u/Cheap_Welcome_520

My ignorance is vast, but I figured I should ask anyway lol. If you have the same screenplay, how can the final product end up that different?

I (naively) tend to equate it to an architect creating blueprints (developing the screenplay), then the builders following those plans to construct the structure (production). Obviously shot selection, pacing, performances, blocking, tone, etc. can compound over time, but is there way more of a butterfly effect in directing than I’m aware of?

Also, is a director less of a project manager and more of the actual creative output? If so, where does the handoff between the writer/producer and the director usually lie? At what point does the film really become “the director’s version” of the screenplay rather than just the screenplay being executed?

And on the flip side, when people say a director “doesn’t know his ass from his elbow,” what actually makes a director bad or just average? Is it usually bad execution of otherwise good ideas, fundamentally weak creative instincts, poor communication with cast/crew, or trying to push boundaries in ways that just don’t land? What separates an average director from a genuinely great one?

It feels like morality is tied to success, or at least to motivation and discipline. Like the people who constantly push themselves, build things, achieve goals, stay productive, etc. are often viewed as more respectable or morally “better” than people who choose the path of least resistance or just want to enjoy life.

But are the people who choose comfort and enjoyment actually not thinking things through, since society only functions because people work, build, sacrifice, and achieve? Or are they the ones seeing a flaw in the modern mindset and think life doesn’t have to be about conquering, optimizing, and constantly striving for more?

Obviously achievement matters. Without ambition and disciplined people, we wouldn’t have the society or quality of life we have today. But at the same time, I wonder whether we’ve morally fused “being productive” with “being a good person.”

Curious how other people think about this