LEARN SCREENWRITING

From Start to Adaptation to Pro Advice

Sally J. Walker

• Publisher: Author Academy Elite
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781640855182
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Drehbuchschreiben

• LEARN SCREENWRITING is about evolving cinematic creativity!

On your own With a Group In a Class

Part One’s “Intro to Screenwriting” will answer questions like...

• Have you ever had an idea for a movie?
• Why did one movie work and another didn’t?

You will start characterizing for Actors... Plan Main Plot and Subplots... Practice crisp Dialogue and vivid Narrative... Write a Feature Screenplay... Consider Genre Storytelling... Polish the first draft... Discover Hollywood marketing!

* * * * *

Part Two’s “Book-to-Film Adaptation” will answer questions like...

• Have you read a novel you could visualize as a movie?
• What has to be included while other parts ignored?

You will analyze prose for visuals... Characterize for inherent dramatic personality... Learn to focus plot events... Motivate collaborators... Identify iconic stories!

* * * * *

Part Three’s Hollywood experienced screenwriters answer questions like...

• How do the professionals write?
• How can new writers tap into Hollywood?

You will discover Blake Snyder & Christopher Vogler’s storytelling principles, character development, plotting... Learn revision... Investigate Hollywood marketing and challenges

LEARN SCREENWRITING

PART ONE

Intro
To
Screenwriting

INTRO CHAPTER 1

Fundamentals of Storytelling and “No New Stories”

Novels are written in words the reader can thought-associate, thus free the imagination to vicariously live the experience with the characters. Movies are much more immediate and visceral, since they are the visual experience of characters living now on that screen. Screenplays are written in words, but every sentence, every speech has to have visual power. Whoever reads the script must mentally see the story unfolding in the mind’s eye just as if a camera is rolling.

Visual wording is essential to a credible screenplay. The people who evaluate the scripts are searching for the material they want to translate from page to screen. That could be a studio reader who wants to find the one gem for the employer, the agent who wants to see dollar signs, or the industry professional who wants to showcase their own talent and provide creative opportunities for others they think would be interested. All are looking for the next great blockbuster or award-winning script. Wanting to find it, they are willing to kiss a lot of frogs. Each will have his or her own standards, expectations, and tastes. One reader’s rejection will be another’s rare diamond-find. All of that is good for new writers who charge ahead with fresh concepts and their innovative take on tried themes.

What is a diamond-find script? It is a story that captures a reader’s imagination and ignites the collaborative creative fires of that producer (who races to think of who can be brought on board the production team), the director (who thinks in cinematic frames, locations, actors, and the challenge of controlling the production), the actor (who sees the demanding, dynamic character portrayal on their resume as a high-point credit), and so on. The screenwriter merely draws the blueprint for all these creative artists who will use their expertise to transfer the words on the page to images on the screen. The screenplay is the foundation of the story. Everyone else builds upward from there toward the pinnacle, a finished film. The writer’s creative spark is necessary for the lengthy, convoluted, complex business of making a film

ALL STORIES HAVE STRUCTURE

A cinematic story has essential elements like any other form of storytelling. Even around the caveman’s fire, the storyteller had to begin the tale, keep the listeners enthralled with a series of events, and end his rendering. If the telling was not interesting and believable, do you think the caveman got any attention when he wanted to tell another? Aristotle of ancient Greece explained the original concepts of Beginning, Middle, and Ending in his “Poetics.” If you haven’t read the essay, find a copy and do so as part of your fundamental education. Here is an explanation in relation to film that will provide the foundation for all that is to follow.

Beginning’s Set-up and Questions

Approximately one-fourth of any story is the “Set-up of the Ordinary Life” the main character is living. In that set-up, you must establish your ability to ignite curiosity and tell a credible tale with characters the audience can care about. Your credibility relies on the vigorous quality of your language skills--your command of vocabulary and proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Those are the tools of your craft. You may have a dynamic story to tell but if you lack the skill to communicate succinctly and accurately, who will care?

In your story’s first pages, you have to establish the five W’s of:

1. Who the story is about,
2. Where the story is taking place,
3. When the story is happening,
4. What is happening to the main character and
5. Why that “What” is important to the main character.

The audience must immediately be asking questions they want answered. The writer enters into an implied contract with the audience to answer those questions in the story to follow.

The opening sentence of a novel acts as the hook to capture the reader’s interest demanding the rest of the book be read. A movie’s hook is the very first image on the screen that sets the mood for a film. Consider the uplifting sense of the carefree girl singing in an Alpine meadow of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. The impact must be immediate and visual. It helps to have it paired with sound effects and music to hit as many of the senses as possible, but those are not the screenwriter’s area of expertise. Again, the screenplay is merely a blueprint. (Yes, you will be reminded of this repeatedly to drive it deep into your awareness.)

On an intentionally subtle level, the first image of the film represents the essential theme or concept that will be woven throughout the story. Look back at the three examples just stated. MUSIC = a young woman joyfully discovering the world.

Opening Scene Pointers

The opening image is vital to “popping” the subliminal message of your story, introducing or summarizing the theme of the subsequent story. Right after FADE IN comes your first SLUG LINE and first narrative paragraph. You want it to be a “doozey,” something iconic that represents all that is to follow. Unless you have the money and professional influence to direct this story, you do not dictate music or credits at this point. Your main concern is how you will visually impact the audience, creating questions while establishing the “feel” of your film. Whatever that first image is, it must represent everything that is to follow.

Here are some Spec script examples. SHOOTING starts with the shooter invading the apartment, SAVING ONE ANOTHER starts with the racing car into head-on collision, and PAYING THE PIPER starts with Jess putting on his piper’s regalia

SHOOTING = defying the bad guys of the world

SAVING ONE ANOTHER = about taking risks for other people

PAYING THE PIPER = about integrity of heritage despite violence

Sometimes it takes several revisions to get a script “right.” Each revision may focus on a different Statement of Purpose and theme. One of my scripts had four starts. The first-drafted THE RAPE ended up re-titled HONOR AND CONSEQUENCES. The first draft I deleted because it just didn’t feel right. The original opening image was of gym workout confrontation of high school senior boys, a focus on young testosterone posturing. The second version my young hero’s hand slaps down the counselor’s annoying tapping of a pencil. Subliminal concept = dominance over thoughtless actions. The third opening image was a lighted billboard advertising the Marine Corps need for a FEW GOOD MEN then a muscle car pulls off the road and behind the sign. Headlights blink out, a hulking high school senior (who is actually a sociopath) wearing a letter jacket climbs out of the driver’s door. He opens the back passenger door and drags out an unconscious girl wearing a cheerleader’s uniform of a different school . . .

What is the message of the image of the billboard?

When the subsequent scene alludes to a rape, what will the audience think is the theme?

The fourth (and final) opening had the main character viewing a sports trophy engraved with his name in the glass case of a busy hig...