A Few Excerpts.

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

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?

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!

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

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

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

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.