Writing is hard
I’ve been busy
writing a script, and I have the whole idea mapped out in my head. But for
some reason, my writing doesn’t seem to flow. I struggle to get from one point
to the next. Is this normal? If I go back through the script
again after I’ve jotted down my rough dialogue, will it flow then? Do you do
a quick rough draft before you get into the real writing?
–Bob
Well, are you a good writer? I ask because it sounds like this is your first
screenplay, and there’s every chance you’re a terrible writer. It’s my experience
that most people in Los Angeles feel like they could write a good movie. The
reason why most of them aren’t successful screenwriters is that they’re really
aren’t good writers.
It’s easy to see how they get mislead: If you read a script, you’d think any
monkey could do it. Most monkeys can’t.
I’m not picking on you, honestly. I hope you’re a terrific writer who’s just
realizing how incredibly difficult screenwriting can be. It’s great when the
writing flows, but most of the time, it doesn’t. You work your ass off to get
to the end of a sentence, then start another. You end up deleting scenes that
took you four hours to write, then rewriting entire scripts based on problems
you should have spotted before you even started writing.
It’s not grueling, back-breaking labor like building a road, but it is labor.
It’s exhausting. And while Final Draft might make formatting your script easier,
it’s still just as hard to write.
Often, when I approach a scene, I will do a quick rough draft, by which I
mean all of a scene’s crucial dialogue lines scribbled on the back of an envelope.
It’s mostly just to get the shape of the scene, but it is "real" writing
just as much as the endless tweaking that will inevitably be entailed.
Above all this, I would stress: Don’t wait for flow. It might come; it might not. But it’s your job to keep writing anyway.
Collaborating with multiple writers
Just recently
my friends and I have decided to make a short film. We have elected to individually
write several scenes for this short film, then combine them when complete.
Is this advisable, or is there foreseeable problems, such as writing styles,
continuity etc? How hard is it to co-write scripts?
–Mark B
I’ve never written with a partner, so my only experience in co-writing comes
from the two television shows I’ve created, in which I needed to work with
other writers to come up with episodes. In those cases, I was clearly the guy
in charge, so the experience was only collaborative up to the point where we
disagreed. Then, I always won.
Unless you and your friends are remarkably (dare I say pathologically) sensitive
to each other’s talents and feelings, I think you are in for trouble. While
filmmaking is ultimately collaborative, with up to hundreds of people working
on a movie, the writing process is inherently pretty solitary. You’re not just
pushing around words on paper; you’re pushing ideas around in your brain. And
the more brains you try to distribute this conceptual process between, the
more muddled the ideas become.
I’m not saying your short film is doomed. But I really doubt it’s going to turn out better for this novel approach. I’d recommend you and your friends talk through all of your ideas at length, and then let one person actually write the script. Everyone can offer feedback and suggestions, but the best writer among you should be the keeper of the keyboard.
Moving to Hollywood
My question involves networking. I’m at the level where most of my trusted, objective readers agree I have a legitimate shot, but I live far from Hollywood. Time and again I hear how important it is to network to get one’s work in the hands of the industry players, but I don’t have access, being so far away (DC). Do you have any good ideas about how to make such connections apart from simply relocating to LA?
–Robert Remy
Unfortunately, I don’t have any brilliant suggestions. Outside of a few screenwriter-specific competitions, such as the Nichols Fellowship or the Austin Film Festival’s screenwriting awards, the kind of networking you’re talking about relies on some face-to-face interaction, and that’s pretty much impossible if you’re in the wrong city.
If you’re trying to make Hollywood movies, this may be the time to move to LA. If it’s independent films you aspire to, you may find just as many opportunities in New York, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco or other metropolitan cities. The Baltimore/D.C. area does have a film community (we used a crew based there for my television show), so it’s even possible you could make a movie right where you live.
But I suspect it’s big movies you’re talking about, and big movies require big money, which pretty much means LA. Some of the bigger screenwriters live outside of Southern California, but most of them started their careers here or in New York. If you’ve done everything you can in D.C., consider whether you feel ready to make the move.
Television scripts vs. Screenplays
At the end
of your excellent discussion on the usage of script versus screenplay, you
make a comparison between one page of a screenplay and one page from a TV drama.
Format-wise, they may be similar, but as the mediums are different (television
for all its visual acumen is very much a dialogue based medium compared to
film) would this not be apparent in the writing on these same pages under comparison?
–Bob Cousins
In certain cases, yes. A script for "Law and Order" is almost entirely
dialogue in the second half, when the court case kicks in. "The West Wing" is
all talking, all the time. If you looked at any one page from these scripts,
you might be able to guess that it’s a TV show.
But a page from "Alias" or "Angel" or "Smallville" looks
and feels exactly like a feature. With the exception of act
breaks, the flow
of words on the page is no different than a 120 page screenplay.
That’s one reason why I would highly recommend any budding screenwriter try writing an episode of their favorite one-hour drama. It’s a great exercise in getting comfortable with the challenges of the format. In fact, the very first script I ever "wrote" was an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which I literally transcribed from tape. (I was 19 at the time. The episode was "Galaxy’s Child," teleplay by Marice Hurley, story by Thomas Kortozian.) For the cost of a few hours, I learned a lot about scene length and story pacing, and it got me over my fear of screenplays.
Using parentheticals
When I write dialogue, I tend to use the parenthetical a lot to describe the mood of my characters or the change in their mood. Also when I have a scene with two characters talking a lot, I tend to put lines of action between the dialogue describing the characters actions while they talk, such as shrugging, smiling, etc. How do you feel about this? Should I just let the actor find out how to react or should I control it by writing more specifically their actions during dialogue?
–Øystein Håland
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, parentheticals are small
bits of scene description within
blocks of dialogue. For example:
NATALIE
(reeling)
Did Pete ask you to ask me if I wanted to get married?
DYLAN
No! No.
(beat; casually)
He hasn’t said anything to you?
The (reeling) and (beat, causally) are parentheticals. They help communicate
the pacing and intention of the dialogue. Without them, the lines read
very differently.
Some actors have been known to automatically cross out all parenthetical
comments in their scripts, lest their performance be shackled by the
writer’s limited vision. If that makes the actor feel better, fine. But
there’s nothing inherently awful about the parenthetical. Properly and
judiciously used, these comments are an important writing tool.
Screenplays are meant to be
read-by directors, producers, editors and countless other creative types-and
it’s the screenwriter’s job to communicate crucial details about how
the movie looks, sounds and feels.
But that doesn’t mean you script every look, every turn, every smile.
Screenwriting is the art of economy, and overusing parenthetical comments
will not only break the flow of the dialogue, they’ll drive the reader
crazy. If you find you’re using three or more per page, look at whether
the dialogue itself is giving enough emotional information. If characters are
obviously arguing in a scene, an (angrily) comment is probably unneeded,
but you might need to highlight a line that is (sympathetic) or (withering)
when it could read either way.
Sometimes these little bits of description end up as free-standing sentences
(or fragments), rather than in parentheses. I’ve never heard a good name
for these snippets of interjectory description, but every script has
them:
Turning to Jason…
Finding the key…
She hands him the disk.
Generally, these little text chunks communicate some important piece of action. What only screenwriters understand is that sometimes you need a bit of screen description to break up a long section of character dialogue, or to give breathing room. In screenplays-unlike stageplays-a page full of only dialogue is considered poor form, so an occasional line of action helps put the reader at ease.
Int. and Ext.
I know this probably isn’t a big enough question, but I’m still curious and hoping for an answer. I’m not new to writing, but brand new to screenplays. I have no idea how to do notations. Like what INT. and EXT. mean and those sorts of things.
–Micah
" INT." and "EXT." stand for "interior" and "exterior." Basically, any time the scene takes place inside a building, you use "INT." for the scene header. If you’re outside, you use "EXT." In most cases, it’s very clear cut which one you would use. You are:
INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY
INT. OVAL OFFICE - NIGHT
INT. BARBARELLA’S SPACE SHIP - DAY
EXT. SUPERMARKET PARKING LOT - DAY
EXT. CASTLE MOAT - DAY
EXT. VULCAN DESERT - DAY
Sometimes, a situation will arise where it’s not clear which one really makes
more sense. For instance, you’re clearly
EXT. ROSE BOWL - DAY but are you "INT." or "EXT." for the Superdome? Or what if a character is using a phone booth? In both cases, it’s your call. Just be consistent. And for scenes that take place in a moving car, I often note it as
INT./EXT. RONNA’S CAR - NIGHT [DRIVING] to indicate that we’re both inside and outside of the car during the scene. For all I know, I’m the only writer who does that, but it seems clear enough to me. In addition to "INT." and "EXT.", you’ll occasionally see "EST." used as a header, such as
EST. THE GRAND CANYON - DAY "EST." stands for "establishing," as in "Okay, now we’re at the Grand Canyon." Personally, I never use it. By definition, an establishing scene wouldn’t have any real action or dialogue, so I find it clearer just to use "EXT." followed by a single word of action: "Establishing." Then you move to the next scene.
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