Scribosphere

The Scribosphere is Evolving!

2007-04-13T07:42:00.000-07:00

For you that still read this through the rss, the front page scribosphere.org has been changed to information about the NEW Scribosphere.

We also ask for people to donate. Why? Read the info and you'll see. We're really excited about this and we hope for the best.

Thanks to Lucy Vee for mentioning us on her blog over at Write Here, Write Now and for being our very first donator. If you got a blog (or money) do the same!

The donations are only used for the site and for greater things to come.

Have a nice day and we'll hopefully cooperate sometime in the future.

//scribosphere.org

Tribute to Fencing With the Fog

2007-03-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Fencing With the Fog

Great blog, check it out. Previously insightful posts:

Fencing With the Fog - The Sidekick Story

Fencing With the Fog - Dead Protag Addendum

We love you MaryAn.

//Scribosphere

A Screenwriting Blog-A-Thon!

2007-03-09T02:11:00.000-08:00

A nice "event" by Mystery Man is coming up:

I would like to announce (what may be) the world's first:

SCREENWRITING BLOG-A-THON!

THE TOPIC: Your Favorite Screenplay & Why

WHEN: March 30 - April 2

Simply post on your blog (the weekend of March 30 - April 2) an article about your favorite screenplay & why you admire it so. (This must be a script that has been turned into a film.)

I will publish on March 29 a blog-a-thon post (like this one), which I will continually update that weekend with links to ALL of the articles. After you post your article, email me or include in your article a link to my blog-a-thon post. I'll keep a watchful eye on the trackbacks and be sure to include everyone who participates.

To all of my TriggerStreet friends who don't have blogs - if you'd like to contribute, you are very welcome to do so by emailing me your article, and I will post it right here.

By the way, if you're having trouble deciding, SimplyScripts has a wealth of free, available, online screenplays. Hope that helps.

And finally, if you guys could announce this on your blogs so word gets out, I would greatly appreciate it.

WOO HOO! I'm excited.

-MM

Categories: [events_] [general_]

Love It

2007-02-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

The Unknown Screenwriter never fails to write enjoyable, and his last post is a must read. Follow this link to read it.

As you probably noticed, the Scribosphere hasn't been updated for quite a period and unfortunately it will continue like this.

Why? Because bigger plans are scheduled for it. A huge expansion of it will occur soon and I think you'll be amazed when that time comes. But until then please be patient and don't forget it.

Huge thanks to Eric Andrade, the blogger of Eric's POV. He volunteered to help out during all this time.

That's all folks, good luck with your scripts!

//Scribosphere

Happy Groundhog Day!

2007-02-02T13:54:00.000-08:00

Billy Mernit writes about one of my favorite romantic comedies: Groundhog Day.

Cheers!
- E.

Yes, it's that time of the year again. Romantic comedy lovers, romantics, lovers comedic or serious -- pretty much all humans with beating hearts know that as soon as February rolls around, there's a major holiday to be reckoned with, one that's come to symbolize the meaning of love and romance for America, if not the world.

I'm speaking, of course, about Groundhog Day.

Granted, there was a time, long, long ago (i.e. before 1993), when this holiday lacked the romantic associations since bestowed on it, due to the efforts of Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis and Bill Murray. But ever since the writer, director and star, respectively of Groundhog Day created what's now generally acknowledged as one of the great American movies of all time, February 2nd has become synonymous with romance and comedy. In fact, when people ask me to name a couple of my favorite romantic comedies, this one invariably comes to mind.

Groundhog_dayWhat's that? You've never thought of this cinematic classic as a romantic comedy? For shame. I have it on good, nay, unassailable authority that the film more than qualifies. For starters, it says so right on the friggin' DVD box's front cover ("A romantic comedy fantasy that is Bill Murray's best screen performance" -- thank you, Gene Shalit). But you can also look up the definition of romantic comedy in the um, definitive text on same, and find (p.12) that "a romantic comedy is a comedy whose central plot is embodied in a romantic relationship" and that (p.13) "the central question posed by a romantic comedy is: 'Will these two individuals become a couple?'"

As you well know, when TV weatherman Phil Connors (Murray) gets inexplicably trapped in the same repeating February 2nd, his sole recourse to getting out of it becomes the object of his affections, producer Rita (Andie MacDowell); his salvation lies in the answer to their coupling question. (Screenwriting theorist sticklers may point out that the story's central question is really, Will Phil ever get out of February 2nd? To this I say, also true, because the movie is a rom-com hybrid -- ibid, pp.21-28 -- a romantic comedy/high concept fantasy, and thus the couple/escape conflicts are intertwined. But let's stop boring our civilian readers, shall we? Thanks.)

Strange but true, there still exist deprived, disadvantaged people who have not seen the movie Groundhog Day. If you are one of those poor souls, what better opportunity to improve the quality of your life, than to view it this Friday, on the official Day itself? And even if you're one of the many enriched individuals who's seen it, Groundhog Day is of course a movie that you can watch over and over, and over, and over and over and over...

Ground_main_1...And if you're a major Groundhog Day fan, you might even consider journeying to the scene of the crime: the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania is having its annual celebration, and it promises to be quite a hoot. Such a trip was actually enjoyed by Day's writer and star before the movie was made, and therein lies a little tale that speaks, I believe, to the true spirit of romance, or as we might say, what love's got to do with it.

Danny Rubin recounts the following in his illuminating interview accompanying an early draft of the screenplay in Scenario (Spring '95 issue, regrettably out of print). He talks of having been hired, fired and re-hired to work on the script, and when he, his wife Louise and kids were preparing to move from Los Angeles to New Mexico, getting a call from Bill Murray:

He says, "Do you realize that the day after tomorrow is Groundhog Day?"--"Yep."--"And do you realize that between the director, the producer, the star and the writer of this film, nobody has been to the festival at Punxsutawney? Doesn't that seem wrong to you?" And I said, "Absolutely. And I think you should go, I think that will be a great thing." And he said, "I think we should go." And I said, "Bill, that's a really nice offer, sounds like fun, but I'm moving, I'm moving my family, we're up to our necks in boxes, I can't just abandon them and go off to Punxsutawney." And he said, "Well, think about it and call me back. Here's my number." When I got off the phone, Louise asked who it was. "Bill Murray," I said. "He wants me to go to Punxsutawney tomorrow." And she said, "Cool." And I said I'd told him I couldn't do it. She said, "Are you nuts?" So I talked to [the studio] and they said, "We'll pay for the move, we'll get someone to help pack, we'll fly out a friend of your wife's to help her move in so you don't have to be there."

Groundhog_day2_1This level of support was very nice, and I embarked on the most surreal adventure of my professional life. All of a sudden I'm flying in a private plane from the middle of nowhere to the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with Bill Murray and we're talking about the script. We landed somewhere near Punxsutawney at 2:00 in the morning. And there were fans out there waiting for him--it was supposed to be a secret...

Rubin goes on to say that he used a lot of what he saw on that trip in the script. He'd originally only spoken to the town's Chamber of Commerce and looked at their literature, but:

After we actually saw it, there was a whole different feel to it than we had imagined. It was delightful, really delightful--a wonderful civic event. We incorporated a lot of that into the movie... Everyone there knew it was a goofy ritual--it was almost sophisticated in its hickyness. What was so much fun about the festival is, it's the middle of the night, zero degrees, they've got bonfires going--and they're playing Beach Boys music.

Groundhog_day

Sometimes I read this excerpt to a screenwriting class when I'm talking about the inestimable value of research, to illustrate how really being there can make all the difference in writing a given project. But I quote it now in this pre-Valentine's Day context to highlight my favorite moment in Rubin's story, which is when Louise says, "Are you nuts?"

I just love that! Gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling every time, because it seems to me that Danny Rubin's wife is the hidden heroine of the Groundhog Day saga. Love doesn't mean never having to say you're sorry. It means having someone be able to say "Are you nuts?!" to you at a crucial moment. Love is sometimes about saving loved ones from themselves -- which come to think of it, is kind of at the core of what the movie ended up being about, don't you think?

Go watch it again, again, and see if you agree.

Don't Fence Me In, Unless It's For A Really, Really Good Reason

2007-01-31T08:48:00.000-08:00

From Julie Gray at The Rouge Wave.

Enjoy!
- E.

Ophelia Has Left The Building – Stereotypes in Scripts

I have noticed a disturbing trend among the younger male screenwriters I read. When they write of love, sex and romance they consistently – and I mean consistently – feature two kinds of girls. The hot girl, with big breasts or long legs, blonde hair or brunette, depending on the taste of the writer, and the nice girl – similar physical attributes but just a little more ordinary looking. The hot girl puts out and this is the source of the sex scenes early on in the script. The nice girl does not put out but more than that, she is “sweet”, she often cooks, she is definitely maternal and she is the one our main character will choose to either marry or fall in love with in the end. If I had a quarter for every time I have seen this dynamic in scripts written by younger males, I would be very rich. This disturbing, archaic, binary view of women is, well, disturbing and archaic. Largely this is the result of inexperienced writers being simply too youthful to understand that real women are too complex to pigeon hole and so they fall back on stereotype.

Falling back on stereotype is not only lazy writing it can even be offensive. All readers have seen cringe-inducing scripts in which ethnic characters are portrayed in a deeply offensive light. Other likely victims of stereotype are women, cops, priests, bratty children or just generally any character that the writer just couldn’t wrap his or her mind around. I think we all remember with a collective shudder the Mickey Rooney character in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S.

Stereotype can be a beautiful thing - if it is a conscious choice. For example, teens are famously myopic and self-centered, yes? Naturally, the teen comedy is from the teenaged point of view - so even if you are a thirty-seven year old writer who knows better, the best choice for the parents in your teen comedy would be the repressed work-a-holic dad and the horny and bored mom. Is it true to life? Not really. But it is true to life for a teenager. And that’s the genre you’re writing.

The young male screenwriter who winds up with Jezebel the horny cheerleader versus Jenny the fresh-faced home ec sweetheart who also does his homework and bakes cookies is most definitely simply lacking in life experience and perspective. (See blog about distance). But for any other writer, stereotype is inexcusable – unless you are making a conscious choice that is in service to your story.

Check in with yourself and your story. What is the functionality of each character relative to each other and relative to the story, genre and tone? Are you maximizing each character? Do you need that character to make a larger thematic point? In other words, if the character is a stereotype, are you aware of it? Can you justify it?

Good character and dialogue work is considered one of the crown jewels in the toolkit of sought-after screenwriters. Stereotypes have a place and serve a function – sometimes the cop really should just eat a donut. Just make sure that as a writer, you are making a conscious choice that works within the world of your story because nothing says PASS writer faster than unfunny, unromantic or unscary stereotypes.

Get Your Instapitch On...

2007-01-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

From Red Right Hand. Great stuff to inspire and delight.

Oh, and the Doctor Who stuff? I don't get it. But it sounds like a cool episode.

- E.

INSTAPITCH™ (THE TRAVEL EDITION)
In which I promise to get to a point...

Something I read in a very old book has stuck with me through my excuse for a writing career and it's something I keep very much in the front of my mind, next to the big box of those hooking monkeys.

The book in question is The Trouble With Tribbles by David Gerrold and it's the story of how that famous episode of Star Trek happened, from young David deciding he wants to be a writer all the way through through production and the aftermath of the tribble phenomena and the initial rumblings of organized Star Trek fandom. My copy is yellowed and is a seventh printing from 1976, but it's an intriguing look inside the brain of a young writer in a television world that has changed a lot while not changing at all.

The first chapter is about opportunity knocking and that when it does, you better be able to answer the door. Better yet, if you can, have the coffee made and hot and snacks on a tray. That's why I keep my spec pile rotating. I like to have a lot of different things ready to go at any time.

Sometimes, opportunity comes in different ways. you never know who you're going to meet and waht they're going to ask for? Can you think on your feet? Can you pitch something at the drop of a hat if you had to?

Occasionally, I like to exercise my brain a bit by coming up with one pitch for every show I watch, preferably in just a couple of minutes each. It's a good brain stretch for a short drive to pick up some beer and hardcore porn, or in my case, soda and funny books.

You don't have to work it all out. Just a little more than a log line's worth. And be hard on yourself. Is it cool or did you just barf up something to beat the clock? Honestly, my Instapitch™ to myself for an episode of Shark was met with a rolling of my eyes at...myself. It sucked, I moved on.

It's fun because it lets you put a little thought to some shows that are "unspeccable" or not spec worthy. Last night, I did one for Doctor Who (foreign show, no good for the spec) "The Forty-Four Doctors" in which The Doctor must convince The Mighty and Dread Confederation of the Sanguinary Obliton, in essence a "murder galaxy" (population: 500,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 very angry rubber-suited monsters (of which there'd only be three or four rubber suits and a lot of cut and paste)), that there is something worse in the universe than them and they're looking at it. Can he destroy an entire galaxy bent on killing everything in sight? How will he do it (hint: here)? What toll will the contemplation of such genocide take on him? Blah, blah blah. Total time thinking about this: From here to the Boston Market for meatloaf (and a lot of that was coming up with the name Mighty and Dread Confederation of the Sanguinary Obliton). Not on the way back. That was the unpleasantness with Shark.

I can only imagine how ridiculous that sounds to someone not familiar with the peculiarities of Doctor Who. Or how ridiculous it sounds to those who do. Anyway, I'm setting that one free...to the wild.

A little test of speed, style and other stuff. You can even do it with old shows if you so desire. Who knows? You might stumble over something you can use somewhere else.

BTW, this whole thing of being ready when opportunity knocks relates to the hand-wringing I've seen of late in reference to Jane Espenson's post about writing spec pilots. It's one agent she spoke with recommending anything but specs to be used as writing samples. And even if something original opens the door, they may want something else after its opened. Do both. Be ready for all eventualities. Go to war with the army you've got, and make sure that army is the one you want. Y'know?

Still working out the kinks of a Heroes spec, but I think I know how to do it now.

Word Of The Day

2007-01-29T18:47:00.000-08:00

Good post from Dave at Writing On Spec.

Enjoy.
- E.

The Word Nobody Uses in Writing

Practice.

The popular phrase is "write everyday", but really, they don't mean the normal kind of writing you do (grocery lists, e-mail, reports, etc.). What you need to do is practice. Practice isn't writing another x amount of pages of your latest script, because, let's face it, that's just one script. How can writing one script help all of the necessary elements to tell a great story? It can't. It doesn't.

When people learn to paint, to play an instrument... any kind of artistic or skilled endeavor, what they do is practice fundamentals. With writing, it's words, spelling, punctuation, sentences, etc.; however, Screenwriting isn't just writing, it's storytelling blueprints for film. Thus, you need to practice the elements of storytelling.

Things like drama, comedy, suspense. Put two characters into a situation and resolve it. Perhaps resolve it more than one way. Write at the top of a piece of paper (or if using a computer, the first line), what the objective is for a specific scene. It doesn't have to have anything to do with any story now or in the future. It's an exercise. Practice. One person is going to get something from another. The other person is just as bent on not relinquishing the same thing to anybody.

There are several books with creative practice exercises:

Developing Story Ideas and How to Write a Script the Hal Ackerman Way are two I've read and found engaging.

What you develop by doing these varied practice sessions is a set of skills that are not connected to a specific story you are telling. It enables you to draw on a wealth of material rather than a single script/story with a few characters.

Many writers have suggested eavesdropping on others for story or character content. Perhaps take somebody you've seen or overheard and put them in a situation and see how you think it would turn out. The sky is the limit. The perk of practice is that you don't have to have something in your script worked out AND it's possible to practice everyday and still write/add to your script/story as the ideas come (instead of staring into space and doing nothing).

I'll dig up some suggestions for next time. If any of you have any good suggestions, fire away!

I Got A Bridge I Can Sell You.

2007-01-26T06:27:00.000-08:00

Matt Hader recounts what is unfortunately not an uncommon tale in the land of the wannabe scribe.

Can you feel your skin thickening?

- E.

Luck On/Luck Off

I had lunch today with a screenwriting buddy. He’s fairly new to the game and asked me what it’s like to have a well-known production company read/like/and consider taking on something I’ve written. I’ve been fortunate enough to have this type of scenario play out time and time again. He was all bug-eyed with anticipation as he waited for my reply, probably hoping upon hope that I would wax poetically about the feeling of bliss and accomplishment that one can experience --

-- until that “non-deal” falls into oblivion.

It’s not a deal until the check clears, so simply having a production company show interest, while – yes - exciting, is pretty much a fairly common occurrence worthy of nothing more than a passing, “oh, cool,” followed by my daily chores (my beautiful wife is kind of a stickler for vacuumed carpets and Swiffered floors…we’re seeking counseling).

Unfortunately for me, and I’d guess a good number of other screenwriters who’ve been at this for a while, most “potential deals” are really non-deals. You’re led to believe that someone is hot on your screenplay and then the heat fades as quickly as it flared. I’ve learned to react in the same fashion to that non-deal falling apart as I do to the possibility of making a deal – with a calm disposition. If I didn’t level my head, I’d be punching holes in walls, or worse, blogging all the time…

My buddy then asked me how many times I’ve had non-deals become nothing-at-all-deals. I had to think about that for a minute – “in the past year?”

Yeah…it’s happened a bunch.

Maybe it’s me? Maybe it’s my writing? Or maybe it’s the fact that the executive revolving doors in Hollywood spin at such a ferocious pace that you can’t keep track of all the comings and goings. Perhaps it’s a little of all the above?

My screenwriting Bud was surprised that non-deals fall away so quickly after the one championing your cause at a production company makes his/her exit. He never took into consideration that just because one executive at a company likes your screenplay, that the second they leave the employ of said production company, everything they were working on (in most situations) simply goes “poof” into thin air. At least that’s how it’s panned out for me in those instances. Hopefully for you, you’re cranking out the deals left and right regardless of your circumstances…Jealous? Me? Nah…

“But, why wouldn’t that executive take your project to his/her new company?”

Because a lot of times, when he/she does land at a new company, the new employer is looking for a different type of material – and my stuff may not fit in to their corporate vision. And actually in one case, after I asked my agent if the producer would be willing to look at my screenplay at his new place of employment, the answer was not one I fully expected -- “Well, his new job is with a realtor…”

Oh…

They loved it – and left…

I feel so…used…

50 Things About You?

2007-01-25T08:48:00.000-08:00

Scott The Reader posted his "50 Things About Me", which was inspired by a post as Borderline Inappropriate. His are below. Hers are here.

Where are yours?

Mine are coming...

- E.

50 Things

Inspired by a post over at Borderline Inappropriate, here are 50 things about me --

50. I once almost ran over Ed Asner on the Warner Brothers lot.

49. I used to part my hair in the middle, but sometime in my 20s I was talked out of it.

48. My wife and I play board games almost every night.

47. I don’t like olives.

46. I used to cry while getting my hair cut. I’m not sure when this ended, but it went on for far too long.

45. I once had a mad crush on Winona Ryder, but I never stalked her.

44. I have been to hundreds of baseball games in my life, but never caught a ball, though I was with two people who did.

43. I don’t really enjoy “2001: A Space Odyssey”.

42. My first screenplay was about vampires on a college campus. It wasn’t very good. I later reworked it into a script about werewolves on a college campus. It was only slightly better.

41. I once scored a perfect 800 on the math section of the SATs, and I knew it when I did it. It's largely a wasted skill now, though.

40. I have ridden horses twice in my life. One was in Quebec, the other was in Las Vegas.

39. Cats, not dogs.

38. I never ate sushi until I moved out to Los Angeles. Now I eat it a lot.

37. Supposedly, when my brother was about 16, he made out with Mariah Carey, who lived only a few blocks away. She was a few years younger.

36. I only have one cup of coffee a day. But it’s a really huge cup.

35. My second semester of college, my GPA was 0.79. I made the dean’s list the next three semesters.

34. I have a lot of awards, but they were all for Mathletes. Again, wasted skill.

33. While working as a movie theater manager in Manhattan, I once checked Adrian Lyne’s ID. It was him.

32. Billy Crystal makes me laugh.

31. I met my wife on Valentine’s Day. I married her on Valentine’s Day one year later. I have very few anniversaries to remember.

30. I have absolutely no skill at music or art at all. And don't ask me to sing.

29. My first memory is running in the waves with my father, with my pants on. It felt like we were doing a forbidden thing.

28. My mother-in-law makes great tamales.

27. Little House On The Prairie molded my moral sensibility, for good or bad.

26. In high school, me and my friends used to go to the roller rink every Friday night. I was a geek full of yearning.

25. I believe that the movie “200 Cigarettes” is more amusing than most people give it credit for.

24. Despite not being a churchgoer, one summer I worked as a counselor at a YMCA sleepaway camp. The next summer I worked at a Jewish camp.

23. My parents had only a black-and-white TV for most of my youth.

22. When I lived in Manhattan, I shared an apartment with the guy who builds the Phillie Phanatic and other mascots. His workshop made up 90% of the apartment.

21. I have finally broken my addiction to “Desperate Housewives”.

20. In high school, me and a few friends took an embroidery class. We were the only guys in it. We played poker most of the time. I embroidered a slice of cherry pie onto a t-shirt.

19. I like playing golf, but I’m really not very good at it. Ditto pool.

18. There was one point, not too long ago, when I had read everything that Stephen King had ever written.

17. I once broke my hand punching a bully in the face. He never flinched.

16. The first two albums I ever owned were Queen’s “A Night At The Opera” and Gary Wright’s “Dream Weaver”.

15. The original “House on Haunted Hill” is the only movie that gave my nightmares as a kid.

14. In Atlantic City, I once bet $100 on a hand of blackjack, and was dealt an ace and a jack.

13. I wrote a puppet show, which was performed in Manhattan.

12. Hot foods make my nose run.

11. “King of the Hill” is one of my favorite movies. No, not the cartoon.

10. In high school, I wore corduroy pants every day. I have no explanation for this. I haven’t worn corduroy pants since.

9. When I’m tired, I will occasionally cry during movies.

8. I once took a 3 1/2 day bus trip across the U.S., from Long Island to Seattle. My seatmates included at least one ex-con.

7. I don’t really like roller coasters, but a good flume is cool.

6. I know several people who have sold scripts for big bucks. Neither have writing skills I don’t possess.

5. I am not sure I’ve ever done anything that could be considered truly crazy. Though it might be time.

4. At age 14, I thought “1941” was the best movie ever. I grew out of it.

3. One of my ancestors might have invented saccharine.

2. I have had facial hair ever since I could.

1. I wish I could cook better.

Try Something New: Make A Plan.

2007-01-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

Posting from Mead Kerr via Danny Stack's website on, "Why haven't I made it yet?"

Great reading.

Enjoy.

- E.

WHY HAVEN'T I MADE IT YET?

There it is. That question.

Of course everyone will have their own particular response and I don't profess to have all the answers...but I do have a few theories and a personal mantra.

"If you keep on doing what you're doing, you'll keep on getting what you're getting."

This is best illustrated by an encounter I had recently. An aspiring screenwriter, let's call him WRITER X approached me seeking advice for the year ahead. He was fed up and complained how no one is willing to give new talent a chance. "It's a closed shop...they should give more support to new writers...I've been sending stuff out for years and getting nowhere..." etc, etc. When I mentioned a couple of new opportunities for TV drama writers he stated he was only interested in writing for film. My reply? “In that case the brutal truth is you’ve almost no chance of becoming a full time professional screenwriter.”

This was just one example of how so many aspiring writers make it impossible to achieve the success they dream of. The British film Industry is tiny, poorly funded and with very few PAID opportunities for writers. Ask a cross section of professional drama writers and producers and they will confirm that the numbers of people making a good, full time living from working ONLY in film is minute. By ignoring TV our doleful friend WRITER X was massively reducing the opportunities available to him. TV is where the money is in the UK.

Of course you have every right to ignore TV and specialise in film…..as long as you are happy to dress like a student for the rest of your life and only ever dine out at the local “£5 eat all you can Chinese buffet.” Or you can also learn how get a job in TV drama.

Most UK screenwriters including myself write for both but earn the vast majority of their income from TV drama. You can make a very good living by following this strategy. Go and check out the credits of most established British or American screenwriters and you’ll find they either started out in TV or still do a mix of both.

But of course many of you will know all this stuff already and you will have been attacking both markets with a highly organised strategy. I hope you have, because there's plenty of competition out there.

Last year roughly 20,000 people graduated from Media and Screenwriting courses. That’s another 20,000 aspiring screenwriters chasing the same opportunities as you. Add the English literature graduates, journalists, copywriters, starving novelists and weekend writers all trying their hand at screenwriting and you start to see just what you are up against. Oh, I forgot to mention the army of highly experienced and established professional screenwriters who already have agents and lots of connections.

Statisticians would tell you the odds against you getting your break and becoming a professional screenwriter are massively stacked against you. So, is it nigh on impossible? Should you give up?

Well the truth is that the numbers only tell you part of the story.

The following isn't bragging...I'm just trying to illustrate a point. When I decided to become a professional screenwriter I had no training, no connections with the industry and I was living in Scotland with no desire to move to London. Two years later I had an agent at ICM, was a paid, full time professional writer of film and TV scripts and my first TV episode was watched by 7 million viewers.

To be honest the next couple of years was weird. I couldn't understand why people kept telling me that I was incredibly lucky and how tough it was to get a break. I'd simply done it by planning a CAREER STRATEGY for myself and making sure I took advantage of every opportunity available. Once I started meeting other professional writers I discovered that almost all of them had done the same thing.

Okay, of course you need talent but the following are also just a few of the other things that everyone agrees you also need -

a) FOCUS. Focus your efforts where they will be most effective and likely to reap the greatest reward - most writers are chasing the same few widely advertised opportunities in the UK. They are unaware of how to access Europe, Canada and the USA.

b) INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE. Establish contacts and links with full time
professionals in the industry, in order to understand how the film and TV industry REALLY works and what type of projects producers and broadcasters are seeking.

c) PITCH DOCS. Understanding what documents you need to sell your ideas and how to write them well is essential. - Overworked execs want to read a brilliant one page doc before they will even consider your treatment or script.

d) A GOOD AGENT. This is HUGELY important now. A free handout How To Get An Agent is available on request CONTACT info@meadkerr.com

e) A CAREER STRATEGY. In order to get your break you need to have planned EVERY aspect of how you are going to get there. By failing to make a financial plan for how are you going to make the transition from your present job to a full time writing career you are sabotaging any chance of success.

I absolutely believe and know you can achieve your goal of becoming a professional screenwriter, it's what I've done and lots of others I know have done the same. However, it will only happen IF you are willing to do what it takes.

Remember: "If you keep on doing what you're doing, you'll keep on getting what you're getting."

Where's Oscar Going?

2007-01-22T18:58:00.000-08:00

It's about that time to place your bets, folks. Vegas will be weighing in shortly. Care to wager whether Babel will beat out The Departed?

AJ Schnack's got his predictions in. I'll post mine soon. I need to see a few more films first...

- E.

Oscar Guessing 2007

While many of the Oscar prognosticators have already written off this year's nominees as a done deal (it's gonna be some combination of Babel, Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen), the picks for this year's documentary feature remain a solid mystery. Even the presumed winner, Davis Guggenheim's An Inconvenient Truth, started to look a little wobbly after being passed over by both the Writers and Directors Guilds (even though it nearly swept the critics prizes).

But if I were forced to guess (and there's something in the blogger's contract of having to talk about the future as if you know what it is and then to trumpet your correct guesses and run from your wild pitches), I'd say that An Inconvenient Truth will still make tomorrow's list of five, and I think that it will most likely be joined by Amy Berg's Deliver Us From Evil and James Longley's Iraq in Fragments, both of which received nominations from the guilds, the IDA and the Gothams (Iraq in Fragments won the latter two).

I usually argue that the committee that chooses the nominees tends to breakdown their choices as follows: 3 big theatrical films, 1 political film and 1 international film. If they stick to this pattern, that mean that the 3 theatrical releases will include Truth, Deliver Us (which while sputtering at the box office has been a critical slamdunk) and either Jesus Camp or Shut Up and Sing. Early on, I was predicting Jesus Camp as the 3rd choice (and at the time it was the 2nd highest grossing nominee behind Truth), but after some of the critics prizes and considering two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple's reputation, I'm going to wager that they give a nod to the Dixie Chicks film instead.

More

Creative Thinking = Creative Screenwriting

2007-01-21T17:12:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

Hope your Sunday is going well. This post from the Mystery Man caught my eye. I like what he's saying, and I agree. It's pretty pointless to dwell on the "nothing is new under the sun" or "there are only 12 stories to be told" memes. They just demoralize you as a screenwriter.

And if you are a screenwriter like me, you don't need demoralization from others. I've got an endless supply I'm trying to ignore sitting right next to me, thanks.

So, here's an excerpt. Thanks, Mystery Man.

- E.

From, "What's A Spec Writer To Do?"

Be great. Be strong. Be of good cheer. You're amongst friends. Study psychology. Study philosophy, religion, and mythology. Study contemporary issues. Study amateur scripts that fail. Study pro scripts that fail. Study legendary screenplays by true mold-breakers like Stanley Kubrick’s Napoleon, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Study history. Study cinema. What hasn’t been done before? What’s being done now that’s wrong? What’s missing in today’s movies? How can you manipulate structure and technigue to find originality?

Storytelling will never die. There is an endless number of great stories that haven’t been told yet, but there are few writers today who can tell those stories really well. The possibilities for new and exciting characters are endless. The variety of contradictions that could be built into characters to have depth are innumerable. Why should Hamlet be the character with the most depth? Who the hell says there can’t be a modern Shakespeare? Or another golden age of cinema?

Above everything, master the craft. Make every detail count. Never, ever sell yourself short. You have to have vision, passion, a love of films, and a true devotion to the craft. You have to be willing to try and fail. You have to push yourself and others. You have to give and receive honest feedback. You have to learn to take criticism. You have to engage other writers in a constructive discussion about the craft. You have to be capable of dealing with the absurdities of the business. And if you fail, fail spectacularly, and go down swinging with the most unforgettable stories ever written.

Stop Over-Writing

2007-01-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

Matt Hader gives some good advice on avoiding the "140-page monstrosity".

Enjoy.

- E.

Write Short

One of the nice blog readers from Guatemala sent in a request that I write about self-editing ones work. She’s having trouble keeping her screenplays under 120 pages.

I may be going against the "write long and cut, cut, cut" flow, but here’s the way I make sure that I don’t have so many “babies” to kill in my scripts that even after I do edit my work, I’m not saddled with a 140 page monstrosity. Apparently for some of you this is a common problem – this writing long.

Simple fix…Write short instead.

How?

Firstly...write a “silent movie.”

Without writing dialogue - compose the screenplay using the briefest descriptions to relay the story. Be descriptive without being novelistic. It is possible. If you can say the same thing in two words instead of two sentences – do it. Grab the reader’s imagination with an economy of words and direct the film in their minds eye. And when I say, “direct the film,” I don’t mean that literally. Don’t place in clunky camera angles, just write descriptively so the reader can imagine the type of angle, or camera shot that would be needed. And please add your personality to the descriptions. Readers want to experience new “voices,” it makes their difficult job a little more bearable.

After completing your “silent movie” screenplay, what you’ll (hopefully) discover is that you have a solid story in place - basically an extended outline. Then, and only then, add in the dialogue you need. Again - only the dialogue you need. Don’t go all Tarantino on your screenplay at this point. A lot of writer’s believe that writing a screenplay is all about dialogue. It’s about story first, dialogue second. Why/how do you think that snappy dialogue works within the context of your favorite movie? The story has you roped in first. Write the story, and then add in only what needs to be said. Sparse is good. Breezy is your friend.

“Get into scenes late, get out early” - You’ve probably read that a million times, but there’s a lot of validity to it. Example: If it’s absolutely necessary to show how your character travels and arrives at their next destination, show it – otherwise, cut it.

Be objective, and cut any scene that does not advance the story. Yeah, it could possibly be really cool/dramatic/funny stuff…but if it’s not moving things along – it’s out of there.

Give these exercises a try on your next draft. I’d venture a guess that you’ll have a completed screenplay in the 100 page range when all is said and done.

Crazy Talk

2007-01-19T19:52:00.000-08:00

Scott the Reader posts on some "techniques" that writers use that drive him crazy.

Enjoy. I did.

- E.

I've Said It Before, But I'll Say It Again...

I actually have posted on this before, but since they keep popping up in things I read, I feel that I need to rant about these bad screenwriting habits again.

Things that drive me crazy in your script:

CHARACTERS TALKING TO THEMSELVES. There are times when a character might logically talk to themselves -- hell, there are times when I talk out loud to myself -- but it needs to be done very judiciously and sparingly, if at all.

Instead, I read script after script, where the writer, desperate to make us understand what is going on in a character's head, will have them just blurt it out, even if there is no one else in the room.

I read one script the other day that had about 15 different incidences where this happened, with about a half-dozen different characters. And in most of the cases what they were saying was really very obvious anyway.

Trust your readers/audience to understand things, and if you think they need a push, figure out how to do it visually or more inventively. There's always a better way than the random I'm-alone-but-I'm-chatty blurt out.

MENTIONING THE MOVIE IN THE SCRIPT THAT YOUR SCRIPT IS SIMILAR TO. I've read two scripts in the last week that did this, part of an odd habit that is shockingly widespread and endlessly reoccurring.

It seems to be driven by guilt. Writers who find themselves penning scenes (or storylines) that are derivative of something that came before feel driven to namecheck this film, as if acknowledging it makes it okay.

But there are few really-original moments any more, and pointing out the ones your script is borrowing is counter-productive; it just makes the reader even more-aware that even you know that you haven't put forth the effort to make your tale truly original.

Best-case scenario? You make your script as original as possible. But if it does hew close to something that came before (because that's the best way to tell the story), don't feel you have to point it out. If you are doing a story about some kids going on an adventure, you really don't need a scene in which "The Goonies" plays on a TV in the background, or one of the kids mentions that in "Stand By Me" the kids found a body.

CRIMINAL MISUSE OF APOSTROPHES. "It's" is ONLY to be used to represent "it is", not when something is possessive.

"Let's" is short for "Let us", so you shouldn't write "Lets go".

Apostrophes are used as possessives, or to replace letters. If you are talking about the Kennedy clan, they are the Kennedys, not the Kennedy's.

It's The 1960s, not The 1960's. Shortening years, it should be The '60s, not The 60's.

Characters are in their 30s, not their 30's.

VARYING THE NAME OF THE SAME CHARACTOR IN THE SCENE DESCRIPTION. If a guy's name is John Brown, you shouldn't be calling him John sometimes, and Brown others. In the dialogue, fine, but not in the scene description.

And after you intro characters, we should never see their whole name again. It shouldn't say JOHN BROWN as the name over all the dialogue (much less something like ASSISTANT DA CHARLES KINCAID). Pick the first name or the last and stick with that, and make sure it's what you are calling him in the scene description.

EXCLAMATION POINTS IN SCENE DESCRIPTION. These look really amateurish. If you are writing an exciting scene well, you really don't need them.
posted by Scott the Reader

Hart Hanson: Writing Down the "Bones"

2007-01-19T09:02:00.000-08:00

Will Dixon has an interview up with Hart Hanson, the Executive Producer of "Bones" which I think is a relatively under-rated show.

I'll admit, I do quite like most things the Deschanel sisters are in, but I really enjoy this procedural drama, as it has an interesting twist: who knew anthropologists could be so sexy? :-)

Plus, Hart's a big Led Zeppelin fan. Nice!

In any event, an excerpt from Part 1 is below. You can read the rest of it here.

- E.

Will: You have and have had an overall deal with Fox for a number of years now. How did you get it and can you explain how such a deal works exactly? How much they ‘own’ you as it were (as in, what can or can’t you work on)?

Hart: An overall deal means that the studio owns all my television development. They buy you out of the market for two or three years with an option for a third or fourth. I wrote five pilots for 20th Century Fox, two of which were produced, one of which became the series "Bones". I also ran "Judging Amy" for them. They were very, very kind to loan me out to Sony for "Joan of Arcadia" for 13 episodes.

Will: Here you are pictured with the cast of Bones (and getting a smooch from David Boreanaz...the ladies are swooning) along with Barry Josephson (glasses/ballcap). Who is Barry and what is his relationship to you and the show? Do y'all get along?

Hart: Barry Josephson is an Executive Producer on 'Bones'. He has a production deal with the studio, 20th, with which I have an overall deal. He owned the rights to a documentary on Kathy Reichs which was the genesis of 'Bones'. The studio put me and him together and we made the pilot. His office is across the parking lot from mine. He is still involved in the show in the same way Bruckheimer is involved in HIS shows. Barry is producing movies and other tv shows as well. The studio owns the show and the network "rents" it for a production fee which is a large part of the budget. The studio makes profits on other platforms: ie, DVD. There are always different opinions and attitudes from the studio and the network. It's just part of the minefield the showrunner has to navigate.

Will: Talk a little bit about making that Toronto to L.A. transition when you're not 23. You went down not as a fresh young thing in a business where you're old at 30. And you were Canadian. How did you do it? Was it like starting all over again? Did your Canadian "mystery credits" mean anything at all? How did you make the leap?

Hart: I was old when I came down here. I was 38 and approaching 39 fast. My Canadian credits meant nothing. Luckily for me, Rob Thomas at "Cupid" liked a spec script I wrote for "Ally McBeal". The interview went great and I suspect he liked the idea of having someone on his staff who'd run a show but who didn't look like he intended to take his show away from him. It was a hard decision to leave Canada -- I was ensconced, working with people I really liked, we had a nice house in the Beaches part of Toronto (Toronto's not my favourite place to live, I'm from Vancouver Island, but it was literally the kindest place I've ever been. People really accepted me and my family.) But, when I asked Brigitte if she'd consider moving to LA to try to get work from scrap, she said, "I think we have at least one more adventure in us." The biggest worry was whether LA was a good place to raise kids. It's still our biggest worry and they are almost grown.

Will: Shifting gears, any favourite actors you can’t wait to give your dialogue to because they always take it to another level?

Hart: Tons! Right now, aside from my series regulars who I really, really like (I'm not blowing smoke ... they're good...), I LOVE writing for Stephen Fry. Ryan O'Neal is also a blast. Tyne Daly was a gift. Joe Mantegna was great. Mary Steenburgen. Back on Traders, I loved writing for Patrick McKenna.

Consider These

2007-01-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

Eric here, posting for Scribo while they're away. I found some really cool stuff out in the 'sphere today, and then some other interesting tid-bits. Here goes:

Mystery Man has posted three excerpts from We, The Screenwriter. Good stuff to chew on. The last one is especially interesting: some thoughts on ageism.

John Rogers of Kung Fu Monkey fame is continuing to dissect and analyze what he's dubbed the "4th Generation Media (4GM)". this post uncovers some more evidence about "who will pay for the TV of the future?"

And then here's a little tidbit from The Hollywood Reporter about Sundance, which I found interesting. The article's for subscribers only, but it's here on IMDBpro, if you're interested in reading more.

"Movies this year seem a little darker, and in the indie world that's saying a lot," First Look Pictures president Ruth Vitale said. Festival director Geoff Gilmore agreed that might affect the marketplace. "People might be suffering a fatigue with films that are serious," he said.

Have a great night.

- E.

BlueCat Interview!

2007-01-17T00:58:00.000-08:00

Interview with the founder of BlueCat - Gordy Hoffman

A lot of writers, like you, enter competitions all the time. There are plenty of them, I don't know how many, but a huge amount. Some better than others.

If a competition provides you with something really valuable when you win, that's great. By valuable I mean like a good shot at getting your script produced. Or a lot of money, enough for you to produce it yourself.

Some competitions even give you feedback without winning. Your script can be awful and loose hard, but still get notes on how to improve it. That's not bad, considering it's almost a win-win situation.

One of these competitions is BlueCat. BlueCat began 1998 and is very successful by now. It has a grand prize of $10 000, actually the most of all similar competitions so far. Also, the four finalists get $1500 each, which still is a nice amount of money considering you didn't win.

But enough talking, let's let the man himself, Gordy Hoffman, tell us about it and then some more:

1. What are you looking for in a screenplay?

A compelling story. What makes a story compelling is how deeply personal the writer invests in the work. If you don’t care, we won’t. If you open yourself, we will feel safe and sit down.

2. Is there any particular genre that does better than others, from what you’ve seen so far?

Not our contest. Our 2005 winner was a comedy that made me laugh out loud more than once and our 2006 winner was a drama that I bawled over all the way through. Basically, refer to answer #1.

3. What do you think makes the difference between a good movie and a bad movie?

The lack of audience identification with the experiences of people on screen.

4. What fatal mistakes can a writer do in his/hers script?

Settle for the first idea or choice that comes to their head, whether it’s a line of dialogue or the last scene of the screenplay.

5. How did you get started on writing?

It was a writing assignment in 2nd grade. A very short story. I remember it to this day, the feeling of creative writing.

6. What do you love most about filmmaking. Writing, directing, producing…?

I love collaborating with other people, working with brilliant actors, meeting the audience. It’s so much fun.

7. Why did you start BlueCat and was it hard getting it “out there”?

I guess I thought it would be fun to start a screenplay contest. Little did I know! But eventually I figured out how to handle the circus, and people have discovered us.

8. You think competitions are a good way to get inside the industry walls, and if yes, are all as good?

Some are better than others, and they definitely help with the struggle for attention from Hollywood. I know we have. Our 2005 Winner has recently wrapped production and stars Seann William Scott.

9. Will you consider having your brother sign to act in the winning script as the grand prize sometime?

The day will come, I’m sure! But he’s a bit busy right now.

10. Any projects coming up soon?

The thing I’m writing at 5:30 in the morning.

------
Big thanks to Gordy!

//Scribosphere

Categories: [general_] [ideas_] [industry_] [market_]

Scribosphere Might Pause

2007-01-16T16:39:00.000-08:00

Scribosphere Might Pause

Since all of the people behind it (2-3) will be away these 2 weeks coming, there won't be anyone keeping the Scribosphere up to date. Yes, it's all run manually.

Unless someone feels like helping out, please be patient, it will be back on track as soon as possible.

However, if you do feel like helping, email us and we'll tell you more about it. You can find the email-link at the sidebar.

Thank you and so long,

//Scribosphere

Categories: [general_]

Eric's POV - Writing: An Emotional Freefall

2007-01-15T03:20:00.000-08:00

Writing: An Emotional Freefall

POSTED BY ERIC ANDRADE OVER AT Eric's POV.

Having a great technique can literally catapult you to the top of your profession. It's true in acting. It's true in massage therapy. It's true in advertising. So it is also true in screenwriting. And these techniques can be taught. They have to do with breaking down the story, breaking down the character, breaking down the scenes, and you can find great techniques for your writing from him and him and him and her.

However...

Nothing and NO ONE can teach you how to let go. And if you're a writer like I'm a writer than I suspect you might know what I'm talking about. There are necessary points in your work that you really need to be able to understand what your protagonist, antagonist or ANGRY BARKEEP #1 is feeling.

Not thinking: FEELING.

And if you're any kind of writer, you probably like your role as the omniscient, detached, non-interventionst overlord.

But it may kill your script.

You have to be able to get in there when your boy is beaten down; the girl has left him; he's just come in from the pouring rain to a ransacked apartment; his cat ran away; there's a message on the machine from his mother telling him that his father finally succumbed to the cancer...and CRY with him.

Or laugh with him. I'm not sure what he would do there. You're the writer.

I don't know your life.

But I do know that if you can't empathize with your characters feelings in some way when they are sloshing through the hell that you have created for them to test their limits: then you aren't really testing yours. And your characters may seem flat and uninspired.

I'm challenging you to try to go there a little more. I'm not saying to go out and recreate those scenes with you as the main character in real life. Hell no. And I'm not suggesting that you confine yourself to writing what you know. What you are comfortable within your own skin.

I'm asking to write what you KNOW. You have the same set of emotions—the same range of emotions—that I do, and that we all have. And at some point in your life, you've probably been exposed to them. And since you're a writer, you've probably closed yourself off from them. But you know them. You've been introduced.

Rip off that bandage. Get some air in there. Feel that pain just a little bit.

Give your characters what they need: emotion.

Good luck.

//Eric Andrade

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Categories: [characters_] [plot_] [action_]

Mailroom at The Inside Pitch

2007-01-15T02:50:00.000-08:00

Mailroom at The Inside Pitch

There are some interesting Q&As over at the Inside Pitch where you can get inside information and tips on how to improve your marketing skills.

Head over and check it out!

//Scribosphere

Categories: [market_] [industry_] [general_]

Some Posts For Your Consideration

2007-01-13T15:28:00.000-08:00

Some Posts For Your Consideration

It's been few days since last, so here are some links that you should visit:

Who's the Main Character? by Alex Epstein

Technically Speaking + Magically Inclined by Eric Andrade

Names as clever as Story... by James McCormick

Have a good one and we will be back in full speed soon.

//Scribosphere

Categories: [characters_] [structure_] [general_] [ideas_]

Unknown Screenwriter - Handle Character Conflict

2007-01-11T14:37:00.000-08:00

How do your characters handle conflict?

POSTED BY UNK OVER AT The Unknown Screenwriter.

But before I go back to characters… LOL.

A big thanks to those of you posting links to articles at Screenwriting Scoop!

Almost 4,000 unique visitors so far and the tracker has some pretty impressive internet connections taking a look but I want to thank everyone for checking it out… I hope it doesn’t take ANYTHING away from your writing. By the way, if you can think of a category we might need, just let me know.

And to answer the 20 plus emails to those of you who keep wondering what my ulterior motive is for tossing up the site…

There isn’t any.

Geez. I don’t need money. I’m not selling anything. So suspicious! But that’s okay… I still thank you for the thought… LOL.

Kay. I’ve been up all night on this rewrite and I really don’t have time for a huge post but while I’ve been working, I keep wondering about the things my characters keep doing… Some surprise me… Some don’t. The ones that don’t are because these are the things I want my characters to do.

By the way… Let me get a little off track… Great stuff in the Scribosphere lately and a lot being blogged about on characters! Love seeing that!

Real quick before I head back to rewrite Hell…

I have a word processing document that I add to every so often when one of my characters handles conflict in a new way than any of my characters have handled it before…

Some of you might think it’s kinda stupid… If so, please feel free to stop reading. LOL.

On the other hand, I thought it might actually be of some help to those of you that just can’t get your characters out of BORING MODE.

The following list is by no means exhaustive… Please feel free to add your own to the comments section… I think we can all benefit from different perspectives.

One of the things that I’ve done with MY list is to develop it into OUTLINE style. This makes it real easy for me to add new bullets under specific headings or categories.

What I like about having a list at hand is that every once in a while, you get stuck, right? Okay, maybe not. I sure as hell do — and when I do, I like breaking out my list because it helps me brainstorm even more ideas…

So… Without further delay… Here’s the list:

To see the list, follow this link.

//Unk

Categories: [characters_] [plot_] [action_] [ideas_]

John August - Clarification on point one

2007-01-11T14:15:00.000-08:00

Clarification on point one

POSTED BY JOHN AUGUST OVER AT JohnAugust.

In my previous post on How to write a scene, I wrote that the first question a screenwriter should ask is, “What needs to happen in this scene?” Not only that…

Many screenwriting books will tell you to focus on what the characters want. This is wrong. The characters are not responsible for the story. You are. If characters were allowed to control their scenes, most characters would chose to avoid conflict, and movies would be crushingly boring.

As I typed this, I anticipated a sea of hands shooting into the air, a chorus of But! But! Buts! So I added a lengthy disclaimer in which I wrote about terms like “character driven” and “character motivation.” But then I decided to cut it, just to get the reaction:

John, are you fucking retarded? A character must act his character not what’s most convenient for you. — Chris

Now that Chris has lectured the professional screenwriter on the craft, we can take a look at why I stand by my point.

To take a look at the clarification, follow this link.

//John August

Categories: [plot_] [characters_] [action_]

John August - How to write a scene

2007-01-09T06:29:00.000-08:00

How to write a scene

POSTED BY JOHN AUGUST OVER AT JohnAugust.

One of the thing I admire most about Jane Espenson’s blog is that she talks very directly about the words on the page, giving names to techniques I use but never really think about. The two-percenter, for example.

So one of my goals for 2007 is to get a little more granular in my advice-giving, and talk less about Screenwriting and more about screenwriting — in particular, scene writing.

Spend a few years as a screenwriter, and writing a scene becomes an almost unconscious process. It’s like driving a car. Most of us don’t think about the ignition and the pedals and the turn signals — but we used to, back when we were learning. It used to flummox the hell out of us. Every intersection was unbelievably stressful, with worries of stalling the car and/or killing everyone on board.

It’s the same with writing a scene. The first few are brutal and clumsy. But once you’ve written (and rewritten) say, 500 scenes, the individual steps sort of vanish. But they’re still there, under the surface. It’s just that your instinct is making a lot of the decisions your conscious brain used to handle.

So here’s my attempt to introspect and describe what I’m doing that I’m not even aware I’m doing. Here’s How to Write a Scene.

There are some great tips following, so click this link to read them.

//John August

Categories: [plot_] [dialogue_] [structure_] [action_]