Today I worked with some of my favorite private students: a novelist writing a sci-fi fantasy set in a complicated future universe, a screenwriter writing a beautifully crafted drama with great humor about coming of age, and another scriptwriter writing a cynical comedy about a illness survivor who learns to really live his life before it's too late. What is so interesting to me is that all 3 writers use my writing system, and they are so easy to revise! I have such a great job! The concept in the system is that if you build the story right from the beginning, the inevitable revision work can be focused and expansive. Think of your story like a house - if the foundation is well built, it will support as many stories (pun intended!) as you like!
Friday, April 29, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
What are your character's dream vacation/lifestyle changes?
Ask yourself what if time and money were no object, you had no emotional obligations and were in fine health -- what vacation or lifestyle change would you plan? Quit your job and write full time? Take a writer's retreat in some resort?
Now ask the same for your main character and obstacle/villain. If they would select the same place, you may have a new screenplay idea on your hands! Then ask what go most wrong? A natural disaster? War? a power outage? An old friend turns up?
My main character would go to Israel and relearn his Hebrew and study Kabbalah/Gematria. My Villain would become the 12th Imam and ready the world for the resurrection. My heroine would open a kosher restaurant wherever the hero settled, and would learn the Kabbalah twice as fast.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Keeping it simple
I am working on a Sci-fi thriller and was trying to explain why the underlying personal conflict has to be universal for the film to be really emotionally satisfying.
We talked about why Source Code was more satisfying than Inception - The "back story" in this film is about an unresolved argument between father and son and was more universally relevant than the convoluted wife/suicide story in Inception. Source Code had a more accessible mission that was timely.
My suggestion is always to keep the emotional journey simple, so your audience has enough time to feel along with your characters.
I particularly like this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Friday, April 15, 2011
Something different
One of the exercises I use to teach writing is to have students use lines from old movies as starting points when they are having trouble getting their own scenes started. One of the tricks is to gave a famous line such as "We'll always have Paris," to the least likely candidate in the scene.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
How to deal with unwanted feelings
I have been trying to deal with the grief that comes when both parents die within a month of each other, and find that old patterns such as feeling anger and feeling unloved come up at strange times. I wanted to find a way to support myself instead of getting angry with myself for how I am feeling. This quote from Abraham-Hicks, reapplied to the relationship with the self comforted me and gave me a method: I allow myself to feel whatever I feel, don't argue, but instead visualize a positive outcome. Try it for yourself!
If we had a child, or anyone, and we caught them doing something inappropriate, we would not amplify it with our words. We would identify what it is we do not want, and then out of it would come the rocket of desire of what we do want, and then we would just visualize, visualize, visualize, until we find peace within our vision.
When you make someone and their action the heart of a vision that you've spent time on -- your relationship improves, your experience is better, and they receive the benefit of the experience. But if you catch them, and see them, and worry about it, and put mechanisms in place to prevent it, now you have not only amplified it, you have now made a commitment that is hooking you both into that, until usually it gets big enough that you break apart, and then you attract others to fulfill that role.
--- Abraham
Excerpted from the workshop in Chicago, IL on Sunday, April 25th, 1999 # 42
Sunday, April 10, 2011
What a word can mean...
I am working on the revision of a student's novel and was researching government criminals and "whistleblowers," those people that expose them and such.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
This seems like a good opportunity, so check it out!
Movie Outline is innovative screenplay writing software that was designed by a produced writer to help you develop your film story, characters and structure, and professionally format your script. It uses the simple technique of "step-outlining" to create your outline and screenplay scene by scene and reference breakdowns of successful Hollywood movies in the same genre side by side with your own project. With Movie Outline you can develop character profiles, character arcs and structure your narrative using pre-defined color-coded structure templates such as the classic "3 Act Structure" or "The Hero's Journey". You can also customize these templates and create your own to suit your own writing methodology. Simply put, Movie Outline is the ultimate writer's tool, taking your story from an idea to a final draft.
Are you tired of cold querying Hollywood and getting Radio Silence? Enter www.VirtualPitchFest.com
Some of VPF's BIG PLAYERS include MGM, Kopelson Entertainment, Yari Film Group, CBS Films, The Gersh Agency, 20th Century Fox, New Line Cinema, UTA, Spyglass Entertainment, Myriad Pictures, Alcon Entertainment, Mad Chance, ROAR, Davis Entertainment, The Donners' Company, Laura Ziskin Productions, Mandate Pictures, Energy Entertainment, Original Artists, New Regency, and APA. Hundreds of screenwriters have received submission requests through VPF, many of which have resulted in representation or script deals. To pitch now, go to www.VirtualPitchFest.com
The Total Script Express: sends a personal e-query to 3,782 producers/studio executives and 1,909 agents/managers... A total of 5,691 submissions!
The Hollywood Bugle: an e-newsletter sent to over 3,000 industry professionals. It features the logline and author info for the select few screenplays listed.
Script It! is Movie Outline 3's baby brother, offering the same outlining and script formatting features but without some of the pro tools such as character development and structuring. Script It! is aimed at the writer who needs a simple way to outline their script and write their screenplay to industry standard guidelines without having to juggle both tasks between two different applications. The Software comes with a powerful character name generator, a 250 term glossary and a handy "Scratch Pad" to organize your notes, ideas and script snippets. Script It! is perfect for the novice writer who needs tailored script writing features such as auto-complete, auto-formatting and auto-pagination that regular word processors do not offer, and for the professional who likes to plan their outline before writing a full draft.
Database for tracking various literary deals set up in "Hollywood." Done Deal Pro tracks the various script, book, treatment, and pitch sales and options made in Hollywood each day. Subscribers are able to search the database of over 11,300 feature deals and over 1,600 TV deals by title, writer, representation, company, genre, date, and more. This is an invaluable tool not only for industry professionals but for aspiring screenwriters who want to know each week what material is being set up and with whom, and to track the latest trends. In each individual sale listing, users can click on agency, management firm, law firm, and/or company names for contact information. Done Deal Pro also provides development-related industry news, interviews, a searchable database of screenwriting contests, and contest deadline alerts.
Philadelphia's "Screenplay FEST" - An Online Screenplay Competition
www.ScreenplayFest.com
Monday, April 4, 2011
Practice makes perfect!
We are so happy for Michael, who flew in from Atlanta to take the live class last summer. He is one of the finalists in the Creative Screenwriting Open Contest. He had written a couple of other scripts before we worked together and it was his persistence that has gotten him this far.
