Kevin Williamson Was Still Writing The Scream 2 Script On The Set Of The Film
As moviegoers waited for "Scream 2" back in 1997, all signs pointed towards it being a cheap cash grab. After the surprise success of "Scream," the sequel was greenlit and rushed into production, hitting theaters less than a year after the original film. Whereas screenwriter Kevin Williamson had years to polish up his script for the first movie, he's since told The Hollywood Reporter he was still working on the script for the second on set.
The rushed, chaotic production inevitably revealed itself in the final film; "Scream 2'" is definitely less tightly-structured than its predecessor, and the killer reveals feel a little less satisfying this time around. There are also a few too many moments that stretch credulity; while even the first film had one foot off reality at times, moments like Ghostface's sudden disappearance from the police car to Dewey's miraculous recovery from an absurd amount of knife wounds can't help but feel a little sloppy.
Overall, however, it's a surprisingly strong entry into the series. With the introduction of the in-universe "Stab" franchise and the decision to keep the story focused on the same group of survivors as the first movie, "Scream 2" set the groundwork for all the sequels that came after. And while Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Gale (Courteney Cox) were great in the first movie, it's only here that they became firmly cemented as some of the most beloved characters in the entire slasher genre.
In Kevin we trust
How did the movie turn out so good in spite of the massive expectations it had to operate under? A lot of it had to do with Kevin Williamson's knack for writing under pressure. He's had to write under a lot of strict deadlines over the years, which has basically forced him to let go of any perfectionist tendencies he might've had.
"I always wish I had more time," he explained to THR. "I watch things now and just cringe. With every single episode of television I've written, I've always wished I had another week. You have to rip the script out of my hands. I just want to keep writing." Like plenty of other famous writers have attested, a story is never really finished. Every time a writer reads over their own script, they'll find more flaws they want to polish up, more elements they feel a little uneasy with. A lack of time can be a major limitation for a writer, but too much time isn't always ideal either.
That said, it's hard not to wonder what "Scream 2" would've looked like if Williamson had been allowed a little more time to polish up the script, even just another few weeks or so. The movie's already considered a solid sequel, but maybe it could've achieved the same feat as those other sequels brought up in Randy's film class, which managed to surpass the original in the eyes of most viewers.
Here's hoping the upcoming "Scream VI" can come close to pulling this feat off instead, even if its production has been nearly as fast as that for "Scream 2." At least now we know the "Scream" franchise is perfectly capable of churning out a good sequel within an implausibly short window of time.