screenwench

she writes screenplays

how to fake a writing CV

Met with a production company earlier this month (a general meet & greet) and they requested a writing sample and a writing CV. What the? Asked my knowledgeable friend, she of screenwriting experience. Normally, you would list all of your writing credits, projects in development and (i think) spec projects. Plus education if it’s relevant - e.g., Film, Creative Writing, etc. degrees.

what to do when you lack most (all) of the above, like most of us newbie writers? This is what I did:

First section: ‘In Development’.
I started it with the two projects I have ‘in development’ - the ones that I’m working on with a production company.

Second section: ‘Awards’ - just notable contests that I’ve either won or placed highly in - for both screenwriting and short stories (I have more impressive credits there).

Third section: ‘Related Experience’ - I don’t have a ton in screenwriting, but i do have years of experience with marketing and copywriting, so I figured it was related. Just a paragraph blurb on how fantastically multitalented I am.

Last section: ‘Education’ - just listing my university qualifications - my degrees are in weirdly opposite disciplines - the whole right brain/left brain thing going on.

rewrite lite

went to an underwhelming seminar on rewriting yesterday. The six passes he outlined for a first draft rewrite:

  1. structure
  2. scenes
  3. action lines
  4. dialogue
  5. cut
  6. polish

seems to me he forgot theme.

safe

went to see a preview of this last night. So. Terrible. Every stereotype in the criminal handbook (Chinese gang, Russian mafia, crooked NYC cops). All the major catalysts in the opening happen off screen (the fight, the murder). While I admire Jason Statham’s steely jaw and gravelly voice (and props to wardrobe for dressing him like Rocky for the first act), he doesn’t have much to work with in the way of plot or dialogue. Easily the worst line? Cop referring to Chinese girl: “I don’t know [if it’s her], they all look alike”. Argh. Hate hate hate.

tiny little problems that bother me ALL the time. Except the doorknob. We have sliding doors.

(via djgunn)

culture under siege

had to remind myself, ‘i before e…’ when writing siege. Doh.

just listened to the most moving radio documentary about the artists/musicians/writers who continued to create culture during the siege in Sarajevo in 1994. The belief that culture and art is what makes us human - that it is most important to cling to that in times of war, to prevent us from descending to the animalistic level of only surviving.

stories of performances that continued in bombed out theatres, sheet music getting knocked off stands by nearby explosions, orders to evacuate - the conductor asked the audience if they should stop, and as one, the audience rose to their feet and shouted ‘NO’. Culture as a line of resistance against the war - links to the 1941 siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersberg) and the subversive performance of a Shostakovich symphony while the Nazis tried to celebrate a victory - called a ‘turning point’ in the war. The belief that you can rise up to defeat your oppressor is a necessary prerequisite to doing so.

Lots to mull over.

script frenzy day #3

the powers of procrastination! i have two other pressing jobs and one thing i really should care of - which means that my script frenzy page count is skyrocketing. 16 pages! the downside is that i’m about at the end of what i figured out as far as plot. hmmm.

la la la

Crappy iPhone photo, but proof that i was there!

This should be my ride.

This should be my ride.

at last!

An unexpected phone call yesterday morning turned into a two-hour line edit of my TV pilot draft! I’m giving myself until the weekend to turn around a second draft. Great suggestions and comments - now I just have to swallow them all, stir them up in my brain and then regurgitate them as words on the page. Cinchy.

Trying to remember through this process that even though the other parties involved are infinitely more experienced (this is what they do for a living), that my ideas and opinions are just as valuable. Not to bend over backwards to accommodate a note that I think is off-target, but rather to look at what is tweaking them about that aspect of the script. I have a really clear vision of what the series is/could be, and sometimes I feel like they get off track and I have to gently guide them back towards the endpoint.

patience, my young padawan

I promised myself - I SWORE - that this time, I was going to write a detailed outline with everything in it BEFORE I started writing my first draft.

But why?

Because I’ve had fantastic first act ideas before that have all come to naught. A blitz of glorious writing. A nice opening, a good few pages - and then nothing. Nada. Rien. Nowhere to go. So then I’d start something new. Rewind, repeat.

I think that I got better at writing a few pages at a time, which is helpful, right? Screenwriting has been a pretty steep learning curve for me over the past few years. But I also learned, no one (except for maybe a few no-name contests, and possibly, your mother) NO ONE CARES about your brilliant scene or first act.

The only thing that anyone is interested in reading is a completed script. Even if it’s shitty, the magical act of typing THE END transforms it from a crapload of ideas to a viable product. A finished script can be rewritten and improved. In fact, unless you are some freakish genius (in which case, why are you reading this?), you will definitely be rewriting. And rewriting some more.

Finishing is really really hard. But I finally finished my first crappy script last summer. It is not very good, even though I worked really hard on it. But it was about an idea that I was really keen on (martial arts and Bruce Lee). And now I think that your first project has to be something you’re passionate about, just to get you through it. Worry about creating sellable scripts after you get through a few - at least, this is what I keep telling myself.

Now I’m up to a grand total of three finished projects (at least in draft form). The last one - the TV pilot - got some really great professional feedback and support. I wrote a detailed outline and had to justify every single moment in the script. The outline took close to a month to write and refine. The draft took two weeks.

This is how I would like to write my next feature. But it’s hard waiting. My fingers are itching to type. Patience…

love the dance movies. Ballet with jamiroquai is even better.

(Source: clivehandjob, via bohemea)

screenplay beginnings

the hook, flashback, flash forward, voiceover, action sequence - the opening sequence of a screenplay is supercritical. So, I’m looking at how others do it. Let us copy the best.

Reservoir Dogs: The Madonna ‘Like a Virgin’ discussion. Introduces all the characters without being too on the nose (like if they were all sitting around talking about the heist they were about to do). Tension with the tipping issue. Establishes hierarchy (Joe’s the boss). Most importantly (from my writerly perspective) - demonstrates the writer’s unique and compelling voice. Golden.

Indiana Jones- Raiders of the Lost Ark: Super-exciting badass action sequence that has nothing to do with the main plot but gives us that really exciting thrill-ride hold-your-breath moment. Revealing of character - he’s trusting, he’s capable, he has enemies, he’s afraid of snakes. Even though the mission is unsuccessful, he makes a big impression. Much better than if they had started in a classroom at the university.

No Country for Old Men: The sheriff’s voiceover gives you his backstory, the scenic shots establish time and place, and Anton Chigurh steps onto the stage in a shocking way. I’ve read/been told that you should start your movie with your protaganist because this is what the audience expects to see - that the first person you encounter is the most important. But this is a story with three leads - how do you twine them together? How do you tell the audience who or what they should focus on?