Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Macro Notes

My writers group includes people who have way more industry connections than I do, which is pretty awesome for me. I try to give back by giving great notes. Also, I brought a lamp.

One of the members of our group constantly keeps us focused on "Macro Notes" and we have all sort of adapted that phrase on our own, and it's such a useful strategy I want to share it here.

When you first finish a script, you want notes that will tell you how to fix it. You want clear, easy to follow instructions. Fix this, then this, then this and bang! You have a brilliant new script.

Only most of the time, that doesn't fix the script.

Know what's way harder? Page one rewrites. Guess which one you probably need?

When we go into meetings with a new script, the first thing we do is look at the big picture. Macro notes. Tone, characters, plot. If we start to head into scene breakdowns one of us will whip the conversation back on track. Tone, characters, plot. If those three things don't gel then it doesn't matter how many permutations of a scene you try, they won't work. So you start with Macro notes, because any specific notes will be irrelevant until you've fixed the big stuff.

This group is made up of people who know what they're doing. Most of us have been writing for ages, but even the one member of our group who hasn't written so many screenplays has still been in the industry for a long time and knows her business. Yet every single one of us has had to do a page one rewrite on our script after the first meeting. One member of our group ended up scrapping everything but the concept. The title, the tone, the characters - all of it changed.

When I start writing something I have a clear idea of what I want the opening scene to be and it's tough to let it go. You get used to thinking of a scene a certain way. But when you get macro notes, you can't hang on to that shit. You have to take a look at the plot, tone, and characters and let the rest go to serve those three elements.

That's why often when I do notes for a new writer I don't finish the script. Right away I see Macro problems, and once you see those nothing else matters. The truth is, once you've taken care of that, notes are easy. In our group that seems to be happening around draft 3. That's when you get those specific notes - things you can actually do right away, little fixes that make your work stronger, rewrites that take hours instead of weeks.

But first, you have got to let yourself go Macro.

6 comments:

  1. Hey, long time no post... Been busy with the day job, but always around.

    Cool post.

    Maybe your writer's group wouldn't give me a headache.

    I need advanced discourse if I talk about screenplays. I have my own way of working out tone vs. character but I agree that the most problems come from inconsistent tone and characters.

    I'm a little anal and consider the script the Final Draft after the 3 or 4 outlines that didn't make the cut.

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  2. Anonymous9:38 PM

    cool post

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  3. Anonymous9:02 AM

    My managers gave me a really macro note.

    "Let's throw out your last draft and start from a blank page."

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  4. Hamboogul9:03 AM

    Oops, the previous post was by me.

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  5. Anonymous2:42 PM

    Good Evening, EMILY AND THE F******* READERS IN THE LOS ANGELES.

    LISTEN UP. EMILY IS THE QUEEN OF SCREENWRITING BLOGS.

    SHE KNOWS WHAT SHE IS TAKING ABOUT.

    SO to all YOU F******* A***** READERS OUT THERE, IF YOU READ ON A MICRO LEVEL, EMILY IS GOING TO KICK you IN YOUR BUTT.

    So use you cinematic eyes and write like a real person. We want Readers who write with MACRO PASSION. "MACRO OO LICIOUS"

    I HATE READERS WHO SEE MICRO THINGS.

    I LOVE READERS WHO SEE THE MACRO gustos and funk in all our screenplays.

    Thank you, Miss Emily,
    Mikey
    "Nothing I have been told about these people is correct. They are not beggars and thieves. They are not the boogey men they are made out to be. On the contrary, they are polite guests and I enjoy their humor."






    I love macro notes.

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  6. Hey, Christian! Long time. Yeah there's a guy on Done Deal who swears he only writes first drafts, so I know it can be done, but I think it doesn't work for most people. But the important thing is to do what works for you as an individual.

    Lol, Hamboogul.

    Mikey, thanks, but you don't have to say all that stuff. Are you the one sending out all those emails? You don't need to be sending out all those emails. Just relax, man.

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