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Friday, 12 September 2014 11:09

Sorry - We Are Sold Out

Our Apologies. 

sold out

 The Jule Selbo Event is Sold Out.

Best,
OC Screenwriters

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Monday, 16 August 2010 16:06

Life Cycle of a Script

I had a conversation a few days ago with an aspiring screenwriter who spent a good part of an hour telling me about all the ideas he wants to put in script form. His excitement was followed by confiding about his feelings about all the horror stories he hears and the cynicism that shows up in articles and even books on the subject of the film business and specifically the world of Hollywood. That was a prime example of the conflict between a passion for the craft – A yearning to release the stories the writer carries - and the realities of the movie business. Are those two worlds really in conflict or is it just a matter of viewpoint?

The analogy that comes to mind, from my personal experience with the writing process and specifically screenwriting, is one of the stages of life. If we consider our screenplay a personal creation then it goes through the stages of its own life and just like each one of us eventually dies no matter the successes or failures it encountered during its lifetime. At each stage of a script’s life our focus and attitudes – as creators - have to shift in order to maximize the chances of success in that specific stage. I picked out six distinct stages.
 
Conception: The germination of the high concept, the idea, the story with its beginning, middle, and end. At this stage we are not quite sure yet if we want to go ahead with our creation. All we have to go by is our own hunch and maybe feedback from the people around us. Whether we are professional writers or just beginners we have to assess our capacity to carry the idea to full development. We have to be honest with ourselves and take an inventory of our skills, talents, technical and emotional capacities. It is similar to the young couple trying to assess whether they can handle having a child and raising it in a healthy manner. Our honest recognition of what’s missing, what kind of help we need, and whether we’re ready for the journey makes all the difference in how the journey unfolds. Our focus at this point should be whether we’re willing to go through with the creation and get the needed help we need along the way.
 
Creation: This is when we put word to paper. The process of creation is one of meticulously putting the pieces together. Brining our characters to life and making them compelling to our readers. Having a strong plot and structure and experimenting with different worldviews and approaches. This is the time to make mistakes and learn from them whether we are a pro or not. Like a parent who is not quite sure how to deal with their child and who tries different approaches to figure out what works best for their specific dynamic and situation. The focus should be solely on creating and striving to set a solid foundation for our creation and nothing else.
 
Nurturing: This stage takes patience, resilience, willingness to learn and grow, and really a lot of love for the creation we are developing and compassion for ourselves. Haste, impatience, carelessness, and fear can only lead to a destructive outcome. Nurturing also takes commitment that should have been made clear at the conception stage. Are we going to see that this child grows into a healthy adolescent or are we going to neglect it and allow it to either meet an early death or just drift into dysfunctional oblivion which is an even harsher form of death? This is the long dark tunnel we go through where we can only do our best and hope that our commitment will pay off.
 
Maturity: Eventually our creation matures into a completed piece that we edit and fine tune. During the nurturing stage we most probably received help through critiques, teachers, and colleagues. At this stage we are putting the final touches and declaring our work complete and ready to go out and meet the world. It is the child just graduating high school or maybe college and getting ready to test their value and potential in the world. At this stage we not only try to perfect our manuscript but we also prepare the groundwork for its acceptance in the world by connecting with people and organizations that could help promote it and make it visible to the industry. This is a difficult and grey area where even when we get assurances of acceptance, it is still not guaranteed.
 
Release: After all the work and preparation is done we have to release our manuscript physically and emotionally. Whether we submitted to agents, studios, or contests, its fate is no longer in our hands. The work has to stands on its own and either be accepted and embraced or slowly drift into oblivion. There are no guarantees, just as in life, but that never stopped anyone from living fully and giving it their best shot.
 
Death: Whether our work is accepted and maybe wins an Oscar or just disappears in the bottom of agent’s bottom drawer, eventually it dies. It slowly fades from our memory and the memory of those who were involved in its creation. Just like outstanding people, outstanding works die but remain as lessons for future generations. They are what we call the classics. This is a stage we must accept no matter the outcome of our work.
 
At each stage of this lifecycle the writer must focus on one thing at a time and eventually let go and move on to the next challenge. So my answer to my aspiring screenwriter friend is to worry about the immediate concerns at each stage and to learn throughout the process, but make sure he moves to the next stage and not get stuck forever in one spot, after all life is too short and death awaits us all … Eventually.

 

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Thursday, 22 July 2010 19:19

The Power of Story

batmanA couple of weeks ago I attended a talk on archetypes in film led by Jim Curtan, an ex-Hollywood talent agent whose portfolio of clients included John Travolta, Geena Davis, and Willem Dafoe among other big names. One of the questions that Jim brought up for the sake of discussion was: What is it about some movies that attracts or touches so many people? Classics like “The Wizard of Oz” and “It’s a Wonderful Life” have become household titles and holiday staples. Super heroes like Superman and Batman have been portrayed in so many different plots and storylines that have always attracted the public. What keeps them coming?
 
Stories, good stories, are the ones that include the archetypes we identify with and that are not only in our individual consciousness but also in the collective. In fact, these archetypes are not even in our consciousness but deeply engrained in our subconscious and unconscious. When we watch a movie like Batman (anyone of them) we sense that the story resonates with something deep within us even if we can’t put a name to it. These archetypes are a reflection of ourselves or what we yearn for. They tell us stories that teach us about who we are and what we’re all about. These archetypes range from the God symbol to the strongest form of evil. Light and shadow are portrayed in their many shapes and forms and each one of us responds to them differently. The bottom line is that we respond to them. When Jim discussed Batman – Dark Knight, he presented the archetype of the savior (Jesus) portrayed in Batman. He is even tempted by the Joker (same asjourney the Jesus story). In Jim’s words “Batman is a contemporary symbol of Christ as scapegoat bearing the sins of people.” The viewer might not go that deep in their analysis but they know they want to keep watching. The story has power and appeal.
 
Stories with impact and staying power are the ones that can evoke archetypal energies in the viewer and help them learn about themselves and the world through the story. Whether they realize it or not, they walk away with an experience of having recognized parts of themselves or what they believe in the story - usually on a subconscious level. Their own light and shadow are projected on the screen in various forms.
 
Writers often pour their own archetypal energies in their stories but they can be so much more powerful if they are aware of these archetypes and learn to mold and refine the story in a way that produces the greatest impact. They can then be story tellers and wizards in every sense of the word. 
 
leia and r2Such knowledge or awareness is not easy to acquire because writers don't just have to know about archetypes but rather to dig deep within themselves and touch their darkest and most vulnerable places. It is an experience rather than an understanding. In a way it is the writer’s own hero’s journey that allows them to return with the boon, their unique boon, than can then be expressed powerfully in their stories and their writing.

 

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Sunday, 17 January 2010 16:23

The Writer's Path - Lessons from Jack Kerouac

If a story or novel is an extension of the author’s psyche and personal philosophy, then isn’t it a pre-requisite that the author know his own voice?
 
As a writer I do my best work when I pour out the depths of my soul onto the page. Every word must come from a burning desire to impress a message onto the story. My own dark places, doubts and fears as well as what the world lacks (in my view) or where I disagree with the world, all shows up somehow in story form. Most of all, my creative juices keep flowing from a well deeper than the intellect, fueled by what seems like an infinite source of energy.
 
I was inspired to write this short essay after reading an article in Smithsonian Magazine about Jack Kerouac. Jack Kerouac’s own search for meaning brought about his work that in turn initiated a cultural revolution that would change our social fabric forever. Kerouac was only interested in pouring out his frustration with the status quo and with the “establishment”, yet every word he wrote resonated with much of the younger generation. A writer, it seems to me, does not intentionally set out to change the world as a personal goal of sorts but rather to let his soul bring to the stage his own message that is not necessarily a solution but a wakeup call to his and future generations.
 
Kerouac’s following eventually became the Beatnik generation that was an utter failure within our social context. Does this mean that Kerouac was wrong? Does it mean he wasted his life? I would answer no to both of these questions. Kerouac had a call to write what he wrote and his intent was not to create the Beatnik generation but to convey the message that we need as individuals to find our own path and answer our own questions regardless of what society or the pop culture of the day tells us. Thinking for ourselves and bringing our own uniqueness to the world are what makes us powerful humans. Otherwise we are just running with the pack, living a predictable and limited life defined for us by what society determines as reality.
 
I believe that as writers we need to write as Kerouac did. Not necessarily with his convictions and philosophy but rather learning to tap into our own unique message free of the restrictions that social norms and institutions place on us. After all, writing is creating, and we can only create what cannot be seen or sensed by others. As writers, we bring a whole new world into being for all to see. Whether they accept or reject it is not our concern. Our concern is making our voice heard and letting the rest take care of itself. Our concern is staying in integrity with our own message and fundamental being and to hold steady despite the rejection and criticism. It is so much easier for a writer or any artist for that matter to eventually sell out and engage in the superficiality of the art to please and tell people what they want to hear. Staying within the confines of what is comfortable for all is easier to do and probably more lucrative for the artist. Then, an artist becomes a fuel for the collective slumber repeatedly injecting into the culture the same ideas in different forms.
 
The road less traveled, as Robert Frost reminds us, is the lonely one with no tracks or path to follow. The road less traveled, I think, is where every writer and artist needs to be. Bringing fresh perspectives and a clear voice of their own unique spirit to a world that is content to dwell in commonality, routine, and acceptance of the latest version of reality imposed on it.
 
No blind follower ever brought positive change to the world, neither were they remembered past the last handful of dirt on their grave. Although I believe that every human being has a unique talent and voice to share, writers are in the forefront as they bring new thought to their audiences and their responsibility is to make their own unique voice heard. They need to make it heard with the uninhibited passion of an artist and the relentless patience of a craftsman. They need to make it heard in any form that works for them. They need to make it heard until the fire in their belly is quenched and their soul is satisfied.

 

 

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Monday, 23 November 2009 21:49

The First Fifteen Minutes

 

The discussion of the first fifteen minutes started with my fellow screenwriters and raised the question: What do the first fifteen minutes ideally present to the audience? All of us writers know that setting up the characters and background of the story are some of the main elements of these fifteen minutes, but that does not guarantee that whatever we setup will work. So what works?
 
I don’t claim to be an expert but I know I can do good research, so I set out to watch the first fifteen minutes (sometimes up to 17 minutes) of successful movies and to find the common thread that makes all of them work so well. I watched a total of ten movies but will only discuss one of them in this article.
 
The movie “Dave”, with Kevin Kline, is the story of a double (Dave) of the President who finds himself assuming the role when the president has a stroke.
 
Here are the first seventeen minutes in as short a summary as I can…   
 
The first three minutes: We’re given a location for the story – Washington DC. We’re introduced to the President and the first lady as well as their entourage. We are shown there is indifference between the President and the first lady. The dog is tossed aside as soon as they’re no longer in the public eye – it’s all show. A moment between the President and his assistant that raises a question about their relationship – We find out later they’re lovers. The President is briefed by his staff. We learn of serious issues he has to attend to. It’s a serious high powered environment, but the President requests his staff find a double. He’s going away for a short while.
 
In three minutes we are immersed in the world of DC politics, we find out what the President is up to and we get a sense of his relationships. We are even left with a few questions that we certainly want answered!
 
Fourth minute: Enter Dave on a pig doing a commercial for a car dealership. Just like the President he’s doing a show, but he’s not fooling anyone! He rides a pig in contrast with the President who rides a helicopter (in the opening). Dave also has an audience that is laughing and relaxed. It’s a fun and light environment in contrast with the crowd of reporters and serious white house staff. We learn that Dave is somewhat of an actor, he’s funny and playful, a simple common man, and he looks exactly like the President.
 
Up to the ninth minute: We see the President in a staff meeting. How he deals with his staff. He’s political, slick, and assertive. We meet Dave at work with his staff and clients. Again we are presented with a contrast of environments and personalities. Dave is a humanitarian looking out for the common people. We get a few funny moments here that tell us we’re watching a light, funny movie and not a drama or a thriller. The FBI ask Dave to “serve his country” by sitting in as the President’s double.
 
Up to minute seventeen: Now Dave enters the white house and we get to see him reacting to his new environment, and pulling some of his funny theatrics. This series of scenes ends with the President having a stroke while making love to his assistant. This is the inciting incident (this is not plot point 1) that makes the chief of staff, who has his own agenda, call Dave back to be President for a while longer.  
 
After watching these first seventeen minutes, there’s no doubt in my mind that Dave is being pulled into an adventure where he is way over his head. Now that I met all the characters I already have questions about how things are going to unfold. At the seventeenth minute Dave hasn’t accepted to stay as mock president yet, so we ask: What is it going to take for him to accept? How are they going to convince him? How is he going to deal with the assistant/lover, the first lady, and the sharks on the white house staff? He can act but how does someone with his personality and humanitarian principles deal with the environment of politics and smoke and mirrors?
 
The setup has not only defined the characters very well but has also defined them relative to each other with all their oppositions and dysfunctions. We have a sense of the antagonist and his plan and we know that there are many lose ends Dave will have to deal with. How? We don’t know and I believe that’s why we stick around. There are too many tensions, too many questions, and frankly a character that is bound to trip up and produce very funny moments that we don’t want to miss.
 
These first seventeen minutes grip us and pull us into the story of Dave and his adventure. They present us with a journey that we say yes to and are willing to take. We anticipate that if the rest of the movie is anything like the opening then we’re in for a great ride.
 
My exercise of watching the first fifteen minutes has paid off and has actually helped me improve my writing. I suggest you try it and see for yourself. As you watch, note the setup of location and mood, characterizations, tensions, and the questions that come up. Try it with a good movie and try it again with one of the certified bad ones. I am sure you’ll notice a difference. If you can, try reading the first fifteen pages of a good screenplay to see how it shows up in writing. Does it work? Does it keep you wanting to read? If yes, then that’s what you also need to achieve.
 
The first fifteen minutes is not a rule to follow or even a guideline. No screenwriter would want to limit themselves with yet another rule. But every serious screenwriter owes it to themselves to study closely that first step into their story, that step that I believe can make or break the script, that step that we can refine and perfect by learning from the masters.

 

 
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Thursday, 30 July 2009 09:49

Mamet Talks

 MAMET TALKS by Tom McCurrie
 
After reviewing several multiplexes worth of movies, I figured I'd take a break and review one of the writers of those movies: David Mamet (THE UNTOUCHABLES, HOFFA, HEIST.)

Recently I (Tom Currie) attended a Q & A session with Mamet at the Writer's Guild Theatre in Los Angeles. Now I have to admit, Mamet came across like an irascible, cocksure SOB -- then again, if you won the Pulitzer for GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, wouldn't you? Still, Mamet had some very interesting, and controversial, things to say about screenwriting circa 2003. Here they are, in no particular order (forgive my paraphrasing, Mr. Mamet):
 
1) Don't write screenplays to sell. If they're good, Hollywood won't want them. And if you try and write down to the mediocre tastes of studio execs, you're only training yourself to be subservient to the demands of "second-class minds" who will soon kill off your creative spark altogether. Instead, write something you're passionate as hell about...and make a movie of it yourself (unless your spec has the budgetof MASTER & COMMANDER, of course).
 
2) Never write exposition. And I mean never. Let plot and dialogue push your story along.
 
3) The ability to write is a gift. If you don't got it, you don't got it. If you do got it, Craft can make this gift even better.
 
4) Most writers don't got it (a.k.a. they suck).
 
5) Directing makes you a better writer since it teaches you to cut for pace.
 
6) Write till you can't do any better, then move on to the next project.
 
7) Read Aristotle's POETICS and Joseph Campbell's THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES. These will tell you all you need to know about writing.

8) Write each day, even if it's just for three minutes at a time.
 
9) Writing is hard and always will be. It doesn't get easier the
  more you do it.
 
10) There's no such thing as character in a script. There's just a good story with good actors talking.
 
11) Narration can be either good or bad, depending on the writer.
 
12) Get out of school as soon as possible. Experience Life. Put that experience in your script.
 
13) Biography is the hardest to write since you're trapped by actual events -- and actual events aren't necessarily dramatic. Use Poetic License to remedy this situation.
 
14) Don't write and drink at the same time.
 
15) All movies are about good and evil (or should be).
 
16) Some of Mamet's favorite movies are DUMBO, GALAXY QUEST and THE LIFE AND TIMES OF COLONEL BLIMP.
 
17) All writing is getting over what happened to you before you were ten years old.
 
18) God is a mystery. And writing is a way of getting closer to that mystery. 

19) Mamet's formula for a good script -- a simple premise with unforeseeable twists and turns.
 
20) Mamet can't explain the writing process. That's because he works unconsciously.
 
21) Forget every rule Syd Field, Robert McKee or any other screenwriting guru ever taught you. Except one..."Never Be Boring."
 

A graduate of USC's School of Cinema-Television, Tom McCurrie has worked as a development executive and a story analyst. He is currently a screenwriter living in Los Angeles.

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Wednesday, 29 July 2009 22:47

Five Easy Pieces

Five easy pieces: thoughts and analysis
by Mark Sevi

Exclusive to the Orange County Screenwriters Association

five easy pieces

Written more than thirty years, "Five Easy Pieces" is a story about loss and alienation in a post-Vietnam, post-hippie world. But it has still-timely lessons for today’s writers both personally and professionally. 

The loss is the loss of the innocence of youth when a mother’s touch and guidance could buffer one from the harsh realities of the world and seemingly make us fit into this world even if we are the proverbial square peg in a round hole. The alienation is one of intellect and societal norms that weigh us down and force us to do what is expected, rather than what we want. Also, this film reflects both the loss and alienation of unrealistic expectations - the expectations of youth when everything seems possible.

The Nicholson character, Bobby, loses (through death) his mother’s guidance as a young man (this is only dealt with in the script - his mother is never mentioned in the film). This sets within him the seeds of an alienation that become so profound that heust flee his upper-class, musical arts-infused upbringing that has ultimately failed him. He leaves after his mother’s death and drops into a world that asks little of him but also gives little in return.  But for a while, that’s enough for Bobby. When your loss is this profound, you go numb. Bobby is numb and stays numb for many years after his mother’s death.

Imagine a young man who hates the pretense and confinement of his upbringing which was insular, incestuous (experiences, not sexual), and filled with endless obligations that weren’t a lot of fun. Add in the fact that Bobby, the youngest, never quite fit with his older siblings (and father) who seemed to flourish in this stifling environment and you have the makings of a young man who can’t seem to find his place in any world. Sensing or knowing that, it’s simply easier to just drop out and live adiner scene mundane existence. This becomes the Bobby we first meet as the film opens. Without the buffer of his beloved mother, he just- is.

In Bobby’s blue collar world, the only thing asked of him is being a good old boy, to buy a round occasionally, and to bowl a game once a week. What he doesn’t realize is that even alliances of convenience in this world require you to participate in other people’s lives. That participation sometimes become chains that hold you strongly in place against your will. We can certainly all relate to that.

Rayette, Bobby’s Miss-Right-Now, takes her relationship with him seriously even if he doesn’t, and doesn’t see it for the sexual companionship trifle that Bobby does. She becomes pregnant by him, and clingy and suddenly, those chains that held Bobby in Seattle when he was younger are quickly transferred to his neck in the oil fields of Signal Hill, California. When his “friend”, Elden, (Bobby has no real friends because he is incapable of forming alliances that aren’t just temporary), mentions that (1) he should “get him one of those” (a kid), (2) that Rayette is in fact pregnant, and (3) that just hanging with the wife and kid is what basically makes Elden happy, Bobby has a fit and says “It’s ridiculous. I’m sittin’ here listenin’ to some asshole cracker compare his life to mine.” - and - “Just keep tellin’ me about the good life, Elden. If you want ‘a see me puke my lunch.”

This sounds a bell in our minds that Bobby isn’t the Okey-Doky good old boy he appears to be in the opening scenes. There’s something fundamentally different about him from Elden and Rayette. A higher sensibility, perhaps, about the tedium and sorrows of life. This so-called “higher sensibility” about life is pre-shadowed in the scene on the freeway when Bobby climbs on a truck and plays a piano like a concert pianist. Who knew he could play like that? It’s a simple scene, quickly done but it says so much about this character. Here’s our good buddy Bobby, hungover from a night of debauchery with Elden and two “working girls”, just been bounced from work because he can’t walk straight, swearing up a storm about the traffic jam they’re stuck in - and yet, he has this amazing musical talent that speaks of hours of higher-ed training buried inside. Most certainly this is a man of contradictions who just can’t be comfortable in either world. This is also subtly expressed in the fact that the truck he’s on, while he’s playing, takes an off-ramp away from the “sheep” who are in line waiting- for the traffic jam to clear. A sign that Bobby is a man who walks his own path, mostly unaware of where he’s going. He’s reactive rather than proactive in his own life.

As smart as he is, Bobby can’t reconcile his uncertainty no matter where he is or how he tries. Seeking some solace and relief from Rayette’s constant barrage of love pronouncements, Bobby agrees to go see his father who has suffered a major stroke and may not live. Once there, his clumsy attempts at his brother’s fiancé lead to a sexual union but a total rejection from her of him in any other way. This goes back to his mother and his confusion over her he takes with him all his life. When he asks Katherine “And living out here in this rest home asylum, that’s what you want?” and she says “Yes”, Bobby simply cannot accept it. He just says “Okay” and allows her to walk away from him. This is him, talking to his long dead mother. How could you live here, he asks her. How could you die here? Why did you never escape? He clearly doesn’t want to make the same mistake she did.

It’s appropriate that his father is stroke-ridden and cannot respond in any way to him. This was their relationship when he was young - even given full range of faculties, the old man never loved him like his mother did - he was for all intents and purposes stroke-addled.

In a deeper, existential sense his father represents God, the father, white beard and all. This is not really a contradiction. We talk to God all the time as we try to make sense of our world. He never answers us - we see results that we attribute to God but this is just as likely coincidence - according to the film makers. If there is a God, he is an uncommunicative old man who doesn’t interact with us in any way but has a profound influence, usually negative, on our lives. This philosophy skews toward the religious-existentialism of Søren Kierkegaard that basically states that there may be a God but he cares nothing for us and our goings-on.

The fact that Bobby’s father is stroke-damaged, as helpless as a child, is highly significant. This is a sign that the Bobby of his youth no longer sees the all-powerful man his father was. In leaving, he turned his back on his father and his iron-will but he also left when the man was vital and strong. Now he says “I can’t stand to see him this way.” In other words, he’s outgrowing the childish image of his father that he had. Many of us see this as our parents age and become unfirm. It’s hard, impossible, to look at their shrinking, wrinkled forms and remember the vibrant, strong people they were. This cadaver on wheels shakes Bobby to his core. It means he’s getting old. He sees his own fleeing years in the reflection of his father’s lined face. It’s a reminder of his own mortality and a rite of passage into final adulthood. And it’s a direct metaphor for Bobby’s lack of faith in anything anymore. Father = God. Both are damaged goods. Neither is the answer to his eternal quest for clarity in his life. If he is to solve his angst, he must do it without guidance either from him mother, long dead, or from his father, impotent with disease.

In response, Bobby seduces his brother’s fiancé - a way of proving he’s still viable, still vibrant, still strong, unlike his withered father. He disastrously seeks solace and vibrancy in this woman’s stable but pedestrian world. When she finally rejects him, he knows that he is truly, wholly alone and must make his own way in the world.

Bobby makes one more attempt at finding a place to be. He takes his father to an opengirls on roadside field to seek answers. It’s isolated, as is Bobby, and confessional in nature. He tries to form the basis for his life’s confusions but he simply can’t. And “God” can’t or won’t communicate the answer to help him. In the end, Bobby cries the tears of a child who has been abandoned and hurt. We don’t want to grow up, but we must - Bobby doesn’t want that either. Bobby’s confusion is the confusion of many people, even today, who don’t see themselves as fitting in this world of Christian values - or really, the values of any religion or society.

This story was written at a time when disaffected youth, stunned by the lack of any real progress of the social movements of the 60's, suddenly had to deal with the realities of the world. They had to find a way to fit somewhere between the idealism of their youth and the fact that they needed to get a job, find a place to live, and bring children into a world that was changing rapidly. Vietnam, Watergate and the sudden realization of the shallowness of society is represented by Bobby’s loss of a mother who loved and nurtured him.

In the 70's there was no comfortable place for these hippy, quasi-adults who were now too young to screw around anymore and too old to be cute in their oft-expressed disdain of the world. Where, in fact, do you go when you’re abandoned by everything? Bobby tells us through his story - nowhere fast.

In the end, Bobby divests himself of his identity - wallet, car, girlfriend and even clothing (a jacket that he leaves behind even though he’s heading to frigid temps) and hitches a ride to one of the bleakest places on Earth - Alaska - where he will disappear and begin again without identity. Some say this is resignedly existential - that there is no happy ending for Bobby. I think you can stretch a point and view the ending in alternate terms - more messianic - death to self to pay for your sins, then to rise again. It’s up to your interpretation.

At it’s core, it is an existential world vision though. “Five Easy Pieces” seems anything but deep or moving initially. It feels like it wanders without much rhyme or reason. But the more you watch it, think about it - the deeper you dig, the deeper it gets until you discover that it’s a sinkhole leading to places dark, dangerous and personally deadly.

~ Mark Sevi is professional screenwriter living in Southern California. As of this writing he has over 18 produced films. He also teaches screenwriting and writes articles about writing for national pubs about scriptwriting.

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Wednesday, 29 July 2009 15:50

Final Draft 8.0

The new Final Draft continues the trend toward one size fits all - to the detriment of the software. 

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Wednesday, 29 July 2009 15:34

Tighten Your Script

TIGHTEN YOUR SCRIPT
by
Mark Sevi
Put your script on a diet
10 Techniques
Exclusive to the Orange County Screenwriters Association

1) TOO HIP FOR YOU
 

Imagine you’re too cool for the room. So of course you come in late and leave early for max “pap”(arazzi) exposure. Start as late in a scene as you can. This means, where is the absolute deepest point you can begin in a scene and still maintain the sense of it and also accomplish your goals.


Subsequently, leave early - don’t drag it. Get to the point, make it and get out without seeming abrupt, but please - MAKE THE POINT – too many times I see work where the scene ends without a coda or a point. Trimming does no good if you’re cutting the reason you’re in the scene.


2) FLASH THEM
 

Show don’t tell.

How can you best show something rather than talk it out? Dialogue is never as efficient in a visual medium like film. Remember the old adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Use your visual skills to show something instead of telling us about it.
 

3) CHATTY CATHY

Tell don’t show.

Yes, it seems contradictory but there are times when just a line of dialogue makes a complete point. Know when to use words instead of visual images to get maximum impact. A judicious voice over, despite the fact that it’s a horribly overused technique, can have maximum impact in minimal space.
 

4) KILL YOUR “CHILDREN”
Know what you’re trying to accomplish with a script, a scene sequence, a scene, and be brutal about cutting something that doesn’t add to that goal. “Killing your children” involves getting rid of the stuff that you’re really in love with. Don’t worry - you can probably use it somewhere else or in another script. But don’t be afraid of tossing your darlings out of the plane to reduce weight so you can make your destination - your ideal page count.
 

5) AND WE’RE BLENDING, WE’RE MIXING
 

When possible, combine.

Not everything needs to stand alone. Combine that snappy dialogue with a scene about traveling somewhere or put it in an elevator scene that you’re using as a transition.
 

6) I’LL CUT YOU, MAN

Don’t be afraid to completely eliminate entire scenes that do nothing or accomplish only one thing.

We all think we absolutely need certain scenes - don’t we? But is that scene with your character talking about his or her feelings really necessary or can we find out through a gesture, a moment, or someplace else entirely.
This technique is sometimes best accomplished on rewrite when you know what you need and don’t need to tell your story.


7) BABY, SWEETY... LOVE YOU BUT -


Think like a producer

A producer’s job is to sweat the money. Imagine every scene you’re creating is costing you money you can't afford and you’ll get why producers have to be merciless (besides that they’re also sadists - but that’s another article.) It’s really difficult to imagine how appalling difficult it is to make something happen film-wise until you actually visit a set and watch them set up for a shot. If you knew what it took to light one simple bad guy on fire...sheesh!


Put a jar on your desk and charge yourself every time you write a new scene or setup that will involve moving hundreds of people to accomplish that moment. Toss a quarter in that jar every time you create a new scene and promise that money to your friend or kids. Now how many would you really keep if you absolutely had to?


8) SHUT THE *@&^$*& UP!

Try eliminating as many lines of dialogue as possible.

Imagine you’re working for an actor who wants 30% of the dialogue eliminated. I did - he made me cut almost every other line of dialogue. And the film still worked. Try it - see what you can get rid of and still maintain the quality of the scene.


9) YOU TALKING TO ME?


When in doubt, sound it out.

Take your work of genius to a workshop or your family dinner and cast the parts. Just listen - let someone else do the reading. You’ll know almost instantly what drags and what doesn’t when you hear people drone on while reading your work.


10) ADD COMMERCIALS


Imagine your feature isn’t going to 110 pages but more like a 2-hour television production. Great. But were you aware that two hours of TV is really only eighty-eight minutes because of commercials? Forty-four minutes per hour.
Could you cut enough to adapt your 100 page work to that few pages? Try it. Imagine you have to to get paid. I bet you could.
 

~~~
 

Mark Sevi is professional screenwriter living in Southern California. As of this writing he has over 18 produced films. He also teaches and writes articles for national pubs about scriptwriting.

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