Writing Screenplays Read online

  When the producer talks to you after accepting your screenplay, he might ask you who you see playing each role. So tell him who you had in mind. Hopefully he’ll agree and say that he can picture it himself. It’s even better if he suggests a suitable actor himself, and it’s exactly the person you had in mind. However that particular actor might not like the part, or might not be available, and the casting team will need to find a substitute. But at least they’ll have a pretty good idea of who they’re looking for, which makes their job much easier. This enhances your reputation as a writer who’s easy to work with.

  77. Targeting specific actors – 2.

  If your screenplay has been rejected by the production companies, try sending it direct to an actor instead. Tell him the part was written especially for him (you might need to tweak the script a little if it wasn’t). If he loves your screenplay he’ll do the hard work of pitching it to production companies for you – he probably has a better contacts and more power in the industry than you do. Some writers don’t even bother trying to sell their work to production companies, directors or producers; they always go straight to the actors they had in mind when they wrote it.

  The best way of contacting an actor is usually via his agent. You should be able to find out who his agent is and get an address for him by searching online for the name of the actor plus the word ‘agent’. If you can’t find it, it shouldn’t be too hard to find the actor’s fan club online, or some unofficial fan pages, and they may be able to provide you with his contact details. Another way of tracking down an actor’s agent is to contact the production company that produced the last movie or TV show he worked on.

  78. Test scripts.

  TV shows that are seeking new writers often have a test script that you can send off for. This will contain a detailed breakdown of the scenes in the test episode and it will be left up to you to write the script and add the dialogue. To do this you’ll obviously need to know the characters very well – which you can only do by watching lots of episodes. If you’d like a test script for a show that you’re interested in writing for, contact the script editor, whose name appears in the credits at the end of each episode. The production company he works for will be shown at the end of the credits after the show, and you should be able to find their address in the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook or by visiting their website. Keep sending in test scripts until they give you a job. It’s up to you whether you target several different shows simultaneously or just concentrate on one.

  79. The making of …

  How about writing a screenplay about the making of a movie? You’ll be able to put your knowledge of the movie business to good use, explaining all the terms and job titles. Examine the whole movie-making process, starting with the writing of the screenplay itself and how screenplays are selected for production. Cover the changes that the various drafts go through and why these need to be made – and how frustrated writers get when they see their baby evolving into something entirely different. Then the producer needs to raise the money to make the movie. He needs to secure financial backing from banks and investors. What if the investors insist on certain conditions, such as having their products featured in the movie, or using particular actors who are unsuitable for the role? What tricks might the producer try in order to get the movie past the censors and get a lower age classification? What if the actors, writers, or other members of the production team – perhaps even the caterers – go on strike during the production? What about accidents on set? What if the leading actor isn’t available or pulls out halfway through filming, or even dies?

  You might also include a romance between the two leading actors, and show their deteriorating relationships with their current partners. And then there’s the media interest in their relationship that gets in the way of filming. And the detrimental effect it has on their on-screen chemistry if their relationship breaks down.

  What if a crucial location suddenly refuses permission to film there, even though they’d given their agreement previously? What if a civil war breaks out in one of the countries where filming is supposed to take place? With time and money running out, the whole production is now in serious trouble and the investors are in danger of losing their money. Urgent meetings are held. The producers are sweating. The company could go bust.

  In the end they somehow succeed, barely making the deadline. Then the movie has to face the critics – and they’ll probably hate it. Somehow the paying public will see past the bad reviews and realise what a great movie it really is. It’ll be an amazing success. And as this is Hollywood it’ll undoubtedly go on to win heaps of awards. Or not – it might be declared the worst movie ever made, and be a massive flop. What other aspects of the movie-making business could you include? Even if you give it a happy ending you can have lots of really bad things happen along the way. Try searching online for ‘movie disasters’ and borrow some of the ideas that you find.

  80. They can’t show that!

  Let’s be daring and write an episode of your favourite TV show that could never be broadcast. What would the characters get up to? It can be great fun to talk about this idea with your friends, especially if they’re fans of the show too. Get them to chip in with their ideas, then you can go away and write the episode and show it to them when it’s done. There’s no point in sending it off to the TV company of course – other than for their amusement – since it would never be broadcast. But perhaps you could change the names of the characters and locations and turn it into something else: a brand new story, based on (or inspired by) the original, but much more exciting and daring. This might appeal to a younger audience (18–24 years old perhaps), or work as a spoof. You could also split your screenplay into a series of short sketches and submit them to comedy shows – particularly those that use more adventurous material. If you’re doing a spoof sketch you might even be able to keep the original characters.

  81. Titles.

  The title of your screenplay is vitally important – far more so than for novels and other fiction formats. Some movie producers won’t even bother to look at your script if it has a bad title. On the other hand, some have been known to buy a movie based on the title alone, without even seeing the script. So your title has to be exceptionally good. You need to imagine seeing it on posters and on the ‘Now playing’ board outside cinemas. Imagine movie stars proudly telling everyone the name of their latest film. They won’t want to be in anything with a stupid title. Your title needs to be big, bold and easy to remember. Ideally it’ll tell people what sort of movie they’re going to see (comedy, war, thriller, romance) and exactly what the movie’s all about – the whole storyline in no more than five words. That’s pretty difficult to get right, so expect to take a long time thinking about your title. Some screenwriters agonise over the title for an entire month before they even begin writing the script itself. Good ways of coming up with great titles include using well known phrases or song titles (preferably songs that are known worldwide, not just in this country). Or you can twist those phrases or song titles around in a clever way. Or you could create a brand new phrase from scratch – imagine that you’re an advertising copywriter. Imagine the producer picking up your screenplay and looking at the title. You want him to think to himself: ‘Now that’s a darn good title, I really want to make this movie.’ And he immediately picks up the phone and calls you.

  [ALTERNATIVE] If your screenplay has been adapted from a novel and is faithful to the novel’s storyline, you could include the name of the novel’s author in your title (such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula) to indicate that yours is the true version of the story, not some other movie that’s only loosely based upon it. If the novel or the author are already well known, this also makes the screenplay much more sellable.

  82. Top 100.

  A popular format for TV shows is the ‘Top 100’. In the UK, Channel 4 uses this format quite a lot. You’ll see shows such as The Top 100 TV Highlights of the Year, The Top 100 Romantic Scenes, The
Top 100 Funniest Movies, and so on. These are especially popular around New Year and are often repeated at holiday times. As well as being entertaining, the information in these shows is quite valuable to writers, so it’s a good idea to record them and watch them over and over again. Think about why each clip has been chosen, and what makes it so memorable. Could you use that idea – or something similar – in your own writing? How could you make your writing as memorable as this? How could you get something you’ve written onto next year’s list of clips?

  [EXTENSION] Make a video scrapbook of what you think are the best moments from programmes or movies that are in same category or genre that you want to write. Copy the best examples of settings, characters, action, dialogue, humour, and so on – anything that you think is an outstanding example of good writing, programme making or film-making. You can then watch your compilation tape as an example of good practice, and it will be a great source of ideas. Naturally your choice of video clips won’t be the same as those in the top 100 TV Highlights of the Year. This is your personal collection of the best examples that are most relevant to your own writing – examples of outstanding quality that you would like to emulate.

  83. Unpredictability.

  Screenplays are often rejected because everything is too straightforward and obvious; one thing neatly follows another. Problems are posed and overcome without difficulty or setbacks. It’s boring! It’s a good idea to make things a little more unpredictable, but still somehow retain the logic. For example, suppose our hero captures the villain and holds a gun to his head. He could shoot him there and then (though that’s not very heroic) or he could march him off to the police. Those are the obvious things to do. So let’s consider doing the exact opposite: he lets the villain go! Now that’s something we didn’t expect! Why did he let him go? Presumably because our clever hero has realised that the villain is more useful to him when he’s on the loose. Perhaps he’ll lure other villains out of hiding. Perhaps the police are chasing our hero too, and if they’re busy trying to capture the villain, our hero will have enough time to get away or prove his innocence. Perhaps the villain isn’t the real villain. Perhaps, if our hero agrees to let him go, the not-really-a-villain will switch sides and join the good guys. There are all sorts of ways in which the unexpected can turn out to be the right and proper thing to do. Can you think of any more examples? It’ll make your screenplay far more interesting and keep the audience paying attention. Don’t overuse this technique though, or the audience will always come to expect a twist – then the story becomes too predictable again.

  84. Watch and learn – 1.

  As a screenwriter it’s your duty to watch a lot of movies. In fact it wouldn’t hurt to spend an entire year doing nothing else. Naturally you’ll watch every movie at least twice: the first time for pleasure, the second time to study it and see how it works. Most screenwriters live and breathe movies. They love them. They know them all intimately and can quote from them endlessly. They know which ones were successes and which ones were flops – and, more importantly, why they succeeded or flopped (or they will at least have personal theories about this). They can also recall and describe every character and discuss his feelings and motivations with anyone willing to listen. They’ll know exactly how all the stunts were done and which bits needed computer graphics. This is the sort of person you should aim to become too: a true movie buff. You’ll know so much about how other movies were made that when you come to write one yourself everything about it should be perfect.

  There are plenty of movie-related books, magazines, TV shows and websites to help you start building your knowledge and keep you up to date with what’s happening in the industry. Plus, of course, a hundred years of cinema to keep you glued to your television screen.

  As a start, I’d suggest watching one movie made by each of the major producers/directors of the last hundred years – that should give you a broad knowledge of movie history. Then choose the producers/directors whose work you particularly enjoy and watch more of their movies – to add depth to your knowledge. Will you begin in the earliest days of cinema and work your way forward to the present day? Or will you work backwards? Or will you choose randomly? Or pick your producers from an alphabetical list? Or just see what’s showing on the movie channels?

  It’s a good idea to keep a record of every movie you watch. You might even write a full-page report on each movie, listing a summary of its plot and main characters, the five things you liked and the five things you disliked most, and perhaps give it a score. The score might be an overall score, or scores on individual elements such as action, dialogue, tension, writing, cinematography, and so on. You might also like to find out which movie this producer/director made immediately before this one, and which one came afterwards. The Internet Movie Database and Wikipedia are good places to find this information.

  85. Watch and learn – 2.

  Great novelists read a lot of novels, and as a screenwriter you should watch a lot of movies or TV shows. You’ll obviously watch those that are similar to what you want to write yourself. But you should also watch those from other genres too, because you can pick up lots of interesting ideas from them that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see. If you want to write movie scripts, for example, try to watch at least two movies every week. Make a note of the best examples of good writing that you come across. Be sure to make a note of the programme, episode, or movie that the example was taken from, in case you need to refer to it again in the future.

  86. Wordplay.

  Here’s a list of scenes that always work well in movies:

  poker games

  seductions

  bidding/auctions

  an execution

  sunny/tropical locations

  maps and treasure hunts

  a race

  a hero who smiles

  How about combining them all into one story?

  87. Writing in real time.

  How about writing a real-time screenplay? You’ll need to sell the concept to a movie producer before actually writing it, because the whole thing will be written and filmed as it actually happens. Let’s say that it’s all about a big stunt that would be the biggest thing in the world if it succeeded. But there’s every chance that it will fail, perhaps seriously injuring or even killing whoever is doing it. You’ll work alongside the people who are organising the stunt, report on every stage, write it into the screenplay as it actually happens, and get it filmed immediately. You’ll also report on the initial concept; the planning; fundraising and sponsorship; sales of TV rights, movie rights and book rights; simulations and safety trials; testing, inspections and health checks; and so on. Some parts might be dramatised if the real event can’t be filmed – if it’s already happened, for example – or if you’re adding fictional parts that never actually happened (to make it more exciting rather than just a documentary). Don’t forget to include plenty of doubts about whether it can be done, as well as comments from people who think it’s impossible. We want the ending to appear completely unpredictable.

  Nobody knows how the stunt will actually turn out, so the end of the screenplay can’t be written yet. But that’s the whole point – the complete sense of the unknown. This should attract a great deal of media interest. The end of the movie is written on the day of the stunt itself, and the stunt is filmed for the movie at the same time.

  The producers then have two options. They can film the stunt in complete secrecy so that only movie viewers ever get to see it. Or they can allow TV stations to pay for the rights to show it, which will help fund the movie. But will people want to see the movie if they’ve already seen the stunt on TV? That will of course depend on what sort of stunt it is.

  Either way, the rest of the movie, including all the editing, titles, posters, and so on should have been finished (or nearly finished) by the day of the event, so the ending – the big stunt and whatever happens afterwards – can be slotted straight in. The movie can then be released while
everyone is still excited about it.

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