Screenwriting : A familiar setting by Lawrence R. Kotkin

Screenplays are hard enough to write. Makes sense to start with familiar topics. With therapy scenes, avoid the urge to overdo dialogue (very common in early screenplays by any writer). The Newsroom with Jeff Daniels - I believe in season one - had some good therapy scenes as an example. This past season, Masters of Sex had some good therapy scenarios. Then, after you have that script done, pound out a bubble gum beach zombie movie. Pigeon hole averted!

You've got to start somewhere, why not use a setting that you're familiar with? Why do you think it may pigeon-hole your style?

First script, makes perfect sense to write something that's familiar to you. I wouldn't worry about pigeon-holing your style, your first script may not be the first you sell.

It might be a good idea. Imagine through the therapy office, and psychiatric hospital might be a breeding ground and place to spring forth and alien second and third acts. It could be a crime drama film, like Dog Day Afternoon, or even an alien film.

I have a horror script that takes place in a mental hospital... and the patients' mental illness is their super power used to defeat the evil. I think if you use a familiar location, the story needs to be unusual.

Play to your strength. Once you become established, then you can either branch or break out from the pigeon-hole. Even Woody Allen did a Sci-Fi movie.

Are you saying a mental hospital is a familiar location for you Bill, since your story is unusual?

Lawrence, if you know the psychiatric hospital well, I think you're a step ahead of us all. Just concoct a great story inside of it.

Thanks for all the encouragement and ideas. I've already got the visuals flowing. Even the shot through the six inch wire mesh glass pane in the door to the Day Hall where sits the patients with their backs to the walls...staring. And the door slowly opens away from the camera revealing a thousand pounds of creaking steel. Okay, so they don't creak, but mine does.

Word of caution. Unless you are directing the film, the writer's job is to tell the story, not give blocking or camera angles. Now if you're shooting it yourself, go for it!

I suggest you start with the psychiatric angle. Go with what you know. It's a good starting point. If you're concerned about being stuck in that sort of genre. just make sure your next project is on the other side of the spectrum. Like a Romantic comedy or something.

I think it's like research, knowing your stuff helps make it richer. So I can understand the advice.

Killjoys

I am grateful for all this feedback. I'm formulating a logline now where a forensic psychologist evaluates a telepathic "serial killer" who fakes psychosis for an insanity defense. There's more to the longline, but I get cautioned about sharing too much. I've already written this as a short story, so that isn't an issue. Or is it? Should I be paranoid?

A pigeon hole to one man is the Grand Canyon to another. Now go forth and write my son. Your only limit are the borders of your imagination. Now really, it's okay to go forth and write.

I've written two projects with serial killers and I'm a Psychology major so this sounds interesting to me. As a writer I think you should start with what you know and ideas will naturally expand and evolve into new ideas and genres over time. Happy writing!

I quite like the idea of a 'telepathic serial killer faking psychosis', could work well in a genre, i.e. Horror script, be funny for the sociopathic killer to be the sanest one in the asylum. IMHO of course.

As for the sharing question - execution is far more important than idea. no one has your POV / voice, so no one will write the story the way you do. I had a screenwriting mentor who felt that sharing / talking / discussing the story can only make it stronger - but remember who you are sharing with and process the feedback with that in mind.

You might have an angle on it no one has seen!

Funny you should mention. My "serial killer" is completely sane (non-psychotic). He's faking it, in part by "reading" the minds of the people evaluating him. Thanks Shon. I hope I do. Isn't it all about providing the same to the audience...but different? As for execution, that's why I think I'll need some sort of discussion group of writers I can trust. At least until this story finds print. Any suggestions on gathering a coven of writers? Is Morey Amsterdam free?

Putting the cart before the horse -- worried about being pigeon holed before you've written your first script! Your only concern should be writing something you are passionate about -- and it doesn't have to be just one project. Your idea seems fine though. Choosing a topic you are expert at is a good idea but if you already have a short story, why not start with a short film based on it. Otherwise make sure you do a bit of an outline to make sure you have enough for a feature. Do the same for any other ideas or stories you have, pick the ones that interest you. Then write away!

It sounds Lawrence like you have an "existentialist" character, in which case, Dostoievski, Camus, and Sartre would be a good place to start in your coven ; for inspiration atleast:)

While this might be a bit more Kafkaesque, I get it. And yes, I'm carting pre-horsing. Being visual, I'd begun the entire project of learning to write scripts because that is how I write: I create a character and see them...often through their eyes. A collection of short stories I've done may be a good place to start. I worried too much about form and structure and not enough about just telling my story. Has anyone else done the Industrial Scripts screenwriting basic course? I'm about 2/3 through it, and I feel a bit side-tracked.

I should note.. and thanks to Lisa for suggestions and commentary about it being "done to death," this particular story is about the relationship of the forensic psychologist (been there, done that) and the killer. A big chunk of doing those is how you figure out...and prove...the "alleged" killer is "presenting an unrealistically negative view of him or herself." That translates: faking bad. It isn't so easy. Check out what Jim Audubon and Barbara Kirwin wrote about the issue. In a way, I wrote this short story as a kind of buddy arc. What does the psychologist do, and how he denies, that his own expertise was used against him. What is such a betrayal like for a dedicated scientist/practitioner? I think portraying the psychologist as a victim in this scenario, might be the kind of stretch an actor could take a bite into. Or is that out of? Arrogant piece of crap, no?