If you know ‘The Getaway’ series, then you may already know who Katie Ellwood is. She worked on the original Getaway game and The Getaway: Black Monday. However, more recently, she has broken away from Sony to pursue a more independent career, now screenwriting for games and film as a director of two different business. She took some time out of her schedule to talk to me for Gamer’s Guide to Life about writing for games, films and The Getaway series.

Linford: Before you 'broke into' the games industry, did you ever want to work writing screenplays for games or film?

Katie: Film, yes; I'd thought about it, but when I started writing I was writing for theatre. My background was in dance, so I'd always had a love for the theatre and stage and when I was studying English at university I started writing for theatre. It was to write narratives into dance, so very, very different to anything game related. So no, I'd never considered games - in fact, I think that, back then, you didn't really have a need for professional writers in games. It tended to be, back then, that the designer, or the designer's mate, or the designer's mum would come up with the story if there was one.

Linford: You've written screenplays for both games and film. How does one differ from the other, and if so, which do you prefer?

Katie: The games that I've written for have been quite film-like in structure. They're quite narrative based, such as the original Getaway. With The Getaway: Black Monday, we did have a branching storyline towards the end, so you could end in four different places with four different endings. There's obviously that to take into account - whether it's a linear narrative or not - but the other thing with a video game is that you don't know whether someone's only just played the previous level or if they've left it for two weeks, or six months. There's a lot of restating of information that we had to do. People from the film industry who have read my game screenplays say 'you're making things obvious'. Watching film narrative unfold, the viewer just sits there for ninety minutes and his/her attention is focused there for that amount of time. Also, in film, you have to make your character strong, a decision maker; that's your protagonist, it's their journey that the audience are interested in. In games, we as players make the decisions. When you play a character, you want to see a certain amount of yourself in that character. We tried never to over-assert the characterisation, so that someone could feel that there was a part of themselves in that character. Not to say we we left our game characters as a blank canvasses, but we made them a little more neutral than perhaps you would in a screenplay for film.

Linford: With games becoming less and less linear, screenwriting must become harder. How does, say, a free-roaming, semi-story based game affect the typical screenwriting process?

Katie: That's a difficult one for me to answer, actually. I've not actually been involved in writing a really branching narrative. We've looked into a lot of different structures, and I've written recently for a European company on a game which was very episodic, we was new and came with it's own set of challenges. If designers design levels that branch and lead the player in different directions, it can feel very much like a no linear and personal experience, however bringing the level back to the same hub or cutscene ensures the writer can have a handle on the flow of the narrative also.

I think what's happening on development teams now is that the design and the narrative are created in tandem. Before it was very much a case of weaving a narrative into a game. This resulted in a shoe-horned narrative. Now we find the missions or levels are as narrative-based as the cut scene themselves, and the cut scenes might not exist anymore. Players want to play the narrative, be immersed in it. That's nothing new, it's always been the case that players wanted that. Now it is more possible with more powerful hardware: dev teams are more able to run a variety of set piece animation and dialogue during within the game play i.e. real time. Rather than bookending levels with narrative, you actually embed the narrative into the levels themselves. It's exciting when that happens.

Linford: Tell me about your work at Sony. What is it like to work at such a famous company, dealing with such a fast-moving, hype-fuelled industry?

Katie: I was with Sony for seven years, and I think the nature of Sony has very much changed. When we first started out there our team was relatively small, and it felt very much that we were inventing the wheel, if you like; everyone was very young and fresh and it was more about creativity than the actual marketing and moneymaking processes. That happened elsewhere. Now I think developers are more corporate in structure and in the current state of finance everyone need to be more aware of their market, who they're writing for and who they're making games for.

Sony Computer Entertainment grew massively in my final years there. With the advent of PS3 games teams and budgets were much greater and thus we really had to justify what we were creating. In a way this is great as everyone becomes hugely focussed on the task in hand, but sometimes great original, 'out there' ideas get lost because they might be perceived as less commercial. Having said that, I think Sony's creativity is seeing a resurgence now; the question is 'how can we break the mould again?'.

Linford: We first saw a tech demo of The Getaway (PS3) at E3 2005, and then another trailer at 2006's show. Then nothing until March 2008, when it was confirmed that the game was 'still in the works'. It entered preproduction and then, just a few weeks later, it was mysteriously cancelled. Is it really dead?

Katie: Well, I can't actually say that. I'm not with Sony any more; in all honesty, I don't know. I'd love to see The Getaway be reinstated. Sony still have the IP [intellectual property] and it's there for them to do what they want with it in the future. So, let's hope that it's not dead and buried, but I have no official information on that.

Linford: When The Getaway (PS3) was cancelled, how did you react? How did it affect the morale of those working on the project?

Katie: Being such a close-knit team, we were very much a family for a long time. We really had a lot of passion for that project, and I think we all still do; although some people are working out in San Francisco and some in Canada, we all met up recently and we always talk about The Getaway; we always talk about what we could do with it. There was a disappointment but then, in many ways, many people were very excited to move on to different projects because, obviously, we'd been working on the same thing for 7 or so years so it's nice to get out there and find something new.

Linford: You announced plans for a Getaway movie a while back. Any developments on that front?

Katie: Again, I can't really say because I'm not there [at Sony] any more, so unfortunately I don't have any official information on that either. But I am working on another SCEE game film adaptation which should be announced soon.

Linford: With game-movie tie-ins beginning to pick up more pace now (with such big releases such as the Lara Croft films and the Max Payne series), what are your views on this new cross-industry activity? Do you think that game-movie tie-ins are a good idea?

Katie: I think they're a good idea, I'm just yet to see one that works well. I don't know why that is, but I think that a movie has to be it's own thing; I think that you can base a world or character on games but you need to find a story for the film which can exist outside of the game. I like what they tried to do with The Matrix, but I still think we're waiting for someone to nail it really successfully.

Linford: You write screenplays as a job, but what do you spend your spare time doing? Are you a gamer yourself?

Katie: I played more games when I was at Sony, but I'd call myself a casual gamer now. I do like adventures, and I do like games with a good story - I'd say ICO is probably my favourite game of all time. I love Singstar, games like that which you can play with friends. But I don't spend as much time playing games as I do watching movies.

Linford: Sony has a stellar list of releases lined up for 2009, as do other third party developers. Are there any which stand out to you or that you're particularly looking forward to?

Katie: The game that I was really looking forward last year was LittleBigPlanet; we played that as a demo way back and I fell in love with the whole concept. I love that the game was about working together to complete levels than working against each other. I think that's the kind of creativity and difference which I like to see in games. On a story level Heavy Rain and Alan Wake are going to be ones to watch.

Linford: Would you say that a good screenplay is essential to the success of a game?

Katie: I'd like to think so, but actually my instincts and experience say 'not especially'. When it comes down to it, fundamentally, the majority of time spent making and playing a game is in the realms of it's design. I think a good story will entice people into the game's world, but it's the design and the way that the gameplay's going to hold their attention that's important. There is a great sense of depth that a good narrative and characters can bring to a game beyond the button pressing. And that's where the magic can happen.

Linford: How do you find it beginning a new screenplay for a game or film from scratch?

Katie: For games we always collectively generated the breadth and flow of the story; we very much mapped out where it was going as a team, and then it was just a case of filling the gaps and adding depth with the screenplay. I think it's always a challenge to begin anything fresh. But it's ultimately the most exciting way to do it.

With a film, I often write alone - and I could write anything, I'm not beholden to the game play. So it's definitely difficult at times - you'll always have points where you're staring at a blank piece of paper - but then again it can flow very freely at times too. I guess it boils down to how you're feeling on any certain day.

Linford: A lot of games of this generation use in-game cutscenes (from the character's perspective) as opposed to the FMV cutscenes of old. Do you prefer cutscenes which could add narrative depth, or is it more important for you to keep the player in the action at all times?

Katie: I think 'player in action' is the ultimate way. You know, there's been rendered cutscenes in the past which I've loved, that have worked really well, and I think they're stunning. But really I like to see a mix, like in the God of War series. There's narrative in the gameplay but then, at times, you're given a bit of respite and you can sit back and watch [a cutscene]. But when you have to be careful when you take players out of the action, I think that's where you can lose people's attention.

Linford: This generation there has been a rise of online game purchasing platforms, such as PlayStation Network or Xbox Live Marketplace. A lot of these games sacrifice any kind of narrative in favour of good fast fun; titles such as Geometry Wars and Everyday Shooter, for instance. Do you think that it is better that these games are allowed to just be a gameplay experience, as opposed to a gameplay experience with a shoddy narrative?

Katie: Yes, I think they can totally manage without narrative. When it comes down to it, people sometimes just want pick-up-and-play fun, and I don't think that necessarily needs narrative plugged into it at all. That's kind of the old school, golden era of pure gaming, really; like Tetris.

Linford: Do you think the concept of episodic gaming, seen in the Penny Arcade and Sam and Max series' will ultimately allow the game industry's narrative quality to increase?

Katie: I think it's a new way of thinking about gaming and gaming narrative, and I do like the idea of it; we've been calling for episodic gaming for years because people want to play in an episodic way. The thing that scares new gamers is the thought that all their time will be eaten away by gaming, but that's not necessarily the case.

In terms of narrative quality; I think there's a high narrative quality in various TV series; the epitome of episodic entertainment. There is also a deep narrative quality in films, which are ninety minute experiences. It's just down to the type of narrative you creating. You write with the end result in mind. I think that you have to find a good narrative for episodic gaming. If we look at TV writing, a 12 part series will have an entire series story arc, but it will be compiled of 12 discrete stories with cliff hangers at the end of each. Now TV writing is so deep they even write mini cliff hangers before each ad break.

Linford: With Konami all but cancelling the controversial Six days in Fallujah, do you think gaming is ready to take on such a controversial, emotionally charged subject like the Iraq war, or are we going to be permanently destined to play games in "unnamed middle-eastern" countries?

Katie: I think that's a really difficult question and I don't have the answer. If you set up an enemy and a hero, that's risky territory.

Game developers are intelligent people and if they can handle their subject matter fairly and maturely, there is not reason why books and films alone can make social commentary. War is horrible and people die. A player can experience that horror and adrenalin more in games than any other medium.

However with games in which violence is involved and the player has the gun, you have to be really careful about who is perceived to be the 'enemy'. You're making political statements and asking a player to kill a countryman of a named country to 'win'.

You give the player an opportunity to shoot and fight [in a named place] and they have control in that world - that's where the difference lies. Developers of games (just like filmmakers or writers) need to be accountable for any racism they fuel or myths they permeate.

Linford: You've now set up Ellwood Entertainment, a business of your own which works in games. How do you find that compared to work at a corporation like Sony?

Katie: It's great to be able to move from project to project. Previously, I was very involved with The Getaway, which is great because you build up a relationship with the team, but it's superb to go in somewhere fresh and get a variety of people to work with, with new and very different ideas. That is great; I really enjoy that.

Linford: Are there any projects you're working on at Ellwood Entertainment that you can tell us about?

Katie: Unfortunately not. I'm not able to talk about them because the projects I've been working on are all in development and I'm not able to announce anything. Sorry.

Linford: In your work in film, what are you up to at the minute?

Katie: I'm currently one half of a co-directing team called Bert and Bertie and we have just finished our second live action film called The Taxidermist, which is going around festivals now. Last year I wrote my first feature-length CGI animation film. Currently we're just starting a very exciting new CGI animation project involving dance and a well-known story, which again, I'm not able to talk about.

Linford

Labels: Exclusive, Extra Extra, Getaway, Interview, Sony

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