Your Screenplay, No Need to Type
Recently
I had a long talk with a film maker who said that she was not getting the types of screenplays that she could relate to. That the characters did not look like her. At first this struck me as sounding unusual, after all characters are characters. They are just names on a piece of paper. Well as we talk about it I began to see what she was saying.
The film maker in question is Asian and most of the screenplays that she had been sent introduced each character with a short description of the characters. Are you seeing where this is headed? Beyond the name and age of the character there was usually a lot of extras.
What this taught me a very important lesson that I wish to share with you. Film makers will come in all different shapes, sizes, ages and races. If your primary goal is to craft a screenplay that you can market then you need to consider this when you are doing your final edit. The best seller item on earth is generic. The generic brand is a great brand. I am not suggesting that you make a generic screenplay, but characters that can be preformed by as many actors as possible. Keep in mind that thanks to digital film making more and more actors are looking for material to produce for themselves.
Let’s look at it in Charles Angels terms for a second. You write a screenplay. You have Drew Barrymore in mind. She reads it, does not care for it, but Lucy Liu picks it up. She likes the script, but the lead character is clearly written for Drew, right down to her goofy smile. Lucy says no because of this. Lucy is a type and Drew is a different type. Both can give you a quality performance. More importantly both have the kind of resources to pay you well for your screenplay.
In the low budget world of screen writing you are going to be introduced to film makers from all over the world and of all races and creeds. Keep the character description simple and generic unless it is important to the story. Also when you take a chance it would be cool to take a risk or two with characters. A woman could be your villain instead of the cookie cutter guy. Who would have thought a few years ago that the most well known drug trafficked in television history would look like the guy on Breaking Bad.
Make your screenplay more marketable by giving directors and producers more freedom to pick a cast.
One of my favorite thrillers is the movie Taken. I have written about it often here. The cast is solid, but the script and the direction are the things that elevate it to another level. This year I was introduced to an asian film that I was told was as good. The movie is the Man From Nowhere and I believe that it is actually a better film than Taken because the script does not allow us to look away for even a moment from the hard choices that the characters must make. You could find the movie on Netflix and I strongly suggest you watch it and tell me what you think. By the way, the trailer does not do it justice. The film and the script behind it works on so many levels.
Thank you for visiting my blog. Please take a moment to share this post and to add me to your google plus.
I had a long talk with a film maker who said that she was not getting the types of screenplays that she could relate to. That the characters did not look like her. At first this struck me as sounding unusual, after all characters are characters. They are just names on a piece of paper. Well as we talk about it I began to see what she was saying.
The film maker in question is Asian and most of the screenplays that she had been sent introduced each character with a short description of the characters. Are you seeing where this is headed? Beyond the name and age of the character there was usually a lot of extras.
What this taught me a very important lesson that I wish to share with you. Film makers will come in all different shapes, sizes, ages and races. If your primary goal is to craft a screenplay that you can market then you need to consider this when you are doing your final edit. The best seller item on earth is generic. The generic brand is a great brand. I am not suggesting that you make a generic screenplay, but characters that can be preformed by as many actors as possible. Keep in mind that thanks to digital film making more and more actors are looking for material to produce for themselves.
Let’s look at it in Charles Angels terms for a second. You write a screenplay. You have Drew Barrymore in mind. She reads it, does not care for it, but Lucy Liu picks it up. She likes the script, but the lead character is clearly written for Drew, right down to her goofy smile. Lucy says no because of this. Lucy is a type and Drew is a different type. Both can give you a quality performance. More importantly both have the kind of resources to pay you well for your screenplay.
In the low budget world of screen writing you are going to be introduced to film makers from all over the world and of all races and creeds. Keep the character description simple and generic unless it is important to the story. Also when you take a chance it would be cool to take a risk or two with characters. A woman could be your villain instead of the cookie cutter guy. Who would have thought a few years ago that the most well known drug trafficked in television history would look like the guy on Breaking Bad.
Make your screenplay more marketable by giving directors and producers more freedom to pick a cast.
One of my favorite thrillers is the movie Taken. I have written about it often here. The cast is solid, but the script and the direction are the things that elevate it to another level. This year I was introduced to an asian film that I was told was as good. The movie is the Man From Nowhere and I believe that it is actually a better film than Taken because the script does not allow us to look away for even a moment from the hard choices that the characters must make. You could find the movie on Netflix and I strongly suggest you watch it and tell me what you think. By the way, the trailer does not do it justice. The film and the script behind it works on so many levels.
Thank you for visiting my blog. Please take a moment to share this post and to add me to your google plus.
