Schellhardt Laura. Screenwriting for Dummies
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What to do when you’re stuck
Adaptation is a challenging and often cumbersome process. You have to
strike a balance between remaining true to a source and writing your own
piece. If you find yourself leaning too heavily on one side, try one or all of the
following suggestions:
Imagine the story in a different time period or location. Sometimes,
viewing the action out of context helps to clarify what it’s really about.
What adjustments would you have to make if Gone with the Wind, for
example, took place in 1950s Manhattan instead of in the Civil War–torn
South?
Imagine the work from a different point of view. The original piece
may clearly delineate a main character, but what if you chose someone
else to lead the story? What if the new protagonist was the rarely seen
neighbor or the protagonist’s arch rival?
Eliminate flashbacks or memories. Flashbacks aren’t forward moving;
they pause the action in order to recall an event. Fiction is riddled with
flashbacks. If you find yourself unsure of how to include them, try reor-
ganizing the plot sequence so that the events occur in sequence. You
may also allude to them in a scene or eliminate them entirely.
Condense and expand. This may be your grandest challenge. If your
original source is 500 pages, you’re going to have to pick and choose
your events, because you only have two to three hours of screen time in
which to tell this story. Similarly, if you’re taken with one paragraph,
you’ll have to imagine around it.
Determine your main characters and their goals. Primary source mate-
rial often has more characters than you know what to do with. Choose
one or two protagonists and give them very specific goals. The rest of
the action should revolve around helping or hindering those people in
achieving their goals. In order to do so, you may have to cut secondary
characters or condense several smaller roles into one.
The Art of Collaboration
Screenwriting, like playwriting, relies on collaboration. If you continue work-
ing in the field, you’ll most likely collaborate with agents who sell your work,
producers who buy it, and directors and actors who give voice to it on the
screen. Screenwriters collaborate with everyone, including other screenwrit-
ers. Collaboration is a marriage of talent and imagination, and you should
approach it with the seriousness that a marriage requires.
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Writers collaborate for various reasons, but it usually begins when someone
decides that it takes more than one person to write a particular story. That
person then goes in search of another writer whose talents complement her
own, whose knowledge and skill seem appropriate to the project, and whose
schedule and connections will help the work to get done. Finding someone
who fits this description is easier said than done, though.
What to look for in a writing partner
Searching for a writing partner is almost exactly like searching for a spouse.
Here are a few things to look for:
Someone responsible whom you can trust: Both you and your partner
have your work cut out for you. Find someone who will keep her dead-
lines, pull her weight, and keep the project between the two of you.
Someone who respects your work, and someone whose work you
respect: If you don’t know what your partner has written, how will you
know if he’s right for the project? Make sure that both of you are com-
fortable with the other one’s interests, style, and vision.
Someone who has a similar concept of the project, if different reasons
for pursuing it. Eventually, you and your partner will have to agree upon
a premise and a purpose for the work. Start that conversation now. If
your thoughts of the work differ greatly, you may end up with two films
instead of one.
Someone who complements your writing style and who brings differ-
ent skills to the table than you provide. It’s important to share a con-
cept of the project and to be equally invested in its creation, but you
don’t always have to agree. In fact, finding someone who will challenge
your artistic opinions may be the best way to ensure a complex and
well-developed script.
Discuss this list with your potential partner early on. You may feel bad if that
person doesn’t care to work with you, but you’ll feel worse if you discover it
halfway through the first draft.
How to approach collaboration
After you find someone to work with, the two of you need to have two discus-
sions right off the bat. One involves the work itself, and one involves the writ-
ing process. I also strongly advise you to create a written agreement for each
other before you begin writing. This agreement becomes your contract,
which not only further clarifies your individual roles in the process, but is a
document that you can alter and refer to as you work.
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Sharing the work: Part I
Ask and answer the following questions with your partner: What interests
you about the project? What does not? Who do you believe the script is
about? What do those characters want? What is the general premise of the
piece? Why does this piece have to be written?
This discussion forms the foundation upon which you can write the screen-
play. I ask students to pound out a mission statement of sorts, depicting what
the project wants to achieve. Should egos arise later on — and they will arise
later on — the writers have something to return to.
After you’ve spoken for a bit, take a stab at character biographies. Write
them together or on your own and then compare. Do the same with an out-
line for the piece. The beginning, middle, and end may change as you write,
but at least you’re starting from a point of agreement. After an outline and a
premise are in place, you’re ready to discuss process.
Sharing the work: Part II
You’ve spoken about the work as a story. Now talk about the work as work. In
other words, discuss the division of labor. Within any writer’s job are several
tasks: research, interviews, outlines, draft work, typing, revision, the pitch,
and so on. Who’s going to take on what task? Be clear and divide the tasks
according to your strengths and your interests. After you determine who’s
doing what and when, consider the following suggestions:
Decide on a schedule. When do you like to write? When will you write
on your own, and when will you write as a team? Give yourselves assign-
ments and goals for each meeting. Finding a schedule that works for
both of you will take at least a week, maybe longer.
Kill the ego. This project is not about you. It’s about the piece. When
you feel the ego taking over, when you or your partner becomes overly
sensitive, return to that mission statement.
Divide the work evenly. When one person takes the lead, bitterness and
resentment often follow. If one person wants the dominant role, discuss
what dominant entails and devise some kind of an agreement. Remember
that there was a reason you chose to collaborate in the first place.
Discuss problems as they arise. Most creative problems occur because
one partner forgets to communicate with the other.
If you’ve had these discussions, you’re ready to start writing. As with any
process, this one presents unique challenges. You and your partner will make
mistakes. Acknowledge them and move on. You will become angry at each
other. Talk about it and move on. You will reach a point where you’ll want to
write the script yourself. Return to your mission statement and move on. The
key is to keep talking and keep working. The challenges don’t stop, but the
eventual rewards make it all worthwhile.
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Learning from the Masters
With all this talk about the challenges of finding the right collaborative part-
ner, I thought you might like proof that it is possible to find one. The follow-
ing two duos have been collaborating successfully for years. Hopefully, you’ll
find inspiration in their examples.
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
This creative pair has made a career adapting fiction to film, and there’s no
indication they’ll stop anytime soon. While Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor
admit they don’t often know their scripts’ conclusions in advance, they have
a writing routine that helps keep them on track. A typical writing day begins
at 10 or 11 a.m. and lasts six hours. They spend much of that time talking
through scenes and taking turns scripting them onto the page. They’ve
coined the phrase “Who’s driving” for the person doing the typing, and
they’re known for plugging two keyboards into one computer so that they
can add to a scene as inspired.
Payne has said that their first drafts are generally three drafts: one draft to
get all the ideas on the page, one draft to further develop those ideas, and
one draft to edit and refine. Once you’ve written those three drafts, they
maintain, you’ve actually completed your first. Their advice to screenwriters?
Avoid writing the movie version of your story. Consider the circumstances
you’ve set up for the characters, and then consider how a person would hon-
estly react under those circumstances. Write from a place of what’s true, not
what’s cinematic. Looking at their following body of work, it seems that may
be good (and lucrative) advice.
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry (2007)
Sideways (2004)
About Schmidt (2002)
Election (1999)
Citizen Ruth (1996)
Joel and Ethan Coen
Perhaps no two collaborators are as well known as the Coen brothers. Since
their critically acclaimed film Raising Arizona in 1987, the Coens have pro-
duced one hit after another, they’re most recent success being No Country
for Old Men, which picked up the Oscar for best film of 2007–08.
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The Coen brothers are actually much more than screenwriting partners —
they’re cinematic auteurs, which means they’re partners in virtually every
aspect of the film’s production and direction as well. They’ve written original
screenplays (The Big Lebowski), adapted contemporary fiction (No Country
for Old Men), and adapted classics like The Odyssey (Oh Brother Where
Art Thou). They produce and direct their pictures as well.
So what’s their recipe for success? First, they suggest choosing challenging
material, even material that seems too difficult at the onset. This challenge
helps a writer avoid becoming complacent and overly predictable. They’ve
also said it helps to take a break from one film by concentrating on another.
Their film Barton Fink was written in just three weeks while the brothers
were on creative hiatus from the plot-centric Miller’s Crossing.
They’ve called their writing process fairly arbitrary and laid-back. They
spend hours dreaming out loud while one person types those dreams onto
the page. They often storyboard their films while writing, or upon completion
of a first draft. This process helps them find the look of the film which, in
turn, contributes to the language of it.
Finally, they’ve been known to envision actors for the roles as they write them.
Perhaps this explains why they tend to work with the same people film after
film. It certainly explains why their characters are so specifically rendered.
Film collaborations include
Burn After Reading (2008)
No Country for Old Men (2007)
The Ladykillers (2004)
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Fargo (1996)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Barton Fink (1991)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
Raising Arizona (1987)
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Part IV
Selling Your Script
to Show Business
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In this part . . .
A
h, Hollywood. The producers, the directors, the
agents, the studios, the stars and, well, you. Placing
yourself in the show business scene is a juggling act unto
itself, and making an entrance is no small feat. This part
is all about equipping yourself for the market — how to
assemble a network, what to prepare in advance, and how
to package the product of you. Armed with that informa-
tion, you should be able to launch yourself into the indus-
try full speed ahead. And when you get there? No worries.
The last half of the part details what to do when you
arrive.
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Chapter 19
Before You Send It:
Premarketing Considerations
In This Chapter
Being aware of Hollywood’s main players
Keeping personal records
Understanding how networking works
Preparing your script for submission
Protecting your work in advance
C
ompleting a revised draft is cause for celebration. Take a vacation, do
something mindless, and by all means, spend as much time away from
your office as possible. After all, your work is half done.
Wait a second, did I just say “half done”? But you’ve survived research, inter-
views, plot development, treatments, months of writing and revisions — is
that really just half of the journey? Possibly. If you wrote the script for your-
self, to enjoy the craft for craft’s sake, you’re finished right now. However, if
you wrote the screenplay for an audience, then yes, you’re only half done.
The second half of the journey involves getting your screenplay ready for
that audience, be it reader, agent, or studio executive. The time’s come to
consider the business.
Unlike creative work, which may begin haphazardly and fly you down several
paths on your way to an idea, the next stage of the game involves immediate
and thorough preparation. One of the worst things that a writer can do — to
her career, to her script, and to her self-esteem — is to enter the market pre-
maturely. In Hollywood, time is always of the essence — meetings are brief,
openings limited, and attention spans short. Show business is not a business
to approach ill-equipped. This chapter helps make the marketing process less
intimidating and arms you with information and organizational skills for the
crazy road ahead.
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Understanding the “Biz” in Showbiz
You only have to glance at the opening and closing credits of any film to
appreciate the number of people that it takes to complete a project. You have
literary agents and their assistants, directors and assistant directors, actors,
their agents, their managers, producers, production companies, and studios
heads. The list reads like an Oscar acceptance speech. How on earth will you
navigate between all these roles? Well, you probably won’t until you know
what each person is responsible for and what each person wants. So for
starters, familiarize yourself with the players.
Getting to know the players:
The Hollywood hierarchy
Many people in Hollywood do various jobs at various times. Actors own pro-
duction companies, actors are also directors, producers may be directors,
and so on. That information changes on a yearly, if not monthly, basis. So
keep your eye out for new developments. The following list is designed as an
overview of the kinds of roles you’ll run into when selling a script:
Producers — the wallet: Producers manage and financially back the pro-
duction elements of your work. They oversee everything from marketing
and publicity to hiring a staff for the project. Some producers fund the
project themselves (executive producers); others (independent produc-
ers) may be looking for a studio to provide financial support. Producers
are looking for two things from a writer: the strength of your finished
screenplay and your ability to write for other projects they have in mind.
Directors — the eye: Directors are in charge of completing the screen-
play. By completing, I mean bringing it to life on the screen and giving it
dimension. Directors make the script camera-ready, breaking each scene
into specific shots with the aid of a cinematographer. They also work
with the actors, sound designers, camera crew, and so on to create a uni-
fied vision for the piece. The draft of the script crafted by the director
and cinematographer is called a shooting script. It includes storyboard
notations and camera directions. Please note that these notations are
the director’s job, not the writer’s job.
Actors — the true players: These are obviously the people who star in
the films. However, many actors also own production companies and
may seek out new work, most often scripts with large roles for them.
Though showing an actor your work is often difficult, attaching an actor
to your project is always a good thing. At best, that actor pitches it for
you, and it gets made; at worst, the script gains recognition.
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Agents/Managers — your ticket in: These men and women represent
new talent. They send scripts to various executives, seek writing assign-
ments for their clients, arrange the meetings, and negotiate contracts on
the writer’s behalf. They may act as final reader for the piece and step
in should legal problems arise. They’re looking for writers with talent,
a good attitude, innovative ideas, and staying power. What’s the differ-
ence? Agents work primarily with writers trying to sell and market their
work. Managers work with writers, actors, directors, studios, producers
and marketing teams to pull together entire projects. They take a higher
percentage of the writer’s paycheck as a result.
Studios — the big guns: Studios, such as Warner Brothers, DreamWorks,
Paramount, and so on, finance projects and provide production space
and materials. In many cases, they attach producers and directors to
projects they’ve purchased. They’re interested in a worthwhile invest-
ment and scripts that fit their audience. They keep a close eye on the
budget proposal and marketability of each film they consider.
This list extends far beyond the five roles that I mention here. To name just
a few more, cinematographers help design and shoot each scene, editors cut
the film for pace, and sound designers do exactly what their title suggests —
design your sound. But you won’t meet these people until well after the
script has been purchased. People in the first five roles are the ones who
may help get you in the door.
Getting to know the buyers:
The studio hierarchy
When you decide it’s time to sell your screenplay, studios are the companies
you or your agent will be courting. However, it’s a good idea to know who the
main players are in advance; find out what sort of work they’re producing,
and how many scripts they purchase a year.
There are currently six major film production companies in Hollywood, and
between them, they own most of the smaller studios. While this list will, no
doubt, change as the years go on, the following companies have been around
long enough to merit citation:
Paramount Motion Pictures: Paramount is owned by Viacom and has
produced such recent films as Vanilla Sky, Mean Girls, Elizabethtown,
Babel, Transformers, Cloverfield, and the soon-to-be-released Indiana
Jones film. The following smaller studios fall under its domain:
• Paramount Vantage (formerly Paramount Classics)
• DreamWorks SKG (co-owned by Stephen Spielberg, Jeffrey
Katzenberg, and Brad Gray)
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