Screenwriting : Writing a Fight Scene by Maurice Vaughan

@Craig@Maurice Thanks for the share. Also, how does it feel for the victor? A screen fight is with 3 people, antagonist, protagonist & audience perception/reaction. A tip from David Baldacci is show human elements from each side no matter who wins. Somehow, somewhere “they bleed.” Also many of Tarrantino’s fight scenes have a psychological input bloody though they may be.

You're welcome, Debbie Croysdale. Great tip (show human elements from each side no matter who wins)! When I watch/read some fight scenes, I get bored and don't care about what's happening. I think David's tip will help keep the audience interested and engaged in a fight scene. Thanks for sharing!

For me a fight is a huge change in status.

People have moved into a different mental state. They are in panic, rage or can no longer control their emotions.

Tarantino loves the action films of the 70’s. They were just mindless action. Mostly because of the creation of small handheld cameras. They were so keen to show off their new toys.

Violence for violence sake can be boring.

That scene read really smooth, Dan MaxXx, which is what writers want in their scripts. Thanks for sharing.

Great topic to discuss Maurice Vaughan ! Pacing is the key. If an action scene reads too long-winded it kills the pace. Adjusting the pacing of the writing to match the peaks and troughs of the action and tension will make it just as exciting to read as it will be to watch.

It really sound great and simple to understand, thanks Dan for sharing and thank Maurice for the topic.

Great topic for me to start the new year!! "The spirit of a good fight". What good is a fight scene, if there's no spirit in it. One criteria, besides others, to accomplish this, is also, employment of good instructors. Everyone basically likes a great fight scene, the lead character defends himself or herself. My first contribution for the new year and basically to remind everyone to fight the "good fight". Happy new year everyone!!

Thanks for sharing the tip, Ewan Dunbar! I agree. Pacing is key.

You're welcome, Hakim Kisakye.

"What good is a fight scene, if there's no spirit in it." That reminds of something else in fight scenes, Eon: If I don't care about the characters, I won't care about the fight scenes.

@Craig Tarantino was a fan of 70’s action fight films & acknowledged some of Sony Chiba’s inserts from Kung Fu films EG Pulp fiction Jules recited Ezekiel from bible. However I find Tarantino a mixed bag, some fights are pure violence but others have finer layers of poignancy. End scene in Reservoir Dogs had serious Father/Son type emotion going on before one blew others brains out. It was more like a dad protecting his kid & going against his own tribe only to be betrayed than watching 2 crooked thugs. In The Hateful Eight the mind play was so rich Tarantino did not know himself “Who poisoned the coffee?” till very late on. @All A fight should not be just a physical entity to move plot but also used to speak volumes about characters with or without dialogue. @Maurice I’m same, if I don’t care about the characters or have some intriguing curiosity in them I raid the fridge fight scenes or just turn film off. @Craig I agree a fight should change status quo of the story.

Hi Maurice, my mother is a huge fan of fighting movies, writing fighting is important

"In The Hateful Eight the mind play was so rich Tarantino did not know himself “Who poisoned the coffee?” till very late on." I didn't know that, Debbie Croysdale. That reminds me that even when you write a script/plan a movie, you don't always know what the outcome will be, which is fine because sometimes the story takes a different route and the script turns out better.

Hey, Billy. Are there things in fighting movies your mom doesn't like? Clichés, etc. Are there things in fighting movies you don't like?

Hi Maurice, she loves them all, especially Van Dam movies

I like Van Damme's movies, Billy. Especially "Sudden Death," "Lionheart," "Bloodsport," and "Hard Target."

Hi Maurice, I love double impact, cyborg and blood sport

Maurice Vaughan I ask myself two things when writing an action sequence.

1. What is the desired outcome?

2. Choreography - what are the steps the dancers in the sequence need to take, to get there?

An aside- In ‘Seeing Rachel’ there is a kung fu fight sequence. In my Director’s mind I thought about how to edit what will be a fast moving and confined - in terms of space - fight sequence. I came across an interview with Jackie Chan about what he calls ‘Hong Kong Style’ editing for fight scenes. “Got it!” Was my reaction.

Maurice Vaughan, I like your quote,“If I don't care about the characters, I won't care about the fight scenes”.Great dialogue everyone! The story of Captain America “Steve Rogers”, started off as a skinny guy, before he became the great fighter and “Iconic Legend”. What’s the catch? That skinny guy, just would not give up! When confronted by a bigger opponent or bully, “whist still as a skinny guy”, his slogan was “I can do this all day”. However note the fight scene! He had “spirit”. After physical enhancements, he learnt “fighting arts”, or “martial arts”, along with the use of a “Shield”. That combination of “spirit” and “fighting art” will later propel him to wield “Thor’s hammer”, against the great character, “Thanos”, capturing a wide audience. You must capture the fighting art and you must capture the spirit, you can’t capture one without the other, while capturing the spirit, deals basically with, Writing, Screenwriting, Directing and Producing, the combination of spirit and art form, is what is needed and also, what will compel you to purchase a ticket, for a great “boxing match”. For fighting scenes, if you are able to “captivate” the “concept”, by storyboarding, instructors, etc., then you’ll be able to captivate an audience. Basically, if you have a good fighter or fighters, for scenes and you don’t have good, story boarding, cinematography, editors etc., and other criteria, you will not have a good audience, however if you have a lesser skilled fighter or fighters, with a good story line, good writers, story board artiste, cinematographers, directors etc., you will have a better audience. While art form is critical, the subject of spirit and story line, are major factors and of course for the relevant departments! When writing fight scenes, I’ll revert to the, Steve Rogers, “whist still just a skinny guy”, against the bigger opponent concept, as one example for dialogue and of course the rest is history.

I just take the examples of the old 1940's hardboiled/Noir books and movies. They just ran with fight scenes it, letting it happen quickly without pulling punches or making it seem choreographed.So they often were ,if not realistic, always very entertaining. Previous Pun intended.

"Double Impact" is another one of my favorites, Billy.

Those are great things to ask yourself when writing an action sequence, Geoff. Thanks for the advice!

This is fantastic. I taught martial arts for 11 years so this comes in handy. For my previous script, I chose to abbreviate the moves in a scene with appropriate movements which was part of our black belt test. For example, I abbreviated "spinning back fist" with SBF or "front snap kick" with FSK. Fully realizing that not everyone will know what those mean, the shorter ones were written out (sidekick, hammer fist, etc.) that most experienced martial artists working as a fight choreographer would know. The fun part is getting to add some balanced detail while giving freedom to that choreographer.

Fight scenes are the reason why I put aside a very ambitious script (sci-fi/horror), I will def. watch Craig's video (not only for his wonderful accent) so thank you Maurice & thank you Leonardo for sharing your knowledge !

@Stephanie Munch (not letting me tag you) If you never have, I would encourage a self-defense class. It'd be good for you personally and could even help with those fight scenes. You can practice on Geoff.

Leonardo thanks for your comment. For Seeing Rachel I named the kicks and punches and wondered if that was an error or over-elaboration. It’s good to know that I was on the right track.

@Geoff - I wondered the same thing about mine but this post alleviated any concerns.

Leonardo haha! Thank you for the opportunity to have my ass kicked!

Maurice thank you. I’m glad it helped.

I was, and still am, someone who doesn’t believe in action/fight scenes for the sake of them. They need to add something to the story and not just be eye candy for the thrill seekers among us.

I take encouragement from Jonathan Heap, who told me that I can write scenes of great tension and terror. This for me, is where those sequences come in to their own. There needs to be a palpable threat to our protagonists. (And antagonists too!)

Leonardo in my mind, it will also help the stunt coordinator to picture the fight as written, and then of course, come up with better ideas. I want people to feel the tension and threat to the protagonist. The fact that it’s a woman fighting two men, should add a little spice!

@Leonardo I'd love to!

@Stephanie Munch - If you decide you want to search in your area, let me know the names of the schools near you and I can research them for you. You want a school that's in it for the students and not to get your membership. Or if it's a program, I'd be happy to look into that as well. Krav Maga is a great style for self-defense but it's a little brutal. For self-defense, that's what I would recommend. The point of it is to end a confrontation within the first 5 seconds. The mindset in that is if you don't end it in that time frame, the fight is over in their favor. But again, if it's a straight-up women's self-defense program, those are great as well. The key in any of those is to know that no matter what level of experience you are in or physical shape, you can do it.

That's pretty cool, Leonardo Ramirez 2. I don't think I've thought about using abbreviations in fight scenes. I can see how it might confuse some readers, but I think fight choreographers will know what the abbreviations mean. And if a writer plans to direct their script, abbreviations are fine.

You're welcome, Stephanie. I'm curious (and excited) to hear more about your very ambitious script one day. :)

You're welcome, Geoff.

"I was, and still am, someone who doesn’t believe in action/fight scenes for the sake of them. They need to add something to the story and not just be eye candy for the thrill seekers among us." I feel the exact same way. It can be the biggest, coolest fight scene, but if it doesn't add to the story and if I don't care about the characters, I won't be entertained by the scene.

I took a Stage 32 class that was taught by Jonathan Heap. I learned a lot from the class. He really knows his stuff.

Maurice Vaughan thank you, Maurice. I would love to write more action scenes with greater psychological tension in them. I had such fun writing Seeing Rachel, despite its very dark themes.

@Maurice I might ask for your help on this one !

You're welcome, Geoff. "I would love to write more action scenes with greater psychological tension in them." Me too! New goal! :D

Keep me updated on the script, Stephanie. If I'm not working on a project, I'd love to collaborate with you.

The screen writing post was great, Maurice Vaughan! Certainly got excellent and productive comments, I see success coming out of all of this!

Thanks, Eon. I'm glad this post received so many comments. Some of the advice in the comments can also be used to write other types of scenes. Like Geoff's advice: "I was, and still am, someone who doesn’t believe in action/fight scenes for the sake of them. They need to add something to the story and not just be eye candy for the thrill seekers among us."

Maurice Vaughan thanks for the shout out, Maurice!

You're welcome, Geoff. Have a great weekend! Same to everyone!

Maurice Vaughan, I agree with your reiteration of Geoff's commentaries and hold the same thoughts with all otherwise collectively, I believe, psychological tension in fight scenes, will be part of critical matters, to deal with, as audiences are becoming more "sensitive", to matters of "Creativity", "Creatives" and general ascosiative subject matters. I like the challenge!!

Eon C. Rambally nice one, Eon!

Geoff Hall, you are welcome, It's all about "vision". Of course the pertinent question will be asked, for the future! "Do we "creatives", have it".

Thanks for this, Maurice Vaughan! As it is, I'm struggling writing a big battle scene in my sci-fi comedy series, and this helped my brain churn a little as far as how to put it on the page.

You're welcome, Doug, but really the thanks should go to Craig. I'm glad the video helped.

I give you credit since, without you, I wouldn't have known about the video.

Oh ok. I see, Doug. I appreciate it. A big battle in a Sci-Fi/Comedy series. I'm looking forward to your series even more now! :D

I hope I don't disappoint.

I'm sure you'll do fine, Doug. Are you making your series with the other Misfits?

Ideally, yeah. If I get my way, Ryan and I will be two of the leads, and Jane wants a more supporting role. Hopefully a studio agrees with us. ;)

Great work Craig D Griffiths!

Thanks for sharing this resource! Writing fight scenes can be challenging, but how Craig outlines his thought process was helpful. It all comes back to character arc and moving the plot forward.

Eon C. Rambally Eon, “Do we creatives have it?” Personally speaking - By the truck-load, Eon, by the truck-load!

Hope a studio agrees to have you, Ryan, and Jane in the roles, Doug. I picture you all like this in your series:

You're welcome, Matthew. I agree ("It all comes back to character arc and moving the plot forward").

A fight scene is also a great opportunity to show a character’s true self when confronted by an intense situation. Also to show if they have made meaningful change (does the character that starts off selfish, put someone else’s safety above their own for example, completing a redemption arc).

I love that advice, Ewan Dunbar! Character revealed through action and character arc. Thanks for sharing!

Ewan I also like to look at it in a different light. That it can reveal the more nefarious nature of the antagonist.

Geoff Hall, great comments, this is what the average enthusiast wants to hear! Us creatives having vision for the future! Maurice Vaughan, congratulations for teaming up with, Craig D. Griffiths, it was certainly super to be part of all of this! Craig, the video was excellent, along with the commentary! Definitely, I see something dynamic and spectacular, emerging out of all of this!!

Eon C. Rambally thank you, Eon.

Eon C. Rambally I recommend Craig D Griffiths' other videos.

Thank you Eon and thank you Maurice for all the comments on the channel and support. It is very much appreciated

You're welcome, Craig.

Maurice Vaughan thanks for sharing! Craig D Griffiths great video indeed. I struggle a bit with writing fight scenes but have improved over time. I like to write using the arc approach personally. I use the fights to indicate pivotal points in a character's own arc or the pivotal point of conflict between two different characters.

You're welcome, Marvin. Did you come up with the arc approach?

Dan MaxXx good advice, Dan! A good writer is a good reader.

Dan MaxXx ... anytime you want to have movie night at your place, let me know! All good, fun movies you listed.

Maurice Vaughan, thanks for the recommendation. I've already seen three of Craig's videos and certainly intend to view as much as I can. the topic of "fighting arcs", mentioned in some details, in this video, was certainly noted, followed by Mathew Anthony Williams comment on "character arc" and your reply, all part of important subjects and of course importantly along with, Ewan Dunbar on, "redemption arc", Marvin Younathin on writing, "using the arc approach", followed by Dan MaxXx on, how writers tone on page, matches the screen version, of course along with his other comments, all part of critical topics for the future. Again, I see something dynamic emerging out of all of this! Impressive, contributions and comments, coming from everyone!!

Just watched "Nobody" the other day...it's simple - whatever you do, make sure good guy gets beaten as well...unless he's Denzel-like...

You're welcome, Eon C. Rambally. I've been watching Craig's videos for a while. Keep em' coming, Craig! :D