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LETTERS TO A YOUNG SCREENWRITER©
BY: MICHAEL THUNDER/ WWW.THUNDERFORWRITERS.COM
Dear Mr. Thunder,
My name is Johan and I live in Amsterdam. I have this incredible story to tell but I don’t know much about screenwriting. Can you help me?
Sincerely,
Johan
Dear Johan,
Do you have a specific question? How to write a screenplay is a large topic. If you have a specific question, I would have an easier time of replying?
Michael
Dear Mr. Thunder,
Let’s start with the idea. How do I know if my idea is big enough for a film? How do I structure the idea for cinema?
Sincerely,
Johan
Dear Johan,
Good questions and questions not enough writers ask themselves when they are starting out on a project. It’s mostly smoke and mirrors in the beginning for those who have not worked as professional writers before. Young writers tend to jump in with enormous faith and a good measure of arrogance on their first script before they have a clue as to what they are doing. I had an inquiry from New York from a young man. He said he had written a script. All he wanted me to do was put the talking in. I told him putting the talking in was very expensive; probably more expensive than anything else in the script.
First of all, list all of your script ideas including the one you mentioned in your first e-mail. Then choose the idea that has the most allure, steam, numinosity, interest…what idea turns you on and gets you excited about telling the story. At this point make a few notes as to that experience. What about this story inspired your passion? Why are you burning to tell the story? You’ll need to remember this passion later when you get to the second act, all the original steam has been dissipated and you hate the idea, can’t imagine why you started with it in the first place, there is absolutely no way to resolve the stupid idea and want to quit. That’s when your good notes from this early stage will be valuable to keep you going and return you to your original passion for the idea.
The next step is to determine what genre your script falls into. Is this idea most suitable for a romantic comedy or an action thriller? What size movie will this idea require? Imagine the possible budget. If you are writing a block buster you have a lot more freedom than if your idea suits a small independent feature that can be made for a couple million dollars.(list most popular genres and why they should write in those first)
Once you have the genre, say Romantic Comedy, download scripts from five successful romantic comedies.(see resources in the back) You can check IMDB to determine the box office of a script. You know the films you liked, choose from them. If I were to do this I’d get Harold and Maude, When Harry Met Sally, Something About Mary, Grosse Point and The Station Master.
Read each script once without doing anything. On the second read-though, analyze the script; break it down into its parts. First figure out the script structure in terms of three acts. What happens by page 10 that tips you as to what the story is going to be about? What is the inciting incident at the end of act one, approximately page 30, that sets the story in motion, turns it in a new direction and leads to the controversy and excitement of act 2? Act two should run from approximately page 30-90. There is a major turn to the action usually about page 60. What and where do the crisis and climax occur? (If you haven’t had experience with the three-act structure, Syd Fields has some excellent videos and a book as does McKee. David Trotter wrote the bible on this. Hague also has a script theory that differs slightly from those two and is a great adjunct to the craft of screenwriting. Each will give you an idea of basic structure see index.) There is no reason not to write your script by these guidelines because quite simply, they work.
So, you analyze the screenplays that you have selected in terms of structure. Then you want to ask, to whom does this story belong? Who is the hero/heroine? Depending on the genre, you’ll get different answers. For instance in THE PERFECT STORM the storm was the main character. Decide who owns the film you are analyzing. This is very important for organization. If you don’t know who owns the film, you will be all over the lot, as will any potential producers.
Next, is the story character or plot driven? Is there a story that rules or will the audience be more interested in the personal journey of the main character. Star Wars managed to do both. We watched Luke’s development; Han Solo too, and there was a driving plot in which The Empire had to be dealt with. Decide what you have in front of you. If the story is primarily plot driven, outline the plot in bold strokes. How is the plot introduced? How is it developed? What are the main turning points, obstacles the hero has to overcome? How does she overcome them?
If the example you are analyzing is character driven, say something like THE HOURS, how is the character, or how are the characters, developed/revealed. How is the character different after the movie ends than he/she was before the movie started? What happens to precipitate growth in the character?
Be sure to have a good look at the dialogue in the scripts you are reading. Why does it work? What are the characteristics that make it real and enticing?
Check out the narrative. How does the narrative in each script compare to the others? Is there a similarity of narration? How do they differ? For instance, if you are doing an action thriller, how does the writer put that down on the page, a car chase, a people chase? What are the elements that seem to occur in each script in the genre you are studying?
The reason you have to know this is that everybody else who buys scripts, who puts out money to produce scripts, knows this. It is part of your homework so you don’t end up with egg on your face. You have to know what has gone before you and had a success if you want to successfully place your story in the genre and win.
After you have completed the above assignment, rent the movies you have been studying and watch them critically. How do you do that: how to watch movies as a scriptwriter.
You have analyzed the scripts and the movies, noticed how the scene got from paper to screen, now it is time to solidify what you know about the genre and apply it to structuring your story. Are you doing a character driven or plot driven story. Who owns your story? What will happen to him/her and in what order. What do you have to do about getting the dialogue right? Can you do professional, sleek narration to convey the progression of action and setting in your script? Remember, you are working in a visual media using words. Not an easy task. There has to be enough and not too much to off put a potential producer or director. There has to be room for them to do their job at the same time you do yours. This is a delicate matter.
Remember, Movies are stories told in pictures.
Sincerely,
Coach Michael
Dear Coach,
That is a lot of work. I didn’t know I would have to do a lot of work. I thought I would just write a great script and someone would pay me six figures for it and I’d retire. This is a lot of work.
Johan
Dear Johan,
That is correct. Most of the people that start out think they are going to write a script the way you do. They are Hollywood Dreaming. No one has ever written a script and been successful that way. Script writing is a craft and like any craft, e.g. woodworking, it takes time to learn it and when you learn from the best you learn the best. I heard Pamela Wallace speak at Hollywood by the Bay in California. She said that it took her about ten years to get to the point where she felt she really knew the craft. This is after her story idea was developed into WITNESS with two partners and she won the academy award.
I think this myth seduces all of us at one time or another. I know it got me. I thought I would write one script and retire off the proceeds. Then a scriptwriter asked me about my career. Career? What’s that? So first, I think there is something terribly dreamy about Hollywood. It seduces the whole world. (Like the California Gold Rush.) I literally have e-mails from all over the world with individuals having the same dream. So Hollywood, consciously or otherwise, encourages this myth of the one script wonder.
Secondly there is something decidedly weird about scriptwriting. People think they can do it without any experience of the craft or any training. I think this comes about for a couple reasons. Scripts are written in English and I speak English, therefore, I can write a script. Or another version is, I have seen over one million movies. Of course I can write one. That is similar to someone saying to me that that have seen over a thousand pieces of early American furniture and of course they can build a Highboy. Or someone saying to me, I am going to write a symphony and I say, oh, you have background in music theory and instrumentation etc. and they say what? Oh no I have no background nor training, but I have listened to symphonies for over ten years now. Get the point? Screenwriting is a craft and it can be learned and practiced, needs to be learned and practiced. Writers who write successful scripts have paid their dues both to the craft and the rhythms of the market whether they are following or leading it.
As you said above and I quote: “This is a lot of work.”
The question is: are you willing to do the work? Or was this just another idea that didn’t prove out in the real world. There are a lot of such ideas. And there is nothing wrong with that. However, if you want to write scripts, you have your work cut out for you. I can help you with the craft and with producing a professional script however: before we proceed, you have to decide and let me know if you want to do the work.
Michael
Dear Michael,
I have thought it over and I guess so.
Johan
Dear Johan,
That’s not good enough. You need a much greater level of commitment if you hope to learn and succeed at the craft of screenwriting. What’s it going to be? I need to hear some passion from you or it’s no go.
Michael.
Dear Michael,
I am ready to work.
Johan
Dear Johan,
First step, do the assignment I gave you in my earlier e-mail. Once you have a grasp of the genre and can think in terms of that genre, we will proceed to the next step of crafting the screenplay.
Michael
Dear Michael,
I am working on it. I had a thought though that I didn’t ask about confidentiality in our working arrangement. Also, what if someone steals my idea?
Johan
Dear Johan,
It is my opinion that some form of paranoia or ignorance about the way things work spawns this fear. I know a lot of prospective writers who get stuck on this and as a consequence become timid and afraid to put their work out into the world because someone might steal it and this before they have written a single screenplay. Makes me think this is part of the Hollywood Dreaming Myth.
Rarely does a writer say to me, and I think this is a better question; I hate to actually ground my idea in reality. It is so perfect now, why sully it with the mundane process of grounding it in actual writing. I think I’ll just sit here with the perfection of my idea and worry about whether or not someone is going to steal it. I think there is some of this in the above; my idea is great, terrific, and beyond belief. I can hardly believe I thought it up. Or my story is unique, desirable, everybody will want it. Most of that is delusion and can be cured most easily by what is known as WORK. Ideas are a dime a dozen and ultimately it is hard to exclusively own an idea. The execution of the idea, the testing of the idea, the grunt work of making the idea into more than that, something that can be shared with others, is what this is about. I wonder why more young scriptwriters aren’t concerned with that, with taking the idea from Plato’s realm of the perfect form and trying to squeeze it into a script. Like Drucilla trying to get her fat foot into Cinderella’s slipper. If you are really worried, register the idea, a treatment or the first draft with the Writer’s Guild of America, West, Inc. 7000 West Third Street, Los Angeles, California 90048-4329. Phone is: 323-782-4500.
Since you are working away, I am sure; on the assignment, I will leisurely consider this question and give you my opinion.
First of all, ideas are in the air. Ideas have a time in which they mature and then they are around in the culture. Ideas belong to everybody and sometimes two different people, without direct connection, come up with the same or similar ideas. Can’t be helped. It’s the way it works.
Recently I forged, and I do mean forged there was all kind of heat and sizzle, a partnership with a successful Hollywood writer. We were working on a script that had ‘hunting’ at its core. I got the idea for the script some three years before this and he had a background with buffalo hunters etc. so it was a match. A movie came out called THE HUNTED. The first two scenes, of a hunter hunting hunters, could have been taken from our script. So…did they steal the idea from us? Did we steal the idea from them? Nope. It was the logical way to do the scenes given the story and we both independently arrived at similar scenes. We dropped our script and that was after three months of fairly intense work. No one would want to buy it. For two reasons: 1. It was similar to THE HUNTED. 2. THE HUNTED didn’t do well at the box office even though it had great actors. And there you have it.
This discussion is further complexified by the fact that there are different kinds of ideas not to mention spins on old ideas. There are ideas, like the hunting theme, that are simply present in the culture and anyone can come up with them. There are specific spins on old ideas that you do need to keep your mouth shut about until you have some control. A good example is the title of this book. LETTERS TO A YOUNG SCRIPT WRITER. (Copyrighted by Thunder) I got the idea from Rilke and his Letters to a Young Poet. Great idea. Great twist on an old idea and a good title, I think. I also get to pay my respects to a master who has gone before me. I didn’t tell too many people about that idea until I had some control over it and was on the way to publishing and registering with the Lib. of Congress.
That said, you can’t really own ideas for stories until you have developed them into some sort of identifiable commodity which our culture recognizes had value and which you can register for legal protection and defense.
There is a counterbalance, however. That counterbalance is you. You, dear Johan, are the magical ingredient. Your unique way of telling the story or developing the idea, with which you have come up, is the core of possession. That you do own. Nobody else is going to do it exactly the way you do it. Your unique point of view, your passion, and your developing skill will be what create a unique story. That’s where I like a writer to put his/her emphasis and if they have some bad luck, then they do.
As far as confidentiality between you and me... Mum’s the word and I’ll put that in writing.
Michael
Dear Michael,
Please put it in writing and send me a hard copy. I am getting excited as I do the assignment. I never realized that the genre in which I am working had so many characteristics script to script. This is an eye opener. I feel overwhelmed. I don’t know if I can do this. I know I am going to try and to work as hard as I can but I don’t know if I can do this or not. What do you think?
Johan
Dear Johan,
The signed confidentiality agreement is in the mail.
Concerning whether or not you can do this…at this point you don’t have to do anything you can’t do. Let me give you a brief explanation of how things work in the real world of scripts. The bottom line is, as an unknown writer, you are more than likely not going to write the final version of your script. Scripts are a communal effort once they are purchased and you might as well get used to it. Sometimes, if you have some experience and success, you can get control when you sell your script. A great example of this is AMERICAN BEAUTY but remember Ball had a lot of experience as a writer, knew how the game is played and somehow had the luck to get in under the radar of studio control/interference and make a masterpiece. Another example would be Amy Tan and THE JOY LUCK CLUB. She and her partners had artistic control with Disney. Remember however that she was a best-selling author and the director was Wayne Wang. The screenwriter was Ron Bass (Rain Man, Sleeping with the Enemy). So they had some clout.
You don’t and consequently you might get to do the first rewrite or a polish but the odds are that the producer has a coterie of friends and other writers, with a lot more expeirnce and saavy than you, who will rewrite your script, to the tune of several thousand dollars. If the script ends up with 50% or more of your original story, you’ll get some screen credit or if your agent cuts that deal from the get-go.
Why do they do this? The answer is money and ass covering. If I am an investor and the movie bombs and I loose 23.7 million dollars, I am going to be pissed off, right? Well, if you, the producer and/or the director, can say to me…look we used the best for the rewrites it’s not my fault the movie didn’t make. I did everything I could with recognizable talent, the best actually, and things still went awry. I didn’t use some amateur with no track record. Therefore, I am sorry and it isn’t my fault and I still get to work in Hollywood. It’s somebody else’s fault.
So Johan, get over yourself. You are a young writer (I am not talking chronology here). You are not important. You are not proven. So do the work and we’ll see what can come of it.
The basis of success is a great and irresistible script that is well crafted. That is absolutely all I want you to worry about right now. Don’t worry about getting ripped off. Don’t worry about the rewrites before production. Worry about how you are going to become a writer who can write a great, compelling script.
Where’s the results of you research, already?
Michael
Dear Michael,
Attached please find the results of my research. In brief, I am writing an action thriller that is plot driven. My hero is a paraplegic woman who is interested in other women in her private life and inherited a drug company fortune from her father and she has amnesia. You can read the rest in the attachment.
Johan
Dear Johan,
I have read the attachment and considered your e-mail, I think the next best steps are: a beginning, middle, an end and a log line.
Michael
Dear Michael,
I know what a beginning and a middle and an end are but what’s a log line and why do I need it. From what I know of log lines, they are for pitching scripts to Hollywood producers who then buy them immediately for six-figures.
Johan
Dear Johan,
I thought we were over the six-figure reasoning by now. Anyhow, a log line is, in the beginning of things, a tool for you to organize your story and to put it in a form that can be quickly communicated to others and which the advertising/marketing dept can use to understand and sell the film. A log line helps you penetrate to the center of your story. It’s also good in the elevator if you get asked what your script is about.
MORE TO COME.