Sunday Picture Post 40 – Open the Box !
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: OPEN THE BOX !
Want to start a new script, but not sure where to start? Open the box!
What is inside your box? Why is it there? How did it get there? What memories do the inside items spark?
For today’s writing exercise, open your box and come up with a movie idea complete with characters, motivations, and a story structure. You can either use the image I have provided to create your story, or come up with your own real or imaginary box.
You have a week to be done with it by Sunday. It can be just one paragraph or a whole script, whatever you want, but start writing! No excuses. You came here for inspiration; you got it, now write!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
Sunday Picture Post 39 — Pet Peeves
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: PET PEEVES
Let your pet peeves (something that annoys you) add humor to your script or inspire an entire movie built around your pet peeve.
One of my biggest pet peeves are mosquitoes. In the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch, there are some aliens who want to save the ‘endangered’ mosquitoes in Hawaii. We humans watching the movie think this is humorous because we all hate mosquitoes. There are probably species we try to save, like sharks or whales, that other sea creatures are probably not too stoked to keep around. The irony of all this makes for a good joke.
Taking something that everyone hates and making it special, lovable, or important, is funny. Or maybe it is something that only you hate, but everyone else loves it, that makes for humor too — being the oddball out.
For today’s creative writing practice:
1) Create a story or some comedy based on one of your pet peeves.
2) Using the image of the man above, follow the instructions underneath it to do a writing practice in brevity — keeping it short! Write a Title, a Word, a Sentence, and a 2 sentence Pitch inspired by the image. After you make up your own story (don’t cheat), then click on the image to find out the true story about the man. It is quite fascinating.
If you already know the true story about the man, please try to do this exercise with the idea that you are writing a true story movie: you still need a catchy title and all the rest; you still have to pitch true stories to executives and make it sound intriguing and do it quickly!
Bonus Points: If you can combine your pet peeve with a story about the pictured man, you are really good at this!
For fun: What actor would play this guy?
Good luck!
Sunday Picture Post 38 — Look Around
photo credit: J.J. Verhoef
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: LOOK AROUND
Story ideas and scenes can come from anything, anywhere.
What does the above image of a boy running down a hallway conjure for you? Where is the location? A hospital? An airport? A train station? Why is he running? Is he in danger? Is he late? Is he bored? Is he mentally challenged? Is he practicing for a race? Does he hate his parents and he’s running away from them? There are infinite reasons why he is running. Choose the best one and create a story around that.
You can look at anything and come up with a story about it.
One thing I see a lot on commuter trains these days are people reading electronic books — just a flat hand held screen. This in and of itself can create a story.
For me, I trip out on electronic books because I remember when this technology was being talked about in the news paper and how sci-fi futuristic it felt to me at the time; now it is common place. It makes me sad because I am a lover of books; I love the paper pages and interesting book covers that will forever evoke whatever feeling the book gave me upon reading it. I like looking at the book on the shelf. With an electronic book, you see only the white page and black font and nothing else. When you are done reading it, it is gone. So that was something evocative I saw today that conjured lots of feelings and story ideas.
What did you see today around which you could build a 120 page script?
Sunday Picture Post 37 — Music
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: MUSIC
Let music inspire you.
While you write, listen to music that sets the mood for what you are trying to write: romantic, haunting, sad, happy, or disturbing.
Music is also a good source for movie titles, character names, and a springboard for dialog.
Since I rarely post the Sunday Picture Post on Sunday anymore, below is a song that popped in my mind while I was posting this and thinking about how it is actually Friday, or really late on Thursday night, depending on how you consider the time.
“Everyday is like Sunday” is one of countless songs that is a great example for lyrics that could inspire a movie with its evocative imagery, potent feelings, and clever turns of phrase.
Morrissey › Everyday Is Like Sunday (3:36)
Trudging slowly over wet sand
Back to the bench where your clothes were stolen
This is the coastal town
That they forgot to close down
Armageddon – come armageddon!
Come, armageddon! come!
Everyday is like sunday
Everyday is silent and grey
Hide on the promenade
Etch a postcard :
How I dearly wish I was not here
In the seaside town
…that they forgot to bomb
Come, come, come – nuclear bomb
Everyday is like sunday
Everyday is silent and grey
Trudging back over pebbles and sand
And a strange dust lands on your hands
(and on your face…)
(on your face …)
(on your face …)
(on your face …)
Everyday is like sunday
Win yourself a cheap tray
Share some greased tea with me
Everyday is silent and grey
Sunday Picture Post 36 — The Oxymoron
We are way overdue for a Sunday Picture Post. Hope your creative minds have replenished.
If you haven’t participated in a Sunday Picture Post, this is how it works:
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE SUNDAY PICTURE POST
For The Sunday Picture Post, we flip upside-down the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Thousands of words are great if you are writing a novel, but if you are writing a screenplay, you need to do the opposite and be as concise as possible.
For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, using the image above, please post one or all of the following:
- A title for this movie
- 1 word describing the theme, mood, or scene
- 1 sentence to describe the scene
- A pitch to sell the entire movie
The more colorful and creative you are, the better! Use any genre.
Read the comments section for Sunday Picture Post 25 to see some hilarious examples.
A good screenwriter is laconic, using a few words to say a lot.
SCREENWRITING TIP OF THE DAY: THE OXYMORON
Oxymoron are two words juxtaposed against each other that normally have the opposite meaning, yet when put together somehow magically form a new and interesting meaning.
By juxtaposing two unlike things, you can easily come up with a compelling story.
Great stories rise out of contrast, conflict, and contradiction.
You make an oxymoron by putting contradictory terms in conjunction, like a name such as “Fatman Slim” or a description like “sweet stench” or a statement like “Call me when you go to sleep.”
In the case of the above photo of a highrise trailer, we have a visual contradiction, something that is specifically made to be on the road is high up in the sky. The word highrise is usually attributed to expensive penthouses and uptight offices, whereas trailers are usually attributed to lower income families and nomadic wanderers.
There could be a perfectly logical reason for this highrise mobile home: maybe there is flooding in this area?
You may either participate in the Sunday Picture Post as directed above or you may try coming up with an oxymoron of a story unrelated to this photo.
A good example of an oxymoronic story idea is the film comedy Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986) starring Bette Midler, Nick Nolte, Richard Dreyfuss, and Little Richard,which is the story of a bum in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the world and the adventures that ensue as a result of that.
Good luck!
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