John August

QandA

More camera angles

QandA, Words on the page

Is it possible to put to rest the largest writing controversy
(next to the appropriate number of brads), CAMERA ANGLES?
There are a lot of people who say camera angles don’t belong
in a spec. [But] if you read scripts written by the writers who do sell, they
nearly ALWAYS have camera angles.
What I see all over the net is a large subculture of new
writers excluding camera angles and not selling, while those who have advised
them to take this route ARE using them and selling. One professional writer
who
suggests they be used goes as far as to say that these other pros suggesting
they not be used are doing so to deliberately misguide the younger writers
positioned to take their jobs.

–ZD

You’re uncovered a vast screenwriting conspiracy, ZD. William Goldman and
his crack team of Writer’s Guild assassins will be visiting you shortly.

You actually make a very good point. Most of the classic screenwriting books
and instructors will tell you to never use camera angles, because it hurts
the readability and angers the director. While they have a point, I’d caution
you to be suspicious of anyone who lays down hard-and-fast rules.

Speaking as a member of the pro-angle faction, I’ll make the case that reading
a screenplay should give you the sense of watching the movie. Since camera
position is a crucial element in the cinematic experience, there are times
when it’s appropriate to mention it, just as it can be necessary to point out
costuming, or music, or effects in order to let the reader know what’s what.

That said, I almost never use the words "camera" or "angle" in
my scripts, because I think those words do tend to disrupt the flow. Rather
than write —

ANGLE ON: The truck SLAMS into the gunman.
— I’m more likely to write —

THE TRUCK

SLAMS into the gunman.
— which uses a slugline to indicate that this a new and important shot.

Along the same line, rather than say, "The CAMERA CRANES UP over the field," I
would say, "we RISE OVER the field." Since the camera is the audience’s
eyes, using "we" or "our" makes sense to me.

But I’m not the last word on the subject, nor can it ever really be put to
rest. Although none have said it to my face, some of the directors I’ve worked
with probably hate the way I move the camera on the page and wish I would stop
doing it.

Ultimately, writers have different styles that work for them, and my best
advice is find an approach that suits your taste and the material. There are
no absolute rules.

Except that the appropriate number of brads is always two.

What a “pitch”

Pitches, QandA

Would sending a baseball with a phrase written on it
like "how about
hearing my pitch" be a creative addition to an inquiry letter? Or would
I stand out more as a novice?

–RLB

After an informal poll, 100% of my development friends picked "novice." Sorry.

Only once in my life did I perform a stunt during a pitch. I was trying to
get the assignment to write "How to Eat Fried Worms," so I brought
in a container of worms and dumped them right out onto a plate. Considering
the whole movie hinged on how disgusting it would be to eat worms, the visual
reinforced the idea.

But truthfully, my pitch was pretty good, and I probably would have gotten
the job without doing anything weird. On the whole, you’re much better off
refining (and shortening) your pitch than figuring out the right prop to go
with it.

Optioning your book

QandA, Rights and Copyright

I have submitted a book to a producer. This is my first book,
but they are wanting to make it. What can I expect as far as monetary compensation
for the
rights to the story being that I am an unknown author?

–Alma

The short answer is, not a lot. The long answer is more complicated.

When a producer buys the rights to a short story or book, usually what is
being purchased is the option on the rights. What this means is that the producer
is buying the right to buy the rights at a later time. He’s saying, "I’m
gonna pay you $1000 today. In exchange for that $1000, you promise you won’t
sell anyone else the rights during the next twelve months. Also, any time during
these twelve months, I can pay you $25,000 and you’ll sell me all the film
rights to the book."

In this example, $1000 is the option price, and $25,000 is the full purchase
(or buyout) price. But those are completely arbitrary numbers. Often the option
price is just $1. Sometimes the full purchase price is $1 milllion. And the
length of the option can vary as well, from six months up to two years or more,
perhaps with a clause allowing the producer to renew the option at fixed price.

In short, the dollars and dates can be anything, but the basic structure of
the deal is the same.

By why does a producer bother with an option? Why not just put down the full
purchase price at the start?

Because it’s a risk. Lots of things can and will go wrong in the process of
trying to make a movie, and the less a producer has to put down up front, the
safer it is. And in many ways, an option protects the original writer as well.
If the producer isn’t able to get the project made, the option expires and
the writer gets all claim back to her work. She even gets to keep the money.
She can set up the book with a different producer and do the whole thing all
over again.

So how much can you, Alma, hope to make from the book this producer wants
to buy? Unless there are a lot of other buyers interested in it, nothing is
going to drive the price up. And since you don’t have any track record of being
paid a certain amount for your work – what’s called a quote – there’s really
no minimum to expect.

At this level, you should expect a low option price, with the possibility
of a bigger full purchase price. I can’t see any advantage to selling out all
rights to the book at this point, because you’d then be giving this producer
the rights forever, and for not a lot of money.

In this situation, you’re mostly just dealing with how much faith you put
in this producer to get the movie made.

Using parentheticals

Formatting, QandA

questionmarkWhen 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.

Learn more about the basics of parenthetical usage here!