Write On: 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice' Writers Al Gough & Miles Millar

“I think what Tim [Burton] does is he's always trying to
simplify. That’s the essence of a classic filmmaker. People think
he's wild and crazy and does all these things. His movies are
brilliantly composed frames and he's always looking for
simplicity. All of his big movies, they're really family dramas
dressed up in whatever genre he's in. That's really what they
are. And I think people think he’s always strange and weird and
likes dark thing, but no! It's a classic story with good drama.
And then he brings his sensibility to it,” says about the biggest
lesson Al Gough has learned working with director Tim Burton on
both the TV show Wednesday and the new film Beetlejuice
Beetlejuice.


In this episode, we speak with writing team Al Gough and Miles
Millar about creating the hit Netflix show Wednesday, how they
cultivated a relationship with director Tim Burton and how that
led to the sequel to Beetlejuice after more than 15 sequel
scripts have surfaced over the last 36 years.


Gough and Miles talk about crafting a mother/daughter love story
for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice and delving into grief, something
that all families face at some point or another. The writers also
share their insight into adding new characters in the mix and
creating the strange yet rewarding musical numbers for the movie
that includes one totally bonkers song. 


Miles Millar also shares this career advice about staying in your
lane when it comes to genre:


“If you write a spec or a script that sells, and it's a romantic
comedy, then you should really stay in the romantic comedy world
and arena for a while. We always jumped around which I think hurt
us initially. We did an action movie, we did a comedy, we did
this, we did that. We did a fantasy. So, pick a lane. I think
successful writers usually pick a lane and get known to do one
thing – which can be constricting and suffocating, but I think
it's something that's important in terms of a career.”


Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is out now in theaters.