Monthly Archives: October 2009

NYC Midnight – Update

I thought the first round was tough.   This round was harder. 

I’m in group seven, and our assigned genre was  SCIENCE FICTION.  The  required location and object were:  FISH FARM and PLUNGER. 

My first reaction was … Oh.   My.   God.

My second reaction:  I can’t do this.

But, I’m never one to give up.

Brainstorming gave me a headache, but the old muse pulled through. 

Sometimes I’m just amazed how these stories develop, flow out of me.  It starts with just an inkling of an idea and develops from there.

Okay, first I got out my reference books and refreshed my memory on the exact definition of  SCIENCE FICTION.  I learned that science fiction takes on characteristics of other genres while moving to other places in time.  Okay I really didn’t learn much but it got me headed in the right directions.

What really stumped me were the FISH FARM and PLUNGER requirements.    I googled both.  Did you know there are three different kinds of plungers?  Well, that information was zero help.

So, this is where my muse came into the picture.

Anyway, it’s written.  I’ll sit on it for a few hours, make sure there are no glaring problems,  and then enter it in the contest.

Title:    THE HUNT. 

Logline:  Two students must finish a scavenger hunt through time or they will have to repeat the  class.

I’ll get it uploaded this week in case you’re interested in reading it!

Writers Must be Flexible! NYC Midnight Contest!

Usually I do my grocery shopping on Saturday.   But the second round of the NYC Midnight Short Screenwriting championships is this week-end, so I had to change my shopping schedule from Saturday to Friday.  So, today’s writing schedule is going to be shorter than normal.  It all evens out in the end because I’ll get more writing time on Saturday …   Sometimes writers have to be really flexible.  And creative.   To get enough time and to get that time on the right day!

We get the assignment for the NYC contest at 11:59 p.m. (EST) tonight.  So at 11:59 I’ll know what GENRE, LOCATION, and OBJECT must be in my SP.   Actually I probably won’t find out until tomorrow morning, because more than likely I’ll be sleeping at 11:59!  Then I have until just before midnight on Sunday to get it done.  Five pages or less.  Since I go to bed early on Sundays,  the SP will be done way before midnight.  That is, unless I get stuck.

In the first round, I was assigned:  MONSTER MOVIE, HORSE STABLE, GENERATOR.  It was tricky but I finally ended up writing about an out-of-work couple and monster trees.   The entry has been rewritten and is uploaded on this site.   If you’re interested in it, you can read “Hux Hollow” in the short screenplay section.

It is not unusual for me to look at a writing assignment and say to myself: NO WAY!  But after I think about it for awhile an idea gels.  Sometimes I actually open a wordprocessing file and have a conversation with myself using the keyboard.  (It helps that I type over 100 wpm and don’t have to look at my fingers!)  While I talk to myself, the story takes shape, characters get fleshed out, and the major plot points develop.  And then I write my entry.  And rewrite.  And rewrite some more!

So anyway, now we all know what I’ll be doing this week-end!

Flashbacks

I’m currently rewriting my SP “Revenge”.     The SP is loaded with flashbacks.   Do they work?  Some of them do and some of them don’t … I’m working on that right now.  But what I’ve found is that there are several ways to show the flashback in a screenplay.

There are two things to consider, the first being … how long is the flashback? 

Is the flashback shown in one scene or does the flashback constitute more than one scene? 

If the flashback is just one scene, alert the reader to the flashback in the slug-line.  Some ways you can show this: 

FLASHBACK – INT. or EXT.   LOCATION  – DAY or NIGHT

INT. or EXT.  LOCATION -  DAY or NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

INT. or EXT.  LOCATION  – DAY or NIGHT – FLASHBACK

The first slug-line after the flashback should indicate that we are returning to present day.  This can be done in a couple of ways:

INT. or EXT.   LOCATION – DAY or NIGHT – PRESENT DAY

INT. or EXT.  LOCATION – DAY or NIGHT (PRESENT DAY)

If there are several scenes in a flashback, each SLUG-LINE should have “FLASHBACK SEQUENCE” noted in it.

INT. or EXT.  LOCATION – DAY or NIGHT (FLASHBACK SEQUENCE)

INT. or EXT. LOCATION – DAY or NIGHT – FLASHBACK SEQUENCE

And then, like the single scene flashback, make sure you note in a slugline when  the reader returns to present day.

I have seen the flashback presented in other ways, too.    One way is to use a  HEADING to note the beginning and ending of a flashback.

Example:  FLASHBACK SEQUENCE … END OF FLASHBACK SEQUENCE

or

Example:  FLASHBACK BEGINS …  FLASHBACK ENDS.

There are many ways to show a FLASHBACK.  I would suggest that you choose the one you like best, but be consistent throughout your project.

And remember that the flashback is written in PRESENT TENSE, just like any other scene!