past perfect to emphasize a changement

Question

It was always part of McLaren's master plan that the Pistols were more than merely a band. In the tradition of situanism however McLaren had intended the film to be a very extreme affair and indeed had begun filming using Russ Meyer, the director of such films as Beyond The Valley of the Dolls (1970). McLaren's choice of Meyer as a suitable director for the Sex Pistol's film is telling. McLaren saw him as '... not being a liberal'. He was a Vietnam veteran who produced sordid and exploitative films and the script McLaren and Meyer came up with reflected this.

I think the use of both past perfect is to emphasize the changement "he had done , thought that before he changed his minds" but what I don't understand is why past simple for came up: is it because he has already had emphasize the changement so he does not need to underline it a new time.Because for me the script they had come up with was before McLaren changed his minds.Or may be it is just after finishing the script(having already filmed some scenes) that he changed his minds.

Answer 1

The choice of tenses usually reflects the speaker's sense of the sequence of events. The speaker may forget to say something that explains a shift of tense: he is thinking it but not saying it. In the passage above, one gets the impression that they came up with the script after they had begun filming. That might have been the case. The script might have evolved during the filming.

McLaren had intended the film to be extreme. He had begun filming using Russ Meyer (who produced sordid and exploitative films) and the script (the one he and Meyer came up with) reflected this intention.

What is clear is that the intention precedes everything, including the script:

McLaren had intended the film to be extreme. ... The script (the one he and Meyer came up with) reflected this intention.

We're not sure what to make of the past perfect here:

He had begun filming using Russ Meyer...

The simple past might be better there.

McClaren had intended the film to be extreme. He began filming using Russ Meyer and the script he and Meyer came up with reflected this intention.