Sunday Picture Post 25
photo credit: brettneilson
For The Sunday Picture Post, we are going to 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.
Each Sunday I will post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, 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.
Write a Screenplay in One Month: Week Three (Prizes Announced)
by Jaden
In the past week, I forced myself to let go of perfectionism and just write, get the general idea down in words, maybe not the most clever words, but they are there.
I have written an outline, which I am following now.
A big no-no while on a time constraint is my compulsion to edit. This has proven to be my biggest challenge: being able to move forward without revising.
With 15 pages written this past week, I am up to a total of 40 pages, leaving me 11 days to write 50 more pages!
Hopefully, I will have at least 2 more days of bursting inspiration like my first writing day, so that I complete the 90 pages by August 31.
How are you folks doing?
FLASHBACK/FORWARD:
Week Zero, Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four
PS: Sorry, I forgot to include prize details, as I had promised. Here they are.
THE PRIZE
1) A post spotlighting you on Screenwriting for Hollywood. This will be a short biography, photo, and pitch about your story. You may opt out of any or all of these if you want to keep your story private or are too shy for a bio. For your security, you must copyright your script before I post your title or pitch.
2) I will give you my professional opinion of your screenplay in the standard industry coverage format. Click here to see my coverage sample form. This report will be up to 5 pages and includes a rating of the quality and marketability of your script. Additionally, in my analysis, I include valuable suggestions for improvement of your characters, story, and plot points.
3) If you receive a “RECOMMEND” rating on my coverage, I will do what I can to get your script in the right hands.
WHO IS IN THE RUNNING FOR THE PRIZE?
Muzz — You are the only person I see completing your script this month who has left a comment each week; way to go! You are eligible for the prize if you reach 90 pages and have an ending by August 31, 2008.
Ellen Wilson — Currently working on a novel, Ellen has participated each week. Ellen, if and when you choose a month within 2008, you are eligible for the prize upon completion of your 90-page script within a one month period. I will accept an adaptation of your novel or new script idea.
t.sterling — As you have also participated, but not began writing, if you choose a month in 2008, you qualify for the prize.
Adam — I know your computer crashed and that you wanted to participate, so if you want to start in a new month, I will accept you.
Ellen, Adam, & t.sterling — If you decide to write a script in one month, here are your rules:
1) Choose a month.
2) Go to Week Zero and leave a comment of the month you have selected.
3) Each week, report your progress under Week One, Week Two, and so on.
4) At the end of the month, submit your screenplay of 90 to 120 pages for the prize.
Please do not submit a script that has been worked on outside of your selected month in 2008; liars will get the curse. My time is precious to me and each prize will cost me a full day’s work; when you’re making millions… Tsk. Tsk.
Thanks for participating. Keep writing!
Sunday Picture Post 24 / How to be Funny
photo credit: Chris(sy) W
For The Sunday Picture Post, we are going to 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.
Each Sunday I will post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, 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: HOW TO BE FUNNY
The line between what is funny and what is offensive is almost invisible.
Here you are, making the best jokes of your life, but you either get blank stares, or people shrink away with embarrassment, or you get violent death threats, or the public boycotts your movie.
Why don’t they get your jokes?
It happens to me regularly when I intend to deliver a compliment, or try to explain something, or God forbid, crack a joke and the people completely misunderstand me; the results are disastrous.
My intentions are good; my heart is in the right place; what went wrong?
I figured out one possible reason.
This week, I reread an uplifting and enlightening book I picked up a long time ago, Comedy Writing Step by Step: How to Write and Sell Your Sense of Humor by Gene Perret who wrote jokes for Bob Hope and Phyllis Diller. I highly recommend this book.
The key: SEE, RECOGNIZE, and ACCEPT things as they are.
Anything can be turned into comedy: light bulbs, driveways, obesity, politics, trends, health issues, mother-in-laws, bad dates, and death. The trick is talking about the topic in a way that everyone can relate; you have to get outside of your own head and into those of your target audience.
Perret gives the example of balding.
He said, if you make a joke about balding to a guy who has not noticed he is balding and therefore certainly has not accepted it, he is going to be offended.
Whereas, on the other hand, if you make a joke about balding to someone who has seen and accepted it, you will get a laugh out of them.
When Perret had to attach a medical instrument to his body, but he was too hairy for the tape, his daughter told him to attach it to his head, where there was no hair. That got a laugh out of his whole family during a really tough time because Perret had already seen, recognized, and accepted his hairiness, balding, and health issue.
One-liners in public give you limited time to make your point, so you have to make sure you are coming from a commonly accepted place that everyone can understand.
You have to recognize what your audience sees, recognizes, and accepts, whether it is a creative executive who is reading your script or a drunk girl listening to your spiel at the bar, you must tailor your humor to a common ground that can be understood by someone who is not inside your head, not seeing what you have seen, not knowing what you know.
With writing, you have more time to build up a joke or a story, and you can edit as necessary. The length of a movie or a book allows you more freedom to be different and open a window to a new world. Still people need to be able to relate.
When you are live on the spot, maybe you only have 10 seconds to impress someone, you have to make sure that everyone is following your train of thought. You can’t just throw something out of the dark recesses of your brain and except everyone to know about what you are talking.
Every time I launch some random thought into the air, people assume the absolute opposite of what I intended; they come to a conclusion based on what is inside their head, not mine.
Instead of offending people, you want to relieve the tension of a person’s insecurities and frustrations; the similar things we suffer and enjoy are our common ground.
Laughter is a release of tension.
People who naturally know the common ground are generally well-loved. Understanding what is common ground is what makes a great comedian (or politician, for that matter). If you haven’t yet, check out The Deep Friar who is very good at writing funny things to which we can all relate.
Know your audience.
See, recognize, and accept the reality of what your audience sees, recognizes, and accepts.
Write a Screenplay in One Month: Week Two
by Jaden
photo: unknown / flickr
The time has come for me to post my progress.
I have only written 5 more pages in the past week, bringing me to a total of 25 pages, and then I slammed into that dang wall called the second act.
My brain does not function linearly. When I write a script, the beginning and end come to me like divinations from the all mighty; as a lowly human being, I have to figure out what to do with the middle.
In this way, writing a script is like living life. Mysteriously, we are all born and die; what happens in the middle is for us to decide.
Pray I will be back on track by Week Three. I have 65 pages to pound out in 18 days. Holy guacamole! Will I succeed?
Backtracking, I worked on the outline this week to help guide me.
By the looks of the comments sections, it appears I am not the only one who derailed this week. Anyone still writing their script?
FLASHBACK/FORWARD:
Week Zero, Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four
TRIVIA: Did you know that script pages are terrible for fire kindling? They stink and don’t burn well.
Sunday Picture Post 23 / Extraordinary
For The Sunday Picture Post, we are going to 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.
Each Sunday I will post a picture. For your screenwriting practice in brevity, in the comments section, 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: EXTRAORDINARY
A good and simple creative writing tip I have heard about how to write an epic story is this:
Tell a story about an ordinary person living an extraordinary life, or an extraordinary person living an ordinary life, but never an ordinary person living an ordinary life.
Can you think of some examples of each type of these movies?
Superhero movies are usually extraordinary people trying to live ordinary lives, like The Incredibles or Spiderman.
Bruce Almighty and Indiana Jones are examples of ordinary guys living extraordinary lives; Bruce is a reporter who acquires the power of God and Jones is a archaeological professor who goes on adventures.
Comedy tends to be about ordinary people living ordinary lives, one-liners and ironic jokes provide relief through laughter about one’s own ordinary life, like Bridget Jone’s Diary or The Office TV show. Stories about ordinary people in ordinary settings are best received by television audiences, where people can laugh away the day’s hardships on a regular basis with familiar friendly faces and recurring TV shows on which they can count.
For great timeless tales and better chances at selling your script to Hollywood there must be something extraordinary about the story.
P.S. Oops! I forgot to add above, for an epic, you can also write about an extraordinary person living an extraordinary life.
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