Archive for June, 2009

Screenplay Structure: How To Create Your Story Blueprint

STRUCTURE IS FORM
The structure of your screenplay is the foundation.  It supports the plot, theme, premise, characters, and all the crucial elements: beats, scenes, and sequences.  Without structure, your story would collapse.  Most screenwriters use a variation of the classic three-act structure, with specific structural elements within each act, to layout a script.

Creating a structural “blueprint” will help guide you through the outline process and eventually, with writing the complete screenplay.  You create your story blueprint by noting each event (or plot point) of your story that fits into the structural elements.  When you understand which plot point makes up each structural element (the Inciting Incident, the MidPoint, the Climax, etc.), you have poured the foundation for the structure of your screenplay. Now you can build on that foundation – writing the outline and creating the beats, scenes, and sequences of the script.

I have written a brief, mini-eBook, “Screenplay Structure: How to Create Your Story Blueprint”, to help you with this very-important step in the screenwriting process.  Just click on the book cover to download a free PDF copy and get started!

STAY-TUNED: In my next post I will explore the Plot-Driven, Theme-Driven, and Character-Driven Script.

Story vs. Plot (…and what your plot needs to achieve)

The reason most moviegoers love a film is because the story has a great plot that affected them emotionally.

New writers sometimes confuse story and plot.  The terms story and plot are not synonymous.  Story is an account of incidents or events that convey a deeper understanding of the human condition. Plot is how those events are arranged to achieve an intended effect.

Plot is the tool you use to tell your story – it is how you present the story.  Your plot does not create the story.  Your story creation comes from concept, theme, premise, and character development.  The plot makes your story more emotionally satisfying to the reader or viewer. It provides the answers to the questions of who, what, where, when, how, and why, that are necessary to make sense of the meaning of the story.  Your plot must be carefully focused and mapped out to reach a specific goal or result.

PLOT IS MAPPING ACTION AND REACTION
A good plot is not episodic: A happens, then B happens, then C happens.  When you create an episodic plot, simply moving from incident to incident, the audience gets bored, there is no connection to the material.  Great plots tell a dramatic story and revolve around causality: A happens and causes B to result, which then causes C, and on and on.  A cause-and-effect plot creates conflict and action which gives the plot meaning and direction, engaging an audience and heightening their emotions and reaction to the story.

PLOT IS THE ORDERING OF EMOTIONS
Author Irwin Blacker famously wrote, “Plot is more than a pattern of events; it is the ordering of emotions”.  Emotion is how we connect to others.  Emotion unites us.  Emotion is what makes a film compelling.  And, indeed, how you arrange your plot affects the emotional impact the story has on an audience.  You could say plot is the management of information (through the use of scenes) to make a story more involving and satisfying for an audience.  It is the structuring of action and reaction to create a desired outcome.

And the outcome you want to achieve is emotionally affecting an audience – to laugh, to cry, to fear, to be excited, and to feel connected to the human experience.

How To Create Your Main Character’s Backstory

Your character’s backstory is comprised of those incidents that define his current situation, thoughts, feelings, and motives and occurred before the first page of the script.

Backstory is not necessarily told in the pages of the screenplay.  A good writer will embed aspects of the backstory throughout the script and reveal them as the story progresses, never having to inform the reader of the character’s backstory through heavy-handed exposition.

All we need to know about the backstory of the character Frank Morris (played by Clint Eastwood) in the film Escape From Alcatraz is summed up in this brief exchange of dialogue:

CHARLEY BUTTS
What kind of childhood did you have?

FRANK MORRIS
Short.

Though readers and moviegoers may never know the complete details of your character’s backstory, you, as the writer, must know them intimately to effectively create the world of your character, the choices he will make, and the journey he will take.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR CHARACTER’S BACKSTORY:

1. Physiology – age, sex, appearance

2. Sociology – class, occupation, education, home life, religion, political affiliation

3. Psychology – sex life, moral standards, goals, personality

To create your protagonist’s backstory you need to write a thorough, detailed biography of your character and define the major incidents from his past that affect whom, and where, he is today.

Your character’s biography traces his life from birth to the time the story begins and may include:

* Name
* Birthplace
* Age at the time of the beginning of the story
* What his parents do for a living
* What his relationship is with his parents
* His relationship with his siblings (competitive? supportive?)
* How long he has been married and where he met his spouse
* What his early life and school years were like (was he an honor student, active in clubs?)
* Characteristics – athletic, mischievous, serious, extrovert, introvert….
* College or other major experiences
* His occupation and the evolution of his professional life
* His relationship with his boss and co-workers
* His dreams and goals – and whether they were achieved
* Any travel experiences
* Political and religious views
* Sexual attitudes and ideas
* His hobbies, interests, and desires
* Idiosyncrasies
* His physical description
* General description of his living situation
* Personal motivations
* His dominant, core trait
* His fatal flaw
* Any life changing or defining events

After creating your main character’s biography and backstory, write a “Day in the Life of…”.  Have a full understanding of your character before sending him out into the world (or onto the script page).

STAY-TUNED: In my next post I will discuss Story vs. Plot.

12 Tricks To Create a Cool Title

Blade Runner… Gone with the Wind… Back to the Future…. Gladiator…. Road to Perdition… Slumdog Millionaire… all amazing, kick-ass film titles!

Never underestimate the importance of your screenplay’s title. The title is your script’s identity. Its purpose is to intrigue and arouse a reader’s curiosity (so they’ll want to read your script and possibly pass it on to the studio executive who just might make your movie!)

How to tell if your screenplay title needs improvement:
* If it doesn’t give the reader any idea what the script is about
* If it’s a title no one can understand
* If it’s difficult to pronounce or spell

Here are 12 tricks you can use to create an intriguing title:

1. Convey the Central Conflict
He’s Just Not That Into You, Knocked-Up, The 40-Year Old Virgin

2. State the Protagonist’s Goal
Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, Leaving Las Vegas

3. Use a Metaphor
Reservoir Dogs, Midnight Cowboy

4. Convey the Genre
Psycho, Love Story, Aliens, True Crime

5. Use a Popular Phrase or Slang
A Few Good Men, Public Enemies, Million Dollar Baby, Basic Instinct, Lethal Weapon

6. Create a Play-on-Words
G.I. Jane, Look Who’s Talking

7. Use the Protagonist’s Name
Capote, Erin Brockovich, Juno, Bonnie & Clyde, Forrest Gump

8. Evoke an Emotion
In Cold Blood, Atonement

9. Provoke a Question
When Harry Met Sally, The Perfect Storm, As Good As It Gets, No Country for Old Men

10. Convey A Unique Subject
Gladiator, Showgirls, The Sixth Sense

11. Contrast Two Words
Bad Santa, Angels & Demons

12. Emphasize a Unique Setting
Titanic, Chinatown, In Bruges, Air Force One

An effective exercise is to create 10 to 20 possible titles for your script and ask your friends, family, and associates to vote on which one they think is best.

STAY-TUNED: In my next post I will discuss How To Create Your Character’s Backstory.

What is High Concept? And Does That Mean My Little Character-Driven Script is Conceptually Low?

The term ‘high-concept’ may fall in and out of favor, but it remains the standard for what Hollywood looks for in a film premise. ‘High-concept’ basically means the concept is the highest appeal. It is easily understood and creates immediate excitement. If a film executive hears your idea and asks you what it’s about or has no emotional reaction, then your script is not high-concept.

Does that mean your little character-driven script will be ignored by studios or production companies because it’s ‘low-concept’? (Okay, I’m not sure that term actually exists, but you know what I mean.) An idea is irresistible because it is appealing (and, thereby, highly marketable). The key is to make your soft-concept seem high-concept:

EMPHASIZE THE UNIQUENESS OF THE STORY
A lonely, fatherless, young boy claims to see dead people (The Sixth Sense).

HIGHLIGHT THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF YOUR CHARACTER(S)
A sassy, confident, independent-minded teenager takes control of a challenging situation when she faces an unwanted pregnancy (Juno). A failing success coach, a renowned, gay, suicidal professor, a pot-smoking grandfather, a self-imposed mute teenager, and a scattered mom take a road-trip to get an 8-year-old, overweight, beauty queen wanna-be to a pageant (Little Miss Sunshine).

SHOWCASE AN INTRIGUING DILEMMA
An apprehended outlaw is given only nine days to kill his older brother or else his younger brother will be executed (The Proposition).

AVOID A PREDICTABLE PLOT (REVERSE WHAT IS EXPECTED)
A beautiful American tourist falls in love and moves-in with a charming Spaniard and then stays when his crazy ex-lover returns to the house… and their bed (Vicki Cristina Barcelona).

CREATE AN UNKNOWN WORLD
A simulated reality created by sentient machines (The Matrix). The ancient Roman Empire (Gladiator). The rise of an organized crime family (The Godfather).

PUT YOUR CHARACTERS IN AN UNEXPECTED ENVIRONMENT
An uneducated, single-mom, blonde-bombshell goes to work in a corporate law firm investigating a complicated case of industrial poisoning (Erin Brockovich).

CONTRAST YOUR CHARACTERS
A Chinese Imperial Guard hooks up with a dim-witted cowboy/train robber to rescue a princess (Shanghai Noon).

INCLUDE A TICKING TIME-CLOCK SCENARIO
A Civil War veteran must deliver a vicious outlaw alive to the train that will take him to trial (3:10 to Yuma).

ADD ANOTHER LAYER (OR TWIST) TO THE IDEA
An FBI trainee hunts a serial killer with the assistance of a deadly psychopath who becomes her mentor (Silence of the Lambs).

Adaptation Sales: “Love and Other Drugs” (“Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman”)

Genre: Drama

Author: Jamie Reidy

Screenwriter: Charles Randolph

Logline: A pharmaceutical salesman begins a relationship with a woman who has Parkinson’s while on one of his sales calls.

How To Write For The Hollywood Reader

Your “spec” script (short for speculation script) must pass the infamous Hollywood reader before ever being considered for film development by a studio executive. All screenplay submissions are read and evaluated by a reader or story analyst who produces a “coverage” report.

The coverage report includes a summary of the script, the reader’s comments as to the screenplay’s weaknesses and strengths, and ranking of various elements such as storyline, structure, dialogue, characterization, and concept. Each script is assigned a grade of ‘pass’, ‘consider’, or ‘recommend’. If your script receives a ‘consider’ or ‘recommend’ then your screenplay moves up the ladder to a producer, agent, director, or development executive for further consideration. Less than 1% of spec scripts receive a ‘recommend’. Ensure your screenplay stays out of the rejection pile by writing for the reader.

CREATE AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
Film is a visual medium and screenplays adhere to that structure, but successful screenwriters are always aware they are writing a script that will be read. They never forget that the reader is their first audience. They respect the interplay between writer and reader. As a writer, you are providing an emotional experience for the reader. Each scene should be crafted for emotional impact. You must understand how your written word is experienced emotionally. Is the reader feeling scared, sad, curious, anxious, excited… or just bored?

KEEP THE READER ENGAGED
If the reader wanders off while reading your script or is pulled ‘out of the story’, you’ve lost him. Your goal is to make the reader lose track of time, to feel compelled to turn the next page, to be completely absorbed by your story. Hook the reader with an exciting concept, riveting characters, and escalating tension and conflict.

MAKE A CONNECTION
Readers want to be participants in the story, not just bystanders. Successful scripts (and films) have universal appeal because readers/viewers can relate to the story, characters, and theme. None of us have experienced life on Tattooine or flying aboard the Millennium Falcon – but “Star Wars” and the character of Luke Skywalker resonates with readers and viewers because we all know the desire to break free from our daily life, to explore outside of our limited confines, to move from childhood to adulthood, and to prove we can succeed. Can a reader identify with your story? Does your material resonate and connect?

STAY-TUNED: In my next post I will discuss How To Make Your Soft-Concept seem more High-Concept.

Welcome To About A Screenplay

********************

About A Screenplay is devoted to helping new writers who want to learn how to craft a screenplay, and writers interested in film adaptation projects. Each week I provide tips on screenplay writing, answer readers’ questions, highlight books optioned or sold for script development, and feature a recently released film adaptation. Once in a while I’ll feature a guest post from an industry insider or an interview with a new screenwriter who has landed his or her first deal.

Five Tips For Writing Your Logline

A logline is a summary of your script. It conveys the dramatic story – condensed into one sentence (more complex scripts sometimes require a two-sentence logline). The logline is not the same as the film’s tagline, which is a catchy, short-phrase or slogan used by film studios to market a movie.

TAGLINES

“The End Begins” (Terminator Salvation)

“How do you break free without breaking apart?” (Revolutionary Road)

“You think you know who you are. You have no idea” (Crash)

The logline effectively communicates the concept and the central problem that the main character needs to resolve.

LOGLINES

“A drunken superhero, who has fallen out of favor with the community, meets a do-good public relations professional who tries to help him repair his image.” (Hancock)

“After his wife and youngest child are brutally murdered, an Irish mobster hits the road with his surviving twelve year-old son and seeks revenge on those who betrayed him.” (Road to Perdition)

“On his final run, an ex-cop turned bounty hunter must track a bail-jumping accountant/mob embezzler and drag him cross-country from New York to Los Angeles while eluding the FBI, the mob, and a rival bounty hunter.” (Midnight Run)

“In 13^th century Scotland, a common man becomes a legend when he leads an uprising to overthrow English rule and gain Scottish freedom.” (Braveheart)

“Three police officers unravel the truth behind the ‘random’ murder of a corrupt policeman and expose the political and judicial depravity of 1950’s Hollywood.” (L.A. Confidential)

Why do you need a logline?

1. Creating a logline is a crucial first step in planning your screenplay. The logline is a tool you can use when writing and revising your script to keep you focused.

2. You will need a logline to sell your screenplay.

FIVE TIPS FOR WRITING YOUR LOGLINE

1. Establish the Main Character
Who is the protagonist – an ex-cop, a gunslinger, an Irish mobster, a super-hero?

2. State the Main Character’s Need or Goal
What does your main character want – to get revenge, to find the truth, to repair his image, to track a bail-jumper, to free his people from tyranny?

3. Provide a Promise of Conflict
What obstacles does your protagonist face in achieving his goal – corrupt law enforcement, another bounty hunter, the FBI and the mob, English military rule, his own character flaw?

4. Stimulate Interest with a Hook
What is unique about the story – a super-hero that’s an alcoholic, a mobster on-the-road with his young son?

5. Convey All Relevant Information
A studio executive who has not read your script should be able to read your logline and fully understand the concept without any additional information. Do not include character intricacies, sub-plots, or specific scenes.

Now go write your logline!

STAY-TUNED: In my next post I will address Writing For The Reader (that’s the guy or gal who decides if your script gets recommended.)

Adaptation Analysis: Finding One’s Place In The World – Some Thoughts On “The Cider House Rules”

Screenwriter John Irving had the formidable task of condensing his own 550-page novel into a 136-page script for the film “The Cider House Rules”.

He achieved this brilliantly – the script won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay – by focusing the screenplay on the central conflict.

CENTRAL CONFLICT
The novel revolves around two main characters: Dr. Larch (played onscreen by Michael Caine, who won an Oscar for this film for Best Supporting Actor), an orphanage physician who performs illegal abortions, and his protégé, Homer Wells (an orphan Dr. Larch delivered, portrayed by Tobey Maguire in the film) who refuses to perform abortions.

In the film, Homer becomes the main character. His goal in the book and the script remains the same: to avoid performing abortions (though he has be trained how) and to see and experience something more of the world than just the confines of St. Clouds Orphanage.

Irving sets up the central conflict immediately. He uses a montage over the opening credits to reveal Dr. Larch’s willingness to provide abortions and his personal feelings on the morale doctrine of the day and establishes in the first scene of dialogue between Homer and Dr. Larch, Homer’s disdain for performing abortions.

DR. LARCH
I presume you prefer handling the delivery?

HOMER
All I said was, I don’t want to perform abortions. I have no argument with you performing them.

DR. LARCH
You know how to help these women – how can you not feel obligated to help them when they can’t get help anywhere else?

HOMER
One: it’s illegal. Two: I didn’t ask how to do it – you just showed me.

DR. LARCH
What else could I have showed you, Homer? The only thing I can teach you is what I know! In every life, you’ve got to be of use.

CONDENSING TIME AND PLOT
The plot of the novel is far more complex than the film adaptation. Irving removed any extraneous material that did not convey the central conflict or move Homer’s goal forward.

In the book, Homer remains away from the orphanage for 15 years, during which time, Wally and Homer become best friends, Wally and Candy marry, and Homer and Candy have an affair and a son together. Wally becomes aware of Homer and Candy’s tryst but remains friends with Homer. Homer’s and Candy’s son, Angel, falls in love with Rose Rose and discovers she has been impregnated by her own father.

In the novel, Homer has many more adventures than in the film – there is just no time for them in the movie. In the film, Homer only stays away from the orphanage for 15 months, Wally and Homer do not become best friends, the significance of the affair between Homer and Candy is diminished, and the two do not have a child together. Homer is the one who directly discovers Rose Rose is pregnant by Mr. Rose.

ELIMINATING AND CREATING CHARACTERS
A significant and powerful character in the novel is eliminated from the film. Melony is an older girl Homer meets in the orphanage. She introduces him to his first sexual experience and feelings of love, even eliciting a promise from him never to leave her. Of course, Homer later breaks this promise. Her elimination from the film may have to do with time limitations, but it also allows for Candy to become Homer’s first sexual experience. Candy becomes the sexual aggressor and, thereby, diminishes Homer’s culpability in the affair – making him more sympathetic to viewers.

The script jumpstarts with Homer as a young man, as compared to the novel which details Homer’s early life at the orphanage. The character of the orphan Buster did not exist in the novel and was created for the script to stand-in for Homer’s experiences as a young boy.

LOSS OF BACKSTORY & ITS AFFECT ON THE VIEWER
In both the book and the script, Dr. Larch is an ether-addict. In the novel, Dr. Larch substitutes ether for sex. He is abstinent after only one sexual experience with a prostitute that left him with gonorrhea. He is using the ether to dull the pain associated with the disease. In the screenplay, that backstory is eliminated. The audience is not told why Dr. Larch sniffs ether. They may conclude that his work has left him a deeply sad and troubled man. In the film, he sniffs ether to numb his misery. The subtle change greatly affects the viewer’s perception of his character.

CREATION OF DIALOGUE
In the novel, most of the character’s thoughts are internal – for the film they must be expressed through dialogue.

THE TURNING POINT & RESOLUTION
In the novel and the film it is the same turning point, or event, that causes Homer to return to the orphanage and take over as physician and abortionist. When Homer realizes the he must perform an abortion for Rose Rose, he realizes he cannot deny the procedure for other women. He discovers where he belongs in the world, and what his “use” in the world is. Homer can never escape what Dr. Larch has taught him. His place is at St. Cloud’s.

DR. LARCH
God forgive me. I have made an orphan by loving him too much. Homer Wells will belong to St. Cloud’s forever.

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