Sunday Picture Post 18 / Population Control
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: POPULATION CONTROL
In real life, you might have hundreds of friends, but for your screenplay, that could get confusing to read or watch on the screen.
1 to 7 main characters is a good range within which to stay.
If you are basing your story on people or stories from real life, combine 2 to 10 people into 1 character, using only stories and traits that create a cohesive story and believable multi-dimensional personality.
You have a short amount of time to introduce your characters and build sympathy for them.
Don’t muddy your script with too many characters or story tangents.
Comments
5 Responses to “Sunday Picture Post 18 / Population Control”
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Title:Pod People
Pitch: Akin to Invasion of the Body Snatchers-Aliens descend (ascend? freefall? whatever!) to Earth to psychologically manipulate Earthlings to stop reproducing.
Who’s the alien in your bed?
I think my reflections are colored by the title Population Control. And the last post. hehe
Ellen — Good. This post image was for you!
Here’s mine:
title: Eerie Wind
word: Chilling
scene: Round cell-like homes are deserted with broken windows.
pitch: Powerful killing winds blow around the world, snuffing out towns, one by one. A special team investigates the source and how to stop the winds. Meanwhile, thousands of people continue to die with each blink. What they discover is nothing they could have ever imagined.
Hah!
Those look like the cheesy 1960′s vintage “Modern” dwellings that have long since gone out of style.
Something Troy McLure (from “The Simpsons”) might have lived in!
Drought
word: Silent
Roaming alone for years Alice finds a town with recent signs of life and a struggle.
Post apocalyptic world where women are scarce and the men are fierce.
So so
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