Screenwriting

1. Screenwriting All You Need to Know In Two Hours or Less

2. For Further Study • Trottier, David. The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script, 5th Edition. Beverly Hills, CA. Silman-James Press, 2010. • King, Viki. How to Write a Movie in 21 Days: The Inner Movie Method. New York, NY. Collins Reference/Harper Collins Publishers, 2005. • Field, Syd. Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, 3rd Edition. New York, NY. Dell Trade Paperback, 1994. • Detweiler, Craig. Into the Dark: Seeing the Sacred in the Top Films of the 21st Century. Grand Rapids, MI. Baker Academic/Baker Publishing Group, 2008.

3. Screenwriting: A Segregated Medium • The Big Screen • The youngest successful mode of storytelling • The most rapidly-growing mode of storytelling • Immeasurable impact: an immense opportunity “[We Americans] now gather about cinema and television screens rather than in churches to ponder the moral quandries of American life.” - Margaret Miles

4. A Segregated Medium, continued • Screenplays vs. Novels and Stageplays • Novels: • Four ways to demonstrate character traits: Action, speech, appearance, thoughts • Deliverable in first, second, or third person • Capacity to convey information through any textual mode, such as emails, letters, or newspaper articles • Stageplays: • Developed through huge, demonstrable actions and long dialogue • Typically include stories that take place over just a few days and in just a few settings (sets)

5. A Segregated Medium, completed • Screenplays • Told in entirely visual terms (audio-visual) • Delivered in present tense (the story is always happening right now) • Limited to third-person narration • Not limited by time, sets, or the other constraints of a stageplay • “Motion picture” “The screenplay as a whole is a lesson in economy. The Writers use objects and characters more than once, which lends the story a sense of unity. This is cinema.” - Trottier, 20

6. A Three-Act Story Structure • Act I: Pages 1-30 • Exposition, Catalyst/Inciting Incident, Big Event • Act II: Pages 31-90 • Conflict, Rising action • Act III: Pages 90-120 • Resolution, denouement • NOTE: Updated texts abbreviate the length of a screenplay to 110 pages, shifting the concentration of action in each act of the three-act arc of a film script.

7. The Nine-Minute Movie How to Write a Movie in 21 Days, Viki King The way the three-act story structure fits into movie formula When plotting out your movie, you should know what happens on pages 1, 3, 10, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 120 Use index cards to plot out your setting, theme, Inciting Incident, Big Event, Glimpse, Pinch, New Development, Crisis, and finish Back to the Future (*to examine concepts; formula transcends genre)

8. Back to the Future: the Perfect Script • Back to the Future • drafted at least five times • perfect dialogue—necessary, character-distinct • adheres precisely to movie formula pace without feeling trite • continuity of theme, setting, characters • a useful model for examining the screenwriting process

9. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 1 • Page 1: Place, time, mood • Every film starts somewhere • “Readers need to know from the get-go what kind of story they’re reading, who to root for, and where the conflict may be headed.” – Trottier, 15 • Back to the Future: • Clocks • Faceless figure—is the movie a scary movie? • Faceless figure thrown across garage by power of amplifier—comedy! • Face revealed: eighties high school student • Late for school—Hill Valley named

10. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 3 • Theme • King asserts that a line of dialogue ought to reveal something on page 3 about the theme or central question • The central question is a yes/no question • The central question usually pertains to the central character’s primary motivation • Back to the Future: “If you put your mind to it, you can do anything.” • True of Marty’s desire to be a musician • True of Marty’s goal to return to the future/Doc Brown’s dream of time-travel

11. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 10 • The Inciting Incident • Also called the Catalyst • The moment when something shifts, and the hero’s previously balanced world is kicked out of balance, whether or not the hero knows it yet • Gives the hero “a goal, a desire, a mission, a need, or a problem” (Trottier, 15) • Sometimes is the same as the Big Event (page30), but usually not;may, however, be enough to cause the B.E. “Here’s the principle: When a story begins, life is in balance. Yes, your hero may have a problem, but it’s a problem he’s always had—his status quo. Luke Skywalker… wants to become a pilot, but he’s stuck on the farm. It’s a problem he’s always had. Life is in balance.” - Trottier, 15

12. Page 10, continued • Back to the Future • Inciting Incident not directly connected to Big Event • Marty wants to be a rock star, but gets shot down at auditions for record deal—his dream is shattered, creating a frustration or “problem,” in opposition to the theme introduced on page 3, “If you put your mind to it, you can do anything.”

13. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 30 • The Big Event • The event that catapults the story into act II • Absolutely by now the central question should be obvious • If it didn’t happen at the Inciting Incident, this is where the hero is called to action—he can no longer be a victim, but must stir almost all the cause in every cause-and-effect sequence in his storyline for the rest of the script • Back to the Future: Marty is launched back in time to 1955 in an attempt to flee the Lithuanians after the Doc; central question becomes clear: Will Marty get back to the future?

14. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 45 • The Glimpse • Not used in every film • Useful as a goal point in writing to keep the momentum of the script changing often enough to keep the audience engaged • A symbolic scene that foreshadows the ending or poses a poignant example for how the hero and/or villain has potential to change • Back to the Future: Marty goes from seeing his parents as old fogies, completely disconnected from the world, and—only because he is allowed to see them in the time-warp as thirty years younger—begins to understand them and gain respect for them

15. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 60 • The Pinch • Also known as the Point of No Return • Hero’s knowledge of the his predicament appears to be full, so he commits fully to his goal • Also the moment when it seems most plausible to the audience that the hero might be able to attain his goal, however impossible it first appeared • Back to the Future: the 1955 Doc tells Marty that he cannot get his hands on Plutonium or anything equally powerful to regenerate the Flux Capacitor and get Marty back to the future; but Marty remembers the lightning storm that’s supposed to happen in a week and together Marty and the Doc create a plan to harness the lightning to power the Flux Capacitor and get Marty back to the future

16. A Side Note on Foreshadowing • In Back to the Future, everything unbelievable thing that happens is believable because something foreshadowed it • “Save the clocktower!” • Enchantment Under theSea Dance • “If you put your mind toit, you can do anything.” • Car trouble “You can get away with almost anything if you set it up, or foreshadow it, early in the story. Much of screenwriting is setting things up for a later payoff.” - Trottier, 18

17. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 75 • The New Development • Overthrows almost all the hope from the Pinch • Back to the Future: Marty and the Doc have all systems in place, but it looks like Marty’s parents of 1955 aren’t going to share their first kiss at the dance, which is, according to the 1985 version of his parents, the moment they fall in love, and, as Marty says, “If they don’t kiss, they don’t fall in love, and if they don’t fall in love—no more me!”

18. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 90 • The Crisis • The moment when all elements of the plot come together and the hero achieves or does not achieve his goal • Often preceded or accompanied by a Showdown • Back to the Future: Showdown occurs between George McFly and Biff Tannen, and is necessary to restoring Marty to physical fullness in order for him to make it back to the Delorean in time for the lightning storm; Crisis happens when, on Marty’s end, the car won’t start, and, on Doc’s end, the cable connecting the clock tower to the power cord to harness the power of the lightning becomes disconnected, and the lightning is only moments away!

19. The Nine-Minute Movie: Page 120 • Resolution • Loose ends are tied up • The cool-down stretch after a strenuous run • Back to the Future: This is where the screenwriter answers the “So what?” question; Marty made it back to 1985, sure—but what did he learn? … When he gets back to 1985, 1985 has changed from what he remembered: • His dad is confident • His mom is skinny, and cool • Biff doesn’t have a hold over the McFly family anymore • His brother and sister have decent jobs and positive outlooks on life • Marty is motivated to pursue music, even though he was shot down at the Hill Valley High auditions

20. Technical Formatting “Professional scripts sometimes vary slightly in formatting style, and yet they all look basically the same. There are surprisingly few absolutes… Formatting guidelines are like accounting principles—they are ‘generally accepted’ by the industry.” – Trottier, 129 Spec scripts (See scripts)

21. Screenplays: Three Simple Parts • Headings • INT./EXT. • Scene location • DAY/NIGHT • Narrative • Paragraph form—usually no more than three or four lines per paragraph • Full sentences • 2/3 of script • Dialogue

22. Three Simple Parts, continued • Dialogue • The most complicated part of formatting, if you don’t own screenwriting software • Dialogue is not centered, but tabbed halfway across the page • Broken into three parts: • Character speaking • Wrylies (use sparingly) • Speech • Actual speech no more than four inches wide on the page • (More on dialogue after break)

23. Writing the Story: Draft One • Some insight from Anne Lamott: • “My writer friends, and they are legion, do not go around beaming with quiet feelings of contentment. Most of them go around with haunted, abused, surprised looks on their faces, like lab dogs on whom very personal deodorant sprays have been tested.” • Excerpt from Bird by Bird • “Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life. … Perfectionism means you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up.”

24. Draft One, continued • Universally, writers agree that in order to get the story out, you have to purge it without becoming rational • Do not take time to gloat about it, or the story will dry up • “I think it's bad to talk about one's present work, for it spoils something at the root of the creative act.” – Norman Mailer • Get it out, get it done, and then put it away • Stephen King: Put it away for six weeks (advice for novels)