Yet Another Screenwriter Blog

Last Time We Spoke...

2009-10-07T08:35:00.000-07:00

Was a very long while ago but here are a few updates.

First off:

I didn't make the Final 10 of the Peter Ustinov Competition.

Now I don't actually know what that means because: Is that a positive or a negative? I didn't make the Final 10 could be good because I'm nearly there but not quite - but then in the same instance I could have been binned with a thousand other hopefuls and they've sent us the same e-mail to keep our hopes up.

"Sorry, you didn't make the final 10"

They did however offer feedback and I thought what's the worst they can say and maybe I'll learn from it. I was wrong, the feedback was terrible and just made me question the competition -- I'm not bitter, here is the feedback:

“The story is good, but it launches late, it is not clear who's story it is, the characters are believable, it does not sound origional but it is done differently, there is clear visual realization”

Yes, the woman who is in charge of communications for a Screenwriting competition has poor spelling and grammar. I'm annoyed I'm writing like this because it sounds like I'm pissy, when I'm not, I just feel like getting this off my chest.

So let's kick on,

The story is good, but it launches late

Page 3 is too late? Because that's when mine starts.

it is not clear who's story it is

It's a family drama, it's about the family.

the characters are believable, it does not sound origional but it is done differently

I actually take this bit as a compliment.

there is clear visual realization

Thank you.

Enough about that, the Ustinov competition, I didn't make the grade.

Young Writer's Programme at Everyman Theatre

I got to the interview stage which was pretty cool, went and had a snoop round at the theatre and to be honest, thought I got the gig - Which would have meant 6 months of workshops, meeting writers like Jimmy Mcgovern and making contacts. It wasn't to be.

However they now know my name so I'm going to send a play in soon and a full-length one in January (That is when the people who got on the programme are supposed to hand in their full-length plays)

Setups and Payoffs.

I'm starting to become obsessed with this device in screenplays. It's such a cool technique and I've got to start using it more.

I'm not going to patronise you by explaining what they are but they are used a few times in Casablanca, The Office (U.K) (when Tim gives Dawn the drawing she did of him) and in a screenplay I read the other day by Max Winkler where he kind of did an amalgamation of the above two but I've got to say, he pulled it off.

So use Setups and Payoffs - You'll look like a Pro.

Cover Page

2009-07-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

I have a thing for cover pages. Here is one to a script I'm sending off next week to the prestigious Peter Ustinov competition...

Wish me luck.

In other news, go and read Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network -- It's awesome and will inspire.

That is all.

Summer Reading

2009-06-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm a pretty terrible reader.

I order them off Amazon, I enjoy opening them and then I put them on a shelf. That's about it.

However over the summer I'm really trying hard to read more, seeing as I'm living off a fat student loan and probably won't be getting a job for two months I should really get some productive things done. One of those things is finishing the books I've got 5 chapters into or less.

Here is my summer reading list:

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

Hollywood by Charles Bukowski

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh

Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland

Big Sur by Jack Kerouac

A Few Excerpts.

2009-04-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Script

Here are some tiny snippets from the script we intend on shooting come July 1st.

Part of a scene where the main character (Jack) runs into his ex-girlfriend and her new cooler musician boyfriend:

Here Jack hides in the bushes with his best friend Pete who's not so keen on the idea:

You can't really tell much from the above but it gives you a little insight in what we're trying to do and you get a few punch lines.

CREW

Today we are posting for crew via Shooting People. It's £30 to sign up so it better be worth it! I'll probably post the ad here just for keep sakes and future reference. Getting a Cinematographer and a Sound Man to work for free for 20+ days might prove difficult...

HS

I'm a terrible blogger

2009-04-08T06:30:00.001-07:00

But in the time I've not blogged I've written a feature length screenplay. *applause*

Well not quite, I'm 5 pages away from the FADE TO BLACK

It's been a quick write, I wrote 25 pages in two days which is probably the quickest I've written on anything.

Inspiration

On one of my pessimistic screenwriter days I thought to myself "This is actually what I want to do, what happens if I don't make it" - This instantly created a character, based on me, about ten years older who hasn't 'made it'. I knew it had dramatic elements but also had a lot of room for comedy.

How the writing partnership worked

I don't really like the idea of writing with someone else and I hadn't so it was a new experience but I've found it really encouraging and I suppose it's a step to becoming a better screenwriter.

Taking criticism, brainstorming, deciding if scenes work or not and the general back and forth of the process is an eye opener. I think writers arrogantly want to do it all them self and it's not always the best way. With this I was stuck on page 40 and had hit a wall, there I brought in Paul and the next 20 or so pages seemed to flow pretty well.

I might post an excerpt from the script in the next few days, don't hold your breathe though, look at the title of this blog :S

HS

Outlines. Do you need them?

2009-01-24T07:13:00.000-08:00

This week I've been speaking to a screenwriter who spends a long time outlining and I caught him off guard and just said "Why?" He couldn't really give me a good enough answer, I said "Why don't you just start writing and you'll find your character along the way" -- We disagreed and he still hasn't started writing, in my opinion it's just a form of procrastination.

"I'm not going to write because I feel like I don't know my story and my characters"

Well that's a fair enough point but how are you going to know your characters by never writing. For example the first pilot I wrote, I thought it up for ages, maybe 6 months and I did outlines, scene for scenes and character grids and when I got down to it, only 1 out of about 6 characters felt right. But then I had a first draft to work on and I could go back over it till the characters all improved. The screenwriter in question has nothing, he's wasting time like I did.

This isn't a naive standpoint either, I'm not on a high horse, most top screenwriters don't outline.

Two quotes (that I'm paraphrasing) I've heard over the last couple of weeks.

George Lucas when asked does he outline said "Hardly ever, I do what my friend Francis (Ford Coppola) taught me to do, lock myself in a room and just get through it, the first draft is going to be terrible but writing is rewriting so you might as well get that first draft out of the way as fast as you can"

The second being Fight Club scribe Jim Uhls who I'm lucky enough to talk to via the net quite regularly, he says "I don't outline because it's like shooting your load early, I like to explore and outlining ruins that."

I'm not for one second saying neglect planning but there is a distinct difference between a few grids to outlining every scene and spending months on the character's back story. Like Uhls said, "explore" you'll find your way.

Writer's Block? What's that!

2009-01-20T06:49:00.000-08:00

Hope I haven't scared you off with the title.

Anyway I've been listening to a stupid amount of interviews with screenwriters over the past few days and a few little gems cropped up courtesy of David Chase and Aaron Sorkin.

When asked about writer's block and how he deals with it Soprano scribe simply said:

"Writer's block, that is just something I don't understand, it's having trouble writing right? Well that's just writing!"

At first I laughed but the more I thought about it the more it's absolutely spot on, what is writer's block? It's just hitting a wall where you feel you can't write any more or you get stuck in a certain scene and can't get out. Again it's not 'the block' it's just part of the process we're addicted to.

With a lazy ass google definition here are these two written short hand:

an inability to write; "he had writer's block; the words wouldn't come"

Writer's block is a phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing, usually due to lack of inspiration or creativity.

Both of the above serve Chase's argument, especially the latter, which when you think about it should be written:

"Procrastinating due to www.facebook.com"

I salute David Chase. Writer's block doesn't exist.

When Aaron Sorkin was asked the same question he was kind of straight down the middle, he wasn't debunking it didn't exist but more "It means I have to do anything to get through it, even if it means me standing on my head whilst eating" - So his answer was more, yes it does exist but I only see it as a further challenge. Which is a very cool way to look at it.

Interviews With Screenwriters

http://creativescreenwritingmagazine.blogspot.com/

Also if you read one comedy screenplay this whole year, let it be Chad Schmidt, I'm not going to ruin the genius premise but google, download and enjoy. It's like Curb Your Enthusiasm meets Arrested Development with a pinch of Being John Malkovich.

Goals for 2009

2009-01-13T09:18:00.000-08:00

In my last blog I said write down goals, they help you stay on track and hone your discipline as a writer.

My goals for 2009

1) Write 3 pilots (all of which are hour long dramas)

2) Finish my play and send it off to playwright contests.

3) Think of a premise for my first feature length screenplay - Have it planned out roughly scene by scene to be written in 2010.

4) Network and make more contacts

5) Send out query letters to agencies, send my pilots to the BBC and overall get more people to read my scripts.

Why I can't write over the festive period and updates

2008-12-27T17:11:00.000-08:00

It's official, as soon as mid-December rolls around I can't write.

Not because I have the block, not because I don't want to but because I physically can't.

Christmas at a normal household is busy. In mine it's like a scene from Jingle all the way, you haven't seen it? You're the lucky one, however that also means you didn't get the only remotely funny joke in this post.

I had been writing very little this month and wanted to get in at least an hour on christmas day. It ended up I had to go around FOUR different families to hand out presents and then rush back to eat my christmas dinner before 4. I was lying on my bed asleep and dribbling by 5PM!

I woke up at 10 feeling like a junkie and that it was boxing day. I actually freaked out when I'd got dressed and opened the curtains to see the moon and not the morning sun. I went back to bed - No writing was done.

Advice

It's nearly 2009 and as an aspiring writer I would say this: SET GOALS. Why? - Why not? If you don't meet that 60 page TV Pilot by March then you pull your finger out and if you do? Great! Then what? Improve it because it will definitely be flabby.

What I'm working on

A play - I've got the first 3 pages to a one act play I want to finish and hopefully get three really good actors to work on. It's a bit crazy dialogue wise but it's set in a very real place and centers around a very realistic plot - A job interview. It stems from my love of Sorkin's and Mamet's dialogue, I've also for awhile secretly wanted to stage a play and I think the first 3 pages sound pretty good and from an insecure writer that is indifferent about his final drafts that's a really good sign.

A web series - It feels like 2 years have passed since I first wanted to write and produce a web series, that's because it is! That is so frustrating to write. This time it's getting done. The first two episodes are written and I'm currently contemplating squeezing them into one longer webisode and throwing it out there. In short, it's a comedy mockumentary about a loser student filmmaker and before you ask it's not autobiographical.

A TV Pilot. This is my biggest concern because it's something I think could actually interest people to look at me as a writer regardless of my age. It's original, dramatic, believable and dare I say it commercial. I pitched it to an ex-commissioner who was at the BBC and he really liked it, going as far as saying he wanted to see a first draft in January and if he likes it he would help with further drafts and also send it to the BBC with his ex-commissioner recommendation - Result! However there's loads of work to do yet as I'm currently on page 2, with page 1 being a quote about the main theme of the pilot - Celebrity.

So that's me, three projects to keep me well and truly busy.

On a final note. It's nearly the new year so set those goals for the portfolio.

Analysing the scene, Russian hats and my favourite script site

2008-12-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

So I've got your attention:

We'll start light, at the moment I've got into the habit of wearing hats whilst writing, OK doesn't sound that strange but I've adopted this as my writing companion:

YES a Russian hat, the floppy ears are great!

Anyway it helps me write so I'm wearing it... as we speak

Analysing the scene

Screenplays are made of ACTS which in turn are made of sequences, and those are made of scenes. So the scene is God right?
Well I think so, after all, if the bricks are weak the house falls down. In my opinion it goes 1) Story/plot 2) Character 3) Scene 4) Dialogue... blah blah 155) Extras - sorry extras

Which got me thinking ANALYSE THE SCENE - too many people just watch TV shows and go "oh that was nice" - "It killed half an hour" or "that show was crap!" - If you don't want a job in this industry then you can afford to do that, otherwise you should be doing more than just watching TV shows. Even the horrible god awful period dramas BBC 1 loves so much can improve the way you write scenes. Learning what not to do is obviously a step forward.

So next time you watch a show THINK:

1) What was the purpose of that scene? The person who wrote it spent a lot of time on it, what was it supposed to mean in relation to the whole plot? Does it do this well?

2) How does the scene start? Does it go straight to the point? Does it linger? Are other things served within the scene, exposition or other parts of the plot commented on?

3) And then in turn How does it end? With a laugh? Relating to the next scene? How would you of ended it?

4) Time and pacing - Was it a 5 minute boreathon? Was it too snappy and you wanted more from it?

Most importantly:

5) Think about everything above and compare it to scenes you write. Are yours too long, take to long to get to the purpose or when you read them back you struggle to find the purpose. If you watch a great show or film and analyse it's scenes compared to yours you will automatically be able to write your scenes better. Therefore improving the scenes, acts and the screenplay as a whole. It will obviously read better.

My favourite site for screenplays

http://pdfscreenplays.com/

Wow, what a site, new scripts added everyday and I know most script sites do that but these guys get some very good stuff in. Unproduced, alternative drafts and the other day I even managed to get Charlie Kaufman's audioplay 'Hope Leaves the Theatre'

Anyway they are strict on membership and basically people coming in and taking and not giving. So if you want to join send them a nice message and add to the forum now and then.

Happy writing, with or without a Russian hat.

Perfection is only in the mind and dialogue in shoe boxes

2008-12-13T16:13:00.000-08:00

Jean Renoir is known to have said "Perfection is only in the mind" and only till last week did I realise what he meant.

A few weeks ago I was shooting/editing a film and writing constantly, some of my own stuff but mostly screenwriting assignments I was way behind on. Anyway I edited my film and I was very disappointed, it wasn't how I imagined it and It wasn't very good - Perfection is only in the mind, but how does this relate to screenwriting?

Well at the time of writing I'm definitely more interested in screenwriting as opposed to filmmaking and a huge part of it is to do with what Renoir said. I don't like the idea of what you wanted to make isn't what you ended up making, it's horrible, it's as if someone else made it! The film I made finished and I was like "is that it!" - "that's not what I imagined 3 months ago"

With screenwriting if you want a car chase you write a car chase if you want it to take place in a school gym you put INT. SCHOOL GYM - It's that easy but with my film so many things went wrong, I wanted a scene by a lake and due to it being freezing outside and actors not showing up it was annoyingly shot in a dining room. It doesn't make a difference to the narrative but it made a difference to me, it wasn't the film I imagined.

I've read that some directors love this process and how the film evolves by itself: from what you thought up into what it becomes - to me it wasn't a nice experience and that was only on a 3 minute film! God knows what it's like when you don't get the cast you wanted or the studio demands re-writes.

Dialogue

At the moment I'm writing a TV pilot. It's a family drama with a twist and I said to a good contact I'd hand it to them by the end of January and at the moment I feel behind (on another thing!) so I've taken inspiration from a writing activity Shane Black does.

He takes a shoe box and writes on it what script it refers to: For example "Crime thriller" "Rom-Com", "TV pilot for HBO" etc and when he thinks of an idea or line of dialogue he writes it down and throws it in. He'll keep on doing this for a good part of the 'thinking up' time. Then when the time is right he'll empty the box, there will be pieces of dialogue, characters, sub-plots, main plots and even locations. So I'm using that and it's helping so I advise you to try it out

*Also if interested here's my box:

Three quick tips on dialogue if it doesn't sound right

1) Think back if you've heard anyone else say it or anything remotely like it
2) Stand up and act it out/say it aloud and see how it feels (make sure no one is watching)
3) If you still can't see why it's not right carry on writing, something might come to you or after the first draft you'll realise it was right with that specific character or maybe, just maybe you were an insecure writer for that split moment (it's allowed)

* If you're a fan of the Office, "that's what she said"

Films that I think look good

2008-12-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

Around christmas time you have some terrible releases and so here are the few films that I think have potential around christmas and into the early months of 2009

DOUBT

Hoffman and Streep will surely make this chilling drama an oscar contender

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD

This, with Mendes, Leo and Winslet could be something special - The trailer looks intriguing to say the least and could be a chilling character study. However the studio released several TV spots during the week and with them I wasn't totally impressed

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

It's Pitt and Fincher back together again, need I say more

LET THEM CHIRP AWHILE

For the indie lovers:

My first screenwriting tip!

2008-12-06T13:20:00.000-08:00

It's been a few days since I've blogged so I'm going to mess your brains up with two separate blogs (exciting?)

My first tip is going to sound lame but here it is: START IT!

I can't emphasise this enough, start your screenplay. If it's a Feature length, TV pilot or a 30 minute sitcom it doesn't matter, get writing. I know so many people that have decent ideas but don't start the 'process' because their worried the first draft will be horrible - the first draft will be horrible but how are you going to get to the second if there's no first!

Again this sounds very amateur but it does go on! I bumped into a fellow student a few weeks back and here's how the conversation went.

ME: Hey have you started that crime/thriller script yet?
STUDENT: No not yet, I'm tweaking it what did you think of the treatment though?
ME: Yeah it sounds really good mate I just want to read it!!
STUDENT: Yeah I'll get round to it I know it has potential but it's a lot of effort isn't it, 120 pages like
ME: Yeah tell me about it

I saw the same guy the other day and by this time he could have a solid first act, hell if he was committed maybe a first draft:

ME: So hows the first draft of that cool crime script coming along?
STUDENT: Oh I ditched it
ME: You what!?
STUDENT: Yeah I'm not doing it anymore I've started a comedy
ME: Why?!
STUDENT: The thriller was just too much and this comedy is cool wanna hear about it?
ME: Not really, see ya round man *I go home and watch HEAT*

He had a really good idea and I mean really bloody good idea but he let it slip away because he couldn't be bothered starting to write (a writer!) The conversation is obviously shortened: it was to do with little things like he didn't know police ranking in the states etc but nothing a little research couldn't have handled

I'm not saying don't think out your plot, DO, to the max but as the saying goes: Get it written then get it right

After all a writer writes right?

The Deal

2008-12-02T12:18:00.000-08:00

Hello aspiring screenwriters.

I'm a young screenwriter and I'm offering the service of reading your screenplays and giving you 5 pages of constructive feedback starting at £10

I'm constantly annoyed when searching the net and seeing the following prices come up for coverage

140 pages = $145/£95

120 pages = $185/£122

My favourite though is still 30 pages = $150/£100!

I know what you're thinking - "Why so cheap?"

Well I'm currently a screenwriting student so reading your scripts and helping the best I can will improve my writing as well as yours.

Again I know what you're thinking "If he can't write his own great screenplays why is he taking my baby apart"

That brings up the old question posed to some of the best screenwriting gurus around (Robert McKee and Syd Field) If they are so great at teaching screenwriting why don't they get their own ones produced. Well, it's just one of those things

Let's look at the pros and cons

PROS

1) You get 5 pages at the least of critical feedback on your screenplay - Covering structure, character and dialogue
2) It's amazingly cheap - 60 page pilots for £10 is an unheard of deal (WHY? because I want to help screenwriters and at the same time improve my own writing)
3) It's quick - As soon as the script arrives at my door or e-mail less than 7 days later the notes are with you and you can use them in any way you see fit.

CONS

I'm young and inexperienced - Yes this is true but this is also a good thing because you have a young eye to analyse your screenplay.

The bottom line is: This is the cheapest deal on the net. If my age (20) puts you off sending me your screenplay then fair enough, walk on by and pay $150 somewhere else but if you want notes and encouragement in less than a week please get in touch

email me at jacksband@yahoo.co.uk