Your Screenplay, No Need to Type

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.
  

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Horror Movie Writing

                Writing A Good Horror Film


    There is a pattern that has developed over the past few years at the box office. Horror films open up at number one and then the bottom drops out of their box office.

    Hollywood is a hype machine and they have become expert at hyping horror movies. The problem is that they pick really bad movies in an effort to steal a few quick bucks. Most of these movies fall into three categories. Terrible originals, terrible remakes and terrible redone versions of foreign horror films.

    Let Me In vs. Let The Right One In.

    The Chainsaw Massacre 3D vs. The Chainsaw Massacre.
   
    Some of this is the quest for money. Some of this is the directors fault and some of this is poor writing. In the case of Let Me In it is the director’s fault because the original has an almost perfect script.

    This post needed to be written for the simple fact that many of the micro to no budget scripts that will be written will be horror screenplays.

There are actual rules to writing a good one and I guess that it is about time someone wrote them down and reminded the screenwriting world of them.

    The rule that is broken most often and usually in the first five minutes. The rule that once broken the story has a huge mountain to climb before it can reach the level of watchable. The rules that you must keep in mind at all cost is,

    ESTABLISH REALITY!

    Your script must establish the real world before it can or should introduce the supernatural world.

    “But I want to start my script with a bang. I want to jump right into the story.”

    Seriously? If you want to write a great film that will be remembered over time then do not break this one rule.

    The movies that followed this rule as if it is religious doctrine are the following:

    The Sixth Sense. Wife, husband, home, normal world, violence, and then mom and boy, street, church and now the supernatural begins to creep in.

    The Exorcist, old Priest, dig in holy lands, people working, heart problems, a hint at something bizarre or supernatural. Jump to a city in America, a Mother and daughter, a home, a ordinary world that is rocked by something supernatural almost 30 pages later. The recipe for the greatest horror film of all time.

    The Descent, a rafting trip with friends, a drive home, a fatal car accident, friends gather at hospital, friends unite a year later for another group outing, they worry about the one who almost lost her life and did lose her family, they go cave diving in an un-explored cave because one of them is a risk taker and they end up in a life and death struggle with flesh eating cave dwellers.  Released at the end of a summer movie season, totally untouched by the Hollywood hype machine, barely lasted in theaters for three weeks and has gone on to be considered a modern horror classic.  (Note, I was lucky enough to see The Descent at a film festival where it won best after dark film. The house was sold out and the place rocked from almost beginning to end. There is nothing like seeing a really good horror film.)

    The Original Chainsaw Massacre watches like a documentary at times. The opening scenes of that movie establishes reality and then goes on to create what feels like a darker level of reality.
    The same could be said for the original The Hills Have Eyes.

    They all became classics by establishing reality first and then subverting it.

    The next Rule has been written about before at this blog and I must go over it again.
    Rule 2,

    THEY WILL BELIEVE ANYTHING ONCE!

    The audience will believe in a killer shark.

    They will believe in a possessed child.


    They will believe that a massive undersea creature is rampaging through New York, Cloverfield.

    They will believe in Vampires.

    They will believe in any one thing, but not two things. Two or more things is comedy and not horror.

    Child’s Play 1 and 2 are horror movies. Once you get to Bride of Chucky you are into comedy.
    A Killer Shark is Jaws, a Killer Shark that can swim under the sand is Sand Shark, it is a sci-fi channel film and it stinks.

    No matter what that second thing is do not include it in your screenplay. Do not make the argument that M. Night does it all the time. A twist ending is not the same as a second thing that they must believe. Hey I do not like the ending of The Village any more than the rest of you guys, but it was fair and he did not ask you to believe more than one thing. We were just fooled by what the story really was about.

    The movie that broke this rule and completely lost me and many of those who had high hopes for it is the movie Grave Encounters. Great premise. Solid Act I and part of Act II. This movie promises an experience like the Shining and out of no where jumps to Rose Red and a second rate episode of the Outer Limits. Spoiler Alert!  For those of you who have seen the movie the ghost hunting team arrives at the building and get locked inside. At this point we have a time limit given to us where around 6 AM the doors will be opened. Survive until then and all is well. Then the building starts changing shapes. Really? Then time does not run the way that it does in the rest of the known universe. Really?

Too much to believe. I think the movie falls apart when these things are introduced and never recovers. I will offer a slight defense and maybe a reason why this happened. The script was written by a writing team.  That could explain the introduction of these unnecessary elements.

    Find a horror film that disappointed you and ask yourself if it asked you to believe in more than one thing. I would bet that almost all of them did.

    There are a few more rules, but at the end of the day these rules are the most important. If you break any of them then you are probably writing a bad horror movie.

    How to write a really good horror film is going to be another post and I will try to be as helpful in this area as possible, but no one has perfected a formula for this yet. The greatest screen writers of all time are hit and miss.

    Okay that is it for today. I have added social marking tabs on the post so could you please share this and any other post you like and tell a friend about this site.

    Last note, I am working on doing an Anthology contest this year. Unlike most of the recent anthologies that have been released this one must have a common theme and the theme is still being discussed. It will be suspense/horror and it will need something to tie it together. Watch Trilogy of Terror (find it on Youtube) as an example of what we will be aiming for.

Your Screenplay, The Classic Film Lessons

            Your Screenplay, The Classic Film Lessons

    It seems that the majority of film critics agree that the best year ever generated by film makers was the year 1939. At least 10 four star all time classic films were released that year. The Wizard of Oz, Stagecoach, Young Mister Lincoln, Destry Rides Again, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Wuthering Heights and The Oscar winner that year, Gone With the Wind.

    All of these movies have one thing in common. They are almost pure story from beginning to end. Every scene has value. In movies like Gone With The Wind almost every line of dialogue is there to reveal something about the character who delivers it.

    “How can these movies help me to write my micro budget screenplay?”

    I will go back to what I just told you. These films were pure story. Some had the equal of multi million dollar budgets and some did not. All of them had great story telling at their core. In the low to micro budget world story telling will have to make up for massive special effects and overpaid actors.

    We live in a world where board games become major summer releases. Pointless and plot-less releases that are quickly rejected by the movie viewing public. A great story well told is what we should all aim to produce.

    The problem is that no one knows exactly how to do this because no two people tell a story in exactly the same way. I can suggest things to you, but I cannot give you a special formula that will get it done every time. The best screen writers on earth have written great films and turned around and written something lifeless and boring. You are the writer of your no budget screenplay.

    One of my favorite modern horror movies is Jeepers Creepers. I love the script for that movie. The writer/director of the film based it largely upon the great Universal films of the 1930's and the Creature from the Black Lagoon from the 1950's. My favorite Vampire film of all time  Fright Night (1985) and the movie Disturbia is based upon the Hitchcock classic Rear Window. The writers of these films took lessons from these movies and gave them their own spin.

     Learn to watch classic films in a new way. Not just as a member of an audience, but as a writer. Watch how one sense is connected to another. Study how dialogue is selected to tell you all that you need to know about the characters and their motivations. The greatest scene ever written of this type is in the movie It’s A Wonderful Life.  You find out everything that you will ever need to know about these characters by what they say about themselves and about each other. And it is all done in one minute.  Violet, Mary and George are revealed to us through this little exchange.  Here is a except from the shooting script of It's A Wonderful Life.

 INTERIOR DRUGSTORE —– DAY

MEDIUM SHOT –– George comes in and crosses to an old-fashioned
cigar lighter on the counter. He shuts his eyes and makes a wish:

GEORGE
Wish I had a million dollars.

He clicks the lighter and the flame springs up.

GEORGE (cont'd)
Hot dog!

WIDER ANGLE –– George crosses over to the soda fountain, at which
Mary Hatch, a small girl, is seated, watching him. George goes on
to get his
apron from behind the fountain.

GEORGE (calling toward back room)
It's me, Mr. Gower. George Bailey.

CLOSE SHOT –– Mr. Gower, the druggist, peering from a window in
back room. We see him take a drink from a bottle.

GOWER
You're late.

MEDIUM SHOT –– George behind soda fountain. He is putting on his
apron.

GEORGE
Yes, sir.

WIDER ANGLE –– Violet Bick enters the drugstore and sits on one
of the stools at the fountain. She is the same height as Mary and
the same age, but she is infinitely older in her approach to people.

VIOLET (with warm friendliness)
Hello, George.
(then, flatly, as she sees Mary)

VIOLET
'Lo, Mary.

MARY (primly)
Hello, Violet.

George regards the two of them with manly disgust. They are two
kids to him, and a nuisance. He starts over for the candy
counter.

GEORGE
Two cents worth of shoelaces?

VIOLET
She was here first.

MARY
I'm still thinking.

GEORGE (to Violet)
Shoelaces?

VIOLET
Please, Georgie.

George goes over to the candy counter.

VIOLET (to Mary)
I like him.

MARY
You like every boy.

VIOLET (happily)
What's wrong with that?

GEORGE
Here you are.

George gives Violet a paper sack containing licorice shoelaces.
Violet gives him the money.

VIOLET (the vamp)
Help me down?

GEORGE (disgusted)
Help you down!

Violet jumps down off her stool and exits. Mary, watching, sticks
out her tongue as she passes.

CLOSE SHOT –– George and Mary at fountain.

GEORGE
Made up your mind yet?

MARY
I'll take chocolate.

George puts some chocolate ice cream in a dish.

GEORGE
With coconuts?

MARY
I don't like coconuts.

GEORGE
You don't like coconuts! Say, brainless, don't you know where
coconuts come from? Lookit here –– from Tahiti –– Fiji Islands,
the Coral Sea!

He pulls a magazine from his pocket and shows it to her.

MARY
A new magazine! I never saw it before.

GEORGE
Of course you never. Only us explorers can get it. I've been
nominated for membership in the National Geographic Society.

He leans down to finish scooping out the ice cream, his deaf ear
toward her. She leans over, speaking softly.

CLOSE SHOT –– Mary, whispering.

MARY
Is this the ear you can't hear on? George Bailey, I'll love you
till the day I die.

She draws back quickly and looks down, terrified at what she has
said.

CLOSE SHOT –– George and Mary.



    It has never been done better.  You will know who George is, who Violet is and who Mary is for the rest of the story. George is a dreamer. Mary loves George and Violet is well Violet. Their characters are defined in that one scene.

    Okay that is it for today. Sorry that the post are coming about a month apart, but I am working on a script and it is taking longer than I thought. It always does doesn’t it. Remember to add us to your google plus.

Is Your No Budget Script Limited?

                The Sky is The Limit on Your No Budget Script

    Just because this is going to be a low to no budget screenplay does not mean that it has to take place in an abandon building or a kitchen. You can include anything that is available in the free world. What I mean by free world is the places all around us that cost nothing to shoot a movie in.

    I understand that you are not shooting the movie, just writing it, but you have to think as if you are. Where can I set my scenes that will cost little to no money while at the same time adding something to my script. Hopefully adding size and or scope to your script. Many free interiors are parking garages, auditoriums, meeting halls. If you include scenes in a school, do not worry about the cost, many schools will allow a film crew to visit just as a teaching exercise. If your story offers positive views of the church, many churches will allow your story to be shot there for free. Many public places will be available for free or a small fee. What I am saying is do not be afraid to add size to your script just because you believe that a location you wish to include will cost too much so why bother. I am telling you to go ahead and included it. If the scene is solid and is necessary for the script it will get shot. If the location you have written about can not be gotten there will be a way to work around it.

    Most out door locations are good. You can always include a athletic fields. Parks, woods, open land. If you are not only the writer, but the film maker as well you will no if there are hills or mountains or water ways near and available. If there are farms or factories or scrap yards that can be used. The size of your free budget is largely up to you.

    Some of you reading this use to live in big towns and near economic centers that have now become much smaller or are past the point of no return. Left behind are factories and shipping centers. Left behind are boat yards, docks and storage areas. They are just waiting there to become a part of your story. These forgotten places can make a no or low budget script seem like a medium to big budget script.

     Thank you for visiting. Remember to add us to your google plus and to stumble us on stumbleupon.

The Found Footage Saga, Cont.

                The Found Footage Saga Cont.

    I keep coming back to found footage for two reasons. First there is a part of me that thinks that it will fade away and die off in its present form. Mostly horror films and dark suspense. And the second reason is that they keep coming. This fall we have a slate of new found footage films, some look good and at least one is a sequel to the found footage franchise Paranormal Activity.

    My last post was about Anthologies and the movie that sparked that post was V/H/S. Found footage told in a multi story format.

    The best series of found footage movies for me at least is the foreign series know as Rec. So far a trilogy of horror films about a demonic plague. I like the concept of the third film, I have not seen it yet. I plan on seeing it on demand this weekend with friends.  The concept seems to revolve around a wedding video. Why hasn’t that territory been tapped sooner. Many film makers start off filming wedding videos to help pay the bills. There are so many stories that can be told using that kind of footage. From drama to screwball comedy.

    The movie Cloverfield showed us that you can start with footage taken at a party and branch off into a totally different direction.

    What I am suggesting is that we need to do different things with this format or it will disappear. Right now I am in the middle of a screenplay where I have decided that the entire second act will revolve around found footage.

    What, what was that? What genre?

    Okay.

    You caught me. It is a horror movie. Hey, I am writing this one to actually shoot, hopefully by the end of the year, and for all involved horror was the best economic choice. Meaning cost to shoot, cost to market and return on investment.

    Keep in mind that no movie has to be made. I cringe when I hear an actor or director say of a movie that it had to be made. No it does not. Pick the ten most important or impressive movies ever released and none of them had to be made. At least breaking even has to be considered when crafting your script. People are going to be investing money based upon your script. This act is going to be the their clearest way of saying that they believe in your talent. Found footage and horror movies are being done because they are cheap to make. They are easy to market. If well done they rarely loose money.

    Money should never be your first thought when writing a low to no budget script, but it should be a factor. Found footage is a response to economics as much as it is a genre that the public is willing to embrace.

    Okay enough about the money talk.

    Here is some advice about your main character in this type of film.

    He or she must be driven. Must be the type of person who could not turn that camera away even if their children were being eaten by wild dogs.

To quote a fantastic episode of Doctor Who, “Don’t Blink.”

    They are the one’s in the story who never blink and you need to answer why before the interesting stuff starts to happen.

    The audience will want to know why he or she won’t drop that camera and run. Why is it so important that they keep shooting. Perhaps it is as complex as the fact that they are obsessive compulsive or as simple as the can not see what is happening without the camera. Give a good reason during the first few minutes and the audience will have one less voice whispering in the back of their minds. 

    Okay, I think that is it for today.

    Remember to add us to your google plus. Stumble us on stumbleupon and tell a few friends about this blog.

    This is where I will make this offer again. If someone out there wants to write a guest post I am open to it. If you have written a low to no budget script or two and you believe that you can offer some good advice. You can contact me by leaving a comment and I will get back to you.

    That is all, now get back to writing guys.

The Anthology Script

            The Anthology Script

    I have heard that the Anthology film is making a comeback. The Anthology for those who don’t know is a film with multiple stories. Usually broken down into 3 to five separate tales. It is most popular in the horror film world. Think about movies such as the original Tales from the Crypt, Black Sabbath, The Creepshow, Cat’s Eyes. Mostly horror films then and mostly horror now.

    There is a lot of room to do an anthology that is not Horror. You could do comedy or action or even drama. There are no rules to writing your no budget screenplay. Not even how the stories are connected. All you really need is a theme and if you don’t have one a narrator will do.

    The last movie that could be consider anthology that played on over a thousand screens would have been Grindhouse, featuring the films Death Proof and Planet Terror.

  

I am bringing this up for two reasons. First there is one V.H.S that is coming to theaters soon and secondly this is a way for those of you who do not feel as if they have a feature script in them to still write a movie. If you can not travel the road of a 90 page feature how about a series of 15 to 40 page short films that combine to make a feature. The cool part of this type of feature film writing is that if you can only deliver one of the stories you could always invite a friend or two to join in. I understand that each director involved is V/H/S has written their own part of the movie that connects up to form a complete story. Did I mention that it is a found footage anthology?

    How do we do an Anthology?

    We use a central location Sin City and connect the stories through events.

    We connect the stories through a few shared characters, again Death Proof and Planet Terror are connected by the sheriff and his daughter the doctor.

    We can connect the stories through the quest for an item or the search for a person.

    You figure out what works best for you. That is part of the fun of this genre. You are the writer and as long as it at least fits a common theme you should be okay.

One of my favorite Anthologies is Trilogy of Terror. The element that connects the three great stories is the lead actress. Karen Black plays the lead in all three films and because it is always her that we meet the stories fit together. Understand to make this work you will most likely need to be the write and director of your script.

    Here is an exercise for you guys. If you have a short script laying around ask yourself is there a character or a location that you can tell a second story with. Is there something that you did not know you left behind until now? Can you add another branch to this tree? Is there a road that you can travel down with what remains of this story? Did it happen months ago or will this new story take place years in the future.

Here are trailers for a drama and a comedy to show that any and all genres can be approached using this format.





   Anything to connect the stories will do. A book, a gun, a note, a ghost, a ring, a person, a death or even a song. Anything will do and you will be well on your way to creating an anthology. If you have friends who write sit down and discuss story ideas. You never know where it might take you. And if all else fails and you need someone to join you on creating your anthology you could always contact me. If you have a great idea I might do thirty pages for the fun of it. After all the secret about writing for me is that I really like to do it. Writing is like drinking, some of us just need an excuse to get started.

    Good luck and I hope to post again soon. Remember to stumble us on stumbleupon, add us to your google plus and to tell a friend about this blog. 

One last thing, did any of you ever consider the fact that Pulp Fiction is an Anthology?

Who is Driving Your Script?

            The Story Driver

    I was reminded by Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises about a simple concept that most of us over look and it is the same whether you are writing a script for a three thousand dollar film or a three hundred million dollar blockbuster. The question must be asked, “Who is driving your script?
”
    If it is not the antagonist or villain why not?

    We love our heroes so much we spend little to no time with our villains. This means that most of us will create stories that will soon be forgotten. The strength of Nolan’s last two films have been his Villains.
Both his Joker and now Bane are remarkably complex antagonist who in different ways offer almost overwhelming challenges for the hero.

    Take the time to ask the question, What is it that will give my protagonist the most trouble?  What is it that he or she will not be able to deal with? A character who lives in a world of logic and order will be disrupted and or undone by a force that is all emotion or chaos. A character like Batman who depends upon practiced fighting skills and the power of his technology can be undone by a force that is elementally brutal in its approach to everything. 

    There is a saying in the world of boxing, that if you can trick a boxer into a real fight with a fighter the boxer will lose 19 out of 20 times because the boxer depends upon their plans, their technique and their timing. A fighter depends only upon brute force and instinct.

    What is your lead character?

    Understand this and you will be able to create his opposite and once you have created this opposite give him or her or it a lot of screen time. I believe that the reason why we do not give our villains as much times is that we want to identify with our heroes. Stories have always been about can the hero save the world or the girl. On some level we wish to be that hero and at the same time most of us are afraid to spend too much time with our bad guys, but a bad guy well written can change everything.

    Looking back on the movie Silence of the Lambs is there anyone out there who does not wish that we had been able to spend more time with the character of Hannibal Lecter? He was not only repulsive, evil and ruthless, he was also intelligent and charming and honest in a way that few people will ever be.

    I am going to suggest an exercise for you guys. Write some scenes that are off script with or about your antagonist. By doing this you will be spending some time with them, getting to know them and over time this will help you to create stronger characters.

    Face it, that in the low to micro budget film world your characters have to make up for the lack of effects and sets and size of cast. Those characters are the one thing that you can offer to any size production. Create a great and memorable villain and you have traveled a long way toward creating a quality script.

    Okay, good luck guys. Remember to stumble us on Stumbleupon and to tell a friend about this blog. I wish that I could post more often, but right now I am in the middle of pre-production of a feature that I am aiming to produce around November of this year. So I am spending every free moment looking at equipment and talking to possible crew members and working my day job and trying to get my script just right. If I turn in a movie with a script that does not measure up to what I have been preaching here you guys will tell me about it.

    Each day the director/producer me is constantly yelling at the screen writer me. When will we have a final shooting script? The answer to those parts of me is what Hitchcock would have wanted to hear. “Once the script has been written and then the dialogue added we will be ready to make this movie.”

    I know, I know, we have not talked about writing the script with no dialogue and then adding it in a second or third draft. The next post will most likely be about that subject.

    Good bye for now.

All is in The Name

                Your Script, The Name Game


    There is an expression that many Christian ministers use, “Name it and
claim it.”

    Many of use start a script with Untitled written at the top. Looking back on the scripts that I have finished and the ones that I have not, the ones with a name reached the finish line far more often than the one’s without.

    But the title will change many times once it is done.

    Yeah and so what. That is the future and this is now. Living in the now you need to consider the name game. One of my favorite saying of all time from a really bad movie is spoken by a knight. When it is suggest that he may get lost in this new strange land he is visiting his response is that a man with a purpose can never be lost. The name is the purpose, the direction that your script is going to travel.

    During those muddy thirty to fifty middle pages of your script that name is
the true north that you will travel toward.

    The Sicilian sounds like a nice name for a film, but can that title steer your on a true course as easily as The Godfather. When in doubt, what is this movie about?

    The Godfather?

    Who is under attack?

    The Godfather.

    Who must hold the family and the business together?

    The Godfather?

    Who are they trying to kill?

    The Godfather.

    If the family is to survive who must Michael become?

    The Godfather.

    After all the bullets stop flying and the smoke and dust clears who is left standing?


    Love him or hate him. See him as a villain or hero. What is his name and the name of the film?

    The Godfather.

    Do it with most great films or even good films.

    The Exorcist, The Birds, Titanic, The Jerk, The Hangover, The Artist, Dumb and Dumber, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Avengers, Alien, Unforgiven, The Sixth Sense and countless other films.

    You are stuck in the middle of act 2 of your screenplay and Dorothy, the Scarecrow and Tin Man are standing around wondering what to do next. That is easy. There is a yellow brick road. Get back on it and sing that song again. We are off to see Tokyo? New York? The sales at Target? No. The Wizard. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Beyond The Writing

                More than Writing is Involved

    We spend so much time and effort on how to write a quality screenplay and not much if any time on why we are writing this screenplay.

    At the end of the day the question that has to be asked is do you love what you are doing? If you don’t and you are doing it only because you have to that is okay. I am not going to tell you that unless you love what you are doing you will do a ass backwards job at it. The purest in the room will say that you will, but some of the best scripts ever written have been jobs rather than labors of love.

    If you are a producer or director and you are the only one that you can afford to hire to write your script then I am here to say that you can do a great job of it. If you are like me, someone whom has been writing most of their lives and love it, you can write a great script.

    The argument that I am working towards is the concept of the business person vs. the artist. If we were here about screenplays in general I would not be doing this, but this blog is about ultra low to no budget screen writing. You have a story that the artist believes demands certain things and you have this voice always whispering that is going to kill the budget. You can not put that in the script, it will cost to much and get cut out later. My response is put it in the script. Get through the first draft by any means necessary and then if that amazing part of the script that also cost far to much to be included has to be cut out, then do it. Cut it out. Find a way to save some of it or to rework it at a lower cost and put it back in later.

    The business person would never include that part of the script, but the writer/artist can not help his or herself. Maybe someday you can or will become both. The greatest filmmaker of all time was Hitchcock, one day he decided to make at the time a ultra low budget film. He founded a story and hired a writer named Joe. Together they crafted a screenplay that had limited cast, limited locations, limited setups, limited need for special effects or even makeup effects. He hired a tv crew instead of his film crew to shoot this movie. He shoot it in black and white instead of color. The name of the movie was Psycho. Some believe that it was his best movie (I think it was Shadow of a Doubt) and he did it will low budget considerations in mind. He did not have to, Hitchcock chose to and with those restrictions came greatness. Limiting location and sets and cast does not limit the possibility of creating something great.

    You can be artist and writer and business person and do something remarkable.Good luck and write everyday.

What Do You See?

What Do You See?

What do you see?
This is an important question.
Why?
Because what you see is what the audience will see one day. Movies at the end of the day are visual. I would say go back to silent films and watch them, but the truth is a silent film is doing very well for itself right now, (The Artist). When writing a script dialog tents to take over. I understand why. It is easier to write. To eats up a lot of pages. It progresses the story in a way. On the page it looks great and there is all that clear white space around it. While description and action is usually that ugly block text that look like paragraphs in a text book.

On the screen that block text flows quickly while those lovely pages of dialog drag along. More than 90 seconds on screen of uninterrupted talk is like watching paint dry unless you are named Tarantino. What we see is more important than what we hear or in other words show do not tell. If you can show that characters do not like each other rather than telling us then do it. If they love each other love is what they do with and to each other rather than going on and one about who loves who. Save that stuff for soap operas. We are going to talk about dialog soon, but this is about the visual and what we see comes first second and third.
Does genre matter?
Same rule for all.
I do not care if it is Action, Horror, Comedy, Drama or Found Footage show me do not tell me.
But in comedy they tell jokes.
Really?
Take Dumb and Dumber, it is the stupid things that they do and not what they say that makes it a comic classic.
Action is obvious. The Road Warrior is all most a silent film for the first twenty minutes.
How many times have you heard when will they shut up and when will something happen in this movie?
I am going over some familiar ground here, but hey this point has not gotten through to some of you. Show them at all cost and then resort to telling them. With low to no budget film screenplays sometimes we have to tell rather than show. We can tell about an alien invasion or a murder spree rather than showing it because we can not afford to show it, but when or where ever possible we must show them.

Your No Budget Screenplay, King Conflict

Your No Budget Screenplay, King Conflict

    Perhaps you have heard the expression that content is king.  I disagree, I believe that conflict is king.  Within those first ten pages you have to establish characters who will be in natural conflict with each other.  Unnatural conflict is this is page 8 and this is where character one argues with character 5 for no reason other than there is suppose to be conflict in the script somewhere.
    Natural conflict comes from character traits.  Their world view as it conflicts with the world view of others.  Their personality is at natural odds with those around them.  I will use 2 characters from a series of films that almost all of you have seen at least one of whether you were willing or not.  We are going to pluck two characters from the Harry Potter universe (I could use the Star Trek Universe) to illustrate how to create conflict naturally.
    Now entering the ring an attractive young mud blood, Hermione.
    Stumbling in, late as usual, is the red headed terror himself, Ron.
    Yes I know that they become a couple.  Hey opposites attract. These two are made to produce conflict.  This conflict does not come from the writer as much as it does from who they are.  Ron is all emotion and feeling.  Hermione is all reason and logic. Early one she looks at him as being a silly unprepared block head.  He looks at her as a bookworm who does not feel much of anything and has no concept of how to have fun.
    When ever they have a problem she tackles it with reason and logic while Ron gets caught up in doubt, fear and a hundred other emotions.  They will forever rub each other the wrong way and not because they do not like each other, (they grow to love each other) but simply because they do not see the world the same way at all.  Without the third character of Harry, who is mostly instinct, to balance them out they would have never been able to progress much past hello.
    Conflict between your heroes will come naturally if you keep this in mind.  Conflict between heroes and villains will be intense if you have a hero who is all emotion and instinct going up against a villain who is as coldly logical and remorseless as a plague.

    Whether it is Bond going up against Doctor No or it is Van Helsing doing battle with a soulless vampire who looks at innocent people in the same way he would look upon chest pieces conflict comes from being opposites.
    Your first and I hope only exercise that I am going to suggest is that you list your top character and in a word describe their primary approach to any situation.  If these characters share a lot of scenes together make them opposites.  If they are best friends or husband and wife or brother and sister or father and son.  These opposing traits can get you through the roughest parts of your scripts.  They will find ways to push the story forward even where you are lost.

No Budget Screenplays, Found Footage

            No Budget Screenplay, Found Footage

    An ultra low budget film in number one at the box office.  Another found footage horror movie has taken the top spot at the box office.  These movies look like documentaries and act like documentaries, but they are really well thought out and written films. 
    They all come with a script of some kind.  Someone had to write it before it got filmed and the better the writing, the better the film.  I am not going to talk about The Devil Inside, I am going to allow the smoke to clear on this movie.  Like the Blair Witch Project many years ago, some people love it some people really hate it.  Let’s begin where this trend really started.  Not with the Blair Witch, but all the way back in the 1970's with a movie titled Cannibal Holocaust.  A repulsive movie at times, one that got band in a few countries during its first release.  This is a movie were the film crew travels to south America to film native tribes and instead of just recording the events they encounter they caused them and then later fall victim to them.  This simple plot device has been part of almost every found footage film since then.  Observe and become a victim.  Observe and linger too long for safety. 
    Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, CloverField, Grave Encounters, Apollo 18, Rec and the fantastic Rec 2. All of these films could be summed up as curiosity killed the cat.  The camera feels like a shield to the one holding it and only too late are they reminded that they are part of events.  Not safe at home watching on a tv screen, but in the middle of a life and death struggle.
    What I suggest is that you keep this in mind, but you also add a twist.  Try this found footage concept with comedy or straight drama.  Remember the scene in the Sixth Sense where the boy delivers to a grieving father found footage of a step mother poisoning the daughter.  We are missing the boat, but only doing horror.  Use security camera or webcam footage or even iphone footage.  Take a chance.  Do something different with this type of story telling.

 

Your No Budget Screenplay, The 10 Page Rules

    Your No Budget Screenplay, Ten Page Rules


    If you have read my other post you probably at this point have a good idea of what you wish to write so we will by pass that for now and get to the basics.  What is it that we must accomplish within the first ten pages of our script.
    We must establish the location of the story.  The script can begin there or through a series of events we can travel there.  The central location needs to be established because this is not only where your story takes place, but also this is where your future cast and crew will be spending most of their time and efforts.  Even if you are only the screen writer and not going to be wearing the hats of producer and director you have to keep these things in mind.  The majority of movies manage to achieve this whether they are low budget or mega budget.  People, meaning the viewers, need to know where the story is going to take place.  They need to get comfortable in the world that you are creating.  Whether it is the Blair Witch Project or Gone With The Wind those first ten pages and or minutes are the most important.
    In times gone by once a ticket was purchased the film maker had his audience and they were going to be stuck in that seat until the end credits.  Now your audience is one button click away from leaving you and the movie that you have written behind. Remember that scene from Gladiator where Maximus yells to the crowd “Are you not entertained?”  I am not saying that they have to be entertained during these first ten pages, what I am saying is that you have to hold interest.

    The best and most cost effective way of doing this is with you main character. The lead Character is not necessarily the main character.  (Quick note: Think about the movie Terminator.  The lead is Sarah, the main character is the Terminator.  In this movie we meet the Terminator first and he pushes the action and drives the story.)  Your main character will be presented and shortly there after he or she will become the seeker or the searched for center of this universe.  They must always drive other characters to act or to react.
    The world is about to end.  They have the ability to save it.
    Their marriage is on the rocks, they are responsible for this and they must undertake the journey to repair or Fireproof it.
    Someone is about to be murdered and they are the only one who knows about the plot and the only one capable of stopping it, The Man Who Knew Too Much.
    To change the future they must travel back in time and terminate someone, but they are not sure exactly who.
    Find the who and the thing that will drive him or her to chase and or run and you will have a great jumping off point for your no budget screenplay.

Your Screenplay, Is a Love Story

The Descent

            Your Screenplay, The Love Story







    All screenplays should be love stories.  Not between the characters on the page, but between you and your characters.  The saddest type of movie to watch is one where the writer clearly hates some if not all of his or her
characters. They have constructed characters who’s sole purpose
is  to show up long enough to eat up screen time and be gotten rid
of in the most gruesome manor possible.
    This has become standard in both action and horror movies.  Just because it
is standard does not mean that you have to follow that rule.  It may take a little more
time to write about characters who have lives and are interesting to both you
the screenwriter and the viewer, but hey no one said that this job was going
to be easy.
    You can turn on Fear net or Showtime Extreme or the Sci-fi channel and
see countless movies populated by characters created to first fail and then die.  You

will never create a great script this way.
    What about Friday the 13th?  What about Halloween?  What about Mad Max?
    What about them?  Do not think about the sequels.  Think about the originals.
Think about the first of each.  Friday the 13th is filled with actual characters.
Halloween spends time letting you get to know the star and her friends.  Friends
who have lives and dreams and plans.  Dreams and plans that do not include
getting slaughtered by a masked killer.  They were not made to be killed, they
mostly happened to be in the way.
    Mad Max is filled with memorable characters.  It is the loss of these characters,
concluding with his wife and child that turns a cop with an unspoken mission to give
the world its heroes back that drives Max over the edge.
    Let me give you a modern example of what is becoming a genre classic.
    How many of you have heard of the movie the Descent?
    You have not only heard of it, but seen it?
    Cool, so did I.  As a matter of fact I was lucky enough to see this movie at
a film festival.  It was the North American premiere and it was one of those rare
moments when at the end the audience, including myself, stood up and applauded.
    This movie held its audience from beginning to end.
    There are no easy kills in this movie.
    There were no empty lives.
    Each character is introduced and defined.
    They actual die as they have lived.
    They actually seem to know each other.  They interact as friends would.  They
all share a common history that has lead them to this moment in their lives.  What a
great job of writing and directing.  There are moments when they don’t like
each other but still care about each other.  If these characters were lost in
the woods and there was nothing chasing them this would have still been
and interesting film.
    The Descent is not a perfect film, we could talk for days about the
alternate endings, but it is a great example of how to populate your script with
characters whom you as the writer and view will get to know and
care about.                                    

Hannibal Lecter

                            

    The lesson is that if the writer does not care about character C then why should
the audience?  Care about them all, even the villains.  Even if the villain is a monster.
Hannibal Lecter is one of the most evil characters to ever appear in a film.  Audiences
can not get enough of him.  His creator must care about him, perhaps even
admires many aspects of his personality.
     Find things to like about as many of your creations as possible and where or
when you can find things to love about them.  It will show up on the page
and hopefully on the screen.  Love your characters and they may in return,
through the gift of fame fortune and glory, show you love in return.

Your Screenplay, Four Corners

    Your Screenplay, Four Corners


          Here is a little advice I picked up from a well known Japanese director.  When asked how he writes a script he would say that he would start with a story board in the shape of a comic script.  Four corners to tell the whole story.  He would draw the 4 most important images in the whole movie
and then write toward those visual moments.  Take some of the greatest
movies of all time and see if you can come up with four shots that tell the whole story. 
    Next about the most important character.  The Antagonist.
    Yeah, you heard me right.
    Heroes are the characters that we love. They are our babies and we treat them
as such, but it is the villain who drives the tension of the story.  The antagonist is the
one that makes drama possible.
    The great Bond movies all had great villains .  The bad guys made Sean Connery
number one.  He had villains who were fun to be around and to watch get it in the
end. Treat them, while they are on the page, as if they were the stars of the story.
Also following a comic book rule here is not the worst thing you could do.  The
hero is usually the mirror opposite of the villain.
    The villain is strong where the hero is weak.  In superman his arch-enemy is the
smartest man on earth.  If your hero is made of water your villain should be made of
fire.  Keep this in mind.  And now some advice from the last action hero.  The
bigger the obstacle the bigger the hero must be.  I like Woody Allen, but he has
never fought aliens and saved the world because no one not even himself
would believe it.
    Also try to keep your characters, both good and bad guys, on their feet.  Tie
their shoes tight and make sure that they do not stumble and fall in moments
of crisis.  In Friday the 13th the girl always falls while running from Jason. 
In too many action film the hero is saved by the villain stumbling and falling
at the moment they are about to win.  Only in comedy should you have
characters flopping like Ric Flair in a title match.
    Let me  leave you with this.  If you want to learn more about writing scripts
read them.  Read your favorite movies, they are mostly free on line.  If you
want a master’s class on the subject read Hitchcock’s The Birds, or North by
North West or Psycho.  He did not do the actual writing on these scripts, the
director influenced every one of them and the attention to detail in these
scripts is why Hitchcock is considered the greatest of all time.

Your Screenplay, Your Location is King

The Movie Saw

    Your Screenplay, The Location is King




    The one thing that will determine the budget of your script more than almost
anything else is location.  It is not so much the location that you chose it is
moving from one location to another.
    Every time that your story changes locations you will have to move cast
and crew.  You will have to also set up again and then there could be electrical
concerns.  There could be new permits that have to be gotten.  How long will you
have access to the new location?  How to feed the cast and crew there?  When you
move locations you are moving everything.
    In the ultra low budget world if you have more than ten locations you are
no longer shooting a low budget movie.  Unless you own or have unrestricted
access to all the locations.  This is why so many low budget movies are in the
woods movies or on the road movies.  These locations are free.
    I am not telling you to set your script in a closet and it will only cost ten bucks
to make.  I am saying that you need to know your locations before you write.
    Saw has a central location, half the movie is spent there and this really saved
the producers a lot of money and surely cut down on the shooting schedule.    The movie
Saw is a good example.  You can have that central location.  Your main characters
spend most of their time there.  Most of the story is told there, but for the sake
of making it more cinematic the script takes us on short trips to other locations.
    Let’s look at easy to find locations.

From The Movie The Devil

    An apartment or a house.  A good sized house is better than an
apartment because it can double for multi locations while at the
same time not requiring the production to pick up stakes and
set up across town.  One bedroom could be in character’s A
house, while another could appear to belong to character B who
could live in another state or even country.  The kitchen
becomes a location, the living room, the basement, the
backyard and the garage if there is one.
    A car and or cars can become separate locations.  Whole movies have
been shot inside of cars.  The last half an hour of the Stephen King Film Cujo
is shot in and around a car. The great budget saving feature here is that the
car does not even have to be working.  It is better if it does not.  The production
saves on having to travel with the vehicle and spending money on gas.
    When you write a script do not let this be the first thing in your head.  The
story comes first, but when you re-write it consider location and budget.
    Parks and wooded area are great to save on money.  Parking garages are
cool too.
    Locations where there is just enough room for conflict, while the tightness
of the space also adds to the conflict are great as well.  The movie The Devil is
a good example, mostly shot in an elevator.  Even if you have to build the
elevator set this is okay.  It does not cost that much to build four walls and a ceiling
that can be moved depending upon the shot.
    About special effects, do not be afraid to include them.  Effects are
cheaper and easier to pull off with the available software today.  I am
not saying that you are free to write the Matrix or Inception, but write the
story and later decide where you may have to cut or alter.
    If you remind yourself that location is important then you will have less
trouble down the road with your script.  It will be far more appealing to a low
budget producer if they can tell early on that you understand the basic facts
of the business.
    This also applies to television movies as well.  Most of them have limited
locations and limited set up’s.  Look at the movies that Hallmark Channel and Lifetime
makes.  Most of these movies are limited locations and limited shooting time.  These
made for television movies are usually shot in eighteen - thirty days.  A low budget
film shoot could be and usually will be between five and twenty one days.
    Knowing the value of locations will help you create a script that will be
more attractive to producers and much more budget friendly if you decide to shoot
it yourself

Movies Talk Too Much

            Movies Talk Too Much
                  

           
    They use to call movies Talkies and for a reason.  In the early days of sound
film characters could not seem to shut up.  They were 90 minute long talk fest.  This
was in large part due to the fact that producers and directors decided to shoot stage
plays once sound arrived.
       I would argue that is was the Hitchcock film Murder that changed forever the
direction of film making.  He used sound like he was conducting a symphony. 
For the first few minutes of the film he allows visuals to tell his story.  And then
during the titled Murder he allows what is heard to tell the story rather than what
is seen.  He balanced both sight and sound better than any film maker ever. 
Hitchcock understood that both were a tool.  Having started out as a silent film
maker he understood the power of the visual when done well.
    Characters will have to talk, but they do not have to talk us to death just because
you are working with little to no budget.
    Let me quote Hitchcock for you, If I want to see people sitting around and talking
for two hours I would stay in the theater lobby.
    But if you want to dazzle all with your Woody Allen or Quentin Tarantino like
grasp of dialogue fine.        
    Look it is your money.  At least I hope that it is.
    But just ask yourself this question, can it be shown rather than said?
We listen to the radio, we watch movies.
    Isn’t that what we all say?
    Let’s watch a movie.
    I am watching tv.
    I saw this great film.
    Never I heard this movie.
    In other words try always to show rather than tell.
    Movies are about visuals.
    What do we see?
    Did you just say something?
    What about the Godfather?
    Exception to the rule?  If you got a Godfather in you then go right ahead,
but I would like to respond with this.  The most memorable scenes from that film are
when Michael is having his enemies killed all at the same time.  We hear the
christening of the baby, we see Michael’s hit men doing their jobs all over
town.  We remember most a fat man running up a flight of stairs, a man
being shot through his glasses, the fake cop doing a hit on the church
steps. Did I mention a horses head on a bed?
    I believe it is at this point the Don would grab you by the shoulders and start
shaking you back and forth while yelling  “Be a Man, What’s the Matter with you,
Be a man, be a man.  Show, don’t tell!”

Your Screenplay is a Circle

        Your Screenplay is a Circle


    You are having problems with your screenplay.  You know how it begins,
but the middle and the end have you at a loss.  I can tell you this much.  The
place that you start should be the place where you finish.
    A good script is a perfect circle and allow me to explain how and why.
    You story will most like begin with your characters living in their idea
world.  A perfectly calm existence is shattered and it is a never ending scramble to return to that perfect life.
    Sounds crazy?
    Remember the Godfather?
    The opening scenes?
    The family is happy and intact.  They are celebrating a wedding.  The
Godfather and is inner circle are in total control of a world that is going to be
attacked from both outside and within.  This world is destroyed.  The Godfather
is shot. Sonny, his oldest son is killed, his enforcer is killed and his youngest
son Michael is beaten.  From this point on there is a never ending quest by those
left standing to put their universe back into its proper order.
    The last scene of the film, after all the violence and bloodshed, is Michael
in his father’s place as Godfather conducting business as his father did when the
film began.  All is right with the world.  The natural order has been restored.
    You can look at a saga like Lord of The Rings and the same holds true.  Where
does that story begin?  Home, comfortable and safe.  After an endless quest
where does it end up.  Frodo and Sam back to where they started.  Missing
a finger here and a lot of bruises there they are back to the perfect world
that they had to flee.
    Some stories begin with that perfect world already shattered and through
flashbacks it is revealed through out the story.  The character is forever trying to
find away to or back to their idea world.  Some characters do not realize that their
world was great until they venture outside of their comfort zone and after having
all of their illusions shattered to they really appreciate what they had going for them.
A great example of this is in the minor UK classic Mona Lisa starring Bob Hoskins.
    Your characters do not travel along an arc if the story is going to be
great and memorable, they travel along a circle.  That circle traveled in the Wizard
of Oz.   Dorothy has to leave home to realize that there is no place like home.
    Send your characters on grand adventures, but always keep the end zone
in sight.  The place that they are headed looks a great deal like the place that they
have just left behind.    I am not suggesting that it should be a steady walk
toward the place that they just left.  Put obstacles in their way.
See if they can jump through an endless series of hoops, but at the
end of it all if they have proven themselves worthy let them come home.
They do not need a hero’s welcome, but they need to return to
the world where they feel most welcome.  There is a line in one of the greatest
of all westerns, Ride the High Country, where the lead say that all he wants at the
end of the day is to come home Justified.  He wants to go off into the world, do
what his code of honor will allow him to do and come back home knowing
that he could not have done things any other way.
    Look at Michael in the Godfather or Sam in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy both
of these characters did things their way.  Always guided by their own personal
code and in the end they make it back to a world where they belong.
    The greatest stories ever told are not straight lines.
    They are not rocky hills and valleys, but as Scarlett traveled in
Gone With the Wind, they are a full circle and the fuller the better.