One of my first jobs when I moved to Los Angeles was writing script coverage. I got this based on coverage of one of my own screenplays, the one that encouraged me to move out here. In that coverage, the person said that my screenplay was excellent and the story was without major flaws, but they also didn’t see it having much commercial box office potential and it was not a story that could be done cheaply. When I was interviewed for the job they explained further about a script needing to show potential return on investment – big or small – and because nearly every screenplay I read was something that was already a movie, they sent me home with a copy of M. Night Shyamalan’s next feature.
Of course, coming from the writer/director of The 6th Sense this was very exciting. I’d never gotten such an early peek at a movie that was obviously going to be a big deal when it came out. As a screenplay, it’s potential was undeniable. Not only was each scene carefully laid out, it was exciting to read on the page. This obviously colored my experience while watching the film, but it also allowed me to focus on deliberate choices in the Costumes by Joanna Johnston, the Production Design by Larry Fulton and the Photography by Eduardo Serra. Colors that enhanced the script’s comic book aspects. Plus, Shyamalan filmed in long takes, so the conversations weren’t altered from what I read a year earlier.
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