Penguin September 4th, 2008
I was over at DVXUser the other day and read this comment:
Pick two or three dozen great screenplays and style copy them. What I mean by this is re-write them by hand–verbatim. This will help you see how the pros do it VIA YOUR OWN WRITING MECHANISM: your frontal cortex, your hand, your pen.
In 2004, after reading an article by Rob Tobin I did this exercise. I decided to make an investment in my writing career by “wasting” two months on style copying. Believe me, it works. The end result is that you take the best features of each script and create your own distinct style. Okay. Enough said.
- Kylekmd
I’ve never heard of this exercise before, but it kind of makes sense. I’m going to give it a try. I should really be reading more screenplays anyway, but find it hard to have that discipline. This will force me to sit down everyday and do some diligent homework.
If you’ve done this or know people who have, let me know how it went.
-Penguin
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Tags: DVXUser, Exercises, Screenwriting, Style
Penguin August 5th, 2008
I came across this document about story structure over at DVXuser. It’s basically a collection of notes from a variety of Truby, Vogler, Hauge, Snyder, Howard, Iglesias, Seth, Gulino, Williams, Marks & Chitlik.
It’s a great resource for any screenwriter. Not only does it go through the basics of story structure, it provides handy visuals and references. It has lists of virtues and vices, questions to ask your character, and common screenwriting vernacular. It even has a handy checklist to help you with your rewrites.
Download it.
-Penguin
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Tags: Character, Downloads, PDFs, Rewrites, Screenwriting, Structure
Penguin June 25th, 2008
Everything in movies is fake. That’s understandable considering the nature of the medium. But in order for a story to work, it needs to be believable. That’s where knowledge comes into play. This is especially true when you look at your premise.
Take Iron Man for example. The key to powered armor is energy. The solve this problem early on with the mini arc generator. They don’t even bother explaining how the arc generator works because if they did, all the engineers would be able to poke holes in it. Just by telling us, and then showing us that it generates massive amounts of energy is enough. We buy it.
Then you look at something like Untraceable. The premise is a killer who can’t be traced through the internet. Even basic understanding of how the internet works would show that it could never happen.
But “reality” is different in every movie. Something that could work in Star Wars may not work in Apollo 13 because they have different rules because they exist in different universes. Certain things like physics, math, etc, are still true because we accept them as universal. But there are aspects that we believe because we understand that Star Wars is a fantasy.
The moment your audience says, “No way!” with disdain, you’ve lost them. Any credibility you’ve built is out the window and they’ve written off the entire film. This is especially true with your premise. If no one will believe your premise, you’re fighting them the whole way.
So do your research. Make sure you stuff makes sense so your audience will believe the lie.
-Penguin
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Tags: Apollo 13, Audience, Research, Screenwriting, Star Wars, Untraceable
Penguin June 23rd, 2008
Nothing quite like a vacation to get the juices going. I hammered out a few early drafts of Irreplaceably Precious while I was in Mexico. The ending still needs a little bit of work, but the main bits are there.
I started with a rough short story that I wrote on the plane. After I typed it up, I started building the scenes and writing out the dialogue. It was hard to keep myself from editing, since my dialogue was so bad.
Then I reread it to see if things made sense and added a few more scenes in and started moving bits and pieces around. If I had my index cards, it would’ve been much easier to do this.
I showed it to my actors, and they seem to like it. It clocks in at a brisk 22 pages. The original play, which it’s loosely based off, ran 70 pages. It’s pretty much completely different from the original. But the same (if that makes any sense).
Can’t wait to shoot it.
-Penguin
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Tags: Dialogue, Drafts, Filmmaking, Irreplaceably Precious, Screenwriting
Penguin June 12th, 2008
A few years ago, some friends wrote a 70 page script that was intended to be performed live. I helped them edit and do rewrites over a course of 3 months. Then we spent another 3 to 4 months preparing it for performance. It never happened.
Coming into this summer, I didn’t really have a project to do. Some of the original actors are still keen on making this thing happen and so do I. It’s been sitting on my brain ever since we canceled the show. Was it the right decision? Should we have pushed through?
I reread the script a few months ago and realized how dated it all sounded. So I’ll be spending the next few weeks rewriting it and refocusing it. Luckily, I still have access to the original writers. I want to keep it as faithful to its original themes and intentions as possible.
But even if I finish, I may not have enough actors to do it. Even if I don’t get to shoot it, writing will be good practice.
One step at a time though.
-Penguin
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Tags: Filmmaking, Irreplaceably Precious, Projects, Screenwriting
Penguin May 15th, 2008
Filmmaker Magazine has an old but fantastic article on “development“.
The first half goes through and discusses the Hollywood system and how writers are undervalued. Granted, this was written in 1995, and having no experience in the system, I wouldn’t be able to say if it’s still accurate. But based on the way business moves, I would imagine it being about the same.
Towards the end, there are some great tips and guides on how to edit screenplays from a producer or director standpoint.
For the producer
- Treatments and outlines are usually a waste of time.
This applies to original spec scripts, not necessarily book adaptations or remakes. I know as a writer, I find a very general plot outline very helpful as a guide when I’m writing. But I try not to let it guide me too much. My final work ends up being fairly different from my outline. Her point is that the process of writing is a journey. Often times, as you flesh out ideas, the path and destination of the journey changes.
- First Drafts.
First drafts are the initial thoughts and ideas that the writer has put down on paper. The expectation shouldn’t be that it’s great, but a starting point. From the writing side, the first draft is usually the worst. Not because it’s the first thing that you’ve written, but because all those fresh and interesting ideas are no longer fresh or interesting. That’s because they’ve been written and you’ve read them a couple hundred times.
- Call the writer as soon as you’ve read the first draft, before you talk to anyone else about it.
The idea is to give the writer feedback right away. I know when I finish a draft I want SOMEONE to read it right away. Someone I can trust to be critical and point out the good and the bad.
- How to talk to writers.
Always give praise to the good things. Gush about it, because there are going to be plenty of things you’re going to tear down. This builds up the emotional quotient so they’ll push on with the script. Our egos are fragile, and as much as we like to think we can take it, it hurts when you tear into that one scene that we just absolutely LOVE.
- Editing the first draft.
I like my notes on the page, in the margins. When I go through and make my changes, I’m going to go through page by page. This helps me from having to refer to a separate sheet of notes. Comments about your initial thoughts, what you liked about it, what you didn’t like. But I like questions. Usually these questions arise because something in the script is confusing or something needs clarifying.
- Editing the second draft.
Talk through every scene with the writer. Find his motivations and intents. This may help you clarify your own thoughts. Also be sure to mark which parts are good and shouldn’t be changed. The tendency is to go and kill everything after this draft.
There are a few more tips, but I found these the most useful.
-Penguin
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Tags: Editing, Screenwriting
Penguin May 7th, 2008
John August has a fantastic post about learning how to write story structure:
My advice for you is to dedicate one day a week to disassembling good movies. Take existing films (and one-hour dramas) and break them down to cards. Think of yourself as an ordinary mechanic given the task of reverse-engineering a spaceship. Figure out what the pieces do, and why they were put together in that way.
Here are the questions you need to ask about each scene or sequence:
- As the audience, what am I expecting will happen next?
- What does the character want to do next?
- Is this a good moment to let the character achieve something, or knock him back?
- How long has it been since we checked in with other character and subplots?
- What would have happened if this scene had been cut? Or moved?
By asking these questions about other people’s movies, you can take some of the pressure off.
[...]
I think you can keep making breakthroughs in your writing, but only by challenging your preconceived limitations.
This is great advice for any novice/intermediate screenwriters. I know I’ve been struggling with the same question. Now to actually get to writing.
-Penguin
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Tags: John August, Screenwriting, Structure, Tips
