Screenwriter: Billy Ray
Penguin January 26th, 2008
Billy Ray, best known for writing Flightplan talks about screenwriting. He talks about the virtue of reading bad scripts, mainly to learn what not to do.
Subtext. Most writers have their characters say what they’re thinking. I think this stems from two things. First, the fear that the audience or the reader doesn’t get it. Two, that you, as the writer, have spent all this time coming up with the character’s back story, you want to show it off. A lot of times, this back story is for you and the actor. Have it come out in the parentheticals; give your actors something to work with.
Dilemma. A lot of characters don’t have a dilemma, a difficult decision they have to make. Where, no matter what they choose, things may turn out badly. This adds drama and conflict. Everyone can relate to this. Characters are keys for the audience to hook into your story. They empathize with them and relate to them. They can appreciate the difficulty that they’re being put through. Even with action movies, it’s really the characters that draw you in and make the action engaging.
He also goes on to talk about 5 screenplays all screenwriters should read: Broadcast News, Rocky, Ordinary People, Kramer vs Kramer, and The Wizard of Oz. Reading these scripts will help you with structure.
Links
+ Broadcast News (html)
+ Rocky (txt)
+ Ordinary People (pdf)
+ Kramer vs Kramer (html)
+ The Wizard of Oz (txt)
-Penguin
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