Screenplay: Writing the Picture PDF
Preview Screenplay: Writing the Picture
Screenplay: Writing The Picture Copyright Copyright © 2012 by Robin Russin and William Downs All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. ebook ISBN: 978-1-935247-48-7 Cover design by Wade Lageose Silman-James Press www.silmanjamespress.com Los Angeles, CA Contents Title Page Copyright Acknowledgments FADE IN Note on Ebook Version Preface PART ONE: THE BASICS 1 How to Impress a Reader Who Are Those Guys? What Are They Looking For? Writing in Style Final Thoughts Exercises 2 Format Formatting and Formatting Software Setting Up Your Script Exercises 3 Theme, Meaning and Emotion Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing (Yet) Themes All Right to Me Write from the Heart Papa, Don’t Preach How to Reveal the Theme Some Consequence Yet Hanging in the Stars Final Thoughts Exercises 4 The World of the Story Through the Looking Glass (Story and World) The Right (Wo)man at the Right Time in the Right Place (Character World) Laughing past the Graveyard (Contrast and Irony) Show and Tell (World and Exposition) Been There, Done That (Research and Consistency) Final Thoughts Exercises 5 Character Which Came First, Honey of the Bee? Geez, You Act like You’re in a Movie What on Earth Is He Doing Here? What’s the Situation? (Character and Context) Turn On the Spotlight (Character Elements) The Arc or the Covenant (Character Arc vs. Catalytic Character) Write You Are (Building Characters) A Piece of Sugar (The Shorthand of Dogs, Cats, Children and Tucking in Blankets) Final Thoughts Exercise PART TWO: STORY STRUCTURE 6 Historical Approaches to Structure Structure Strictures Aristotle and Poetics Plotto and Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations Lajos Egri and The Art of Dramatic Writing Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey The Three-Act Structure Automated Story Development Final Thoughts Exercises 7 Power and Conflict May the Force Be With You (Power and Conflict) The Orchestration of Power and Conflict Types of Story Conflict Final Thoughts Exercises 8 Beats, Scenes and Sequences Follow the Beat Making a Scene Sequences That’s Another Story (Subplot Sequences) Final Thoughts Exercises 9 Scene Cards It’s in the Cards Final Thoughts Exercises 10 Entering the Story The Terminator: Man vs. Machine Big Night: Soul vs. Success Exercises 11 The Structure of Genres A Moving (Picture) Experience Courage Fear and Loathing The Need to Know Laughter Love and Longing Final Thoughts Exercises PART THREE: WRITING 12 Narrative Keep It Moving! Write Only What We Can See or Hear Describing Characters Describing Locations Exercises 13 Dialogue The Role of Dialogue How Can I Say This? (Dialogue Techniques) I Was Born in a Log Cabin I Built with My Own Hands... (Exposition) Technical Do’s and Don’t’s For Crying Out Loud! Final Thoughts Exercises 14 Rewriting It’s Great! Now Let Me Fix It Taking It Apart and Putting It Back Together Final Thoughts Exercises PART FOUR: MARKETING 15 Marketing the Script The Writers Guild of America Representation Where to Find an Agent Production Companies Networking Film Schools Final Thoughts Exercise 16 The Pitch To Pitch or Not to Pitch Getting in the Door Final Thoughts Exercises PART FIVE: ALTERNATIVES 17 Writing for Television Writing a Spec Sitcom Format Guide Writing Comedy You Need an Agent L.A. Is Where You Want to Be Pitching for Television A Life in Television Final Thoughts 18 Writing Webisodes Webi-Premise Webi-Structure Webi-Characters Webi-Pilot Webi-Cheap Webi-Format Webi-Talent Webi-Scripts 19 Writing for Video Games You Are There First Things First The Real World: Breaking and Entering Final Thoughts FADE OUT Final Thoughts on Becoming a Screenwriter Appendix A: Templates Appendix B: Suggested Reading Appendix C: A Few Clichés to Avoid like the Plague Appendix D: Graduate (MFA) Screenwriting Programs Glossary About the Authors Acknowledgments Lew Hunter, Howard Suber, Richard Walter, Hal Ackerman, Bill Froug, Stirling Silliphant, Jerzy Antczak and all the others at UCLA film school, for showing us the way; Steve Peterman, for putting up with our asking him how to be funny; Derek Burrill, Jeff Kunzler and Patrick Seitz for helping us navigate the mysteries of video gaming; Val Stulman, John Shannon and Rob Rinow for being great students and now teaching us a bit about writing for the web; Lou Anne Wright for her long months of editing and advice; Todd McCullough for letting us use his webisode script; Sandra J. Payne, Ken Jones, Cathlynn Richard Dodson and Rich Burlingham for their careful reading of the manuscript and thoughtful suggestions, which helped make this a better book. Barbara Rosenberg, David Hall and Matt Ball for getting us into this mess in the first place; Michelle Vardeman for making sure we cleaned it up; and lastly to Gwen Feldman and Jim Fox at Silman-James Press, for seeing the merit in this book and, more importantly, publishing it. R. U. Russin W. M. Downs Robert and Adele Russin, for raising me with the belief that I could live the life of an artist, because they lived it themselves; Sarah Russin and my kids Olivia and Ben, for putting up with me no matter what; James and Cookie Goldstone, for being my first and dearest film-world mentors; my colleagues at the University of California, Riverside; and Milah Wermer, patron saint of all that is dramatic, ecstatic and “marvelous!” Robin Lou Anne Wright—the love of my life. Bill
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