Write, write, write: April 2012

20 April 2012

"Say who you are" - looking back at the Charlie Kaufman lecture

On 30 September 2011 Charlie Kaufman gave a BAFTA screenwriting lecture. In perfect keeping with his films, the lecture was nothing like any other lecture... and it reminds me that I'm no Charlie Kaufman - but instead a craftsman in the business of screenwriting, proud to be good at my craft but, essentially, a hack. ... but hey -

Say who you are

If you're a member of the screenwriting world, you've probably watched it. Then again you might have been busy writing, like this here dude. Never watched it until last night and I can assure you, it's 40+ minutes well spent. Here's the link to the lecture including transcript (great work by the BAFTA people, by the way, hats off) - watch it, read it, enjoy the time you'll be spending in Charlie Kaufman's unusual world.

The lecture also reminds me that I'm no Charlie Kaufman - but instead a craftsman in the business of screenwriting. I'm proud to be good at my craft but, essentially, I'm a hack compared to the mind and passion of Charlie Kaufman. Heck - I've only just started twenty years ago! Learning, moving in that direction, one script at a time. Well then, here a quick glimpse at some of the many good quotes from that lecture:

" ... I don’t know anything. And if there’s one thing that characterizes my writing it’s that I always start from that realisation and I do what I can to keep reminding myself of that during the process. I think we try to be experts because we’re scared; we don’t want to feel foolish or worthless; we want power because power is a great disguise."
"Say who you are, really say it in your life and in your work. Tell someone out there who is lost, someone not yet born, someone who won’t be born for 500 years. Your writing will be a record of your time. It can’t help but be that."
"The world needs you. It doesn’t need you at a party having read a book about how to appear smart at parties – these books exist, and they’re tempting – but resist falling into that trap. The world needs you at the party starting real conversations, saying, ‘I don’t know,’ and being kind."
"A screenplay is an exploration. It’s about the thing you don’t know. It’s a step into the abyss."
"There’s no template for a screenplay, or there shouldn’t be. There are at least as many screenplay possibilities as there are people who write them. We’ve been conned into thinking there is a pre-established form."
"I think the danger of craft is that it needs to be in second position to what it is that you’re doing. It’s seductive to put it in first position, often because what you’re doing is meaningless or worthless, or just more of the same. So you can distinguish yourself by being very, very good at it. I think you need to be willing to be naked when you do anything creatively in film or any other form."
I can’t tell anyone how to write a screenplay because the truth is that anything of value you might do comes from you. The way I work is not the way that you work, and the whole point of any creative act is that. What I have to offer is me, what you have to offer is you, and if you offer yourself with authenticity and generosity I will be moved."

16 April 2012

Great scripts are forged in battle

The Hollywood system is a business. The factory needs to produce and the factory does produce - sometimes (often) faster than it should. Most stories need time, quality time, to become good stories, let alone great stories.

Walk away? Me!?

Gladiator and Elizabeth: The Golden Age scribe William Nicholson talks about this in this recorded BAFTA lecture. He says that screenwriters in Britain still see a greater amount of respect compared what their US peers see. Nicholson believes that "we have a chance of rescuing the film process from this (Hollywood) degradation" of hiring and firing screenwriters, of having a half dozen screenwriters working on a film... Personally, I don't think we'll be able to change the factory - it needs to run, it needs to crank out product. But we can and must fight for every individual story we're working on.

"Great scripts are forged in battle, and it's not a battle that either side should win."

I don't know where the above quote comes from, but I love it. William Nicholson rightly argues that we should insist on being trusted to get the script right. He says - and I commend him for his passion: "I'll go on rewriting until the cow's come home. I'll find an answer to your problem - but do not rewrite it yourself and do not get in another writer. I'm fallible, I'll get it wrong. Tell me and I'll fix it - but it's go to come through my head."

We may be tossed off a project regardless of what we say or do - a producer may choose a different writer for many reasons (most of them flawed) - but nonetheless, we should always try our hardest to stay on board - we owe it to the story. I've often enough been in situations where I just wanted to walk away, where that inner siren tempted with a soothing "You don't need this hassle. It'll all be so peaceful again, if you just call it quits."

We're not quitters - we're screenwriters. We have decided to be in this impossible business - we were nuts to begin with. We will not walk away from our stories, from our characters, from those fictitious worlds of ours that are as real to us as our very lives - we will not walk away without a fight.

Those battles mentioned in the title, they're worth fighting, every time, at every draft, at every step. Because those fighting people want to make the best film possible. And, just like William Nicholson, they're all fallible. We all make mistakes, we need to be challenged, we need to be forced to argue on behalf of our decisions. Every such challenge improves the script, makes it more powerful, maybe even makes it - great.

14 April 2012

Music Box vs. Braveheart

This whole Eszterhas/Gibson thing is spinning, and it's a nasty spiral of a spin at that. At this point, who the hell knows - but we do have two letters, one a nine page assault written by Joe Eszterhas, one a crisp reply be Mel Gibson. A few thoughts.

Before we go any further - here the Joe Eszterhas letter as published by The Wrap. And here the reply by Mel Gibson. Read them if you haven't - they're worth the time, educational of sorts, surely.

Mel Gibson has been doing a lot to destroy his career these past few years. A lot has been happening publicly, a lot is documented - so I guess it's a fair bet to assume that yes, Mel's screwed up more than a little. He calls himself passionate, others might call him nuts or downright psychotic ... I don't know about all of this - but, as mentioned, that's lots of public information on this.

The above means that Gibson was set up as the clear villain in this piece. The moment the Eszterhas letter surfaced it seemed only natural to assume that everything laid out in great detail in the nine pages was only confirming public perception. I read the articles - a day later I read the nine pages ... and that got me thinking.

Joe Eszterhas is a pro - people love him, people hate him, I don't care what you think about his movies - he's a pro. I've read some of his scripts - the man can write and write well. This goes through my head as I read his nine page letter - the letter that was crafted, as stated by Eszterhas, for Mel Gibson's eyes only. Reading it, however, I couldn't help feeling that Eszterhas didn't write with Mel Gibson in mind as his audience. The whole thing is repetitive and goes into great detail to illuminate the reader as to situations and locations. Aside from what the letter is about, I'd have to say that this particular writer did a lousy job because he didn't write for his intended audience and because he rambled. As he'll be the first to tell you - crisp is gold - we're all screenwriters here - seriously now - it's our very craft to boil nine rambling pages into an air-tight half pager, right?

I'm not going to go into religious aspects. For all we know, everything may have happened exactly as described by Joe Eszterhas (in which case, as mentioned above, the worst one could say is that he messed up as a writer). We also do know that Gibson messed up severely over time. What I'm wondering is simply - and I'm thinking about myself in a similar situation - if I had been a pro of Eszterhas caliber, if all he claims really did occur, would I have continued working with a hateful human being such as the described Gibson? Would I have allowed my family to be around that person? Would I have spent precious years of my life near such destructive karma? To all of the aforementioned - hell no!

At this point Gibson has replied. A crisp letter, a bit more than half a page and if he's written it himself then I must congratulate him for his obvious talent. And if some PR person wrote it for him - well done, too! He may be a mess of a man - but on the merits of the letters alone I'd have to say that Gibson's the clear winner here. What are we left with? Nothing for now. But I do have an idea ...

Let's stop all the he says he says crap. Let's forget about recordings that may exist. Lets even forget about the studio that's allowing this mess to continue. I'm saying - if the nine page letter managed to find its way to The Wrap - let's hope the same thing happens for the Maccabees script! May it surface - then we can read it and then we'll be the judge on the merits of the script - because that's what it's about, the script, the story, the film.

So, give us the script and take your issues elsewhere.

08 April 2012

McKee and Me: Commandments and Principles

How interesting ... I had forgotten about Robert McKee's ten commandments. Some twenty years after hearing about them at a seminar, I had blogged my own set of numbers and called them the 12 screenwriting principles... and they're very different from McKee.

Yep - a screenwriter's life can be wonderful!

In essence, McKee focuses on story (as he would), whereas I focus on life. What I like about my 12 is that they're guiding posts for a life as a screenwriter - whereas McKee's 10 are basically story commands. McKee's points certainly do make sense - but heck, who likes to be ordered around, right?

His commandments, in my view, are a narrow slice of what it's all about.

But in case you don't think McKee's worth your time - read some more about that here - I think his seminars, although pricey, are definitely great value - you might even say they are, in themselves, a potential guiding post in your life as a screenwriter. What he shares will be helpful if you have a solid grasp on your life as a screenwriter.

If you ask me - if you live and breathe the 12, odds are you'll have every chance of becoming great at handling the 10!

Here then, without further ado - Robert McKee's 10 story commandments (he gets first go, after all, he's McKee). If you can't wait, click here to jump straight to my 12 principles:

McKee's 10 Commandments

1. Thou shalt not take the crisis/climax out of the protagonist’s hands. (the anti-deus ex machine commandment)
2. Thou shalt not make life easy for the protagonist. (Nothing progresses in a story, except through conflict.)

3. Thou shalt not give exposition for exposition’s sake. (Dramatize it. Convert exposition to ammunition.)

4. Thou shalt not use false mystery or cheap surprise.
5. Thou shalt respect your audience. (the anti-hack commandment).

6. Thou shalt know your world as God knows this one. (the pro-research commandment)

7. Thou shalt not complicate when complexity is better. (Don't multiply the complications on one level. Use all three: intra-personal, inter-personal, extra-personal)

8. Thou shalt seek the end of the line. (the negation of the negation, taking characters to the farthest reaches and depth of conflict imaginable within the story's realm of probability)

9. Thou shalt not write on the nose. (Put subtext under every text)

10. Thou shalt rewrite.

My 12 Principles

1. Thou shalt write daily. (You need a strong writing muscle to succeed - so exercise it.)

2. Thou shalt enjoy procrastination. (Procrastination is life - never feel guilty about it.)

3. Thou shalt trust thy instincts. (Learn from others but never depend on them.)

4. Thou shalt believe in thyself. (If you don't, no one ever will.)

5. Thou shalt suck it up. (Learn from rejection - it'll make you stronger.)

6. Thou shalt know thy world. (Make movie history, films and scripts part of your essence.)

7. Thou shalt network. (You'll never have a career if you don't get out there.)

8. Thou shalt be happy. (If writing doesn't make you happy, stop.)

9. Thou shalt be generous. (Spread your ideas, don't hide them.)

10. Thou shalt be a craftsman/woman. (It may become art in time.)

11. Thou shalt deliver on time. (Never miss a deadline, not even one you gave yourself.)

12. Thou shalt collaborate. (You'll never make a film happen on your own.)

07 April 2012

Thinking about attending a McKee seminar?

If you're unsure whether or not this is worth your time and/or money - let me help you with your decision. Fork out that dough (it ain't little, either) and do attend. It's worth every penny.

McKee won't love you, but he loves film.

If you google Robert McKee you'll find a ton of information and opinion. He's been around for ages and he keeps regaling the US (and occasionally the rest of the globe) with his seminar. I attended one such do in December of 1992 in New York. I had only just discovered screenwriting and was sucking in every bit of knowledge I could scrape together. Attending McKee seemed a must - so raided my bank account (it was 430 bucks back then - it's no doubt steeper now) and signed up.

Ever seen Adaptation - Charlie Kaufman's beautifully woven tale of a screenwriter struggling with a gig? If you haven't, shame on you - snap to it! If you have, you'll know that Kaufman wrote Robert McKee into his story - and the portrayal of McKee (it's a small part, lovingly brought to life by Brian Cox) is right on the money according to my own experience.

My own experience stems from a few days almost twenty years ago! Not only do I vividly remember how I felt during that weekend, I've also kept the "Story Structure" class booklet. Never looked at it again, mind you - but I've never thrown it away either, unlike most other things you tend to toss over the course of many moves.

From what I've read recently, McKee hasn't changed - he travels with basically the same material and the same passion. He's 70+ years old now, a wealth of knowledge, a wealth of experience. He's fast, he's loud, he's abrasive. He goes through his routine, he would, back then, allow no interruptions - "Talk to me during the break". And those breaks were exactly on time, always, because he absolutely needed his cigarette fixes. Three extremely packed days, just one guy on stage, one guy and his passion for film, for story.

Even at the end of day one I had more insight than I thought I was able to handle - I barely managed to keep up taking notes - let alone make sense of it all. Day two brought my brain easily to its limits (mind you, that ain't saying much) - I was ready to call it brilliant and go home and sleep for a week. But of course I stuck with it - after all, I had paid enough for the damn thing! Day three delivered again and at the end of the seminar my head was as close to bursting as it's ever been. I was physically exhausted from just sitting there, listening, cramming it all in, trying to make sense of every knowledge crumb hurled at me.

What I got from it was his passion. It was as if, for three full days, every hour, every minute - he had talked directly to me, just me. You can read everything on screenwriting, on story, on structure - but you can't get that powerful dose of live McKee unless you pay up and sit through it. I walked out unsure whether I'd ever be able to deliver on half of what he'd talked about - and at the same time I walked out knowing that this was, without a shred of doubt, my path. Twenty years later, I'm still walking it and I'm still loving it.

McKee is far from being the one and all. He's a guru, there are others out there. But again - he's worth the dough. Get your dose of passion and see it as a challenge, too. One attendance will do the trick. If you take McKee and you walk out dejected - find yourself another profession. If you take McKee and you feel anywhere near the way I felt - keep at it! Write, write, write!

More on McKee > McKee and me: principles and commandments

01 April 2012

How to deal with time lapse in your screenplay

To begin with, as you'll read everywhere else, once you're an established writer you can do this in any way you damn well please. Until then, stick to tested ways that are economical and professional.

Don't start out by trying something like this!

Overall, a script should flow in many ways - you'll want to craft a multi-faceted, vibrant tapestry, vibrant in characters, twists and turns, locations and colors. You'll look for variation in everything you write, you'll look for the unique. In every scene you'll do whatever the hell you can to keep the reader/viewer alert. You'll make sure he never knows what happens next, he'll want to, he'll need to, turn the page to find out.

All of the above means that oftentimes you'll shift locations, you'll intercut, you'll jump from a quiet interior to a bustling exterior. You'll find plenty of films that never stay in the same location for consecutive scenes - but instead at the very least cut away to something else for a bit of variety. But sometimes staying in that one location, asking the audience to stick around, is actually very powerful. It can be a statement, for the film, for the character. And sometimes it's simply the most economical of things to do. Tell the story, no frills, get on with it.

Long intro out of the way - here's a few ways for you to deal with two consecutive scenes in one and the same location:

EXT. CAVE - DAY (LATER) This is the standard and highly economical. You use a standard slug line and with the (later) indicate the passage of time in the same location.
TIME LAPSE (also TIME CUT and LATER) Not entirely professional but I've seen it around. The first option may be considered more professional, but I like the clarity of this version - if you simply write these words instead of a slug line, the passage of time element really jumps out at the reader. In the action line you then indicate something like a digital clock so that it makes sense to the viewer.
DISSOLVE TO: You can of course build a passage of time element into the scene. E.g. your character falls unconscious and the last thing he sees is the beginning of Lord of the Rings on television. Depending on the mood you want to go for, use a cut or dissolve to bring your character back to noticing the end of LOTR.

That's about it, I'd say. Any other useful, accepted, economical ways, just list them in the comments and I'll add them to this list one fine day.

Update: A few more options popped up in the screenwriting subreddit (if you're not there yet, join it - there's always lots of useful stuff there - and a community who's willing to engage, help, assist and rant on all things screenwriting):

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