Does a working writer keep improving?
I am a reasonably successful screenwriter. A working writer. I’ve sold two pilots, gotten a freelance episode of a high-quality one-hour drama, done some comic book gigs, and just sold a feature with myself attached to direct at a production budget of $3M.
Not A-list, or B-list, but maybe C-minus working my way up. I’m in my early thirties and have been at this a couple years.
My problem/question is: I feel like I have hit a wall with respect to my sense of story. I feel like most of my success has been gotten on a combination of ability-to-pitch, charisma and the ability to turn a phrase inside a scene. But I have this real weakness when it comes to knowing what the right scenes are in the right order. Story. Plot. I can put two people in a room and have them riff in a pleasing and entertaining way and to the extent that my story supports this kind of loose, Kevin Smith-esque writing, I do well.
But I know that if I want my career to go to the next level, I need to improve my understanding of story and plot.
So I guess I have two questions…
1) Any ideas on how to do this on an intermediate/advanced-level? How can I go from a “B� understanding of story/plot to an “A� understanding of story/plot?
and
2) What are your thoughts on how to keep making breakthroughs in the quality of your work when you are at an intermediate/advanced level? Do you feel like you are constantly improving? How do you keep improving?
– Scott
Los Angeles
You’re already the envy of most of the readers of this site: you’re a working Hollywood writer. So congratulations, and don’t dismiss what you’ve accomplished. I’m happy to hear you attribute it your skills (pitching, wit) and not pure dumb luck.1
So let me offer some good news. The stuff you’re not especially good at — story, structure, plot — can actually be learned. If you were writing in for advice about how to be funnier or more charismatic, I would have probably let your email sit in the growing folder of unanswerable questions, because those are pretty much inherent qualities.
My advice for you is to dedicate one day a week to disassembling good movies. Take existing films (and one-hour dramas) and break them down to cards. Think of yourself as an ordinary mechanic given the task of reverse-engineering a spaceship. Figure out what the pieces do, and why they were put together in that way.
Here are the questions you need to ask about each scene or sequence:
- As the audience, what am I expecting will happen next?
- What does the character want to do next?
- Is this a good moment to let the character achieve something, or knock him back?
- How long has it been since we checked in with other character and subplots?
- What would have happened if this scene had been cut? Or moved?
By asking these questions about other people’s movies, you can take some of the pressure off.
When it comes to your scripts, it might be worth writing something that’s deliberately outside of your comfort zone, a script that doesn’t let you rest on your scenework. Because to answer your second question, yes, I think you can keep making breakthroughs in your writing, but only by challenging your preconceived limitations.
I’m currently writing my first period movie, my first stage play, and my first stage musical. Part of the reason I’m enjoying them is because they scare the be-Zeus out of me. I’ve passed on some more obvious projects that I’m sure I could have written competently simply to stretch a little more.
Yes, I’m deeper in my career than you are. And my flitting from genre to genre has probably hurt me in some respects.2 But a career isn’t one script, or ten, it’s the years of your life. You’re working. Your ability to turn clever phrases won’t go away. So you’re right to focus on the areas you think you can improve, if only to increase your confidence and enjoyment of the career you’ve chosen.
- Luck accounts for a small but not unimportant part of success in screenwriting, or any career. Being ready to be lucky, and what you do with that good fortune, is a big part of how a career goes. I was lucky to get into my film school — I honestly didn’t know how competitive it was. I was lucky that Tim Burton happened to be looking for a project when Spielberg dropped off of Big Fish. And, of course, I was lucky to be born in an upper-middle class family in Colorado. ↩
- Despite Big Fish, I rarely get sent the “big books” that sell out of New York. And it’s hard for me to set up a pricey original, because I don’t have a long track record in a specific genre. ↩
16 Responses to “Does a working writer keep improving?”
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May 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Thanks. I needed that.
Have fun at your reunion John!
Mark ‘85
May 7th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
My advice would be to read, watch, listen and learn as much as possible. Try to listen to other screenwriters, directors and actors to see how they think and how they work. Listen to feedback and try to view your writing from a different perspective.
I listen to a lot of interviews and almost always find great advice or something valuable to think about and keep in mind.
Aside from John’s website and DVD commentary tracks, some of my favorite resources are http://content.foxsearchlight.com/searchlab/ (interviews with Ridley Scott, Frank Darabont and others) and the Creative Screenwriting podcast http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=77837603&s=143441
May 7th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Just off my bookshelf, James Scott Bell has a book called “Plot & Structure” (which taught me a lot) and Nancy Kress’ “Dynamic Characters” is sort of relevant, but both are for novelists. Doesn’t seem to be much out there that’s strictly about plot.
Of course there’s Joseph Campbell’s “Hero with a Thousand Faces” and a ton of books based on it, and there’s Vladimir Propp with “Morphology of the Folktale”, but I’d wager that these are pretty irrelevant to today’s TV/film writer.
“Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters” is a great little book by Michael Tierno that touches upon the relationships between plot elements, but as far as plotting and genre plots go, I’m not really aware of anything well-known and well-praised.
What books on plotting would you guys and gals recommend?
May 7th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I’m glad to hear you mention the luck thing, John.
Too many people put too much emphasis on luck. I like to point out that all of the people we consider “lucky” are usually very good at what they do. You can make your own luck if you work hard enough.
Then again, I also believe getting contacts is going to be easy. Like my friend Amanda said:
Two steps to a writing career.
Write something great.
Get someone important to read it.
Most people seem to forget that you have to take the steps in that order.
May 7th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
My advice would be to take a screenwriting class at UCLA Extension. I just finished one and it was extremely helpful, even though I’d been questioning beforehand how useful a class could be to me at this stage of my development. (The answer was, I still had a lot more to develop than I realized. And so, I think, does just about everybody.)
May 7th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Very good question, Scott, and a great answer, John. I write a lot but have never had the luck to yet be discovered and sold, so my advice may be worth about as much as one of my dust-covered scripts. But John is absolutely correct in stretching outside your comfort zone; try a subject matter that needs exploring, see how you can handle it with your own specific style. It’s always a good feeling when you’re writing and you get scared because a scene can go several different ways and you’re uncertain which path to take. That fear is what stretches our mental horizons, as the explorers used to say, “Beyond here be dragons.”
Such are the two pennies I’ve thrown into the hat!
May 7th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Classes, books, podcasts, commentaries… Whatever happened to closing your eyes and watching the movie, then scribbling it all down before memory fails you? Just saying.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
UCLA classes are indeed good. I especially like their (workshop) classes because they’re not overburdened with harping on structural theories. Even some writers who have sold scripts still take UCLA classes. An added bonus is you often meet some very nice people, or meet them virtually if you take the on-line classes, which are now done via Skype which is much better than text chatrooms.
There are lots of people out there with books to sell, theories to uphold at all costs, and axes to grind. If you take each theory with a grain of salt, rather than as gospel, you can get some useful ideas from them. I recommend reading so many of them, that you internalize the general similarities and forget all of the “your script absolutely must have a man wearing a hat on page 16 or you will be a colossal failure and die lonely” types of specifics that too many of these books contain.
Doing your own analysis, by writing cards, outlines, or similar notes for films that inspire you is even better. If you can’t even start that without having a theoretical construct to guide you, pick a couple screenplay structure books that look interesting and start there — but I feel you’ll be doing yourself a disservice if you just pick one theory and apply it at all costs.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:18 am
Scott, I highly recommend Blake Snyder’s two Save the Cat books. Blake is a working screenwriter who did exactly what John suggested and deconstructed a ton of movies to see how they work. He also completely rethinks genres and develops ten categories that every story falls into. (For example The Matrix and Monsters Inc. are roughly the same story.) And he shows how these different story genres are structured and how they hit the beats. I find Blake’s approach to structure and genre to be actually very liberating rather than constricting.
May 8th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I also highly recommend Blake’s Save the Cat books. Short, sassy, quick help for plot problems.
May 8th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Another great tool is discussion. This is the kind of thing for which the internet is pretty nifty. It’d be great to have a blog in which the commenters deconstructed one classic film a week. If I had more time I’d start it myself but since I don’t, I’m throwing it out there for anyone else who might like to take it up…
May 29th, 2008 at 12:43 am
I find that stealing ideas works really well. Oh, did I say that?
Seriously though you’re always learning, even after getting work picked up you never stop. Our company usually has lots of things in development, but we still do training and research for each project. Growing in skill sets as we go.
Talking to other writers and industry professionals helps a huge amount, as many comments here have said. As I’m pretty new to the commercial film scene I’ve found out so much from dealing with other professionals.
May 29th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
TV Tropes can be a helpful read.
June 2nd, 2008 at 2:48 pm
@ 7. Johnny: I’m curious as to how you can watch a movie with your eyes closed.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Hi all. Yep, story structure is a toughie. It can certainly be learned (thank god) but for some (me, I think) it comes a little easier. It’s something about seeing the forest through the trees? Much of it–after you internalize the ropes–is intuitive. You just feel where stories are working and where they aren’t. Then you can trot out your tools and paradigms and beat sheets to help pinpoint the trouble and plot a better course to a satisfying story. Half the work I do is helping screenwriters understand where and why the story falls short of their expectations!
On my site, I’ve posted a few great books that I share with my workshop participants. They all give different viewpoints on one of our oldest activites: storytelling. If you don’t find one that works for you, just try another. Listen for the voice that speaks to you. Then get your notebook out and start breaking down films you love, minute by minute.
Here’s the site: http://story.fatbrain.ca [[ The Story Spot ]]
Look for THE READING LIST in the right column. /diane
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I used to be just like Scott! then a few things happened:
I read STORY by Robert McKee…
…I started playing “He’s the killer!” or its endless variations such as “She’s actually the hero’s mom!” “They’re going to die in a few scenes!” and “OMG he’s sleeping with one of his students!”
… and I wrote ten short films without dialogue and ten short films with, and shot three out of the 20.
Now I feel pretty good about my grasp on structure, or at least that it’s growing at an appropriate, not-stunted rate.
Because when you come down to it, a “weakness when it comes to knowing what the right scenes are in the right order” isn’t a structure problem, it’s a confidence problem. It’s only a structure problem if your scenes are in the WRONG order, at which point you’ll have a specific, identifiable problem which you, as a good writer, will address. Your problem isn’t that you’re getting it wrong, it’s that you don’t feel certain; you don’t “know.”
People who love writing dialogue often suspect themselves of being bad at plot or story. I agree with John’s idea of writing in a different genre, but for a different reason–I think the more you write heists and mysteries the more “structury” you’ll feel since those are the “structure” genres.