True Stories 36: 10s—Hidden Figures

As we continue our look at true stories, here’s one of my favs in recent year—Hidden Figures [2016] by Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi.

There are just SO many great true stories out there in the world! How do studios decide which ones are worthy of a film? One of the main ways is to look at biographies that have been written—and have been successful—about interesting people. But what if you just want to write a true story from your own original research?

Well, sure, you could write a screenplay about, for example, Monet [I have] and it could get optioned by producers intent on making it [my Monet script’s been optioned twice], but then the money has to be raised—by the studio or the producers who’ve optioned the script. And how do you convince investors to invest in a film? You show a track record. So that means either a major director or star has to be interested.

How do you get a major star or director interested? Well, you probably can’t—you’ll need an agent for that. And it will be lots of pounding the pavement for your agent to get that big star or big director to read your script unless there’s an offer attached.

Huh? Offer attached? What does that mean?? It means that most agents won’t LET their major actor or director even read a script unless there is an offer up front. For example, “Brad [Pitt] we’ll pay you $15 million to star in this script AND we can show you the money in the bank to get the film made.”

All of that is pretty difficult to do… thus, studios and producers option books about a true event and then look for a writer to write them. That’s why nearly all the true stories you see made into films began as books. Which is true of Hidden Figures.

Take a look at the trailer for the film: Hidden Figures Trailer

Had you heard about these women who worked at NASA? I hadn’t. As you can see from the trailer, it’s the story of three Black women who worked for NASA who, essentially, built their first computer system.

And look at how they tell the story. It doesn't all take place at NASA, does it? We get inside the lives of these three women—sometimes from the time they’re kids, and through their lives outside of NASA.

What I love about this story is that it tells me that doing the impossible is possible. That you can be a minority and still make it through the crazy barriers that could stop you from achieving your goals. And I think it says that to any audience member. It’s a film about hope—and isn’t that one of the more universal themes that we just don’t get enough of these days?

Of course, the characterizations of these three women are also spot on—there’s very little to fault this film for! It’s, as we say in France, la crème de la crème!

Next week, not so creamy but still a great film—I, Tonya.

Copyright © Diane Lake

05Feb23

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com