Stuck!

Learn to Love Your Screenplay Again

Josh Miller

• Publisher: Brush Education
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780060391683
• eBook ISBN: 9781550597868
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film Screenwriting

Maybe you have a great idea for a movie, and you're thinking to yourself, "Man, if I only knew how to write a screenplay." Maybe you've started your screenplay already, but you get to a certain point where you JUST DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT! Or maybe you've already finished your screenplay, read it over again, hated it, and smashed your hard drive, frustrated. Don't give up on your dreams just yet—not until you've read this book.

Over the course of his successful career as a writer and producer, Josh Miller has learned plenty about the craft and art of screenwriting. There are no fancy tricks or shortcuts to making a great screenplay, just time-honored techniques, fundamental story elements, and one secret ingredient: you. Josh will show you how to create a compelling story and deploy advanced screenwriting techniques, but most importantly, he'll teach you how to harness your unique voice, experience, and perspective to emotionally connect with audiences and give your screenplay real substance. Get this book—and get yourself unstuck.

• Understand visual storytelling elements to tighten up your script and eliminate unnecessary dialogue.
• See effective screenwriting elements in action with instructive examples from more than 200 classic and contemporary films.
• Learn the secrets to creating unforgettable characters that drive the narrative forward and add depth to your story.
• Create effective setups and payoffs to give your story internal logic, yet maintain the element of surprise.
• Master elements of screenwriting craft, such as flashbacks and flash-forwards, time locks, subplots, twists, and more.

1

Chapter 1 The Kernel of the Idea

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We’re going to kick things off by spending what perhaps might seem like an inordinate amount of time looking at the source of story ideas. Why? Because it really helps to clear away a bunch of the weeds if you can articulate the source of your inspiration.

By that I mean the more you can categorize or classify your story, the easier it is to identify its genre along with its attendant conventions and, in so doing, avoid duplication, derivation or triteness (we’ll go into much more detail on this stuff later).

And finally, it also helps to know what has come before in terms of similarly sourced stories, so you can watch and learn how they treated their subject matter. Sometimes the learning comes from seeing what not to do from unsuccessful movies.

Screen pundits pontificate that ideas are “a dime a dozen.” What they’re saying is that writing is all about the execution, and I completely concur. Nevertheless, one can’t start writing anything without an idea, preferably one with some originality.

On that latter point, you’ve probably heard that there are only twelve basic plots. Or maybe nine. Or fifteen. Whatever the number, the notion suggests that every story has been told already many times over, so what can you contribute to the canon?

Yourself. No two people will tell the same story the same way. Your life experience and your voice, authentically shared, will ensure your material is original. Write what you believe and feel, not what you think others might want to read or screen.

Avoiding clichés is another tool in the kit, but we’ll get into that in more detail later. Right now, we’re addressing what I call the “kernel,” meaning, simply, the germ of your story idea. The thing that got you going. The thing that first got you excited.

Here’s the good news about kernels: they can be anything and come from anywhere. There’s no correct or appropriate source for ideas. Inspiration knows no boundaries. So don’t ever think your idea is unworthy because of its humble or obscure origins.

I would quickly provide one caveat, and that is when you’re dogging a trend. By that I mean you’ve noticed that a certain genre or type of film seems to be in vogue, so you conceive or develop a similar idea with the intention of mining the same vein of ore.

Don’t do it. Why? Because those movies were green-lit two or three years prior, and by the time you detect any sort of trend, it will already be passé, as trends by their nature are fleeting. Decision-makers will have already moved on to the “next big thing.”

The other reason to forgo an “industrial” approach is that you likely won’t follow through, either abandoning the screenplay or not starting it at all. Or if you do manage to complete a draft, it likely will be uninspired. The reason: you didn’t really care about it.

Which brings us to the “P word”: passion. I know you hear this word so often that you want to vomit, but the fact is, if you’re not passionate about your idea, you’re doomed. In the dark times—and trust me there will be dark times—nothing else will sustain you.

Without passion for your idea, you’ll fold at the first negative critique. Usually that first negative critique will be your own. The only thing that will enable you to push through is belief. You may not yet believe in yourself as a writer (emphasis: yet), but you must believe in your idea. Only then will the kernel have a chance to sprout and grow.

Based on the notion that ideas can come from anywhere, in this section we’re going to look at common sources of inspiration, illustrated by examples from contemporary and classic movies. Specifically, we’ll look at character, situation, arena, genre, and adaptation.

Whether you’re initially inspired to write about a particular situation or in a specific genre, or you decide to adapt an existing work or true story, ultimately your characters will drive the story, so we’re going to spend a bit more time on them than the others.

Character

One great place to start is to create a character, either imagined or based on a real person, or some combination of both. First, ask yourself these questions:

1. What is it about this character that fascinates me?
2. Why do I think a story about this character will captivate others?

You’ll note that I’m talking about a person, singular, not a group. With very few exceptions, stories are driven by a single central character known as the protagonist. The protagonist has also been called the “hero,” but this might be a misnomer in stories where they’re unlikeable. Or evil. Or tragic. So let’s stick with protagonist.

While there are plenty of examples of ensemble films with multiple story lines and/or central characters that seem to be given equal weight, I suggest that upon closer analysis, these films actually provide a slightly greater focus on one of the story lines and its protagonist. Or alternatively, within each story line there’s one clear protagonist.

We’ll delve deeper into the role of the protagonist in chapter 4. For now, let’s just consider protagonists as characters that are so interesting you want to fashion a story around them. I intentionally use the word “interesting” because we don’t actually have to like them; we just have to give a damn about them, that is, be interested in their plight.

Think about that for a moment. “Caring” about them doesn’t mean “liking” them. Of course it could include liking them, but at the end of the day, liking them isn’t actually necessary or important. Being interested in them is the only thing that matters.

So what makes a character inherently interesting? Let’s take a look.

Characters with contradictions

These types of characters immediately pique our interest because we know that two incompatible traits ultimately cannot co-exist in the same person. We know something will have to give and, like a slow motion car wreck, we’re compelled to watch.

FILM EXAMPLES OF CHARACTERS WITH CONTRADICTIONS

CONTEMPORARY FILM

Matchstick Men

Roy Waller (Nicolas Cage) is a con man with OCD, rendering him a neat freak who’s afflicted with facial and vocal tics whenever he’s under stress. When he learns he may have fathered a preteen daughter (Alison Lohman) and then meets her, his symptoms worsen as he soon finds himself caught between his “work” and his responsibility as a parent. These two worlds are bound to collide and the outcome is both unexpected and inevitable.

CLASSIC FILMS

Good Will Hunting

Will Hunting (Matt Damon) is a genius who’s squandering his brilliance. We question why anyone who has such natural gifts would willingly forgo t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Preface
• Introduction
• How to Use This Book
• 1 The Kernel of the Idea
• 2 The Visual Medium
• 3 Three-Act Dramatic Structure
• 4 Protagonist
• 5 Dominant Character Trait
• 6 Dramatic Objective and Personal Goal
• 7 Antagonist
• 8 Obstacles and Conflict
• 9 Tangible Stakes
• 10 Comedy or Tragedy
• 11 Premise
• 12 Genre
• 13 Conventions vs. Clichés
• 14 Tone and Ground Rules
• 15 Activity vs. Action
• 16 Scene Structure
• 17 Openings
• 18 Setups and Payoffs
• 19 Exposition
• 20 Dialogue and Subtext
• 21 Minor Characters and Crowds
• 22 Flashbacks and Flash-forwards
• 23 Montage and Series of Shots
• 24 Time Transitions
• 25 Counteraction
• 26 Time Locks
• 27 Props and Telephones
• 28 Subplots
• 29 Twists
• 30 Crisis / Black Moment
• 31 Confrontation / Obligatory Scene
• 32 Climax
• 33 Resolution / Denouement
• 34 Emotion
• 35 Practical Advice
• Appendix I: List of Films Discussed
• Appendix II: Standard Screenplay Format
• Appendix III: Glossary
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author