How ‘Saturday Night’ Writer Jason Reitman Balances Truth and Fiction

The trickiest part of a biopic is finding the perfect balance between truth and entertainment.

by Shannon Corbeil on November 25, 2024

When adapting true stories for narrative films, there is inherently some sort of artistic leniency to be taken to entertain. This is often the challenge with creating a great biopic—finding the heart of the story, which may be different than laying out chronological facts.

This challenge becomes even more tricky when the subjects or their families are still alive and may have opinions on the matter (or be hurt by the project’s release).

With Saturday Night, Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking, Ghostbusters: Afterlife) had the challenge of adapting the events of a relatively recent event in pop culture history: the taping of the very first episode of what would be later called Saturday Night Live on Oct. 11, 1975, at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

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Finding Inspiration for Saturday Night

In 2008, hot off the success of directing Diablo Cody's Juno, which earned him a Best Director Oscar nomination, Reitman got the chance to do a guest writing stint on Saturday Night Live.

The Wrap reports that Reitman stayed up until four in the morning on a Tuesday night with SNL writer Simon Rich. The next day, after a table read and deliberation by Lorne Michaels, one of his sketches, “Death by Chocolate," had been picked to air. That experience stayed with Reitman.

“From the first moment I ever sat at SNL and watched that thing go live, there was a part of me that wanted to capture it,” he said of the origin story for his new film. But with almost 50 years on the air, what story to choose for a feature film? Reitman went with what has become Saturday Night, which chronicles in real time the making of the first-ever SNL episode, where everything that can go wrong does.

“A documentary and a narrative feature are different things,” Reitman told National Post. “And the purpose of a narrative feature is to feel something. My guiding truth was: What did it feel like, moments before this show went to air when it seemed impossible?”

The cast of 'Saturday Night' watching a skit during rehearsals.

'Saturday Night' (2024)

Doing the Research

When Reitman first signed up to write the project, he began by interviewing everyone who was in the building that day, from the NBC pages to writers to actors to crew members to musicians to Lorne Michaels himself, the creator of what was then called NBC’s Saturday Night.

“We tried to get every story … not only to understand what happened but most importantly to understand how it felt to be in the room,” he said. “And as we interviewed everybody, we learned that none of their stories lined up, and they all contradicted each other."

This is often the trick of creating a biopic—primary source material is subjective. Sure, you may have the facts (the airdate was Oct. 11, the host was George Carlin, the musical guests were Billy Preston & Janis Ian), but to find a compelling story there, one that people will want to watch for 1 hour and 49 minutes, that is where the artistry of screenwriting comes in.

“Between all of them, we found a truth, the truth of what it felt like to be there, what it felt like when this generation of talent in their early 20s ripped television out of the hands of the last generation, and what it felt like to make something that had never been done before,” Reitman said of the heart of his story.

Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) talking to John Belushi (Matt Wood) in a dressing room in 'Saturday Night.'

'Saturday Night' (2024)

Keep To the Heart of Your Story

Reitman got to work writing the screenplay along with Gil Kenan (Monster House, Poltergeist). After creating what Reitman dubbed a “murder board” depicting where all of their characters were at any time during the two hours leading up to launch, they spent three feverish days writing the screenplay.

“And then once we got cooking, it was this very meticulous, choreographed prep where we were constantly rehearsing and shooting scenes with stand-ins and moving through the space,” Reitman remembered.

But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some artistic licenses taken.

While many of the pivotal obstacles in the film are based on true events—Lorne Michaels had planned on being the anchor for Weekend Update before handing it off to Chevy Chase—they didn’t necessarily happen 90 minutes before they went live. But the heart of the film was to capture all of the chaos of that first episode and insert it into the timeline of their story, which—anyone who has performed live knows—is an electric ninety minutes before stepping into the spotlight.

The heart of the film led the way: the chaos of trying something new—something live where mistakes will be seen and remembered. The excitement of comedy and performance. And of course, the hindsight of knowing that they would pull off the launch of a show that would become a keystone in the American pop culture zeitgeist. These were the guiding lights that allowed a screenplay to pour out of Reitman and Kenan in three days.

Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt) sitting on a crane operator while on set.

'Saturday Night' (2024)

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If your biopic strays too far from the truth, audiences may feel deceived and frustrated. That said, it is the writer's job to determine how to portray the humans in their story—with kindness, disapproval, or sympathy?

Writers must choose what the heart of that historical moment or figure is and what modern audiences can learn from them and use that to guide the narrative—something Jason Reitman undeniably pulled off.

Check out our Preparation Notes so you start your story off on the right track!

Shannon Corbeil is a writer, actor, and U.S. Air Force veteran in Los Angeles with appearances on SEAL Team and The Rookie. She was also a 2023 DGE TV Writing Program Finalist and her screenplays have placed in various contests. You can read more about her on her website or come play on Instagram and Twitter!