "truth"?

For those of you with the courage to attempt the real-to-reel adaptation process, I humbly offer the following guidelines:

• Get the basic facts right -- and then look beyond them. David Frost did interview Nixon in 1977 -- and really did put up his own money to do it. German Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg really did lead a conspiracy to assassinate Adolph Hitler in 1944 -- and failed miserably. Harvey Milk really was the first openly gay man to hold elected office in California, and really was assassinated by fellow supervisor Dan White. Exactly how Frost wrangled and conducted his historic interviews or Stauffenberg engineered his assassination plot or Milk got elected to office is not nearly important as the meaning of these deeds, which is what the dramatist is there to explore. As a screenwriter, your job is to take basic facts and then try to make sense of them -- something that "real life" often fails to adequately do.
• Remember, character is not biography. When writing about real people, it's important to show their personality and behavior as truthfully as you can -- but only within the context of the particular story you are trying to tell. Few real life stories show a person's life from birth to death but instead focus on a particular episode or even a specific incident. Getting bogged down in backstory and personal trivia may add historical verisimilitude, but it can also seriously bog down the narrative. Likewise, factual aspects of a person's character may be interesting, appealing or even shocking in their own right -- e.g. Richard Nixon's own purported bigotry or his talent for playing the piano -- but unless they impact or otherwise support the particular story you're trying to tell, they're dramatically useless.
• Don't be afraid to create, "combine" or even remove supporting characters. Good storytelling requires economy, and this extends to supporting characters. Although a character may have had six or seven good friends during the episode you're dramatizing, it will probably be more effective so show just one or two, especially if their personalities are dramatically distinct. Likewise, while a character may have had multiple lovers during the period in question, showing just one and giving him/her a larger part may provide you with dramatic opportunities sticking to the "facts" would have made difficult. It may even be helpful to remove historically "important" individuals altogether -- or relegate them to the background -- if they don't contribute to the particularly narrative you're constructing.
• Dialogue is not transcription. Since most conversations are never recorded, screenwriters are forced to "imagine" dialogue -- which will inevitably rankle some purists. Tough. As long as dialogue is "in character," you, the screenwriter, are free -- in fact, obligated -- to use language to delve into your subject's soul and psyche, even if that means "making stuff up." Even when dialogue is a matter of historical record -- as portions of the dialogue in Frost/Nixon and Oliver Stone's W. were -- you may still alter the chronology and/or context if it serves the needs of the script. That a character didn't say such-and-such at a particular time may not be nearly as important as the fact that he did say it at some point.

From D.W. Griffth's Birth of a Nation to The Great Ziegfeld to Patton and Frost/Nixon, screenwriters have taken true-life people and events and have fashioned them into successful motion pictures. Whether these films reflected historical "truth" is beside the point. Just as a great painter or sculptor is not obligated to mimic reality but to interpret it, so it is the mission of the screenwriter to reshape history through his/her own sensibilities. If you get any guff for that, just remind your critic that Henry V didn't really say half the things Shakespeare says he did.

Allen B. Ury is the author of Secrets of the Screen Trade. Have a comment? Write to: allen@fadeinonline.com Want Allen to give an in-depth analysis of your screen or teleplay? Write to inquiries@fadeinonline.com. A member of the WGAw and accredited screenwriter and book author, Ury has been analyzing scripts for over a decade. Mention you're an ezine subscriber and receive $50 off!

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WEBSITE OF THE MONTH: moviedeaths.com
All the ways movie characters have been knocked off on the big screen.

CONTESTS
CONGRATULATIONS MAX MAYER!!!
Max Mayer's winning script Adam sold to Fox Searchlight at the Sundance Film Festival last month!

The 16th Annual Writers Network Screenplay & Fiction Competition
Deadline: Saturday, May 31, 2009

The Writers Network Screenplay & Ficton Competition is currently accepting submissions, both online and via US Mail, from writers worldwide. One of the most established and unique programs co-sponsored by WGA Signatory Agencies (CAA, Endeavor, William Morris, APA, Gersh and more), the competition is designed to give new and talented writers worldwide the chance to pursue careers in film, television and publishing. If you have a screenplay, teleplay (existing show, movie-of-the-week), stage play or novel (or novel-in-progress) that you'd like to submit, visit www.writersnetworkcompetition.com for an application and to enter online.

Assistance with securing literary representation and
$10,000 in cash prizes to give away.

Our Winners Work
One of the most often asked questions we hear from writers is; How do you determine which contest to enter? Our answer: The ones that actually get real results for their winners! Recent winners of our competition have gone on to great success:

• Max Mayer's 2006-winning script Adam recently completed production with Mayer at the helm and was purchased by Fox Searchlight at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
• Grant Jerkins' winning manuscript, "An American Crime," was adapted for the screen by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune) and Terry Curtis Fox. It is currently in pre-production with Barbet Schroeder (Reversal of Fortune) attached to direct summer of 2009.
• Will Speck and Josh Gordin directed Blades of Glory starring Will Ferrell after winning with Culture and being signed by ICM.
• Mike Murphy's 2007-winning horror script Javelina (formerly "Clackers") was directed by Barry Hubb and is scheduled for an '09 release.
• Frank Baldwin landed three writing assignments -- one with Sony, one with Warner Bros. and the other with DreamWorks/Paramount -- after we signed him with the William Morris Agency and Leverage Management. The DreamWorks project, "The Art of Making Money" will be directed by Phillip Noyce. The Sony project -- a remake of House of Flying Daggers -- will be directed by Sam Raimi. The Warner Bros. project teams Baldwin with none other than director Martin Scorsese. His winning script, "Untitled Frank Baldwin Project," has director Julian Farino (Big Love, Entourage) attached to direct.
• Matt Healy's winning script Clay Pigeons debuted in theatres nationwide in 1998! The film was produced by Ridley Scott and directed by David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers). Since signing Healy with ICM, he's finished two writing assignments (one for Richard Donner) and landed a two-picture deal with Warner Bros.
• Mike Walsh optioned two of his projects after we signed him with Ken Sherman.
• Jon Bokenkamp sold and directed his winning script, Preston Tylk, after we signed him with ICM; landed a writing assignment with director William Friedkin; and has since gone on to write for Julia Roberts, Halle Berry (Perfect Stranger, 2007) and Angelina Jolie (Taking Lives, 2004).
• Haven Turleygood sold his pitch to Joel Silver and landed a writing assignment with Arnold Kopelson at Fox after we signed him with Endeavor.

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