Rutger Lemm and Rein Mulder
Rein: I love the language of a script, the style, the way that, on the one hand, you have to keep in mind that you need to think visually, the whole ‘show don’t tell’ thing, but on the other, there’s so much room and necessity for trying to convey something extra to the reader. A specific tone or feeling.
Rutger: I rolled into it after being a writer of books and essays for a long time. I like the directness of it, which somehow allows me to delve more into fiction and imagination than with my solo work. Also, the collaborative aspect – especially with Rein – is so much fun. We never cease to surprise ourselves, and each other, with the weird shit we come up with.
Rein: After the initial idea it begins with pure association. Anything is allowed, whatever comes to mind, whatever feels good or funny or urgent. Anything to help you get to know your characters, and through your characters the story, better. At a certain moment the story starts to kind of present itself through you, it starts to have a life of its own. Later, you always have the opportunity to make adjustments, or become aware of some underlying thing, and you can take control, if you want or need to.
Rutger: Rein’s answer sounds beautiful, almost sexual to be honest. I have nothing to add.
Rein: the decision to pursue an idea has been made in hindsight, after you already started pursuing it. Though there can always come a moment where you have to let it go again. The inspiration is almost always very personal. We (is that right Rutger?) find it more difficult to write something when there’s no personal attachment to it. No personal stake in the game perhaps. Although, after a while, everything starts to become personal.
Rutger: Personally, I often find inspiration from real life, stories that you can’t stop thinking about, because it has some sort of unanswered question in it. You can’t make up the stuff that happens to you. But then it becomes more fluid, and you start to play with it. The story of the film or episode presents itself. Then it’s almost like a puzzle. Just tying storylines and characters and jokes and ideas together. Something we also really love about this amazing job.
Rein: Probably this series. The writing together was just endlessly fun. An episode like 5 ‘Family’, when that started to click, it becomes a gift to be able to write it.
Rutger: Agreed. It was a gift to be able to write (and produce) ten episodes set in Berlin, a city we love (and sometimes hate) dearly. To create this whole TIGBG world. The four main characters are just infinitely fun and interesting to us. But also all the weird side characters that they encounter. It was a self-created candy shop.
Rein: Still learning… Try not to take stuff personal. Be very critical of your own work, but also be very careful who you take critique from. Everyone will have an opinion, but only very few people actually know what they’re talking about. Keep trying. Keep going on. That is sometimes the hardest part.
Rutger: All of the above. But also: keep focusing on what you love. You love an actor? Write them an e-mail, see if they want to work together. You love a movie? Check out who’s the producer, approach them. Just keep weaving a web of love around you, to protect you from all the awfulness (which will come). Also, read a book on business assertiveness or people pleasing or something, don’t let them mess you up in a meeting. Stand your ground. That doesn’t mean you have to be a stubborn asshole. But use feedback to adjust the script your way. Don’t get lost in the politics, never let go of your core vision.
Rein: My first thought is, “I have no clue”. But then I start to think back and then the answer is actually pretty clear. Never compromise your own artistic/creative/personal vision, whatever you wanna call it. Stay as close as you can to your own enthusiasm when writing. Don’t hold back. Otherwise it’s useless. Eventually, when you succeed at writing something good, ’cause that doesn’t always happen, it will stand out. I hope.
Rutger: Originality. And then at the same time: good references. Because people say they want freshness, but they also want to understand it. So be as weird and free as you can in your ideas to stand out, and then guide them through it a bit. We were lucky that we had a producer who was good at the second part, while we were uncompromising in the first part. That combination worked well.
Rein: Not consciously, but my therapist made me aware the other day that we’re always writing a story that has an element of resistance in it. It’s always about characters that struggle with the status quo, or that don’t want to go along with how things supposedly should be. Other stuff, like pain, loss, insecurity, love, those things are kind of universal to most stories/scripts, so we can’t take credit for that.
Rutger: The theme of high romantic expectations keeps recurring for me. There’s also a lot of comedy in that: the hope – and the letdown. But generally it’s a reflection of things that we’re both dealing and struggling with at the time. Since we’re curious dudes who love to talk, there are a lot of themes to choose from.
Rein: Adhering less and less to made up rules by studios/producers/dramaturgs/
Rutger: Of course AI is a big threat. It can be helpful I guess, in the same sense that Google is helpful. But of course it will never be able to convey real emotions. So I see a big future for emotional people, haha. No but seriously. Seriously though. Qualities like vulnerability, integrity, earnestness, weirdness, self-critique… These are all hugely under threat, but that also means that they will become a commodity. The soulless, power-hungry part of humanity, that’s lacking in empathy, has often dominated history. But then people come back to the other side. Always. Like in Star Wars. Haven’t you seen Star Wars?
Rein: Don’t hold back. Don’t compromise. Not in the sense that during production you’ll have to compromise due to budgetary reasons, or ’cause you’re in a collaboration, that’s part of it and healthy. But don’t compromise in your vision. That’s the whole thing that started everything. Don’t be afraid to do what your intuition tells you.
Rutger: Take initiative! And try to feel, as hard as that may be at a young age, what your true urgency in this work is. Do you really want it? Why? Scary questions. Once answered, just put in a lot of time, make your own short movie, start a creative collective with friends, watch a shit ton of movies. Forget about three act structures and all of that. You mostly need to watch, read, listen and travel. Be curious, brave and open-hearted, that’s how you get the best material.
Rein: Nothing. This was it. Forever. No uhm, from mid April we hope to be writing a film about a group of teenagers breaking into a steel factory. Fingers crossed, ’cause that’ll be fun. Apart from that we have many ideas that we’re developing. So for now, it’s just the grind of getting one through again.
Rutger: Yes, we just hope to make more comedies, to develop our style and slate further. It’s a rough time, in many aspects, but we’ll persevere, because we really, truly, deeply, love this shit.