Article by Gordy Hoffman

After cracking hundreds of screenplays sent into the BlueCat Screenplay Competition, the same problems in the execution of the story and script continue to emerge. Here is a general overview of these persistent issues.

Do you realize what you’re saying??In the theatre, they read plays aloud over and over in the process of script development, and one of the reasons they do this is to hear the dialogue. When I hear dialogue in my head, it might sound very good, but then when I hear a person actually speak it, I often have an impulse to jump in front of a bus. And over and over and over and over, when I read screenplay entries to BlueCat, I am immediately dismayed when the characters start speaking. Excellent everything else, awful dialogue. And I often wonder if the writer has actually heard the lines they have written for their characters out loud. Either read the whole thing aloud to yourself, or even better, get a group of your friends to read it. You do not need professional actors to evaluate dialogue. Just people excited to help. Videotape it. I have videotaped readings, and then sat down and worked out an entire rewrite off the tape, addressing every single line that bothered me. Which leads me to another thing.

Ha.It’s hard to pass a screenplay on to industry contacts if an unfunny joke is sitting in the middle of page two. It’s highly difficult if there’s twelve by page five. You might have a payoff in your third act that would break my heart, but if your jokes are poor, the heart of your audience will be shot, probably resentful, and your work will be recycled. Please try your humor out. If your beats aren’t funny to some people, rewrite. Trust a truly hilarious bit is coming. Think of the patience you need to muster through this writing process as courage, because it is.

If you find you are not funny, write a script that is not funny. Many, many great scripts are not funny, as we all know.

Mispellings.Do you think the development people in Los Angeles, basically the smartest people in the film industry, will not be annoyed and continue to read your script when you have misspelled three words in the first five pages? Perhaps. How do you feel when you’re reading something and you find misspelled words? How does your attitude shift towards the author? Exactly. If you don’t think many scripts have this problem, start a screenwriting competition.

OKAY, WE GOT IT!Try to limit your scene description. When a person opens your script, how many INCHES of action slug are they looking at on page one? Is there anyway you can convey what you want us to SEE with less words? I always go back and CUT CUT CUT to prevent my screenplay from fatiguing my reader with excess words as they try to listen for my story. Do we need to know what necklace someone is wearing? We all understand making motion pictures is collaborative. I strive to let the art department and the costumer and the prop master and so on DO THEIR JOB by not making their decisions in the screenplay, because I have little passion for it and don’t do it well. They will make their own choices, and most likely better ones, so why bother? Always use fewer words to say the same thing.

It’s not show and tell, it’s show not tell.I constantly find myself being told something by the screenplay the viewer of the film will not be aware of. Screenplays are not literature. They are words assembled to describe what motion pictures will play out on the screen. Telling us a character is a jealous person is passive and dull. Showing a character in an act of jealousy is more effective and essentially cinematic. Let the words and actions of your characters carry your story. This is not easy. You want the actor or director to understand what you want and what you mean. Allow the description of physical actions and the recording of spoken words reveal the narrative to the filmmakers. The script will read faster and offers the reader a richer opportunity to imagine and discover.

The Joy of Making Things Up.I really cherish the idea, that as a writer, I can make things up. If I want the guy to say something, all I have to do is type it. But I have to fight against creating characters and interactions amongst characters derived from movies I have watched and television I have seen. I often find myself writing a scene only to realize I’m not drawing from my imagination or my own life experience or my observations of people, I’m drawing from the millions of hours of observing actors play human beings on television and in movie theaters. And because I’m writing a “MOVIE,” it is even more difficult, because I’m fighting against a subconscious or unconscious observation that this is “how people act in movies.” Stop yourself and ask, would this happen on planet Earth? Do I know how people from Miami really speak? What would a person actually say if they had a gun in their face? Can you possibly imagine what could happen? This is your opportunity to be truly imaginative. Answer your own expectations of original work. A mature writer develops a strong capacity to recognize and reject the false.

Ouch.Forced exposition. This is when a brother tells a sister on page two that he will be attending a school which dad wouldn’t pay for because he bought a farm that the whole family will be moving to tomorrow because he found that the city was a really bad place to live in after mom was really scared because of that mugging thing that happened after they came back from the sister’s graduation from high school. When characters engage in an unbelievable conversation about matters in which they would be familiar with, or when they proclaim something completely out of nowhere simply to inform the audience of key facts crucial to their understanding of the movie, you have a problem. This awkward exposition will not be seen as genuine human behavior and will detach your audience from the emotional current of your story. Exposition is necessary and difficult to execute. Be careful how you offer information crucial to your story at the start of your screenplay. This is a common problem in early drafts. Exposition needs to be seamless and graceful.

Format.You know what? Go get a script and copy what you think it looks like and you’ll be fine. Trust me. Spec scripts are sitting on desks all over Hollywood and their format is not consistent at all. Getting crazy about format sells screenwriting software. I use two tab settings and copied stuff from a book and not one person in the film industry has ever said a thing to me in ten years. But if your script looks like a book, or a poem, or a magazine article, your screenplay format is wrong. Just make it look a little like a movie script, and if it kicks ass, guess what.

So do you.

Article URL address: www.bluecatscreenplay.com/About/advice.php About the AuthorWinner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA, Gordy Hoffman has wrote and directed three digital shorts for Fox Searchlight. Made his feature directorial debut with his script, A COAT OF SNOW,world premiering at 2005 Locarno Intl Film Festival. Also founder of BlueCat Screenplay Competition, which provides written screenplay analysis on every entry.Gordy acts as a script consultant for screenwriters, offering personalized feedback, http://www.screenplaynotes.com.

Copyright

Article by Allision Kraft

Many people around the world use screenwriting software in a bid to create a piece of work that will land them fame and fortune. However, knowing exactly how to write a script and then going on to enjoy screenwriting success is difficult.

According to a Hollywood.com article, it takes “non-stop hard work” to make it in Tinsel Town. After all, there is plenty of competition to contend with and many talented writers all bidding for their piece of screenwriting attention.

One of those who has broken through into the upper echelons is Andy Jones. The news source noted that he has received acclaim for his script Zombie Baby, which may or may not have been created using screenwriting software.

It went on to point out that having the knowhow when it comes to how to write a script is by no means easy, stating: “Dozens attend lectures hoping to get a glimpse of the secret to success. People pay thousands of dollars for higher education degrees to learn the craft, but the truth of the matter is that it takes luck, talent and non-stop hard work.”

Andy Jones “has found all of that” with his new screenplay, it went on to assert.

Commenting on the work, the writer said: “I wanted to write a zombie movie because zombies are awesome and who doesn’t love zombies? But it was right when Zombieland came out so I didn’t want to do another zombie-comedy like that.”

Instead, his script focuses on a world in which zombies have been around for some time and are simply part of normal life. It “is really a relationship comedy with zombies in it,” its creator claimed.

Meanwhile, he went on to suggest that every good zombie film is on some level a social commentary.

Generally, zombies are supposed to be a reanimated corpse or a human being who is being controlled by someone else.

Screenwriting Tips

Article by Danek S. Kaus

What do the movies Casablanca, Avatar, The Godfather, Finding Nemo, The Devil Wears Prada, Chinatown, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, When Harry Met Sally, Gladiator, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Kite Runner, Sleepless in Seattle, The Matrix, No Country for Old Men, Once Upon a Time in the West, Million Dollar Baby, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Shrek, Dances with Wolves, Titanic, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Citizen Kane, Wall-E, Pirates of the Caribbean, Slumdog Millionaire, Rocky, It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol all have common?

They are all based on the story-telling and screenwriting template known as The Hero’s Journey, or the Monomyth, as described by Joseph Campbell, author of the ground-breaking book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, first published in 1949.

Campbell studied myths from different cultures that have lasted for thousands of years and believes that they all carry common threads that touch us on a deep level. Hundreds of successful movies, many of which won the Oscar for best picture, employ the template of The Hero’s Journey.

Many successful books have also benefited from this structure, and the screenplays based upon them were made into blockbuster movies, such as The Godfather, No Country for Old Men and Q & A (Slumdog Millionaire).

Although you may think that using a template constricts creativity, the wide variety of films listed above should convince you otherwise. You would be hard-pressed to convince untrained observers that all of these movies are essentially the same story, but they are. And yet they’re not. That is part of the beauty and magic of this template. You can tell so many different kinds of stories with it.

What makes them different are the characters and their situations, their overall goals, the setting, the obstacles, pacing, themes, the surprise elements, plot twists, approaches to creating suspense, the dialogue, use of humor or lack of it, the genre and more.

So what is The Hero’s Journey? It is essentially a series of progressive steps, experiences and changes that the Hero undergoes in an attempt to solve the main story problem. Please be aware, lest the PC police are reading this, Hero is not a gender-specific term. It is an archetype. It represents a focal point in the form of a person, male or female, for the story. The Mentor, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars, is also an archetype, and is also found in many of the best stories.

It is important to notice that the journey, though often a physical one, such as in Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings, can also be an internal one, such as the character arc of Michael Corleone in The Godfather or Andy in The Devil Wears Prada.

Many of the best screenplays use both the inner and the outer journeys. The bottom line is, if you want to be successful at screenwriting, you may want to study and master The Hero’s Journey.

Screenwriting Tips

Article by Roy Sencio

The screenwriting major is often forgotten about in the realm of film school. The screenwriting student isn’t actively on set and involved in the filmmaking process trudging around equipment and going over storyboards like others. Instead they spend a great deal of time with their notepad jotting down ideas and sitting in front of a computer typing away trying to create the next Good Will Hunting that will propel them into the industry with one grand swoop and land them right on stage at the Academy Awards. Although under appreciated, the screenwriting major is one of the most important. Without a script there is no movie, even reality or documentary programs have some writing to them as there is a narrator or some logical sense of where the story goes and how it develops.

What to ExpectA lot of reading and writing. A ton in fact, likely more than you’ve ever done in your entire life. You will have to read screenplay after screenplay then book after book. You’ll have to write out a thousand character bios, outlines, pages and ideas. It’s very computer intensive so you should like spending time sitting in front of a computer because that shiny screen will be your new best friend.

The CoursesThere are lots of levels of feature screenwriting you’ll have to take; beginner, intermediate, advanced and so on. There are also a lot of classes you should take on character development, how to write dialogue, writing television shows, commercial writing, industrial video writing, crafting outlines, adapting novels and more. Some schools offer a wider selection of classes than others.

The ProjectsYou will have lots of small assignments; to develop multiple ideas, pitch them in class, and write sections of scripts. In addition to this you’ll have to write at least two complete feature films and perhaps a television script as well.

After Film School Finding work as a screenwriter right out of school is tough, almost impossible it may seem. Most people continue writing while they work other jobs both in the industry and out of it. It’s a good idea to apply to be a writer’s assistant for any show that is hiring because you’ll get actual experience in a writer’s room and if you do good work you may get a chance to write for them eventually.

The Benefits of Film School Internships

One of the best and most beneficial things about film schools, especially the larger, more established ones, is their contacts with internship opportunities. Some schools have internship coordinators whose sole job is to locate internships and help students secure the internship that will be right for them. Larger schools tend to have huge databases of internships because the companies seeking interns contact them directly and give them their requests.

Many film schools actually require internships, one or more during each student’s course of study in order to graduate. Internships are a great chance for students to get some real world experience and learn from professionals by working alongside them. Companies and producers love it because they get free (or practically free) labor plus they might just find their next new hire and simplify the entire hiring and promotion process.

Having an internship coordinator gives a student the inside track at the most desired internships as they know what the hiring company wants, they get the leads first so the applications of their student get their fastest and they can personally call companies to put in good words about their best students in order to get them the internships they really want.

Most internships are on the development side of the business and involved reading scripts then writing coverage to let producers know whether the screenplay has any potential or would simply be a waste of their time. There are some actual production based internships but they are very hard to get and are far less common. If you’re interested in agency work you can also intern for an agent or manager and get to see a whole other side of the industry. No matter what area you end up in there is one thing for certain, you will learn a lot. There’s no way around it, when you spend time in the industry you start to realize what it all actually involves.

Screenwriting Tips

Article by DMA/Donna Michelle Anderson

I’m a producer who has enjoyed both sides of the writing seminar experience. As a writing fellow years ago, I attended many diverse seminars. Then, as a story analyst for a major production company, I developed my own system for understanding and applying story structure which I now teach in a seminar of my own. There are three things I explain to people who question or resist “learning how to write” through professional seminars.

First, writers often (mistakenly) interchange “story” and “structure.” These are two separate elements of the writing process. Story is the creative experience that only you can uniquely express from your vision. Structure is the foundation for that story, and the rules of structure have been accepted for thousands of years. The easiest way to grasp the distinction is to think of a dinner party. What you cook is entirely up to you (story). But you must serve your guests the appetizer first, then the entr