What You Should Be Reading: Golden Globe scripts

Is it ironic or just coincidence that it was on Facebook that I noticed this link to the script of The Social Network (which is about Facebook)?

I was never all that clear on the whole irony v. coincidence thing.

And you really can't trust Alanis Morrisette to straighten that out.

I discovered a new website today, though, and that always makes me feel somewhat intrigued, considering that after awhile the internet starts to look like the same old neighborhood, seeing the same pages over and over again... Raindance is a UK-centric site for promoting indie film and there are some great tips and resources for writers, directors and artists of all kinds dabbling and working in the film industry.

And they have made it quite easy to read all the nominated scripts for the Golden Globes, including the winner, of course, that being The Social Network by Aaron Sorkin.

It's a fine year for brilliant screenplays, I must say.  Simone Beaufoy's 127 hours (hot on the heels of his amazing Slumdog Millionaire), and Christopher Nolan and Lisa Cholodenko, not to mention David Seidler's The King's Speech, which is the best movie about a guy with a speech impediment probably ever made.

If you want to write great scripts, you have to read great scripts.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go read them.  I did.  Okay, not all of them, not yet. But I will be.

Your script is a blueprint, not the building

In my earlier post, I mentioned the Film Factory competition and the fact that I entered my own short screenplay into the contest.  I also mentioned you can watch last year’s movies. (see below).

What’s really helpful is that you can also read the original scripts submitted, which, of course, I did, months ago. What was wonderful about the two scripts (actually, there are three finalists and you can read all three of them) is not that just the fact that they’re good scripts, but that each seems to have a unique point of view and a distinct voice. 

After the short films debuted at the Three Rivers Film Festival, they were available to watch online.  What's so great is to see what changes were made to the scripts before (or during) filming.  

Part of the Film Factory’s goal is to show the filmmaking process, and rarely does a script stay the same thing on the page as it goes through the development process.  There are issues like set locations, numbers of actors, and other logistics which can influence the type of movie you’re making (especially when it’s low budget).  

Of course, the main goal of rewriting is also to make the story more clear and compelling. 

This is why when I write a play, I never consider it “finished” until its gone into production.  A reading is helpful and workshops are fun, but there’s nothing like the process of a rehearsal period. There’s only one way to test if the play works in front of an audience—and that’s to put it out there on stage . 

A play is a blueprint, a code for instructing actors how to tell this particular story in a particular space.  Theater happens on stage, not on the page.

For an exercise, try this: read a script then watch it.  This is easier with movies (or with Shakespeare because God knows someone in your town is probably destroying his words right this very minute).

Another fun exercise to try is to watch a movie and while watching, try to write down in script format what’s happening.

Both of these exercises are excellent ways of training your mind to think in three dimensions, so that when you’re writing your script, you’re imagining what will happen after the words leave the page.

Roll The Dice from Film Factory on Vimeo.

Anywhere But Here from Film Factory on Vimeo.

Where do you find scripts to read?

Okay, you read that last post on reading, and you think, that’s all well and good, sir, but you worked in a theater company in New York so you had to read a ton of bad and good plays.  

I’m a [blank] and I live in the middle of nowhere in [blank] and I don’t have access to a bunch of plays and screenplays.

Ah, but you do…

First of all, we live in this wonderful country with free access to libraries, either public libraries or the one in your closest university.  They have plays there, good and bad (yes, even bad plays get published and produced).  They have screenplays there, as well.  Of course, they also have a ton of novels, magazines, etc. 

Also, we live in the wonderful age of the internet.  There are many, many, many websites which host access to screenplays.  If you look hard enough, you can even find screenplays  in production or pre-production (I read an earlier draft of Mel Gibson’s new movie THE BEAVER a year ago when it was on the black list).

Another great resource—join a writer’s group or find another writer and read his/her stuff.  You can learn a lot by being involved in your colleagues’ growth as a writer (and they can definitely help you). 

If you are near a theater and this theater takes submissions, ask if they need readers.  They may get back to you and say yes, or they may not.  Or they may not get back to you at all because most literary departments are swamped, overworked and underpaid.  But they will appreciate the offer (usually).

Go to Poets.org.  You can sign up to receive a poem a day.  Reading Robert Frost or some new poet I’d never heard of at the start of my day reminds me of the beauty of language all around us.

Do your research.  

Read.  

It’s part of your job as a writer.

(Of course, there is no substitute for actual performances--one must also go to the theatre, go to readings, be involved with your local theaters as much as possible--but that's for another post).

Script Frenzy is coming!

So I've totally bailed on the idea of contributing to the co-write thing, though I am still reading the script, which frankly is not that bad...It's not that good, either, but hey, it's Hollywood and that's what rewrites are for...

But now I'm contemplating whether or not to participate in Script Frenzy.

It's like the Nat'l Novel Writing Month but its in April.

And its for scripts.

So its not really like writing a novel in a month...but...

The similarity is that you have to write a 100 page script in a month, starting on April 1st.

I tried this experiment once before about a year ago (and wrote about it here). There is something exciting and beneficial about writing that script fast and furious. It forces you to stop d*cking around and make choices. Some are bad choices, but some are pretty good. And there's an incredible feeling of accomplishment once its done. Of course its not really done (I'm still rewriting that script I wrote, but its getting much better...)

But what's really fun is if you go to the site they have a randomized plot generator.

It's so cool!

Here's my next movie projet:


While boarding a yellow bus

a monarch named Walliump

travels back in time to kill Hitler

Okay, a little bit cliche, but I can make it work.

Forgetting that forgettable movie

We watched the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall last night.

It was, shall we say, forgettable.

There was some gross jokes, lots of sex, lots of wailing and oh-poor-me woes by the protagonist, and then we watched a pig get gutted.

That was in the first hour. We did not see the second hour.

For the record, I'm okay with gross jokes, sex and the occasional pig gutting (thought not always in the same movie). I loved Superbad. And Knocked-up had its own comedic charm.

Judd Apatow movies are like advocacy movies for simple, not-so-great looking chubby guys with some charm but not much else going for them.

Because us guys don't always want to see pretty people like Brad Pitt getting younger or more pretty. Somtimes we like to see normal guys drinking beer, eating bad foods and talking about sex.

It's sad, but its true.

Anyway, I kept thinking to myself, this should be funny…the premise is not great but good enough. Man gets dumped, man goes to Hawaii to forget about his ex- and ends up at same resort as her, falls in love with the hired help. The plot is pretty formulaic, following the standard on-the-rails forward progression of most romantic comedies. But that isn’t why it wasn't good. The cast was talented--a lot of the Judd Apatow regulars. So the acting isn’t why it sucked.

Bottom line really is it just wasn't funny.

Although, reading the blog over at celluloid blonde (coincidentally, she just watched the movie and turned it off early, as well), I knew that part of the problem was it wasn't geared toward the right audience--its a rom-com that should cater to women as well as men.

And celluloid blonde bluntly says, about not just women, but everyone:

“No one goes to see a romantic movie to watch a pig get gutted.”

‘nuff said.

So. This is Interesting

As if I don't have enough to do already...

I've been looking over the script to 7 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT and re-thinking some of the staging for the festival in February. I realize that the script is actually in really good shape and the real challenge will just be the new directing and production elements. I took a break and then did some internet surfing to find this contest called COWRITE.

I wouldn't put much stock into it but it is being sponsored by some legit organizations (including Benderspink, one of the best management companies finding new talent--they are behind the discovery of Juno scribe Diablo Cody, for one).

The contest is based around the premise of co-writing a script. First person writes the first 10 pages (and wins $3000!) and then people submit the next ten pages. There is a winner and then people used those 20 pages to continue the story...

Each of the 11 biweekly winners will win $3000 in cash and prizes, a meeting with management/production company Benderspink (A History of Violence, American Pie, Just Friends) and a shot at the grand prize: a $5000 paid rewrite!

I've seen experiments like this done by theater companies to write plays with different playwrights. It's gimmicky and fun.

Oh, and it's usually a dismal failure.

But hey, it's hollywood and who knows, could be a good way to make a movie...

Or...

It could be an elaborate way of finding new talent (and only having to read 10 pages of that new talent's work--trust me, most of the time 10 pages is all you need).

If it weren't for the fact that it costs money to enter, I'd be more enthusiastic. But the plus side is that they have the story already, so you just have to come up with the characters and set up. I know that's not easy, but at least its not starting completely from scratch.

Here's the premise:

Determined to be a high-level Jason Bourne type operative, an awkward teenager enlists the help of a mysterious, supposed ex-CIA agent in his hometown and finds himself entangled in a dangerous plot that is way over his head.

Oh, and by the way, have I mentioned in this blog that the first ten pages of any script, play or screenplay, is the hardest?

No?

It is.

Because you have to know where the ending is to make the beginning work so well. Which is why this contest is interesting...because no one has written the ending yet.

I'll definitely have to keep checking back on it, just for the freak show appeal of the experiment.

This Machine Kills Fascists

A story could have many different outlets.

I read an essay that playwright Marsha Norman wrote, basically saying that if you can express a story to somebody and all that means in a telephone conversation, then you should just do that. Don’t write a play or screenplay. Just call somebody.

(I’m paraphrasing here.)

If the story warrants the amount of time and depth, and it must be expanded into something larger, then by all means, get to it. But not everything has to be an opus. Some of the best poems are only a few lines long, after all.

That’s why I wonder sometimes if I should just quit writing plays and screenplays and try to write folk songs.

Really.

Folk songs can brilliantly convey story and depth in the span of a few minutes. And people are more likely to give you three minutes of their time to listen to the melody of a folk song then they are to sit in a darkened room with you for two hours.

Maybe its just because this guitar I want to buy inspires me to write folk songs.

I don’t know.

But I’ll say this…I’m glad it’s Friday.

(By the way, that title was the words on Woody Gutrie's guitar...)

FADE OUT

And so the screenplay is done. Finished as of Saturday. Clocked in at 109 pages.
The title is back to T.Y.A. I don’t know…I just can’t crack this title thing. They’re so elusive.

The script isn’t quite perfect, but I wouldn’t be embarrassed to hand it to anyone to read. (And that’s saying a lot, actually, as I hardly let anyone read raw stuff. It’s just too painful for them and me.) There are many moments that seem fresh and original, especially some of the ones based on real incidents. I can honestly say, “I’ve never seen a movie like this before…”

So now what?

I’ll let it sit for a month or two, then get back to it. Chances are good another rewrite and/or polish will be in store. And that’s okay.

Meanwhile, I move on to my next project.

Almost Done

My 21 day journey began earlier this month and the time has really flown by. There was something I just read in this book by Vicki King: that whatever time you give yourself to write a screenplay is the time you will take. In other words if you say you’ll write something in 21 days you can do it. If you say you’ll write something in a year, then that’s how long it will take you. Neither time schedule is better. Some stories take a long time to put down on paper. Some don’t.

Edward Albee claims that he never rewrites. He sits down and a play emerges from him, like giving birth. He works it out in his head (which in itself is really just rewriting without pen and paper) and then starts typing.

As quoted from a recent NY Times article by Jesse Green:

One day he finds himself “knocked up” with a play that had been gestating unbeknownst. Then he merely “delivers” or transcribes it, pretty much intact.
“Literally?” I wondered.

“Creativity is magic,” he said, “don’t examine it too closely.”

Personally, I find it hard to believe.

I’m not saying it’s not true. It's just hard to imagine anyone being that good. The only other person I can think of who did that was Mozart. But Albee is one of the best playwrights in America working today (The Play About the Baby, Three Tall Women, The Goat, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?...I mean, c'mon...)so honestly I don’t really care how he says he does it. I’m just glad he does it. And I like the idea that there is a certain magic behind creativity (perhaps its this magic that so baffles those who don’t practice the “arts”, like say…producers).

But I don’t work that way and most writers I’ve talked to don’t. So that’s reassuring.

Here are a few changes that have been made to my script since the rough draft:

Title of “TYA” to “The Honeysuckle Tour” to “Honeysuckle Road” to “Making Time”.
(and yes, I still don’t think that title “pops” and says, “hey watch me!”)

What was 126 pages is now 108 (on the light side maybe?)

Not all of the rewrites were cuts—I’ve added several scenes, between Jack and Eric, between Courtney & Eric, etc.

Added scene of Jack falling asleep at the wheel—hence he doesn’t get to drive the van anymore…

Weak opening is now stronger active image (monologue from the protagonist is now a visual image showing his compulsive behavior).

New favorite lines:

Courtney: “Whatever. It’s not sexual harassment if you’re in the theatre.”

Jack: “People say we live in a male dominated world. I have yet to find the proof.”

Jack again: “If we wanted easy, we wouldn’t be show people.”

So what’s the plan now? I have done my major rewrites and now need to finish with some minor tweaks in the third act (pps 90-120). Then I have my “closing ceremonies”. And I take a break and eat some turkey.

A month or so from now I’ll read through the script and see what glaring ugliness there might be and do my best to beautify it.

I'm looking forward to going back to writing some plays. Or rewrite some plays. Theater is my first love. Screenplays are really just a diversion. Who else but a writer would procrastinate from writing by writing in some other medium? We are crazy.

Here’s this lovely quote from Albee about theatre:

“Theater should be a tough experience like anything else, but it also has the responsibility not to be boring.”

Well said.

Race to the finish

So at this point we're almost done. What are we at? Day 19? (Actually I'm a day or two behind, I think...So it's probably Day 17 or 18).

Almost the entire script has been rewritten in some way. I’d say only about 30% of the original "random draft" is still in intact at this point, which is probably pretty high, actually. There will be more rewriting as I tweak and polish certain scenes. I’m still not completely happy with my ending (seems too “Hollywood”), but until I get some better ideas, I’m just going to leave it be. It's not that it doesn't work, it just could work a lot better--it's not very surprising or fun and thus not completely satisfactory.

Tonight and tomorrow I will continue to polish. Time to cut, cut, cut. Change dialogue into something more smooth and quick. Or just make it funny. Find the pacing of the movie and get rid of anything that slows it down (even if I like it).

Stuck in the middle with you...

The rewrites of pages 30-45 went well last night.

I mean, relatively speaking to how poorly it went the night before.

But at page 30 my characters are starting to become more three-dimensional. They sound like actual real-life people talking for themselves, not just uttering dialogue I'm trying to cram through their lips. In fact, they even surprise me with some of their actions and words. That’s a good feeling. And knowing that its there in that section means it can be there in the first 30 pages, or elsewhere. Because all the pages need to have that kind of energy and freshness. But it takes a lot of hard work and time to get it there....

By the way, for those that haven't written a screenpaly before or are slightly confused on the different sections (or beats or sequences or whatever), here's an explanation of what should be happening in pages 30-45. See the first 30 pages propels the protaganist (the main hero) out of a comfort zone and sets him/her on their incredible journey. We have stasis and some intrusion and some big question that gets posed (What do you mean, ghost of my dead father king, you mean Claudius poisoned my father before he married my mother? Oh, villain, damned smiling villain!)

In my movie, my hero takes the job on the childrens theater tour and meets the leading lady. On page 30 is the beginning of Act II. There is a big event, which causes the protag to act and react and start his journey towards…whatever…In this case, its the beginning of his relationship with the leading lady. He's taking steps towards the final outcome. Taking risks he otherwise wouldn't have taken. In my script, he falls off a stage and breaks his arm, causing him to have to let others do stuff for him--this is a big deal for a stage manager who likes to be doing everything himself.

Now sometimes this big event comes earlier or later but usually its around page 30 (or within 30 minutes).

Hey kids! Here's a fun activity! Next time you're at the movies, bring your glow-in-the-dark digital watch. When that first huge event happens, check the time on your watch. What does it say? 27 minutes? 32 minutes. Wow! That's fun!

On another note, after I finish this 21 day experiment, it’s going to be pencils down for me (at least for screenplays). Most of the strike coverage (or lack of) and the misunderstandings about why the WGA is striking is really starting to piss me off.

I’m with my tribe in solidarity. Time to work on my plays instead for awhile till it all gets worked out. Hopefully soon.

And I'm spent...!

Holy crap. I finished the draft and I’m exhausted. Last night was the final dash and its clocked in at 126 pages. The ending is rushed, but at least there is an ending.

At several points during the writing I had to fight back the negative blocks of thought, such as “Boy, this really sucks…”

Today I rest. Tomorrow I read the suckage. Then Saturday I rewrite the sucking into something wonderful.

Until then I’ll read the trades about the ongoing strike.

Oh, I found this from John August’s website. This comes from Josh’s blog and it sums up the WGA strike quite nicely.

AMPTP: Wow, Ms. Prostitute. That was some great sex we just had.
PROSTITUTE: Thanks, AMPTP John. That'll be three hundred dollars.
AMPTP: You're kidding. I'm not paying you.
PROSTITUTE: What?
AMPTP: I paid you three hundred dollars for sex last week. I consider this promotional.

For more info on the strike and the writers go to www.unitedhollywood.com.

The Blank Stare

Last night I felt like banging my head on the desk.

I just couldn’t get started. I stared at the screen, as if anticipation for the characters to tell me what it is they were suppossed to do. I read over my pages from the day before. "Talk to me!" I thought. "Keep it going..." I had my outline. I knew what needed to happen. But still, I stared and stared, the light of the screen drying out my eyeballs.

But then something happened.

I said, “Ah, screw it” and just started writing something…anything…I told myself I needed to get some pages and it didn’t matter if the pages get cut later or not. Who cares if its good? Just get it down.

So I did.

And after about five pages of crap, I started to get into it and plunged into scenes I knew I had to write (scenes I was probably avoiding).

So the lesson here is sometimes, you just have to keep going, whether you feel like it or not. Because that's what writers do. They write.

By the way...didn't I say earlier how somewhere near p. 90 the other psychological hurdle comes into play? Well, there it is...or there it went, actually.

(Page count is now 110 —we are WAY overwriting…I figure when I go back to rewrite I will cut about thirty to forty pages, at least.)

Tonight I finish the draft. Whoohoooo!

The Journey is the destination

Writing is a process.

This is an obvious statement when you’re in the middle of the first draft.

Par for the course (I just love golf clichés), I am overwriting and am now at page 94. But that’s okay because I’m discovering so much about my characters. Of the four main characters, all but one are taking on a life of their own. That’s not bad for now and I know I can go back and develop all the characters further. The beautiful thing is that they are starting to surprise me, and new ideas are popping up that hadn’t occurred to me and that’s going to make the script more lively (I hope).

It’s ironic that I’m essentially writing another road movie, on the heels of Tangled Up in Bob. It’s like I got a do-over on that sub-genre. Which is good, because I’ve already written up cliché situations already in that other script—so I won’t rely on the standard “car breaking down” or “pulled over by cops” etc. Instead, the story is about the actors and the show they’re doing, and the different venues they find themselves in. As well as the main love story.

I think I’m just having more fun with this one, too. And that’s always nice.

Still going...

While everyone else goes on STRIKE!

I keep working.

As of yesterday I now have 76 pages.

I’m a little ahead of myself as I'm only supposed to have 60 (actually, I just have a tendency to overwrite since all the same events are there in the rough outline, just on the wrong pages…well, that’s my story I’m sticking to it!).

Here's one of my favorite lines so far:

“I love vomit. Especially as a fashion choice.”

Okay, it’s not “You had me at hello…” but still…little remarks like that make me smile.

But considering it’s the first draft, it'll probably be cut or rewritten anyway.

I could take a break tonight, but I have another 15 pages to write…

Then it’s the home stretch.

A few ways to procrastinate

Yesterday went well (we’re at 50 pages in the rough draft). Today is the next 15 pages (pps 45-60). After today I’ll have completed half the draft! Whoohoo!

This progress is being made despite my tendency for distraction…

When you are blocked, you may find these activities of procrastination helpful:

Checking email.

Writing emails to people you haven’t heard from in months.

Reading the online news.

Reading a script that is similar to yours.

Watching the first ten minutes of a movie in the genre you’re writing (doesn’t even have to be a good movie—I watched Adam Sandler’s 50 First Dates).

Scouring through your iTunes to find songs that you think might be on the soundtrack of the movie you’re writing.

Searching on the internet for the chords & lyrics of those songs to play them on the guitar

Google-ing yourself.

Writing in your blog.

FADE IN

Getting started is one of the most difficult tasks of writing.

It’s this huge psychological wall you have to climb over. Once you get started you can say to yourself, “well, I’m in it now…gotta keep going...”. And you’re fine, until about page 90 or so when the other psychological block hits you of…”Oh my god, I’m almost finished with this draft…then what do I do?”

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Having a great idea for a movie or play is never enough. Ask some stranger on the street if he or she has an idea for a movie and they will most undoubtedly reply, “Well, let me tell you about it…”

But they don’t sit and write it down.

And let’s face it, sitting down to write 120 pages of a movie is a big commitment. It’s not just 120 pages. It's not just an idea. It’s a story and characters. It's a world. It's usually dealing with personal issues in some kind of public way. And it’s really hard to make it good…

Last night I began my first day on the 21 day journey to write a movie. The first assignment was to write 10 pages or for 2 hours, whichever comes first.

The goal was to just get as much down as possible as quickly as possible. The idea here is not to over think it or get blocked. I cheated a little and wrote too much, which I figure is not a bad thing…I got sixteen pages (which when cut down probably will be more like 5 anyway…) I discovered a few things about the story and characters I didn’t know. There’s a ton of stuff yet that’s still a complete mystery. But then if I already knew everything about the story, what would be the point of writing it?

Tonight I’m supposed to write another 20 pages thus completing the first act (the first 30 pages) of the rough draft (which this author is calling the “random draft”).

But…

My play DOG PARK opens tonight (hence my doggy photo for today), so I may have to do two days work on Saturday to make up for my not doing any pages today. The Mamet Schmamet show isn’t until 11 pm and won’t be over till after 12:30 or so. I really don’t want to stay up till 2 am to get my work done. I’ll just do all the work on Saturday.

I’m just too darn excited about the show tonight. I’ve got some friends coming and I know its going to be good and funny… And I admit it…I like to see my work done well. It feels me with pride that my work can be done well and also that these actors and the director put so much work into it. And they did. And I’m soooooo grateful for that.

So happy opening to the cast & crew of Mamet Schmamet!

BREAK A LEG!

Puttin' my hat on and gettin' to work!

Today is the Day

I'm going to put my writer hat on my head.

(Yes, Virginia, writers do exist!)

I’m ignoring the potential WGA strike by doing this, not that this matters much to me since I'm not yet a member of WGA...(sigh)...

(Yes, Virginia writers do write the movies and no, they don't get paid when you download the movie on your iPod.)

November has become National [blank] Writing Month.

It all began with the National Novel Writing Month. Then this included playwrights in the National Playwriting Month .

There’s even one for bloggers, can you believe it?

This means a bunch of workaholics are going to put some things on hold (like their lives) and write a novel/play/blog in one month. They will probably drink a lot of coffee and never sleep and their hands will cramp up typing. They may not even shower or shave. So try to avoid them in public. They may bite if you get too close.

Me. I’m charting a different path for myself.

I’m going to write a screenplay in 21 days.

Seriously.

Why?

Well, I saw this book that was titled “How to Write a Move in 21 Days” by Vicki King. It intrigued me. Can it be done? How?

So I got the book.

As a “how to” book, and especially as a book on dramatic writing, it’s not that great. And trust me, I’ve read a lot of them, for my own personal study and for analyzing whether or not they’d be helpful textbooks for a class.

But it does have a schedule breakdown. As in…Day 1 you do this, then Day 2 you do this…etc. etc. It’s the challenge aspect of this idea that really excites me. I like the idea of having assigments and working under pressure. Sometimes as writers we really need that kick in the butt.

So today I start writing the movie—in fact, Day 1 is to write the first 10 pages. And then by November 22nd I will have a draft of my movie.

Until then, I’m going to be very cranky.

Granted, I’ve already got some of the hard work done. I’ve thought about the story and the characters and have written a short outline of my story. It’s still gestating and the story needs to be rewritten, fooled with, adjusted, etc. I learned a lot writing my last screenplay about how important it is to know what your story is, who it’s about, and where it should begin and end…before you write FADE IN. The writing of the scenes and dialogue is usually pretty easy for me once I get going. Of course, the rewriting of everything afterwards is where it gets difficult.

For instance, creating a logline can go through several revisions. Here’s the original:

“As a touring group of actors perform a children’s play across the nation, they embark on a journey from isolated individuals to forming their own version of a ragtag family truly unique to the theater.”

Okay, not bad. Not great either. I mean, what’s the story? Who is it really about?

I decided it’s really a love story—because everybody loves a love story. It’s a love story of a man and a woman, but it’s also another kind of love story—my love for theatre (good and bad as it is). The latter is hard to convey, but the first is quite easy.

So let me take another stab, this time naming my lead character.

“Eric takes a job as a Stage Manager for a children’s theater tour and falls for one of the lead actresses. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know how to win her heart while they travel on the road, forging new relationships and experience the different cities and towns of America.”

Better, but not quite there. Why does he take the job? What’s her name, for crying out loud and what does she want? And “forging new relationships” just sounds cliché, like something you’d find on a job resume.

So one more try.

“Out of job and running from a disastrous long-term relationship, fledgling film director Eric swears off love forever and flees New York by signing on as Stage Manager of a children’s theater tour. But he falls for Carey, the lead actress, already engaged to a successful dentist and planning to move to L.A. to do TV and film work. Can he win her heart while the show travels through the heartland from theater to small town schools before they return to the city?”

Now, that’s a little bit better. Still not quite there yet but you start to get the idea of what kind of movie this is, who the characters are, and what might be in store.

If I were to make a movie poster slogan, it might go something like this:

“All’s fair in love and children’s theater.”

Or

“Love broke his heart, but his spirit might get mended on the road.”

Yuck. That sounds too sentimental or life-changing.

How about…

“Hell isn’t other people. It’s children’s theater.”

Actually, that last one is pretty catchy, but maybe too intellectual. I’ll keep working on it.

Stay tuned for updates on the progress!

Write on!

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...

“Do not put off till tomorrow what can be put off till day after tomorrow just as well.”

Mark Twain

For the past few entries I’ve been meaning to talk about…Procrastination.

But I’ve been putting it off…

It’s not like I haven’t been busy…My day job has acquired 30% more work because of some shifting around of personnel and it’s the crazy month of the year before the new budgets, blah blah blah…And I’m organizing this regional meeting for The Dramatists Guild of America, and I do actually want to spend time with my wife and my dog and have drinks with friends and see movies and plays and enjoy the sunshine, if and when it ever appears again…so it’s not about being lazy…it’s just about putting things off…really…

This is not about finding the time to write, which is difficult and could be the topic of another blog. Because sometimes you sit down to write and find yourself doing other things, like checking email and surfing the net (I like to call that “research”). In your fast-paced life, there are just too many things going on that eat up your time. Carving out time to write is difficult but can be done. I can bitch and moan about having to work 50 hours a week and have a family life, etc. but others have paved this road before me and been successful.

When it comes to writing, procrastination can kill. A project can be put off and putt off until the impulse to write, the desire to express something or tell a story just fizzles…

That’s one good reason I like the theatre—it gives you a hard deadline. At some point an audience is coming to the show and you have to be ready. Sometimes you are, but usually you need two more weeks. But opening night always looms over your head.

Before any production, though, you’ve got to write the play. And to do that, you also need a deadline. You need to set an “opening night” for yourself. That could mean setting a date for writing “Fade out” or actually setting up a reading yourself with actors to hear your finished script.

The key to battling procrastination is to create deadlines and stick to them by setting small goals, breaking things down into little chunks. To finish that play or screenplay, say to yourself, “I need five pages a week for twenty four weeks—that will be a 120 page screenplay. The deadline for that would be…” And put it on your calendar. Stay on track, even when you don’t feel like writing and especially when it seems you don’t have the time. You never have the time. No one ever does. That’s just life. So find the time. Take the big chunks and the little chunks and see what you can do with each. Sometimes I’ve done some great work when I’ve had to write a scene under the gun. You just have to think about what you want to accomplish and aim for that goal.

Writing happens word by word. We string words together and make sentences, then pages Simple, right. If you only write a one page scene don’t beat yourself up about it. You’ve done something.

A writer writes. So stop procrastinating.

Oh, and if you’re really looking for a challenge, the National Playwriting Month, inspired by the idea of National Novel Writing Month, which gets people to write a novel in one month.

Go here to check it out.

Seeing v. Hearing

A comment has been bothering me for the last week. It was made by a screenwriter who wrote a play that a famous star saw and produced into a movie (this was years and years ago so don’t try to guess who it is).

This person said, and I’m paraphrasing here, that “plays are not as structured as movies”.

The screenwriter also said that most plays don’t become good movies, which I have to agree with as a generality (did they have to make Closer and Proof so palatable?). However, I do think there are some really great plays that became very famous and well-known movies (I wonder how many people know that Casablanca was actually written as a stage-play when the studio bought the rights?). Some good examples of those writing for both stage and screen are David Mamet, Craig Lucas, John Patrick Shanley, Tony Kushner, Neena Beber, William Mastrosimone, Theresa Rebeck and Kenneth Lonergan.

But that’s a whole other blog topic.

And by the way, this screenwriter is not one of those people…

My real beef is this person seems to believe that the majority of the work in screenwriting is developing the story, creating a tightly-woven plot with fully developed characters and subplots woven in, whereas the majority of work in playwriting is just…dialogue. Or something. Evidently plays are not thought-out stories…Actually, I’m not really quite sure what this writer means by saying that screenplays are more structured.

Because here’s the point…no matter the medium, they are both stories told in dramatic form. Now, obviously they are completely different mediums…like the difference between painting and sculpture.

My initial “a-hole” response to the comment was “Wow, you must write some really bad plays…”

Because years ago when I first started writing plays I used to think plays weren’t structured much. I’d hear characters say lines of dialogue and off I went, wherever the story took me.

Those plays were bad.

(Not that I’m sorry to have written them because its nice to get all that bad stuff out of the way and then recognize it when it tries to infiltrate my work again.)

I don’t write plays like that anymore and I’m pretty sure that Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, and David Mamet do not, as well.

Bad playwrights write like that. But guess what, so do bad screenwriters.

Good playwrights work the story out, sometimes in their heads (or so says master Albee) and sometimes in outline form. Sometimes its just notes on a napkin. But playwrights, good playwrights, are master storytellers. Just like good screenwriters.

What I think this screenwriter might’ve been trying to articulate (and what the hell I’ll just speak for this moron), is that plays and movies are different because one is HEARD and the other is SEEN.

Maybe not as much anymore, but theatre (I use the French spelling on purpose because I have a master’s degree and they’ll take it away if I don’t…seriously...)…theatre began as an oral (aural) tradition and has remained so from the Greeks through the time of Shakespeare up to today. We go to the theatre to hear words coming out of live actors. This does not mean that spectacle doesn’t happen (who can ever forget the chandelier in Phantom?) but it means that we listen much more closely then we realize. Master playwrights use brilliant dialogue to convey the story, rife with its emotions and baggage. Pinter and Beckett can do more with two words than most playwrights can do with two thousand.

Movies, on the other hand, are visual. That’s why they’re called MOVING PICTURES. The story is told in pictures. The actors are nice to look at (how many ugly stars can you name?). The sets and background are detailed and the more exotic locale, the better. The important thing to remember, though, is that dialogue is completely unnecessary. It’s nice to have some good lines here and there, but you don’t need it to tell the story on film. Some of the best movie moments are visual. That’s the design of the medium. Seriously, read the script for Titanic—a movie that blew away the box office and won an Oscar. It contains some of the most atrocious lines ever. But the visuals…can’t be beat.

That doesn’t mean all movies have crappy dialogue. Woody Allen mastered the art of mixing neurotic witticisms against beautiful Manhattan backdrops. Most romantic comedies have a mixture of funny lines and funny physical bits (with very good-looking people).

So this is why a Shakespearean actor can proclaim on a bare stage: “Welcome to the forest of Arden” and BAM! The audience is instantly transported.

To do that in a movie, you need a real forest. You need to film it in Yosemite and you better have a great cinematographer to convey the type of trees the audience sees.

But it doesn’t matter what forest you’re in…You need a good story. And a good story is well-structured. That’s what makes it a good story.

Every great play is carefully constructed (some more so than most screenplays, I would say.) If you doubt that, take a closer look at Ibsen and Chekhov and Shakespeare, just to start. Then read some Shaw. Then read some modern plays like American Buffalo or Lobby Hero.

One of my favorite plays, Waiting for Godot, is a structural jewel. You won’t see it at first glance, but its there. Some critics have said nothing happens, but look closer and you’ll see a chain of events, an inevitable sequence leading to a justifiable conclusion.

It wouldn’t make a great movie, though, let’s face it. And I’ve seen some try.

Two guys waiting on a road...talking a lot…nah…put in Titanic again…