Screenwriting : Current events in storytelling by Stephen Floyd

I'd say one of the biggest issues with writing about current events is that by the time you get your script written, and then through the process, and then actually made into a movie...everything could have changed quite radically. Or, the audience might have just plain forgotten about the current events that seemed so important at the time. I do think there are themes that endure. Wag the Dog is a great example of a movie that pointed out a common flaw in politicians that has come up again and again. However, there are movies like Blackhawk Down that are happy to capture a single moment, told at a very personal level. I'd say these are the two approaches that work best with current events...either broad-brush satire and political snarkiness...or a very personal story where the current events going on in the background never really take center stage.

In my opinion, worldview is a constant barrier to world-building if you are creating fantasy and fiction. Overcoming one's own worldview is among the most challenging aspect of living as a creative.

I have tried to keep my worldview from being completely dictated by the world we live in although I admit it is not an easy task.

Quite frankly, I have never really been a big fan of the "real world" that we live in. From a very young age, I found myself disenchanted by the injustice and random chaos that seems to reign over the "world".

I suppose that is what appeals to me as a creator. When I engage in creating stories and telling them; I get to decide what the world is where the story is told. I get to decide how the characters will respond to it. I get to tell teh world I create exactly what it is and what to do.

How do I deal with current events? Be being extremely selective about what I pay attention to. With so much information available and crying out for my attention; I deliberately choose what is relevant to me in the moment.

And when I am creating; I remember that what I am creating is my world, my story, and my personal connections to the story and the characters. Hopefully, this approach is helping me to develop my own unique voice as a creator and writer.

I always remember that there's nothing new under the sun. The "current" events have been going on since two guys with clubs--the immediacy and reach of reporting media is the only thing that's changed. Humans are still human, with the same wants and fears as the ancient Chaldeans (or whatever early civilization you care to name). World-build on those universal truths and whether your story is set in the here and now or the Second Age of Middle Earth, the story will resonate with audiences.

Current events in storytelling... In my opinion you are wasting your time. Why do I think that? You see, whatever current events you include in your script, someone somewhere will get offended, whether it's a politician whose "shady business" you exposed by accident, some Syrian refugee in some European country, some Woke, Cancel culture or SJW member or simply some random angry person on Twitter. Either write fictional stories of Sci-Fi and make sure you include a good explanation what Fiction means. I'm pretty sure some of the above still don't know or can't tell the difference between fiction and a true story.

What needs to go into your story, to tell your story, will be in your story. It's a story world you create ...

I choose not to write about current events in my screenplays. However, you could use snippets of a real life story and integrate it into your own. That way, audiences will see it and relate to it.

I try not to write about current events because, in some cases, there is the risk that you could sound too preachy, too blatant, and years down the line, dated. The best stories I've seen that do refer to the events of it's time period are those that engulf those events in a larger universal story that manages to make it relevant to any time.

That’s my problem, Michael, I can get real preachy real quick. I can write a scene and start harping on climate change or wealth disparity without realizing it. It’s an impulse I keep in check during the revision process, but it’s kind of annoying.

Stephen Floyd write it and get it out of you. Once done you’ll feel cleansed. You will have got the mad ranting version out and you can metabolism a true meaning.

I used to do that as a journalist, Craig. I’d be dealing with a complex, emotional issue and would have to write a gut-reaction version so I could calm down and write the objective version. One time my gut reaction was printed as an editorial and got me an award (honorable mention, but I’ll take it).

Stephen Floyd sometime for me. An idea is like a fight with my wife. Once we have it off our chests we can work through it.

I'm working on a particular screenplay that I have been trying to get right for twenty years off of a gut reaction. I'm going to have it put in the coffin with me, I guess. I've written a lot of others with no hang up like that, though.

T.L. Davis I am going out on a limb here, since I know nothing of the story.

It could be the wrong format. How many times have we heard “it was an amazing book, the film is shit”.

Perhaps you have a novel not a screenplay.

Craig, it would have been easier as a novel, or even a non-fiction piece, because it deals with the CIA, but I could never bring the right emotion to it, until I recently discovered some declassified CIA documents that lay out the timeline. I think it's more like every project has its time and place and there's no hurrying it. I'm just hoping ITS time comes before mine runs out. Actually it is not that close of a race, yet. but another twenty or thirty years and it will be.

TL I have a story that I know I am not good enough to write yet. I can feel I need more depth or something. I just I will know when I am ready.

It is about life on death row.

Craig D Griffiths Okay, now that sounds like a novel to me. 1st person present. Or, narrated screenplay, so the action is with few words, but the internal dialog is huge.

"just mercy" is a great biopic about a lawyer who represents death row inmates and the main plot is one of his clients is innocent, wrongly convicted by a corrupt justice system.

Dan MaxXx I am seeing that tonight.

If Death is the ultimate punishment. What power can be used on death row? Since all inmates are facing the same fate, how does that impact them? How does hope and even happiness manifest itself on death row? What about a person with dementia that doesn’t know why they are there?

Lots of stories on death row.

Dan MaxXx It was a good film. Not much about Death Row, that was the ticking clock. Great film about justice. Casting was amazing as well.