Screenplay = STORY that has been visioned out through one mind (or many), while being transcribed in a particular film style onto paper.
- STORY is . . .
- The Most Important part of a film
- The Heart and Soul of each Character
- Just an Idea!! (at first, then it WILL Blossom)
Whether you're writing your first screenplay, need a fresh start or some insight on screenplay structure and outlined methods, just enter My Cinema Brain.
I learned this structure in School and it is just One style out of Many.
--- But BASICS are BASICS!!
--- KNOW the BASICS - (you will INSTANTLY know What is Wrong, How to Fix any Structure Issues, How to Improve your Story such as deepening the Plot and so on . . . faster and more often than not)
SCREEN-WRITING: (in short)
- Occasionally rises to the level of the Art (FILM)
- The craft of Screen-Writing can be Learned (it is up to you of how bad you want to Learn it)
- Writing a Screenplay is a Process...
- Always changing/ evolving - larger than I am (it may seem at times)
- What I wrote today will be out of date tomorrow
- try not to be to attached
--- if it DOES NOT WORK - DON'T Continue
--- if it WORKS - USE IT
- Discipline:
- Find the best time of Day or Evening for you to write your Screenplay
- You find the BEST Time and Work at your OWN PACE
- Writing is a Step-by-Step/ Day-by-Day process
- Don't try to do everything at once
There are 4 Main Parts of how to Write a Proper Screenplay: (Quick Guide)
1. Getting Started
- The Idea
- Action and Character (break it down into)
- Structure (into it's own entity with Beginning, Middle and End)
- Write a four page Narrative Treatment of the Story (focusing on the elements of Dramatic Structure)
2. Creating the Characters
- Define Dramatic Need (Plot their own course of Action)
- Their Emotional Art
- Discuss the Nature and Function of Dialogue
3. Writing the Screenplay
- Don't stop writing, just free-write when Stuck (Writer's Block)
4. Re-Writing the Screenplay
- Tightening and Polishing, Honing the First Draft = GOAL
AND it BEGINs . . .
PART 1) Getting Started:
- define what a Screenplay is
- define what it is Not
- It's not a Novel
- In a novel the the action takes place inside a Character's Head
- In the Mindscape of Dramatic Action
- It's not a Play
- On Stage, in front of an audience
- Action takes place through the Character's Words (Language of Dramatic Action)
- Screenplay -
- A story told in pictures
- With dialogue and description
- Placed within the context of Dramatic Structure
- NEED an IDEA to form a Subject
- (in Language of Screenwriting, the Subject is an Action + Character)
1) Before Writing
- What is your Story About?
- Who is your Story About?
- (The Subject is not meant to tell the entire Story but to be a guide for you to Organize the Story)
A) Structure
- To Build Something/ To Put Together Something
- The Relationship between the Parts and the Whole
- A Story is a Whole
- Built with Parts
- (ex. Act I, II, III, Characters, FX, Music, Subtext = camera thinking/ edit transitions)
- The Paradigm
- Acts 1, 2, 3 = Individual Units of Dramatic Action
- Act 1 - Beginning (roughly 30 pages)
- Act 2 - Middle (roughly 60 pages)
- Act 3 - End (roughly 30 pages)
- These Acts are ALL Individual Units of Dramatic Action -
- Screenplay is a Story told with Pictures
- In Dialogue and Description
- Placed within Context of Dramatic Structure
- (ex. 1 Page of a Screenplay = 1 minute of Screen Time)
- Average = 120 pages (roughly, it does vary)
- Dependent on Form, not Formula
B) Context
- Is a space
- (ex. Glass has space, holds liquid, could put something like trail mix in instead of liquid)
- The Context does not change, only the Content changes
- There is also Dramatic Context
- In a paradigm the Acts would go as Follows
- Act 1 - Set-up
- Act 2 - Confrontation - Encounters Obstacles to Achieve Dramatic Need
- (ex. To Win, Gain, Get, or Achieve)
- Act 3 - Resolution
- You must know The Paradigm of Dramatic Structure -
- Act 1 -
- Beginning
- Set-Up
- Plot Point 1 - Should be roughly at pages 25-30
- That Incident, Episode or Event that hooks into action and spins it around into another direction towards Act 2
- Usually 2 or 3 scenes needed to get to Plot Point 1
- The True Beginning of your Story
- Act 2 -
- Middle
- Confrontation
- Midpoint - is directly in the middle of Act 2 - about Pages 55-60
- Breaks Act 2 into two units of Dramatic Action
- First half of Act 2 - Theme of Action to Plot Point 2 with Pinch 1
- Second half of Act 2 - Theme of Action to Plot Point 2 with Pinch 2
- An Incident, Episode or Event that keeps the action moving forward between Plot Point 1 & 2
- Is a plot point but serves as a different function
- To become a Link in the chain of Dramatic Action
- Pinch 1 - After Plot Point 1 and before the Midpoint
- Pinch 2 - After the Midpoint, on Track, heading to Plot Point 2
- A sequence that keeps the action moving forward to the Midpoint or Plot Point 2
- Keeps the story on track, always moving forward
- Sequence -
- Series of scenes, connected by one single idea with a definite beginning, middle and end
- Plot Point 2 - Should be roughly at pages 85-90
- That Incident, Episode or Event that hooks into action and spins it around into another direction towards Act 3
- Act 3 -
- End
- Resolution
- ASSIGNMENT 1 -
(part 1)
- Create the Subject of your Screenplay
- Who is the Main Character?
- What is the Story About?
- (ex. Woman executive on Vacation in Hawaii, meets a man, has an affair and the relationship doesn't work out and returns home.)
- That's the Subject
- So you know the end, beginning, plot point 1 & 2
- Making sense of this in regards to the Paradigm
- Act 1 - Beginning
- Set-Up (Show Woman at work)
- Plot Point 1 - (She leaves for Hawaii for Vacation and it's there she meets the young man)
- Act 2 - Middle
- Confrontation
- Plot Point 2 - (She leaves Hawaii and returns Home)
- Act 3 - End
- Resolution (Relationship doesn't work out)
- ASSIGNMENT 1 -
(part 2)
- Write a 4 Page Treatment
- We know
- The Ending
- The Beginning
- Plot Point 1
- Plot Point 2
- Start the process (without completing it)
- Be willing to write 4 TERRIBLE Pages (focusing on structure here)
- 4 Page Treatment -
- Page 1 - (write in a 1/2 of a page)
- Write the Opening Scene - Sequence in a Dramatic Narrative
- Page 2 - (write in a 1/2 of a page)
- Write the Plot Point at the end of Act 1 in a Dramatic Narrative
- (Separate Sheet of Paper) - First 4 obstacles that your Character(s) confront during the action of Act 2
- Obstacles can be internal, external, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual (or Combination)
- (Separate Sheet of Paper) -
- (write in one Paragraph) - Summarize each of the Obstacles your Character encounters during Act 2
- Describe the obstacles and how your Character deals with them
- Page 3 - (write in a 1/2 of Page)
- Write the plot point at the end of Act 2 in a Dramatic Narrative
- (write in a 1/2 of Page)
- Summarize the Action of Act 3, the resolution
- Page 4 - (write in a 1/2 of Page)
- Write the End Scene or Sequence in a Dramatic Narrative
- 4 Page Treatment =
(1/2 Page) - Write Opening Scene or Sequence in a Dramatic Narrative
(1/2 Page) - Summarize Action in Act 1
(1/2 Page) - Write Plot Point 1 in a Dramatic Narrative
(1/2 Page) - Summarize 4 Obstacles in Act 2
(1/2 Page) - Write Plot Point 2 in a Dramatic Narrative
(1/2 Page) - Summarize the Action of Act 3
(1/2 Page) - Write Ending Scene of Sequence of Act 3 in a Dramatic Narrative
- DO NOT SHOW ANYONE!!! - It's Still Fresh
- Let it be what it is, A Start Point
PART 2) - Creating Character:
- Becomes the Heart, Soul, Nervous System of the Screenplay
- What is Character but the Determination of Incident
- What is Incident but the Illumination of Character
- The Incident propels the Story forward
- What makes Good Character?
1. Dramatic Need
2. Point of View (strong)
3. Attitude
4. Change
- Dramatic Need -
- What does your main Character want to win, gain, get or achieve during the course of your Screenplay?
- Source of all Drama is Conflict (create conflict into the Story)
- Characters become more real, multidimensional, can identify with them completely
- Give it a form and Illustrate it with Behavior
- Film is Behavior
- Point of View -
- Who's telling the Story or who is it seen by?
- Attitude -
- A manner or opinion
- People Feeling superior or inferior or someone who thinks he/she is always right
- Too Conservative, too Liberal, too Optimistic, Pessimistic, Opertunistic
- Enhance your Charcter
- You can Show attitude or talk about it through Dialogue
- Change -
- In what way does your Character Change?
- What Brings about your Change?
-FILM IS BEHAVIOR- (remember)
- What you see, leads to these Character's Change
- THE TOOLS of CHARACTER -
- Character Biography -
- Traces your Character's life from birth up until the time the Story Begins
- Time when you can go into Childhood
- First 10 Years, Next 10 Years
- define the forces working on them from friends and lovers
- look at their hopes and dreams and aspirations
- Research -
- Live Research
- find a real person and interview them to get information
- Text Research
- library, read about the subject with books, newspapers, magazines
1. Professional Life
2. Personal Life
3. Private Life
Professional Life - What does he/she do for a living?
- What kind of relationship with his/her Boss?
- What kind of relationship does he/she have with co-workers?
Personal Life - Is he/she in a relationship?
- Widowed, divorced, separated, married?
Private Life - Friends, hobbies, pets, etc.
- THE CIRCLE of BEING -
- What traumatic event occurred to the character between ages 12-18?
(see what happens)
- ASSIGNMENT 1 -
- Write a Character Biography in 5-7 Pages or more
- Determine your main Character =
- What's his/her name?
- Where was he/she born?
- How old is your Character when your Story begins?
- What does his or her father do for a living?
- What kind of childhood did your Character have?
- happy, sad, lonely, introverted, extroverted
- Any brothers or sisters?
- or only child?
- What was your Character's life like the first ten years?
- develop Character's life from 1-10 years old
- always good?
- always getting into trouble?
- Was he/she a good Student
- Who were his/her friends?
- What was your Character like from Ages 20-30?
- Did they go to college?
- What kind of Jobs did they have or still have?
- What about girlfriends, boyfriends, marriage?
- How did your Character's dreams and aspirations collide with reality?
- REMEMBER, we are after conflict
- Not some Romantic Notion
- What are the Relationships in your Character's lives?
- Define them, Articulate them
- Don't be too attached to what you think your Character's lives should be like
- Let your Character tell you, who he or she is
- Let your mind go and have fun with this
- This is an exercise that Gives your Character a Voice
- If your Character is older than 30. . .
- Do the same thing
-Use Free Association or Automatic Writing
- Throw down all your thoughts, words, and ideas
- Don't worry about grammar or punctuation or chronology
- WRITING YOUR MAIN CHARACTER'S BIOGRAPHY -
- Free Association -
- Don't have disctractions
- One on One with yourself
- Start with your Character's Grandparents
- Then Character's Parents
- Past Lives
- Astrological Breakdown
- The more, the better, the easier
- If told to write 5-7 pages, still should try and write more
- Up to 30 pages if you're a Professional Screenwriter
- Try writing in First Person for a Change
RULE: If it Works, Use it, If it doesn't, Don't use it
- This is an exercise that Forms Character
- HAVE FUN!!
- Try and relax and Have Fun with this, amongst anything else
- ASSIGNMENT 2 -
- Write short essays on your Character's:
1. Professional Life
2. Personal Life
3. Private Life
- This area occurs during the course of your Screenplay
- Create something you can cut away to, to expand your Character's lives
- ASSIGNMENT 3 -
- Write your Character's "Circle of Being"
- In Free Association (1 or 2 pages)
- That emotional event that occurred in the Character's life that may perhaps parallel the Story Line
- ASSIGNMENT 4 -
- Define and Articulate Character's:
1. Dramatic Need
2. Point of View
3. Attitude
4. Change
PART 3) - Writing the Screenplay:
- Act 1 is a Part, but also a Whole
- I will have the Films 'Shawshank Redemption' and 'Titanic' as Examples throughout
- ASSIGNMENT 1 -
- Structure Act 1 on 14 (3x5) note cards (no more than 5 words per card)
- Each card represents a scene or sequence in the Screenplay
- How does your Screenplay Open?
- Write your opening Sequence in 5 words or less
- (ex. Shawshank Redemption)
- Card 1 - Andy in Car/ Trial Sentence
- Card 2 - Red rejected from Parole
- Card 3 - Red in yard with friends
- Card 4 - Andy Arrives
- Card 5 - Bets Taken
- Card 6 - Warden gives the rules
- Card 7 - Shower clothes/ In Cell
- Card 8 - Prison/ First Night
- Card 9 - Fat ass beaten
- Card 10 - Breakfast next morning
- Card 11 - In shower with girls
- Card 12 - In laundry
- Card 13 - Red playing catch
- Card 14 - Red and Andy & Rock hammer
- Plot Point 1 - (Card 14 should be your Plot Point 1)
- Write the Back Story (in a page or two - in Free Association)
- Back Story - Preparing Act 1
- What happens to your main Character, a day, a week, or an hour before the Story Begins
- (looking for something dramatic)
- (ex. Story starts with Jim being charged with embezzlement and he must prove his innocence)
- Let's say Card 1 begins with Jim arriving at the Office at 9am
- (Back Story: ex. Suppose Friday afternoon at 4pm, Jim goes to his boss and asks for a raise and the boss says no)
- This creates tension, is emotional, and presents Dramatic Action
- Back Stories -
- Should influence the opening scene/ sequence
- Not about washing a dog or an average day
- REMEMBER -
- When you are doing the Cards, you are doing the Cards
- When you are writing the Screenplay, you are writing the Screenplay
- Screenplay Grammar - Writing Act 1
- SHOT - What the Camera sees
- SCENE - The unit or cell of Dramatic Action
- SEQUENCE - A series of scenes, connected by 1 single idea with a definite Beginning, Middle and End
- When you create different Points of View, you create Conflict
- Which is the Purpose of the Whole Sequence
- (Sequence - ex. Titanic)
- Begins with the lookout spotting the iceberg, reporting it
- The engine room stops the engine
- The crew hopes and prays
- Then we see the ship actually hit the iceberg
- Water explodes in the hull
- (and that's really the Beginning of the End)
- Writing - Act 1
- Opening Scene or Sequence (first 10 Pages)
- A Unit of Dramatic Action
- Writing the First 10 Pages -
- Establish -
1. Who is your Main Character? (Who is the Story about?)
2. What is the Dramatic Premise of your Story? (What is your Story about?)
3. What is the Dramatic Situation? (The circumstances surrounding the Action)
- (ex. Shawshank Redemption)
1. Main Character: Andy Duphrane
2. Premise: As he's drinking he pulls out and loads the gun (we see it)
3. Situation: The woman and the man about to make love are his wife and her lover (also seen)
- REMEMBER - 3 Threads of Storyline are 'The Inciting Incident'
- Then Andy is sentenced to two life terms (Being sentenced to Shawshank Redemption)
Premise & Situation: Andy claims to be innocent
- Then cut to when he arrives at the prison and we see Andy arrive through Red's eyes
- Then the prisoners are listening to the Warden speak and we are now Seeing him speak through the Main Character's Point of View: Andy
Page 10 - Andy enters the Shawshank Prison (we see this from his POV)
(The Main Character and the Reader are United)
- Both see things at the same time - WONDERFUL RULE to Keep in Mind -
(Seeing him hosed down, given clothes and bedding) - Welcome to Shawshank
- That's the first 10 Page Unit of Dramatic Action
- Writing the second 10 Pages -
- Follow the focus of your Main Character
- Think of ways your Main Character can be in every Scene during the second Page Unit of Dramatic Action
- We Learn what the Main Character Learns
REMEMBER - The Context for Act 1 is the Set-Up
- Set-Up Main Character's situations and relationships with the other Characters and Major Characters
- (ex. Shawshank Redemption)
- Who's going to be the first one to crack in Jail?
- We see fat ass can't make it
- Andy finds maggots in his breakfast and he feeds it to the crow
- Andy inquires about fat ass and fat ass has died
- That's the second 10 Pages of Dramatic Action
- Setting Up Plot Point 1 -
- What scenes need to be written to get to Plot Point 1?
- Already know what it is, but how do you Dramatize it?
- That Incident, Episode or Event that hooks into Action and spins it around into another direction towards Act 2
- Usually 2 or 3 scenes needed to get to Plot Point 1
- Define them, Clarify them
- (ex. Shawshank Redemption)
- We see Andy in the laundry room being approached by the sisters in the shower room
- Plot Point 1 - is where he meets Red and asks to get a Rock Hammer
- Establishes relationship between Andy and Red (which is all of Act 2)
- The True Beginning of your Story
- Writing Act 1 -
- ASSIGNMENT 1 -
- Design and Write the first 10 Pages
- Conceived as a Unit of Dramatic Action
- Establish:
1. Main Character
2. Dramatic Premise (What your Story is about)
3. Dramatic Situation (Circumstances Surrounding your Story)
- ASSIGNMENT 2 -
- Design and write the second 10 Pages
- Follow the focus of your Main Characters
- Main Character should be in Every single Scene
- ASSIGNMENT 3 -
- Set Up the 1 or 2 Scenes needed to write Plot Point 1
- REMEMBER - All 3 Assignments are the Set-Up (Act 1)
- Writing Act 2 -
- Preparing Act 2 -
- 60 Page Unit of Dramatic Action
- Begins at End of Plot Point 1
- Continues until end of Plot Point 2
- Held together with Dramatic Context (Known as: Confrontation)
- All Drama is Conflict
- Without Conflict, you have no Characters
- Without Character, you have no Action
- Without Action, you have no Story
- Without Story, you have no Screenplay
- Enter the Action by Defining: Dramatic Need
- What does your Character want to win, gain, get or achieve during the course of your Screenplay?
- Plot Point 1 = Beginning of your Story
- Does your Character's Dramatic Need Change?
- What's the Incident or Event that happens at Plot Point 1?
- Where is your Story Going?
- What Changes will your Character go through?
- What Obstacles will be Confronting your Character?
- To not get confused in your own Story
- Make a Midpoint
- Occurs around page 60
- Serves a very specific function
- Breaks Act 2 into two Units of Dramatic Action
- First half of Act 2
- Second half of Act 2
- Midpoint -
- An Incident or Event that is a Plot Point, but serves as a different function
- To become a Link in the Chain of Dramatic Action (is a Plot Point)
- (ex. Shawshank Redemption)
- To gain the wardens trust and respect he is assigned to the library and there he write the legislature to fund the library
- For 6 years he writes a letter a week, sometimes 2, in order to raise the funds for the library
- Finally a check arrives and tons of books
- Then Andy Duphrane locks himself into the wardens office and plays Mozart while engaging the warden
- Andy gets put in isolation or the hole because of it
- (Playing the Aria links the first half of Act 2 to the second half of Act 2)
- Second Half of Act 2 -
- Andy works with the warden
- We find out the warden did the killing and Andy thought he was doing time for being a bad husband
- (ex. Titanic)
- Plot Point 1 - Jack saves Rose's Life
- Fist half of Act 2 - Deals with Jack and Rose's relationship
- Midpoint - They make love in the car
- Second half of Act 2 - Their efforts to get a life boat and escape keeps the action moving forward and leads to....
- Plot Point 2 - Rose Leaves the lifeboat and chooses to stay with Jack
- Sub-Context for first half of Act 2
- What is the main Action or Story-Line that holds that material together for the first half of Act 2?
- (ex. Shawshank Redemption)
- focuses on the survival of Andy
- developmental relationship with Red
- Second Half of Act 2
- deals with Andy established in his prison life
- and Andy wants to pass on his education and teach others
- This is All Sub-Dramatic Context
- To structure Act 2 -
- Needs 1 major Sequence in first half of Act 2
- And 1 major Sequence in first of Act 2
- Sequence: Series of Scenes, connected by one single idea with a definite beginning, middle, end
- (ex. Wedding, Funeral, Race, Chase, Fight)
- Pinch: A Sequence that keeps the Action moving forward to the Midpoint or Plot Point 2
- Keeps the Story on Track, moving Forward
- (ex. Titanic)
- Pinch 1 - Jack has dinner with Rose and others
- Pinch 2 - Jack is chained to the pipe in the cabin and Rose rescues Jack
(She forsakes her own safety to go back and rescue him)
- This Action point keeps the Story moving Forward
- She saves him and they are Firmly Together, they will be saved together or go down with the ship Together
- Paradigm - (Through Act 2) -
- (ex. Titanic)
- Beginning - Jack and Rose meet (Pages 1-25)
- Plot Point 1 - Jack rescues Rose (Pages 25-30)
- Pinch 1 - Jack has dinner in tuxedo (Pages 50-55)
- Midpoint - They make love, before the iceberg hits (Pages 55-60)
(All about Jack and Roses relationship from Plot Point 1 through the Midpoint)
- Pinch 2 - Rose Recuse Jack (Pages 80-85)
- Plot Point 2 - Rose leaves lifeboat and goes with Jack (85-90)
- (Jack has given Rose a new Life) -
- (ex. Shawshank Redemption)
- Pinch 2 - Tommy is Killed
- Andy knows that he has served enough time
- It's his Redemption
- Plot Point 2 - That's when he escapes
- (Structured in a non-linear way)
- ASSIGNMENT - (for Act 2)
- We Know -
- The End
- The Beginning
- Plot Point 1
- Plot Point 2
- Determine the Midpoint, for your Story
- Midpoint - Incident, Episode or Event that keeps the Action moving forward between Plot Point 1 and Plot Point 2
- (ex. Shawshank Redemption)
- Midpoint - Receiving the library books
- (ex. Titanic)
- Midpoint - Jack and Rose make love just before the iceberg hits
- Can be a Major Dramatic Incident or a Silent Pause of Recognition
- Both work and are just as Meaningful
- Determine the Sub-Dramatic Context of first half of Act 2
- (Theme if Action to Plot Point 2)
- Determine Pinch 2
- (On Track, heading to Plot Point 2)
- ASSIGNMENT - (Structuring Act 2)
- Layout 14 cards for the first half of Act 2
- In Free Association, find Pinch 1 (card 7)
- (essence of Act 2 is Conflict)
REMEMBER - Working in 30 page Units (X2 - Two halves)
- Write the First Half of Act 2
(Through the Midpoint, then Stop)
- Then go into Second Half of Act 2
- Layout 14 Cards
- Find your Sub-Dramatic Context for the First Half of Act 2
- Write Second Half of Act 2
To reiterate ASSIGNMENTS for Act 2 -
- Determine Midpoint
- Determine Sub-Dramatic Context in First Half of Act 2
- Determine Pinch 1
- Structure First Half of Act 2 on 14 cards
- Determine Sub-Dramatic Context for Second Half of Act 2
- Write First Half of Act 2
- Determine Pinch 2
- Structure Second Half of Act 2 on 14 cards
- Write Second Half of Act 2
- Writing Act 3 -
- 22-30 Pages long
- From Plot Point 2, through the End
- Resolution means Solution
- (ex. Does Character live or die, succeed or fail, married or not, divorced or not?)
- Solution does not mean End
- ASSIGNMENT - Preparing Act 3 -
- Write down the one or two items that are Unresolved at Plot Point 2
- Define them
- Articulate them
- Structure Act 3 with 14 cards
- 1 card per scene (even-though a contradiction, continue ASSIGNMENT)
- REMEMBER - Point is to Articulate it Visually
- (ex. Films that End with long Dramatic Sequences)
- 'Witness'
- 'Crimson Tide'
- 'Silence Of The Lambs'
- 'Terminator 2'
- (ex. Films that are Resolved with a line of Action)
- 'Out of Sight'
- 'Thelma and Louise'
- 'Dances With Wolves'
- 'Pulp Fiction'
- When Writing Act 3 -
- Let it come out how it is, let it be
- If Comedy, could come out Dramatic End
- If Drama, could come out Comedic End
- Don't be hard on yourself
- Once you got it down, you can go back and fix it
- Does it Work?
- How would you like your Story to End?
- Contemplate it
- Let the answer come with in you
- ASSIGNMENTS - for Act 3
- Write down the 1 or 2 items that are unresolved at Plot Point 2
- Structure Act 3 with 14 cards (1 card per scene)
- Determine whether your ending Works for now
- START WRITING
PART 4) Re-Writing the Screenplay:
- Take what you've written and Polish, Refine, Hone and it will usually shape itself as you're re-writing
- Should be about 100-150 Pages
- First Stage -
- Read what you have written from Beginning to End without Interruption
- Just READ IT!!
- It might be so bad, it's embarrassing
- This whole Movie sucks
- I've seen this on TV already or....
- Hey, this isn't so bad
- This is actually pretty good
- The scene is so long and goes on forever, but I know what to do to cut it out
(never-mind what your comments are, Just READ IT)
- Don't take notes, meant to be objective
- This is an exercise that allows you to disengage in your subjective critical evaluation and become objective
- Second Stage -
- Write 3 Essays
- In Free Association or Automatic Writing (2 - 2 1/2 Pages long)
- ASSIGNMENT 1 -
- Essay 1
- What was it that originally attracted you to this idea?
- Real life experience
- Someone you met
- Explore an emotional situation
- A Mystery Thriller
- A Love Story
- An Action Adventure
- A Comedy
- Go into your first awareness of the idea and try and locate your original impulse
- Go to a quiet place and use Free Association to Answer the Question
- Let anything come-up
- Don't judge it
- Don't analyze it
- Let the thoughts, words or ideas surface
- Then you can catch them and throw them down on paper/computer
- Don't worry about grammar or punctuation, etc.
- ASSIGNMENT 2 -
- Essay 2
- What kind of a Screenplay did you end up writing?
- What did you set out to do?
- What did you end up doing?
- Close your eyes and contemplate what you wrote
- Go into the nature and genre
- Try to be as specific as possible
- Do this in 2-3 Pages
- Automatic Writing
- ASSIGNMENT 3 -
- Essay 3
- What do you have to do, to change what you did do, into what you originally wanted to do
1. This is what you ended up doing
2. And this is what you wanted to do
- What elements have to change to make this happen?
- The Intention MUST EQUAL the Result
- (ex. May have to strengthen and set-up the Action/ Adventure elements, then tone down the Love Story)
- Sometimes, what you ended up doing was way better than what you set out to do
- ASSIGNMENT 4 -
- (One Step at a Time)
- Re-Write Act 1
- Re-Write the First half of Act 2
- Re-Write the Second Half of Act 2
- Re-Write Act 3
(Work in 30 page Units of Dramatic Action)
- Re-Writing Act 1 as a Unit of Dramatic Action -
- Read Act 1 after Essays and . . . .
- Make notes in margin of pages as you read
- Chances are you may need to re-write a major part of Act 1
- (ex. If you have 20 scenes that make up Act 1, then 10 scenes may need some clarification and strengthening of Dialogue)
- Or may need to create 5 new scenes or modify 5 scenes
- Maybe need to re-structure Act 1, which is Re-Do the 14 cards of events
- You have to refine and modify the Plot Point of Act 1
- Do re-structuring of Act 1, if needed and play out the Storyline
- Then go into Act 1 and re-write it
- Adding, Clarifying, Condensing, Modifying
(WHATEVER YOU CAN DO, to MAKE IT BETTER!!) - Purpose of the Re-Write
- ASSIGNMENT 5 -
- Re-Writing the First Half of Act 2
- Make the notes in the margin of pages as you read
- Check your Structure
- Watch the Pages from Plot Point 1 to Pinch 1
- ASSIGNMENT 6 -
- Re-Writing the Second Half of Act 2
- Check your Structure
- Change and Modify where necessary
- Probably found your Creative Rhythm by this time
- Change only what needs to be changed (re-work)
- Work on Transitions, make sure it's smooth between each Scene
- ASSIGNMENT 7 -
- Re-Writing Act 3
- Smooth the Rough edges
- Keep the Storyline moving forward
- From Beginning to End
- Normally, Re-Writing words-on-paper draft will take from 3-6 weeks
- Just keep Writing one Unit at a time
- The Mechanical Draft: Re-Writing the Second Draft of the First Draft
(Because you're just trying to even out the edges in your Story)
- Put it into a single line of Dramatic Action or Comedic Action
- ASSIGNMENT 8 -
- The Polished Draft: Re-Writing the Third Draft
- Begin editing and honing each scene
- Strengthen and Tighten Dialogue
- Find Missing Scenes
- Add Necessary Scenes
- Work on your Transitions
- Smoothing out your entire Storyline from Beginning to End
- Character Development
- Character Dialogue
- (Begins a real Reading experience)
- Have to Enjoy That
- (Reading a Screenplay is a Unique Experience) -
- You want it to be visual
- You want the reader to see it in his/her head
- Yet you want it to be Clear and Concise and not Over-Loaded with Description or Too Many Words
- REMEMBER - Important to find your own time, your own Discipline, so you feel good with what you're doing
- There's Only 1 thing to Guide You -
- Your Own Desire to sit down and Write
- To Complete something that is Yours
- Once you've accomplished writing your Screenplay, you've accomplished something tremendous
- You've taken an idea and expanded that into a Dramatic or Comedic Storyline
- Then you've sat down and did what you set out to do
- EXPERIENCE OF WRITING -
- Writing brings it's own Rewards
- ENJOY THEM
- Pass it On
Good Luck! (and Have Fun :-)
