Screenwriting

I didn't know Akiva Goldsman wrote "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin," Dustin Richardson. I loved those movies growing up. His body of work shows you don't have to stay in one genre. You can if you want though, like if you wanna be known for writing Action. And it's easier for a writer to be successful in different genres once they're established or if they make their own scripts.

Yeah, I didn't know he wrote those, either. He's done so much!

That dude is a rockstar; he was in charge of rebooting the Transformers franchise, and his staff of writers were all paid ridiculous weekly rates.

I haven't heard of students practicing in this way but comparing a final film to its screenplay is a valuable tool for anyone to see how the work gets translated.

The thing is most produced scripts available for the general public to read are transcriptions off final edited films. It's rare to find original scripts that got producers & filmmakers excited from jump.

The John Wick spec screenplay was a complete page 1 rewrite by the time Keanu Reeves committed to star and trained for a year. Supposedly, there was never an approved script for Gladiator and Russell Crowe said he wrote his own dialogue.

I don't know of any film school that does this. Learn structure, storytelling, and read good scripts.

If you look at a syllabus from a masters level school, the early section is about diving into theory and immediately workshopping what the students will write. For undergrad, students will have a list of films to watch and talk about and sometimes transcribe a film, discuss theory.

The definition of a "good" script is vague, highly subjective, and may be genre specific. Just because a movie gets rave reviews or even gets made at all doesn't mean the script is good. It may mean the crew made lemonade from a lemony script. If I were you, I'd pick a movie that you really love, and analyze why...what is there about this script that attracts and keeps your attention? Pacing, lighting, music, comic relief, or the film is so bad, it's good? Another approach, time the scenes, and see if you can diagram the movie the way people once diagrammed sentences. Because I like to write noir stories, I listen very carefully to the dialog of neo-noir films (Chinatown, for example.) After a while, (like Rocky Horror Picture Show diehards for example), you'll be able to recite the dialog along with the actors. Do the characters banter, or deliver soliloquies? Are there memorable lines like I'll make him an offer he can't refuse; or Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn, for example. I saw a Murder, She Wrote rerun where Jerry Orbach, as P.I.Harry McGraw stole from Maltese Falcon: When a guy's partner gets killed, he got to do something ... It even had a shot of Harry's office from the street level that replicated the shot of Spade and Archer's office in Falcon. A film like Magnificent 7 (1960s version) had a bland, predictable script, so what made it a good movie? Certainly not Russian-born Yul Brynner as "Chris" delivering cowboy lingo ...but Vaughn, McQueen, Bronson, Coburn saved the film.

Just some ideas to consider when writing a script.

I can't think of a situation where a streamer had an extra long pilot episode. The streamers typically will shoot the entire season all at once and release all the shows for binge watching, so they aren't looking to have an "event" pilot and then regular length episodes. 1 hour episodes should be no longer than 60 pages. 50-55 should be the average. The pilot might be a little longer if there is some setup description in the beginning. This might be a little different for HBO and other premium channels that release one episode per week.

Maybe I’m limiting myself by simply referring to streamers Christopher Phillips but there’s plenty of examples of feature length episodes https://movieweb.com/tv-shows-with-movie-length-episodes/

Yes. Premium cable could have event style longer first episodes.

I've also seen pilots that have been split up into two parts. You could think about taking that route.

I've always loved MOW pilots/backdoor pilots since MIAMI VICE as well as EARTH 2 and Ron Moore's BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. I've written three MOW pilots. Nathan Smith's idea of doing a two-parter is one route. I've done it. That might be a smarter route to go when dealing with streamers. The other is doing a stand-alone story that opens the door to a series like MIAMI VICE did. I've done that route as well. But I think you need to fully commit to either doing a feature length pilot or just a one-hour pilot. Don't let story or your writing suffer by standing in the nebulous of which way to go. Good luck!

There is no "handouts" option but there is a "download" option...however, when I click on downloads I see a button for "scripts" I click on that and the script "Gadget" comes up. Shouldn't it be Oppenheimer? Thanks

Loved this webinar, such amazing insights into such a layered, brilliant script. Thank you.

Oppenheimer won the Oscar because of the subject matter, not because it was a good film. This isn't a generational criticism; my grown son begged to turn it off after the first ten minutes, because we had NO idea what was going on. Why? The speakers were hamming it up so much to force drama (like the Jurassic Park franchise fills up the screen with fake terror scenes & screaming), the dialog was disconnected delivered in short spurts ... the scenes were like watching a strobe light. The rain, then explosion, then a face shot of Oppenheimer (and we're supposed to know that's him, how?) It started out with men talking to a guy, switched to a hearing room (with no explanation of what the hearing is about or why its being held), then back to the guys in the room, then to his youth, color then B&W, then color, then B&W... no time line, good Gawd, it was like a series of bumper stickers. We watched it on a streaming service, and I am glad, because if I had paid to see this monstrosity, I would have been pissed.

Excellent Jenean! Finally a real review

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Thank you Maurice Vaughan that's very helpful! It's not one I've tried to write before so I was wracking my brains a bit!

You're welcome, Rachel White. Glad it's helpful.

The TV chat show will have to be filmed so in your writing mention TV SHOW so it's clear what's happening in the character's home and what is being viewed on TV.

Rachel White The Children of Men (Cuaron & Sexton) has a good version:

INT. CAFE -- DAY

Men and women standing, looking up. Sad and hopeless. Their middle-aged faces bathed in the pale light of the television they are silently watching.

TV VOICE

Baby Diego was killed in a bar fight in Buenos Aires after refusing to sign an autograph...

A man enters the coffee shop, making his way through the people: THEO FARON (55). Detached, unkempt, scruffy beard, glasses, Theo is a veteran of hopelessness. He gave up before the world did.

TV VOICE

He was born in 2005, the son of Marcello and Sandra Ricardo, a working class couple from Buenos Aires....

Theo wedges his way to the counter. He orders:

THEO

Coffee. Black.

There are different ways to do that scene depending on what you want the audience to see and hear on TV. You could do what is shown on TV as a SHOT if you wanted to. Anyway, that is how I have done it in some of my screenplays.

KATY sitting on a sofa. She points at the television.

ON TV

A tabloid news program fades to a .ommercial.

KATY

Mom, they're talking about the girl in your dreams.

Liz plunks her bag of groceries on the table.

LIZ

Doubt that?

KATY

Wait!

LIZ

What does she have to do with your Rhys-Montgomery antigen science project?

ON TV

A JINGLE from the ad fades to JENNIFER LOGAN, 30s, sitting at the anchor's desk. A photo of Shay flashes across the screen.

Liz swallows hard.

KATY

That's her, isn't it?

Liz sits in a recliner.

ON TV

JENNIFER

Twenty-seven-year-old Shay Sullivan is in critically critical condition after a car accident.

Shay's photo shrinks to the upper corner of the screen.

JENNIFER

Josh Wilder is standing by with an update.

JOSH WILDER, 40s, stands in front of a hospital.

JOSH

Thanks, Jennifer.

The schedules are usually very tight. They try to jump into having the students writing their own material as soon as possible in order to have a completed draft at the end of the semester.

Hey, Christopher Phillips. I think you meant to post your comment here: www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Learning-screenwriting-at-film-school

Excellent topic!!

I find that good dialogue does a lot of heavy lifting with as few words as possible.

Thanks for sharing Tucker Teague , this was extremely helpful.

I've been dealing with a similar problem, Paul Zeidman. Wanting to work on a feature spec script but having ghostwriting jobs to finish. Something that helps me is focusing on my main project during the week and working on my other project during the weekend. And getting up like 30 minutes early helps. 30 minutes isn't a lot of time, but that time adds up.

"It's getting to the point where I worry about burnout and spreading myself too thin, which could result in nothing getting done." One thing that helps me avoid burnout is taking a day off. I get behind on my writing because I take a day off, but I'd get further behind if I'm burned out and can't write.

Paul, thanks so doggone much for posting this!

@Paul I used to dread those stagnation moments, not cos I didn’t know what to write but more like life got in the way of being able to. I’d have a burning desire to finish my own projects when I had to work on other artists then have nightmares my feet were stuck in glue. (Or weirder scenarios) Now I go along with whatever the daily flow is with calm acceptance including curveballs. No inner conflict cuts out the feeling of frustrated artist entrapment. Life will never be perfect so battle is futile. Like @Maurice I occasionally take a day off too!

I always had a lot of things going and I learned to concentrate on which would pay dividends first and work on those which wasn't always if ever my writing spec screenplays.

Michael Elliott I agree. I have several pages of notes, including multi-paragraph character explorations, as well as a two-page beat sheet. And it's still a slog, lol.

Maybe you need to adjust either your open or close....maybe both in order to get your second act to run smoother. In "Nobody's Heroes", a Vietnam-era drama, I had to create more action in Act One that required changing the location and the pace of an entire battle scene, including having the protagonist become severely wounded. Then I added an expanded love scene, clarified and provided more depth tp the antagonist's situation. Sounds like a lot but it wasn't really because I just built on the skeleton of what already was there. Made all the difference. You have to think beyond just the second act and examine to story overall...start to finish.

Here's an on-demand webinar that can help, Joseph Follansbee: "The Secret to Cracking Your Script's Second Act" www.stage32.com/education?p=8944839655731

I find it's hard to keep up the momentum when you know you're on the downward slope. Mostly because I never feel that I'm ready to actually end it.

Act 2 is all about the midpoint, IMO. I'm a fan of Eric Edson's "The Story Solution," where he explains the difference between the first plot-point, which he labels the "Stunning Surprise No. 1," and the midpoint. According to Edson, the first PP is not a scene or a sequence of scenes. Edson describes the 1st PP as a punch to the jaw. In my screenplay, The Old Master, my protagonist is fighting for the world championship when a headbutt knocks his eye from its socket so that it dangles onto his cheek, dashing his hopes and dreams of becoming champ. So the 1st PP happens in a flash, like a lightning strike; but, Edson explains, the midpoint is a series of scenes that represent the death and rebirth of the protagonist, where he is forever changed as he steps through a door of no return. In my screenplay, the Jim Crow era black boxer is ordered by his white manager to take a dive and lose his championship, but he refuses, so his infuriated manager betrays him in an attempt to steal the championship. The black boxer realizes the betrayal and fires the manager, who warns him not to squeal to the press about the fixed fight, but he does go to the press, so walks through a door that makes it impossible for him to return to his previous life. For me, understanding the midpoint as a sequence of scenes made a suspension bridge out of the midpoint that freed up the "slog" and made the second act much more manageable.

Yikes, Bill Brock , The Invitation looks like Get Out on steroids, you know, kinda like my own family. Ha! I think I can handle A Single Man, though.

Sully: a brilliant take on the biopic genre.

Saving Private Ryan: a war movie with a plot so simple, yet riveting every time it's on screen.

Dan MaxXx Awesome movie with authentic Silat.

Bill Brock I just love the fact that Leo and Brad's characters were based on solidarity instead of conflict. if it wasn't Tarantino someone would have insisted on juicing up needless conflict between them. So then, Brad is alone on the roof fixing the antenna (and watching Manson strut over to Polanski's house) and instead of direct conflict between Leo and Brad, he recalls a slight or what could be construed as a slight from something Leo said to him and then with no dialogue, alone on the roof, he recalls how he handled his past situation on the boat, and through shrugs and smiles we see him understand and agree with the slight. That was some unusual storytelling and kudos to Tarantino to find an alternate way to show a buddy working through potential conflict, albeit in the most amusing way. And then to have Manson throw a hissy fit because a guy on a roof was watching him was hilarious.

I can't think of any movie I've seen that makes me wish I had written it. I tend to watch a movie and am either inspired to keep writing my own or I think about what I would have done differently with it.

Congratulations, Thomas Waschenfelder and Tara!

Congratulations Thomas Waschenfelder and your wife, Tara Joshi!

Congratulations to all the quarterfinalists!

Hi Pat, thanks for the announcement! Congrats to the Quarterfinalist!

Hooray for all the happy writers!

I haven't seen anything that Beau Willimon wrote, Emily J, but I've been meaning to watch "The Ides of March." A new "Star Wars" movie? Can't wait!

Have to admit, cool to see a lineup of this caliber taking on this material.