FEATURE: 20 JULY 2007

Ant Timpson and Taika Waititi

Script to Screen, the New Zealand Writers Guild, and the Telecom Auckland International Film Festival featured screenwriter and director Taika Waititi in conversation with filmhead Ant Timpson hours before the hotly anticipated Auckland premiere of Eagle vs Shark.

Waititi and Timpson kept the capacity audience of the Civic’s Festival Lounge hanging on every word with deft comic timing, providing candid insights into Waititi’s early creative impulses, his path as a filmmaker, and the evolution of the script for Eagle vs. Shark.

Early Inspirations

Waititi grew up within a creative environment. His artist father and English teacher mother (who forced the young Waititi to read and write essays in his spare time) did not pressure him into a corporate career.  The young Waititi’s obsessive copying of the Robocop poster was perhaps one of the first signs that he had absorbed his parents’ artistic temperaments and was drawn to the medium of visual story telling.  Comedy was another early obsession. Waititi often spent Friday nights staying up to see The Young Ones, taping every show so he could ‘watch it again and again’.  Waititi, who is now an accomplished comedian, playwright, actor, and visual artist, is able to combine all of these creative outlets in the medium of film.

Strong Kiwi Sensibility

Waititi is very clear that he writes about what he knows and those subjects that interest him. Eagle vs Shark began with ‘ideas and scenes that I thought would look cool in a film’ and Hollywood or international appeal was not a primary consideration during the development of Eagle’s script.  Eagle vs Shark is a low budget film for New Zealanders with a strong kiwi humour and sensibility.  ‘I made it to try to learn how to make a feature film, to learn about the pressure of making 90 minutes of story and to be able to make mistakes and apply lessons in the next film.’   Waititi said writing this first feature was like writing several short films and putting them all together. ‘Sometimes it can be that easy,’ he said. ‘Lots of scenes are based on things I’ve experienced, conversations I’ve overheard. I’ve ripped off life really.’

The Development Process

There was no treatment for Eagle vs Shark. Waititi’s partner, Loren Horsley, came up with the idea of a girl as the central character, the ‘best friend’ rather than the usual type of female protagonist. Waititi and Horsley paired this girl up with a second rate guy, wrote about the situations and stories that might eventuate from such an unlikely union, and created two main characters whose stories are not often told.  While working with Horsley, Waititi was approached by the Sundance Institute to submit a script to their director’s lab.  Waititi had previously workshopped Choice at Sundance, a feature script based on his Oscar nominated short film Two Cars, One Night.    When asked if he had anything else to submit, he replied ‘Of course!’ and wrote the first draft of Eagle vs Shark in a week to meet the Sundance deadline.  Although the initial process was fast, Waititi noted that subsequent drafts ‘took a lot longer and were a lot more painful.’

Sundance offered to workshop scenes from Eagle, and this process helped to define the genre and structure of the film. ‘It’s great to be ground breaking,’ Waititi said, ‘but screenwriting rules do apply to Eagle vs Shark. It’s right within the boundaries of classic romantic comedy.’   Each of the four scenes work-shopped at Sundance was seen by crews and actors and feedback was given by a range of advisors.   Varied and contradictory advice would often result, but Waititi said, ‘You don’t go to Sundance looking for answers but to get stimulated. You’re buzzing afterwards – that’s when you find stuff. Being able to test your material, scenes and writing – that’s the beauty of Sundance.’

Waititi stressed the integral role music plays in Eagle vs Shark. He listened to the Phoenix Foundation while writing the script, and they eventually came on board to score the film. Their music informs the images and the way scenes unfold.  Waititi sees the Phoenix Foundation as once of the key contributors to the final film.

Directing Your Own Script

Waititi storyboarded Two Cars One Night with exquisite care, only to see half go out the window during the shoot.  He decided to use stick figures for his next film Tama Tu, and went without for Eagle vs Shark.  ‘With the budgets for films I’m going to make, I’m never going to shoot the whole storyboard. A shot list is better. I try to list the shots needed for the scene to work, get them, and then do all the fancy stuff afterwards.’  Waititi says the director must know the intentions of the story, ensuring that no matter what happens on set, the crucial story will still be told.  Cinema is an art of compromise.  Time, budget, sets and locations never quite fulfill the images created during the writing. ‘There will always be small changes affecting your material,’ said Waititi, ‘but that isn’t always a bad thing.’ However he did warn writers to be prepared for much of the script being cut on set and again in the edit.

Waititi praised producer Ainsley Gardner, saying he values their professional relationship and their friendship, that affords him the creative freedom to make the film he wants within a supportive environment. Waititi said the Oscar nomination for Two Cars, One Night has smoothed the way and helped secure deals with Miramax and ICON as an international distributor for Eagle vs Shark before the film was made.

Filmmaking for Pleasure

Waititi never intended his shorts to be calling cards in a directing career. Two Cars One Night was an attempt to get a feel for filmmaking, and he enjoyed it so much he made another.  The leap to feature film was taken seriously, with Waititi well aware of the differences between the two formats. ‘I was definitely anxious and wasn’t sure it was going to work.’

Waititi is now back working on the script for Choice which he describes as a ‘coming of age’ story about a small Maori community and the impact the release of Michael Jackson’s Thriller had on the town in 1984.  Waititi says he still enjoys projects ‘that you can finish in a month’, so will continue to make shorts and participate in the 48 Hour Film Festival. ‘The 48 Hour festival is an opportunity to have the most freedom, to challenge yourself, to make something fresh. It’s invigorating and liberating, there’s a certain joy in knowing the outcome is inevitably going to be shit and just going with it.’

Waititi says that although he has been courted by Hollywood, he will not be moving to LA any time soon. He is happy to be in New Zealand, contributing to the local industry and having the freedom to make films that appeal to him.

Script to Screen’s Comments

‘With someone as multi talented as Taika, Script to Screen and the NZ Writers Guild were thrilled to have the chance to focus specifically on his career as a screenwriter, and to be able to help celebrate the Auckland premiere of Eagle vs Shark,’ said Rebecca Kunin, Executive Director of Script to Screen.  ‘We were delighted to work with the Telecom Auckland International Film Festival to hold a large event such as this in the wonderful space that is the Festival Lounge.