Writing the Short Screenplay

For my screenwriting students --
DUE this week: short screenplay, 1-5 pages
Last week we pitched original story ideas and developed story treatments. Today (Tuesday) we workshopped first drafts. Thursday the screenplay is due.

The evaluation criteria is the same as what we used in our workshop. I'll be looking for:

• Who wants what? and the ironic situation
• Opposition
• The dramatic moment and how that changes the character
• A dimensional main character and a visualization of his or her inner life
• A big idea or theme

Out of this handful of core story assets, a successful short will be strong in at least a couple of ways, and in other ways, possibly not as strong.

(For example, the readers who read my "Party Girls" script today noticed that there isn't much in the way of a big idea--It's based on a fairly small, unprofound, though authentic idea. But the sense I got from my readers is that the irony/character dimension and visualization of inner dynamic tension is strong -- strong enough to make the whole work.)

TIP: If it's fun to write, it's fun to read.

Sara Grant at the Sweet Shoppe

Yesterday, Saturday the 19th, I got to meet Sara Grant, editor and author of children's books. I feel triply lucky because:

1. Grant is funny, warm, and inspiring. (I love to be around people who love what they do, so it was a wonderful afternoon.)
2. Grant read the first few pages of my novel and said, "Lots of action and adventure!!!" (She had some more comments, too, specific points about lack of clarity and confusing orientation, the usual suspects when creating a fantasy story world. But overall, I feel like I've gotten a green light on my space adventure from someone who really has her fingers on the pulse of the marketplace.)
3. Grant gave a talk on the revision process and the energy of her ideas has left me refreshed. (Since I'm knee deep in alligators in a couple of revisions, it's great to hear some new angles on the same old problems. I really need perspective right now.)

Some of her tips on the revision process are fairly basic, but bear repeating. Do the macro edit before going into the micro edit. It's silly to spend time on word choices when a work still needs attention with respect to structure, charcter progression, or voice (both dialog and narrative).

Some of her notes are specific to how to tackle those macro edits. I'll get into some of those in my next post. I want to test drive one of the techniques first. Hint: It includes lots of colored markers. And if a technique feels more like play than a dreaded rewrite, I might actually get some traction here. Let's see, pink for emotional arc, green for setting, blue for action . . .

Credits:
Sara Grant: Collaborative Creativity-- a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) event, hosted by Trish Batey, Regional Adviser of the Indiana SCBWI Chapter, held at the Simply Sweet Shoppe in Carmel, Indiana.

Sara Grant is here from London, representing her interests in children's fiction. And her interersts are both broad and deep. She's a successful author in her own right (currently revising a near future dystopian YA novel) and a commissioning editor with Working Partners, a company that packages several successful children's book series.

The Quick Pitch

That's what my friend Jim Fisher calls the elevator pitch. But whatever you call it, wherever you deliver the essence of your story idea-elevator, writers' conference, coffee shop, or cocktail party-if you can't hook the listener in a minute, one-and-a-half at the outside, the story hasn't hit its mark. And if the story doesn't hit its mark, the book won't get published and film won't get produced.

The art of the quick pitch shares some of the same skills as writing a full-length fiction piece, because it requires a precise sense of what makes a story work. But, from my experience it's a tough form for many writers. Creative types have so many ideas flying around, it's sometimes hard to focus on the few elements that create a dynamic situation, full of ironic possibilities for the main character. The many ingredients that serve to create a rich fictional world and a dimensional cast of characters, can get in the way of boiling the story down to its most basic dramatic question.

The Guide to Literary Agents has a series of articles called "What's In a Pitch?" The most recent examine successful pitches for two new novels, The Undomestic Goddess, chick-lit, and Alibi Junior High, middle-grade.

Each article reprints the book's pitch, and then unpacks the "promise of the premise" (term courtesy of Screenwriter Blake Snyder). Greg Logsted managed to distill his book for young people in six sweet sentences. Scroll down to September 7, 2009, of the "What's In a Pitch?" series to read about a kid who's grown up with his undercover spy dad. He's faced danger all over the world. The question is--can he survive junior high?

What Is It?

After the introduction of Save the Cat, in which Blake Snyder tips us off about the importance of an early scene that will build empathy for our main character, no matter how anti-hero-ish he or she may be, the first chapter asks the deceptively simple question, "What is it?"

What is it that will invite me into a movie theatre, to the rental store or kiosk, to a listing on television or Hulu? Even if I'm not spending any hard-earned cash on the unit of entertainment, what will entice me to spend my time, which is scarce, with a set of characters? What is there about this story that leaps off a page and into my imagination. What will snag my interest? What will make me care?

Here's the real kicker. How is it possible to distill all the delicious stuff--images, sounds, scraps of dialog--swirling in a writer's mind into one solid sentence?

Loglines. Deceptively simple. Good thing Snyder gives us some benchmarks.

Save the Cat

In memory of Blake Snyder.

In the introduction of, Save the Cat, author Blake Snyder explains the origination of the book's title. It's an old Hollywood insider term that names a screen story's essential scene, the scene in which the main character saves a cat, or acts in some other way that endears him or herself to the audience.

No matter how surly or cool or in other ways unlikeable our hero may be, the writer's first task is to build an empathetic connection with the audience. This fundamental principle must be observed. While splashy effects and sexual cool are splashy and sexy, they will NOT sustain an audience for a full-length feature. For a full-length story, we need to care enough to follow our main character anywhere for the better part of two hours.

Examples: SEA OF LOVE, RAISING ARIZONA, THE PROFESSIONAL

Welcome Screenwriters

You've found the right blog.

Next post - I'll share a useful nugget of wisdom--some would say the essential nugget--from Save the Cat by Blake Snyder.

T206 MultiVisions Short Essay Topic

Consider what interests you most? Production, marketing, screenwriting, the business side of the industry?
Find a panelist or a MultiVisions committee member and ask about opportunities in your area of interest. Ask what steps you can take while you're still at IU, to get where you want to go.

2 pages, double-spaced. DUE: Tuesday, April 21st.

note: Use teamwork for the activity. Your essay is a solo effort.