Ninja vs Penguin

Penguin July 25th, 2007

1. Have an idea. I’m not trying to be stupid. The key here, is that YOU have to find the idea interesting, otherwise, you won’t want to make the movie. Regardless of what other people say about it being cliche, or boring, make the piece that you want to make. Isn’t that the whole reason we got into this? Oh right, the millions of dollars. That’ll come one day. For now, write what you love.
2. What are you trying to say? Now you have an idea. It’s a seed, a starting point. Sure, it may be exciting, but does it matter? There are plenty of movies that don’t say anything, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But think about your favourite movies. Think about those movies you consider the cream of the crop. Even if they don’t explicitly “say” something, there’s some sort of theme that drives the movie. Does your story have a theme? Is it trying to say something?
3. Write a treatment.  You have the idea, start writing out all the scenes and action that you want to see.  If there would be dialogue, just leave a note for yourself that “// dialogue goes here”.  The idea is that you want to get the structure of your movie down on paper.  Now is the chance to look at the pacing and move scenes around or shore up plot holes.
4. Write the script.  Now, find all your “// dialogue goes here” notes, and replace them with real dialogue.  Think about your characters, model them after friends, family, enemies, just give each one a unique voice.  Give them something fun or interesting to say and try to stay away from exposition.  If you’re finding that you’re explaining the plot, then write a scene that SHOWS what’s happening.
5. Take a vacation. Done with the script? Save it! Put down your pen, or whatever media you’re using to capture your thoughts, just, step away. Your natural inclination is to go back and make edits and to think about your script all the time. But you’ve just spent all this creative energy making your masterpiece. You need to rest and rejuvenate. Just like runners need to rest after a marathon, you need to rest as well.  Go somewhere warm, preferably, with food.
6. Rewrite. How was your vacation? Sunny? Fun? Relaxing? Wonderful! Now open up your script, pick up your pen and reread what you wrote two weeks ago. Doesn’t it suck? Now rewrite it. Make your characters stronger. Make your plot more interesting. Make sure what you’re trying to “say” with your script is clear.
7. Let people you trust read it. Now is your opportunity to start sharing it with your trusted cabal. There should be a set of people who you trust to give you honest and fair feedback. People who care about you and want to see you succeed. Some of the things that say will be mean. Your favourite scene may end up being trash in their eyes. That’s perfect! You know why? Because now, you can go back and go through that scene and every other scene and try and prove to them why it’s not garbage. In doing so, you may realize that there are things in your head that you didn’t get down on paper. Or maybe they’re right. It is garbage and it should be cut. The script is more important than your ego.
8. Rewrite. Armed with the knowledge of your trusted cabal, go back and rewrite. Again. At this point, you should WANT to rewrite it. Because you care THAT much about your script.

Next, pre-production.

Happy writing!

-Penguin

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