Notes from a Screenreader: Boo
Photo via Go Into the Story. Does your conflict pass The Haunting Test? You’re a ghost. A traveler from another dimension who can be neither seen nor heard by the people around you, not even the person you seem to be glued to, whom you are compelled to shadow. Always. You have no choice but...
READ MORENotes From a Screenreader: Mamet-ize It
Photo via Go Into the Story. THIS is the supreme last word on screenwriting from David Mamet. It is a memo from Mamet to his writing staff on The Unit, which you may or may not recall ran for 69 episodes between 2006 and 2009. It is glorious, true, funny, useful and brilliant. It’s not long....
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Bang a Gong
Photo via Go Into the Story. Theme is the beating heart of the screenplay, the proposition about the human condition that your story explores—the big issues. Love. Faith. Resilience. Trust. Power. Courage. All the goosebumpy things. The theme, that single, simple thesis that creates clarity and scope and resonance through the arcs of your story,...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Commuter Blues
Photo via Go Into the Story. You drove 20 miles home in heavy traffic and don’t remember any of it. That’s the dissociation you use to deal with the sameness of your commute. It also happens when you read your script. Your brain fills in what’s supposed to be there and you blow right by your...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: The Wonkavator
Photo via Go Into the Story. Willy Wonka: No, it’s a Wonkavator. An elevator can only go up and down, but the Wonkavator can go sideways, and slantways, and longways, and backways… A screenplay should not be a Wonkavator, even if it isn’t linear. What you want in a spec script is a ride straight...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Old News
Photo via Go Into the Story. How long ago did you write your script? Does it show? It is impossible to stay convincingly up to the minute with technology and pop culture in a script, but it is possible to blow the dust off by doing a careful read for obsolescence. There’s an app for that....
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Texas Hold ‘Em
Photo via Go Into the Story. The difference between a yes and a no in the first round of a screenplay competition can be summed up by a hand of Texas hold ‘em. You fold early, you didn’t post a blind, and your cards were bad enough to make you think, Why am I being punished...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Why Now?
Photo via Go Into the Story. To perform well in a competition, your script has to be able to answer the critical question, “Why now?” Successful, readable scripts hinge on an event, the outcome of which has the power to change the life of the protagonist. A showdown, a mountain to climb, a home run to...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Start by Finishing
Photo via Go Into the Story. In the same way that a recipe is not a batch of warm cookies on a baking sheet, an unfinished draft is merely an intention — and like raw dough, a story won’t show its shape until it comes out of the oven. Most contest submissions suffer from a half-baking....
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Writing IKEA Style
Photo via Go Into the Story. A script, ideally, is one of those 300 square foot IKEA show apartments with every nook and cranny made useful two or three times over. Static placeholder scenes stick out like a farmhouse table. Written to clarify the writer’s thoughts on a single element, it sneaks through rewrites without ever...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Meaningful Images
Photo via Go Into the Story. A script is a story that will be told with images. It feels like that goes without saying, but spec scripts are so often crushed under the weight of their own dialogue that it bears repeating. Meaningful images are revealing, memorable, interesting to read, and space saving. To rewrite for...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: The Deep Freeze Script
Photo via Go Into the Story. Scripts that feel rote turn readers off right away even though rote scripts are written by people who know exactly what they’re doing. The plot moves forward, the conflicts are in place, the beats come and go like clockwork. Scoring high marks for plot and structure, these scripts still feel...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader: Lie to Me
Photo via Go Into the Story. Lie to me. Most spec scripts have an importance of being earnest problem. They tell the reader the truth, all of it, all the time. All the backstory, all the exposition, all of what everyone is doing and precisely why, before it even happens. Lying to the reader in your...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader
photo via Go Into the Story A vast majority of spec scripts submitted to competitions open with mundane images. It seems like a logical choice. Establishing normal life is an explicit instruction in many structure templates. Filmmakers often open with shots of unremarkable details. That is misleading to writers. It’s one thing to watch eggs frying...
READ MORENotes From A Screenreader
photo via Go Into the Story Billy Wilder believed that “There are only two types of movies, one for the audience with a simple story, nicely decorated and ornate…or a complicated story that is simply put on film. If you put too many ornaments in there, people won’t be able to follow it.” Clarity is the quality in...
READ MORENotes From A Screenreader
photo via Go Into the Story You need a logline for your screenplay. It is your script’s calling card. You can’t submit to a competition, pitch or write a query without one. A logline reduces an entire screenplay to a single sentence that expresses its premise. It should include a sketch of the protag, what...
READ MORENotes from a Screenreader
photo via Go Into the Story It’s an open secret that you only have a few pages to convince experienced readers that your script is worth reading. What you might not know is that you can make mistakes on the very first page that prejudice readers, long before you establish the relationships and conflicts that...
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