Update on “The Screenplay”

Posted in Contests, The Writing Life with tags , , , , , , , , on February 8, 2010 by Faith Friese Nelson

This week-end, I got a lot of good writing done on “The Screenplay”. 

“The Screenplay” is the SP I’m writing for the MoviePoet.com contest.    This month the loglines and titles are being reviewed at MP.   The top thirty loglines/titles will advance to the next step of the competition.

I can’t mention my title or the subject of “The Screenplay” because it is very important that my project remain anonymous.

Last year my title and log-line did not advance.   When I entered the contest, I was still researching and I really didn’t know enough about my story to write a good log-line or title.  This year I feel better about the log-line and title but I don’t know if it’s good enough to go to the next level of competition.  I sure hope so because I’m making great progress on the SP.

This week-end I wrote and wrote and I made a big dent in the second act.  I’m happy to report that I’m up to page 68 and I’m quickly approaching the third act.  And then, after the third act, I get to type “The End”, and then start the rewrites.

A lot of people don’t like the rewriting part.  But I do.  Because writing is rewriting.  And that’s where the screenplay really improves!

Who knows.  Perhaps this is the screenplay which will end up on the silver screen!

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The Dreaded “Second Act”

Posted in Screenwriting How-To's, The Writing Life with tags , , , , , , , , on February 6, 2010 by Faith Friese Nelson

I love to write the first twenty pages of screenplays.   I also love to write the endings.  But, the second act drives me insane!  

The second act starts between pages 20 and 30 and consists of about 60 pages right in the middle of the story.   If the second act falls apart or gets boring, you will lose the reader.  And, if you lose the reader, your screenplay will never get made into a movie!

I’m writing the dreaded second act of “the screenplay” right now and, although I’m not stuck, I feel like I’m mucking about in a pond of mud.

So, I decided to spend a couple of hours with Syd Field, Linda Seger, and Robert McKee.  After perusing their books, and others, this is what I’ve learned…

During the second act,  something must happen.  And whatever happens must cause something else to happen, and that should cause something else to happen, etc… 

Things need to get complicated in the second act, the “plot must thicken!”    Scenes will need to build on each other.  So make sure there is a reason for each and every scene!

Robin U. Russin and William Missouri Downs state in their book “”Screenplay, Writing the Picture” that the second act is where we find “conflicts, crises, obstacles, complications, or reversals; rising action ; and the protagonist’s ‘dark moment.’

Syd Field uses the word “confrontation” to describe act two!  Remember, as you write,  many conflicts are solved, but  there should always be another bit of trouble for the protagonist, and it should be right around the corner.

Make sure to eliminate exposition as you write the second act.  Remember the most important rule … show, don’t tell! 

Lets say that Dick and Sally need to ”argue” in your story.   Have them argue while they’re jogging around the block.  Or better yet, have them argue while they’re being chased around the block  by a couple of hoodlums!  Then make sure one of them trips while they’re running…  Maybe Sally trips and her glasses fly off  and Dick stomps on them and crushes them…  Get the picture.  Something happens, which causes something else to happen, which causes…

Movies with great second acts are the movies that you hate to see end!

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Books are Classical, Screenplays are Rock ‘n Roll!

Posted in The Writing Life with tags , , , , , , , on January 31, 2010 by Faith Friese Nelson

How many times have you heard, “Yeah, I saw the movie but the book was  better…”   Or, “Yeah, I read the book but the movie was better…”

I’ve always been an avid reader.   When I was twelve I spent many afternoons in the library, choosing Perry Mason books to keep me company over the next week.   That translates to over four decades of reading!

I’ve only written screenplays for a couple years.

I have decided that comparing the two is like trying to compare classical music to rock ‘n roll.  They’re the same… but different.

Bach and Beethoven wrote music.  So did the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Grateful Dead, etc.  You can compare them.  Yes!  Are they the same?   Sure, because both use notes and melodies, rhythm, etc.   But, despite the fact that they are the same, they are very  different.    Some similarities.   But very unique.

The same thing can be said for books and screenplays.    Both involve words, writing, and stories.   But, as similar as they are, they are very different.  A book TELLS us a story.  A screenplay is a blueprint for SHOWING a story.

For example, let’s take a murderer as he plans his next crime…

In a novel the author might  get inside the character’s head, letting us know exactly what the murderer is thinking.  But in a screenplay, unless the writer uses  a “voiceover”, the viewer only sees what is on the screen.   We see him make a list of what he needs to pull off the crime but we can’t see the thoughts that define his anger.

And this is why the movie is so  different from the book.  Or why the book is different from the movie.

I still read a lot of novels.   But, these days, as I read, I find myself  taking a scene and trying to figure out how I’d write it for a movie. 

The goal is the same … tell a story.    A novelist or screenwriter both use words to tell the story.  But they are different.

Books are like classical music.  Screenplays are like rock ‘n roll!

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