Be an expert

I was talking to an aspiring screenwriter the other day who is, quite frankly, a hack. I was polite and agreeable as could be because it was a brief moment at a party, but the whole time she was talking, I just kept thinking "Wow, you represent the worst kind of writer."

She was proud of herself because when she couldn't figure out how to tackle Act 2, she just thought of a movie that had a great sex scene in the middle and copied it. She was really proud that nobody else noticed her theft. Seriously, she said this to me like it was a great accomplishment.

I know this happens a lot. You don't know how to proceed with your script, so you think "What did other movies do?" and if they did them, then it's okay for you to do them. That way, you don't have to work as hard to figure out how to solve your story problems.

Well, kids, I have the solution to all your hacky moments right here - RESEARCH.

When you look stuff up, you learn neat things. Things that will help you as you write.

Writing a story about CIA agents? Read a fucking book by one. There are actually quite a few out there. Want to know what an archaeologist does? Don't just watch Indiana Jones movies. Talk to a fucking archaeologist. Professors have office hours during which they'd rather do anything other than grade papers. Telling a young screenwriter what they do for a living sounds awesome to most of them. You can buy all the technical expertise you want for a price of a cup of coffee.

There's also a website or two where experts on just about any topic you want will answer you. This is a good one:  All Experts.

I'm lucky because I chose a mate wisely. My husband, aka The Beefcake, is law enforcement, and a lot of his buddies are in different branches. Chances are, no matter what branch of law enforcement I want to write about, he knows someone who has worked there. He also knows fighting techniques, general tactics and weapons. Any time he's home, you can hear me holler for him, or, if he's playing Halo Reach, running down the hall to interrupt his vital game time to demand a strategy on how a trained military professional would clear a two-story house.

He is also capable of beating people up and lifting heavy things. It's pretty sweet.

Anyhow, my overall point is, when you know your topic, it gets a lot easier to figure out what your characters would do in certain situations. And when you know that, not only can you properly advance the plot, but you can make your scenes more interesting as well. You can find little anecdotes to squeeze in there, or neat personality quirks you can give your people to make them more individual.

You don't have to copy what's on film if you know how real people act.

So don't be a hack. Go look some stuff up.

Organized

Eight years ago, with the help of my tech-savvy stepdad, my grandmother bought me a Dell Inspiron 1520 with all the bells and whistles. It was the Cadillac of affordable laptops, which is why it lasted me so long. I can still use it, but the thing is so beat up now. The memory is so full I don't have room for Spotify. The Z and B keys don't lock into place, so I can't name characters things that start with those two letters unless I want to stop each time I type in a character and force down the key. The hinges were busted so the lid wobbled.

Anyway, I was trying to ear enough credit card points to get a new computer for free. It took me a decade to earn half the points I need, so, you know, I was getting there. Then I got a check for some overpaid stuff and it was just enough to go to Best Buy in Hollywood and then home to research and then to Best Buy in Burbank where I finally committed to an HP Envy.

So, new computer. I spent a day transferring everything and loading all the software, like you do. In the process, I decided to take the opportunity to organize my documents folders.

When I first started writing screenplays it was sort of chaos - a file called "My Scripts" where I threw every draft. But sometimes drafts would end up in the Movie Magic folder instead. And sometimes I'd change up the method I used for identifying titles. I had started to organize a little better with the last script, but I'd never really cleaned it up completely

So with this transfer of things to my brand new shiny toy, I put it all on my external hard drive and then moved everything over one bit at a time so I could put it right. Now everything that wasn't organized is finally in place.

I have a folder for screenplays, and there's nothing in it but other folders. I have a folder for abandoned projects, a file for story ideas, a file for development stuff like cute lines of dialogue I heard someone say or an article I might want to think about using for inspiration. Then each script has its own file. Within each file is everything I used to develop the project, like a character sketch or an outline, or the other outline, or the final outline (I outline a lot). Then I have each draft of the script, always titled Name Of Project1, NameOfProject2, etc. Whatever is the last number is the most recent draft. I've never really needed to go back more than one version for any reason, but I keep all the drafts just in case.

I like being organized. I like being able to find things when I need them. So now I have a neatly organized desk and a neatly organized computer. Next up, I tackle the crap on Beefcake's desk behind me and all that random stuff on the floor that I don't want to look at.

How do you organize your stuff?

Words of inspiration from a fighter

I've never been a big fan of team sports. I'm from North Carolina, so I'm legally obligated to have a favorite college basketball team (Duke) but really I'm a fan of the individual athlete. For one thing, individual sports tend to have fewer rules for me to try to remember.

My favorite sport is easily MMA, which you know if you follow my Twitter feed at all. There's a lot to love about the sport. It's more than just two guys beating each other up. It's a battle of wills and strategy where on any given day, a fat guy can knock out an Adonis with one well-placed overhand right. One fighter can be winning round after round, but he slips up for half a second and suddenly he finds himself tapping out in a triangle choke. There's a lot more intelligence involved in an MMA fight than most people realize.

Dana White, who runs the UFC, has a saying: "Never leave it in the hands of the judges." He means, knock the guy out or submit him. Don't count on points to save you. Don't calculate, beat his ass.

I always think about that when I go to write a script. It's obviously not so cut and dry in writing, but you can always go into writing something with the attitude that you will knock it out of the fucking park. Don't calculate the points, submit that son of a bitch.

And that was fine until this last week's Ultimate Fighter. Coach Chael Sonnen gave an amazing speech about failure that kind of blew me away. One of his fighters who is an amazing talent, expressed doubt about his skills. After giving the kid a pep talk, he sat for a moment alone with the camera and said the following:

"When doubt seeps in, you've got two roads.  You can take either road.  You can go to the left or you can go to the right, and believe me, they’ll tell you failure’s not an option.  That is ridiculous. Failure is always an option.  Failure is the most readily available option at all times.  But it’s a choice.  You can choose to fail, you can choose to succeed.  And if we can plant seeds and let him know 'Move your feet, keep your hands up, stay off the bottom,' that is the road to victory.  Or -  self-doubt and negative talk.  And that is the road to failure.  But failure is always there, and it’s okay to recognize that."

Failure is always an option. There's a moment where you decide whether or not it's the option you're going to take. You can wallow in it, or you can accept it as a possibility and then move on to figure out what you need to do next.

A couple of awesome observations about Deadwood

I had to take some time away to deal with something for the last week, but I've dealt with it and now I've got my brain on straight enough to post something. I'd like to thank Buffy and Deadwood for helping distract me from the bad shit on my mind.

Although I loved the hell out of it, I haven't watched Deadwood for some time, but I recently listened to a Nerdist podcast with Timothy Olyphant that was absolutely enlightening. He spend about half an hour just talking about Deadwood and working with Milch.

I think most of us can agree that Deadwood was brilliant, and an unfinished work of art. There are so many great story telling lessons to be learned from that show. I want to talk about two of them.

SOILERS to follow for season one.

One is the development of Ian McShane's Swearengen. If you watch the pilot, Swearengen is a complete fucking asshole. He puts his boot on Trixie's neck for shooting a guy who beat her. He has a man killed because his presence is simply an inconvenience. The next couple of episodes, although you see some humanity in him, it's not much.

And then something happened. We saw him start to care about Trixie. We saw him give a shit about the camp. He came around to the idea that Bullock was an OK guy. And then he mercy killed the preacher.

All of these things softened him to the point that despite his consistency as an asshole, he became more likable. At first you might say, but why should he be likable? Cy Tolliver isn't likable and he's a great character. Let a villain be a villain!

That's what you might have said, but you'd be missing one big advantage of making Swearengen more likable, and that is the humor. As the show goes along, and we find ourselves more comfortable with the man, we find it easier to laugh at him. Ian McShane can play his eye rolls and reluctant sympathy for comedy. It works. Notice how even though they are cut from the same cloth, you never laugh at Tolliver. He's an evil piece of shit. You're never comfortable with him enough to laugh at him even if he makes some of the same jokes Swearengen might have made. But Swearengen - that motherfucker is hilarious. Watch the show. He isn't nearly as funny at the beginning of season one as he is by the end.

So the lesson there is, if you want to play your villain for laughs, he can't be pure evil. You can't laugh at a purely evil man. You have to like him at least a little.

The second thing I wanted to point to was the season one finale - which was a fantastic episode all around - and Alma Garret's relationship with her father. There is a lot of subtlety to be had on Deadwood, but probably never so much as in this one scene.

Alma and her father are along in her hotel room discussing whether or not she's going to give him any money. Alma's father touches her on the shoulder, on the temple, brushes her hair back - never anything else. But her reaction tells us she's extremely uncomfortable with his touch. When she suggests she'll only give him money if he goes away and leaves her alone, he simply smiles at Alma's adopted daughter, Sofia, and says he will do no such thing.

Even before Alma grabs Sofia and runs out of the room, we know exactly what he must have done to her. Nobody ever says Alma's father raped her. They don't have to. We know what he did. We see it all from her reaction and from his unstated threats.

You don't always have to spell shit out for your audience. Most people have seen enough stories that they can read the clues you give them, and they enjoy it a lot more when you lead them to the edge of the truth and let them get the rest of the way themselves.

Why I don't do notes for strangers

Every so often, someone I may have chatted with on Twitter or DDP or via email or whatever will ask if I would read something and give them notes.

At first, I was glad to do it. I was a teacher, after all, and doing notes is something I enjoyed. So I happily read and gave notes on anyone who seemed eager.

 But then a few people neglected to thank me, or thanked me with a rant about how wrong I was in my criticisms. So I started telling people, "Look, I'm pretty harsh. I'm going to tell you exactly what I think is wrong with your script and I may not be super nice about it, because being nice takes effort, and I'm already expending all my effort on reading your script and figuring out ways to improve it."

To a man, every person I said this to agreed that they were cool with it - nay, that they demanded harsh notes! They are looking for nothing but honesty! They crave it!

And then a lot of those people were super pissed when they saw what I had to say about their precious script, if they responded at all. I'd say about two thirds of the times I've given notes - which usually takes me about two hours - I've gotten no reply at all from the person whose script I read. Not even a "Thanks," although I've gotten that lovely one-word reply frequently as well.

Now I'm no Josh Olson, but I think a lot of us can relate to his rant, even those of us without his impressive pedigree. There's an art to accepting criticism, and often the very people with the weakest screenplays are also the weakest at knowing how to respond to notes. It's a bad combination. eventually those people wear the note givers down.

I know, I know, you're not that asshole. Except that asshole always says he's not that asshole until he gets his notes back and turns into that asshole.

That's why I decided not to do notes for people unless I know them. I know a lot of people who have the same rule. I mean, why should anybody do notes for someone they don't know if they risk getting kicked in the proverbial nuts for it?

Some people are cool. Unfortunately the cool people aren't numerous enough to make up for the assholes.

So I guess, what I'm saying is, if you ask someone to give you notes, say thank you, and not sarcastically. Acknowledge that they gave you a lot to think about. Ask follow up questions if you like. But don't write back an angry rant or an explanation of why you're right. If you disagree with the notes, you can just go off and ignore them. You don't have to explain to the person who took two or three hours of their time why they wasted it because you think they are stupid. You asked for their help and they did you a favor. Don't be a dick about it.

Writer's Block, or the nonexistence thereof

On Twitter yesterday I was lamenting that I had no ideas for this blog, when @aljohnson310 suggested I talk about writer's block.

The thing is, I don't believe in the stuff. Never have. I know some people swear it's real, and I believe it's real for them, but I've never experienced it. I've been stuck for a while, days even, but never blocked.

This last script I wrote was a big challenge, full of sticky places. I stopped working on it during the summer and wrote a whole other script before going back to it, determined to finish. I finished, but Manager has called for a major rewrite, so I was stuck again for a few days while I whined, and then another few days while I tried to figure out what to do now.

But stuck is not blocked.

A lot of this, to me, is about faith. When someone gives me a note that sounds impossible I start to get really upset - panicky, even. And then after I let the fear in for ten whole seconds (Thanks, Dr. Jack!) I remember that I can do anything. I have rarely met a script problem I couldn't figure out how to fix, and I will fix this too. Then I get to work figuring out how to fix it.

So the cure to writer's block is to have an ego the size of Montana.

It starts with knowing I can fix it. I don't know how, but I know I can.  And once I know I can, I just think a lot until I do.

I think in bed as I fall asleep. I think in the shower - Beefcake laughs at me because he can hear me talking in the shower sometimes as I practice lines of dialogue out loud - I think on the elliptical, which mercifully makes time pass faster. I think while I'm walking dogs. I think while I'm cooking dinner. I think while I'm thinking.

The hardest part for me is trying to turn my brain around. At some point, I created a vision of what a scene's supposed to look like, and once it's there, it's tough to shake. But I start thinking of all the ways the theme can be played out more. How can I make the characters experience more conflict? What if the protagonist is a different person? What if the villain is a different person? What if their relationships are different? What if I change locations? What if someone starts shooting? What if, what if....

It becomes obvious which ideas are bad ones, but then suddenly you'll think of something and the light bulb will go off and wham! You're off to the races.

But the key, I think, is not to force it. Have fun with it. Remember when you were a kid and you used to run around the house with a finger gun, pretending to be an FBI agent and shooting your sister who was listening to criminal amounts of depressing music? It's like that. You didn't worry about whether your FBI backstory made any sense, or that overindulgence of The Cure isn't actually a crime - you just made shit up. When you get stuck, you have to be able to make shit up again with wild abandon, and then reign it in later after you've thrown out every idea you can think of until something sticks.

Or at least, that's how it works for me. My cure for writer's block: I know I can solve the problem, I think and think and think, and I open my mind to new possibilities.

I got 99 problems, but writer's block ain't one.

Previously, on Lost Girl...

Tomorrow, the Canadian series Lost Girl returns to television for its third season. It will air in the States on Syfy starting Monday the 14th.

A lot of people are just now discovering the show, which follows the adventures of a young Fae woman, a Succubus named Bo. This show is very Buffyesque, so if you loved Buffy, you will probably love this. I am totally hooked on this show in a bad way, as I have posted about before.

The first two seasons are available on Netflix streaming, but in case you don't have time for all that, I made a video summarizing all the important stuff that happened over the last two years.

So please to enjoy Previously, On Lost Girl......

Outlines

 
A few weeks ago somebody asked about my outlining process, and since I love taking requests, here goes.

Just like everybody else, I read Syd Field. I started off with index cards. I wrote my scenes out on paper, then transferred them to cards, then put the cards up on the bulletin board. Then I wrote, but never really consulted the cards after I put them up to look all pretty. Once I color coded them to represent the A story and the B story. I'm not sure that helped anything.

I think the cards are really useful for people who like to move their scenes around - they can toy with the linear equation of it all by shifting the placement of the cards. I don't write that way. I'm a big fan of cause and effect, so not much in my scripts is interchangeable. Even the B story usually lines up pretty closely with the A story. After a while I began to realize that I was only doing the cards because Syd Field said to do cards, so I ditched them.

I tried a really specifically formatted outline for a while. A few other writers suggested a format that lists the theme and the character motivations and act breaks and whatnot, so I did that. But it didn't work for me.

I used to play the flute. Got good at it - never great - but I was much better when I didn't have to pay attention to the notes. Put me in a jazz ensemble and I'm a genius. Put me in front of a sheet of music and I sound like an idiot. And that's how I am about specifically formatted stuff. I'm not very good at understanding something with that many rules. When I was in the classroom, every now and then the boss would send us these really specific forms to fill out with objectives and learning goals and shit, and I'd just tear mine up and write a couple of paragraphs about what I was doing in my class.

My point is, following a specific format doesn't work for me. So I ditched the template.

I do believe in outlining. I don't see how people who refuse to outline ever get anything finished. And my lack of patience with specific formats and index cards does not mean I don't enjoy being organized. I love being organized, but I like to get straight to the point.

So after a while I just started telling the story. I think it out in my head over a matter of days (or weeks, or years, depending on the project) and then one day I sit down and type the story into Word. If I'm the only one reading it, I write it in an almost shorthand, sometimes with jokes to myself that I will laugh over when I read them later, because if you can't make yourself laugh, how are you going to make audiences laugh? If I know Manager or Producer will read it, I still make jokes, but I try to be more detailed and specific, and leave less to the imagination.

They're officially treatments, but really they're just abbreviated short stories.

Once that's done I think about it for another day or two, rewrite certain parts, add stuff in, remove characters who aren't working, etc. Then I print it out and go to work. I rarely make huge changes. The treatment is usually the script. I do all the creative fucking-around-with-the-story stuff before I sit down to write the script.

Since I started doing it that way I write faster and easier. The stories that have given me the most trouble are the projects where I just crapped out a vague outline and figured I'd fix shit later. But then later came and I really didn't feel like fixing shit. I just wanted it already fixed.

So now, when I start to write, I always solve my problems in the paragraph stage, knowing it will make the eventual script writing stage pleasant and easy.

Everybody does their planning a different way. There are people who never outline a thing. God bless 'em. There are people who love the index cards, or people who have these incredibly organized outlines, or people who do word clouds on a white board. They're all valid methods. I don't have enough patience for that. I just write the story from beginning to end, and then I go write the story from beginning to end again.

How I spent my Christmas vacation

You'd think I didn't post in the last week because of the holiday stuff, and there was a lot of that. I baked everything this year, so there was a lot of kitchen time.

But the main reason I didn't post anything for the past week is because I was too busy writing.

There's this book, see, that I love more than any other book. It's a project I want very badly that has gone around and around Hollywood for many years and never gotten the green light because nobody has ever been able to crack the script. Word is, the project is completely dead. They stopped trying.

And no, this has nothing to do with Wonder Woman. And I'm not going to say what the project is for a very good reason.

Anyhow, I just finished a script and sent it to Manager for notes, which I won't get back until after the holiday. In the meantime I have nothing to work on. I had planned to make a Youtube video, but before I started that, I got a wild hair up my ass to write the treatment for this adaptation. I thought, you never know - what if I get the chance to meet with the producers who own the rights to this thing - I should be prepared to throw my pitch at them. So I took two days and cranked out ten pages.

And they were ten very good pages.

Turns out, I've loved the book so long and read it so many times that I didn't really need to think too much about what I'd change and remove and add. Apparently I've already done all that in my head over time. So the pages just flowed onto the page without much filtering from my conscious mind.

Then I sat and looked at my treatment and I thought, well, what the hell, why don't I just plunk down a couple of pages of the opening scene, since that's so clear in my head. What can it hurt?

I sat down in front of the computer to write two pages. An hour and a half later, I had 11 pages.

Then I said, hey, I'm gonna keep going. I wrote more pages the next day. Then I said hey, I'm gonna write it before Hollywood comes back. After New Year's the town starts up again and I'm going to have a rewrite, maybe more meetings, maybe another spec to write, and then there will be no time for this project. But maybe - just maybe - if I finish it and it's good, we can take it to the producers who own the rights. And maybe - just maybe - if they see a finished script that blows them away, they'll bring this project back to life. Dream achieved.

It's not out of the question.

If it doesn't go anywhere, what did I lose? I wrote a project I'd been wanting to write since I learned what screenwriting was, and I spent two weeks doing it. So to me, a no lose situation.

And that's what I've been doing. I wrote 13 pages one day, 19 the next, and I've been going up and up in daily page count until today, when I hit my all-time record of 26 pages. I started this last Thursday and took two days off for Christmas. So that's 5 days of writing and 77 pages. And I'm gonna be honest - they're good pages. I haven't had to skip scenes like I usually do, or put in placeholders and figure out how to solve the problem later.

It helps that I didn't write the story. I don't have to spend any time wondering if the story is fucking stupid, which is always something that stalls me out a bit. I also know this story very well, so well that I wrote the entire treatment from memory.

I hope to get the first draft down by Monday at the latest.

This is just one of those times that comes along very rarely in your writing life, when you know what you have to do and you do the fuck out of it.

I highly recommend it.

Hit List / Black List 2012

It's list season!
Not long ago we had a Young and Hungry List, a list of writers who are new on the scene and show a lot of potential.

In October we had the Blood List, a list of great specs from this year that had blood all over them. And by that I think they mean horror and thriller. I'm still not 100% sure what the Blood List is because it's not just horror. But I know that it's never going to apply to me, so I don't pay it much mind.

Monday is the big one - the Black List. Not to be confused with BL 3.0, the website where you can upload your script, the original Black List was created when producer Franklin Leonard sent around an email to just about everyone he knew in the Industry asking what scripts they liked the most this year. He compiled the results into a list, and pretty soon it became a thing. So the Black List is the papa bear of lists. If you're on it, that puts you on a new level. It means your script was one of the most passed around works of the year. It's the ultimate in validation that doesn't involve your film actually being made. Because I think all of us would ten times rather have the movie actually made than have the script be on any kind of list. But I digress.


Here's the 2012 Black List.*

Friday, the Hit List came out. What the hell is the difference between the Hit List and the Black List, you may ask? The Hit List is all specs. So while the Black List may have studio assignments, sequels, etc, the Hit List is only scripts written by a writer hoping for a sale or an option. You're more likely to get new writers on this list, and you're less likely to have to compete with Aaron Sorkin. BUT many of these scripts will also appear on the Black List.

Here is the link to the 2012 Hit List**. Enjoy!







*I am not on it.
**I am on it.

Writer's Lab - a community worth checking out

Screenwriters need a community. Writing is such a solitary activity that it's tough to have an objective view of your work. It also gets a bit lonely. I happen to be a big fan of joining communities, if not forever, then to see what they have to offer. I've left a few writing groups in my day. I've left a few websites too. I've stuck with Done Deal, this blog, and I am all over Twitter. In fact, I feel like I've made friends through all three of those online sources. Who would have thought you could make friends via Twitter?

The point is, even if you're not a social butterfly, you need to network with other writers. You need reliable note givers, and people who understand what you're going through,  and  people who can answer questions or make recommendations. But mostly, you need reliable notegivers. Not your mom.

So I thought that today I'd highlight a community you may not have heard of. Robert Dillonw (rdlln on Twitter) has often mentioned his online screenwriting group, and I thought it deserved some attention, especially from those of you who are out-of-towners. I asked Robert to do a guest post explaining what his Writer's Lab is. And just to clarify, because it sounds like a bit of an ad, it's completely free. This is an online community, not a company trying to sell you anything. I am not a member, but I love the idea. It is only accessible via private invitation, so your work is more protected.

So here you go. I cede the floor to Robert:



If you’re serious about becoming a better screenwriter then you know how valuable feedback is. While there’s no substitute for live, in person writing groups - they’re not always possible. Enter, the Writers’ Lab.

The Writers’ Lab is a private blog I created where you can post as many pages as often or infrequently as you like. Others can then critique your work in the comments. In addition to the home page (where pages are posted) there is a forum to introduce yourself and discuss all things screenwriting related. You can also use the blog to form your own smaller, more intensive writing groups or to find a writing partner.

I’d like to thank Emily for this opportunity to tell you a little bit about the lab. Please  contact me if you’d like an invite. Here’s what some members have to say:

I think that Writers' Lab is a great chance for writers (and aspiring writers) to share opinions and tips on each others material. It's been very difficult for me to find anything else on the internet. I'm Italian and I make huge efforts to write in English in order to have more chances in the international industry. When I finish a script, I'm in love with my story and my characters but I do know that the first draft (and probably even the next 8!) is crap. And I don't need my mum's opinion, neither my best friend's one. I need an objective opinion from another writer. Someone who can tell me if my structure works, if my characters have an appropriate arch or if it's terribly boring, too much slow or something. And the more he'll be frank and hard, the better will be my rewriting. Re-writing is a sort of catharsis. Isn't it? Everything becomes clearer, draft by draft. And it's the essence of writing itself. But to do it, as I just said, we need a critical reader. Writers helping other writers is a great resource and Writers' Lab is exactly this.
   

- Francesca     Gajo

The Writers Lab is a place that has the potential to grow into an invaluable and resourceful place for all scriptwriters looking for guidance, feedback, advice and of course like-minded friends who are also working towards breaking into the industry.

I have only been a member for a short time, and I have already made friends with approachable and talented people, and gained superb and well mannered feedback for a number of scripts that I am working on.  My friendships with such people have continued to grow outside of the Lab, and this has been the greatest benefit for me, as trusted readers are something that all writers need.

The Writers Lab is friendly, well run, informative, educational and above all else it’s run by the people, for the people.

It is not pretentious, daunting, or self-applauding and everything I have gained from it has been from sincere, candid and affable people on a similar journey to my own.  I love it, and am very grateful to feel like a part or something that will hopefully continue to grow.

    - Paul Holbrook

Two blogs you should read

You guys should all know about Geoff LaTulippe's new blog. He's a talky bastard on Twitter, and now he has succumbed to the urge to put his thoughts about screenwriting into longer form at http://www.geofflatulippe.com/

LaTulippe is the writer of that fine Justin Long/Drew Barrymore film Going the Distance, but as you should know by now, IMDB credits only tell a fraction of the story. The guy knows the business and has a lot of good stuff to say on the subject. Hopefully he'll keep this thing going.

And if you're not already reading it, you should also regularly check Doug Richardson's brilliant exploits in the film business. He wrote Die Hard 2, Bad Boys, Money Train, Hostage - in short, the dude has a long and interesting career, and he talks all about it in the most wonderful stories that you must read.

Go. Read. Learn.

Let the Holiday Hiatus begin!

 I hope you guys have a lot to be thankful for tomorrow. I know I sure do.

This year I was able to quit my day job and focus on writing, and even though I have yet to be paid, my loving husband has griped about it far less than I would have thought.

I have in-laws in town, so between the cleaning and cooking and general family gathering, I haven't had a lot of time to physically sit at the computer and write pages.

But that doesn't mean I'm not writing.

Part of writing is the planning, and I'm doing that all the time. While I'm mixing up pie batter, I'm working on a story idea. Waiting for in-laws at the airport - I'm reading a script. So at least I know I haven't wasted my time.

In Hollywood, this is the time when everybody starts winding down, so if you're new to these parts, don't expect anything to happen between now and January. There will be reading, though. Lots of reading.

Franklin Leonard created the original Black List because he was an executive looking for recommendations on what scripts he should read over Christmas vacation, so that's exactly the purpose it serves. Execs and agents and managers will all be reading scripts from the list while they're on vacation. That probably means they're less likely to be reading your script.

So the best thing to do right now is stop worrying about who's reading and when they'll get back to you and what they think. Just eat, drink, be merry, hang out with your relatives, then retreat to your computer when you're tired of them and get some work done. But don't spend your time waiting for a phone call, because the likelihood of that is pretty slim until 2013.

And in the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving!

When your parents don't approve

Whew. Last week was bananas. I had no idea that posting that article on Scriptshadow was going to create such a shitstorm.

But buried in the comments was this question from Astan:


This morning my folks (mom) said to me that "writing films, doing this film thing, trying to do any business, trying to get some big hit was all a fantasy. I'm living in a fantasy world." Then she implied I need to wake up and give up fantasies altogether.

How would you feel if your folks or someone important to you said something like that to you?


And I think this comment deserves some attention because I bet a lot of people can relate to this.

Personally, I say FUCK IT.

In the beginning, my mom was totally against me coming out to LA. She believed I should be a teacher, that Hollywood was a pipe dream, that working in movies was a waste of my talent.

I told her I really wish she felt differently, then I moved to Hollywood. I taught school - that made her happy - and in the meantime I just kept working on scripts. I sent her my finished drafts. She'd shrug - my work isn't her cup of tea. She didn't change her mind.

Then I was working on a period piece about a time in which she's an expert, so I called her up and asked her to help with research. She really liked that idea. Then she started going out with her girlfriends and telling them the story I was writing. Then she started giving me story notes. Then objecting to plot points I wanted to change.

Then I put her now-deceased best friend into one of my scripts, and she loved it. Then I got repped. I told her - and this is true - that the character based on her friend is one of the reasons people loved the script so much.

Now, she tells everybody who will listen that her daughter is writing movies.

In the beginning, I think parents are concerned because screenwriting is such an insecure business. They'd much rather you not going into something that crushes your soul and pays you nothing. Nobody plans for their kid to be a starving artist.

But everybody loves movies, except for crazy people. Non-crazy people, even the ones who don't watch movies that much, really enjoy feeling like a part of the process. Make your mom a part of the process.

I imagine this won't work for everybody's mom, but you can try. I bet she's got a story she thinks should be a movie. Let her give you ideas. You don't have to do anything with them, but tell her how much you enjoy her input.

My mom now sends me newsclippings about stories in the local paper that she thinks I should write about. Every now and then she'll hit on something.

Sometimes it takes some time for parents to come around. Sometimes they never do. Either way, live your life for you, not for them. They'll either get over it, or they won't.

The Scriptshadow: How I lost my faith in Carson Reeves

Most of you have heard of Scriptshadow.

I tried to stay out of it, but I can't. I give a shit about the screenwriting community, and I don't like what's happening. I have to say something.

Scriptshadow started as a blog for analyzing professional screenplays. It's run by a man who goes by the name Carson Reeves. In this business, many people represent themselves with pseudonyms, so for the purpose of this article, I will continue to respect Carson's choice by referring to him by his chosen public name.

When Carson started, his goal was to review scripts publicly and share the files over the Internet as a way to break down the barriers between amateurs and Hollywood - an admirable goal. I was right where he was then, still trying to figure out the screenplay thing, and still trying to figure out where one got copies of all those scripts everyone else seemed to be able to find. Carson provided a source for these scripts and a thoughtful analysis of how to make your work more like that work. I didn't always agree with his opinion, but it seemed like a wonderful gift to a young screenwriter.

He also seemed like a really reasonable guy. I remember explaining to him why I loved a script he hated - Tonight, He Comes - and he was completely open to considering alternative viewpoints. I supported him completely.

I took his cue and started reviewing scripts on my own here and there. Then screenwriter John August posted his now-famous rant about why Scriptshadow is bad for the community. Gary Whitta (Book of Eli) was still posting to the screenwriting board Done Deal Pro then, and he agreed with August's sentiments. I asked Gary, what if I LOVED The Book of Eli? (which I did) Wouldn't you be okay with me posting a positive review of your script? Gary said he didn't want ANYONE posting about an unfinished work, as a script inevitably is. I didn't get it at the time, but he was the professional and I was the nobody, so I listened. I haven't posted a script review since. And now that I have had a script hit the tracking boards, I can completely understand Gary's perspective. I wouldn't want my script reviewed either, positive or negative. It's not a published novel - not a public document for the entire Internet to peruse. I worked on a script recently - if it got out before it was ready, while I was still sending it to a couple of people for notes - it could sabotage a potential deal.

But I digress.

I still took the scripts Carson offered, and read them on my own, keeping most of my thoughts to myself or only sharing them with friends. I still read his blog, and occasionally commented.

He had a few little contests that were fun - I entered and did ok, got a few pages up on the site. Carson and some of the commenters gave me really helpful notes that I ended up using. I was grateful.

I don't know exactly when it happened, but one day Carson stopped trying to figure out how to be a better writer, and starting thinking about how to monetize his good idea. Nothing wrong with that, really. People do it all the time. But it's the way he did it that bugs me.

At some point, he started offering notes for money. It makes sense. He gave notes all the time on professional scripts, and eventually started posting reviews of amateur scripts, which was actually great for the community. Plenty of people give notes for money. I've thought about doing it, except I hate reading shitty scripts. But when Carson started charging for notes I thought, "Okay, I don't usually agree with his opinion so his notes probably aren't for me, but good for him if people are willing to pay him for his thoughts."

Then came The Disciple Program. This is a script written by the talented Tyler Marceca. Marceca submitted this script to Carson after already winning one high profile contest, and Carson sent it to his contacts.

The script blew up. It went everywhere. It got Tyler repped at WME and a deal. The Disciple Program was just named #1 on this year's Blood List.

This was all great for Tyler, but also great for Carson. He got a writer exposure. He helped the community. I was elated.

But suddenly, his cost for notes went up and up until he was charging $1,000 a pop. The ONLY reason you'd pay that much for notes is that you think he will pass your script onto his contacts.

(As a contrast, the well-respected Screenplay Mechanic's MAX price is $325.)

Then it started to feel like Carson was the one who made The Disciple Program happen. He posted entries less about Tyler's success and more about his own genius in finding a great script, as if this was somehow a really amazing skill, more amazing than actually writing the script. I'm pretty sure Marceca would have been found eventually, by someone.

Carson's tweets became more and more self-serving, until they started to make me uncomfortable.

Then came this post about Carson wanting to become a producer, but not being entirely sure about what a producer does. His conclusion is that he should find a script and a producer with a big name and a bank account and attach Carson's name to the project.

He's found talent at least once and introduced it to the town, which sounds like a manager's job. So why not become a manager, you may ask?

In the comments of the above linked post, Carson said this: "Thought about it but I tried managing for a little while and it sucked up way more time than I thought it would.  So I think I'm focused more on the producing end."

So managing is hard, but producing - that's something any old nobody can do with no experience or time?

I know more than one actual producer who takes great offense to that comment.

Carson will still review your script for free in his Amateur Friday posts if he chooses it out of his multitude of submissions. Maybe he'll even send it to his contacts - those same contacts that launched Marceca. Or, if he doesn't pick your script from the logline, you can pay him or his employees a small fortune for notes. It's not difficult to see the problem that arises here.

Let me be perfectly clear, and if you get nothing else out of this long post, remember this: Any producer who charges for notes is not someone with whom you want to be in business. Real producers make their money by making movies.

Now Carson has his own official website, where he advertises artists who charge a hefty fee to design a poster for your movie. I'm certain he gets a cut of their take. You do NOT need a poster to sell your script. Ever. If you want to design one, go for it, but no legit producer will ever expect this of you. They might even think it superfluous.

But back to this producer thing.

If Carson took some of his reader earnings to finance a micro-budget picture from a script he found and loved, or even went around to possible financiers and begged the money out of them - then I'd be in full support. That's what an actual producer does. An actual producer also puts together a team that will make a film by recruiting talented directors, actors,writers, and anyone else who can make it happen.

But that's not what he claims to do. He wants to attach his name to a script and use someone else's money, time and name to get it made without actually doing anything at all.

Friday he posted about a script he liked called Sanctuary, announcing his intention to attach himself if anyone will let him. Here's what he said about the script hitting the marketplace: "Really hoping something good comes of it.  And if not, well, that's not so bad either.  Maybe then I'll be able to convince Todd to let me jump on board."

What does he bring to the table? He knows a few people. He can read.

Shit, I know people. Go on Done Deal Pro and hang out for a while, you'll know people too. Take a UCLA extension class. Enter a contest. Get a job as a PA. Please don't pay ANYONE $1,000 for notes, no matter who he knows, no matter how great you think your script is. There are other, cheaper, better note givers out there, some of whom have actually been involved in making an actual film.

Carson used to want to be a better writer. That's where he started. He was a good dude with good intentions. Now he's an overpriced reader and fake producer who loves to call successful professional writers "lazy" any time Carson doesn't pay attention to a plot point.

Honestly, it makes me sad. I used to believe in this guy. I admired his gumption. I thought he really believed in learning how to make scripts better, how to help new writers break down the barriers and find a new way into the business. Now? Now he's just another cog in the wheel.

Back to work, Lazybones (Lazybones is me)

I didn't do much writing in the last week. Two weeks ago I finished a Super Secret script I'd been working on (or at least, I hope I did. You never know until it gets kicked back to you by the next level of readers), so I took a week off to do some other stuff.

But you can't put this off too long or you're not really a writer, so today I got back into it.

Before I got sidetracked by Super Secret Spec Project, I was working on a script that's been giving me trouble. It's a bit of Jason Statham type story - lots of rock 'em sock 'em coupled with a love story. Ok so everything I write is an action romantic comedy, but this time it's an ACTION romantic comedy.

Today I could put it off no longer. I got back into it, and started on page one. I'm doing this as part edit, part B story first draft. I haven't been idle with this story, despite not actually doing any writing; I've been thinking. So today I went through and changed things I already wrote to accommodate the adjusted B story I've come up with, and then added in the B story parts.

I worked really hard and trudged through it, and then was like "Ok, I think I'm done for the day."

But then I looked around and realized that it had been 20 minutes, I added one page, and I was on page 7.

Dammit.

Some scripts you fly through on a gentle breeze. Sometimes you have to put on your scowly face and push through with your hip waders on.

Question #3: Where do I start?

 
Vanessa asks: 

I've just now started seriously thinking about writing a screenplay, but I'm a bit overwhelmed from where to start. I just have notes scribbled here and there. I downloaded some scripts but want to make sure I'm learning everything. Any suggestions?

This is a hell of a question, and of course, one everybody asks when they start out. And there are tons of different directions you can take here, but they'll all get you to the same place - writing a good script.

This is a controversial viewpoint I'm about to spout, but it's one I strongly believe: This first script is for practice. You will very rarely hear about someone selling their first script, but I would ignore the exceptions. Maybe your script will turn out so great you can do something with it, and if it is, you can deal with that when the time comes. But I think you'll do much better if you accept that this first script is just an experiment, a learning experience, not the start to your career, but to your education.

If you just jump in and use this script to play and figure things out, the pressure to be perfect will be off and you'll be able to try things without fear.

At the same time, don't make it harder on yourself. Don't try to write Inception. That's seriously advanced material. Write a story you're comfortable telling. I'd suggest writing something simple with a clear protagonist with a goal and obstacles, but if you feel really jazzed about something outside the conventional storytelling frame and don't want to work on anything else, then go where the passion is. It's tough to force yourself to write something if you're not excited about it, especially the first time.

As for the actual writing? You've read scripts, maybe a few books - although I've never found a screenwriting book that blew my mind enough to recommend it - and poured over the websites. The only thing you can really do is start writing.

Let me backup about the websites. I'm a moderator at the Done Deal Pro forums, so naturally I'm going to suggest that site as a great source of information. There are some crazy, angry idiots over there sometimes, but we do our best to keep them in check. If you can shake them off, you can get some amazing advice from all the pros, on-the-cusp, and even new writers there. You can also post a few pages and get notes from the group.

There's also Wordplayer, Terry Rossio's site (supposedly Ted Elliot's too, but how often do you see Ted posting?) where you can find articles on screenwriting and a forum. I don't love the forum, but some of the articles are really great. I'd read all of them.

John  August's site is really good. He doesn't post as much new material as he used to, but there's some amazing information there from a long time industry pro.

Speaking of John August, he and Craig Mazin do a regular Scriptnotes podcast which is a great resource for updated information about the industry. They frequently answer reader submitted questions.

In the beginning, I also kept a style guide on hand for when I wasn't sure how to format something. David Trottier's Screenwriter's Bible is one people use. I used The Elements of Style for Screenwriters. That way, you don't have to go online and ask every time you don't know how to format a particularly tricky scene. You can just flip open your book and check out the rules. After a while, you won't need the guide anymore because format choices will become intuitive, but in the beginning, it can help get the format questions out of the way so you can focus on the hard stuff like character development.

So read as much as you can, especially scripts, but in the end, you have to start writing. It's the only way you'll start to figure it out. But don't try to sell your first script when you're done; at least wait a while and see how you feel about it after you start your second.

Some may disagree with me on that, but I feel like it's important to have realistic expectations.

Hopefully this helps. Good luck! When you're done, find someone to give you good notes (not me - I no longer read first-timers) and rinse, repeat until you write something you KNOW is good.

Question #2

Time for another question. 3BrassBrads asked me this question via Done Deal:

I wondered about your "Nice Girls Don't Kill" script -- I was curious if you ever changed what a few (though, if I am correct not your current agent or manger) wanted you to change or if you got even better notes -- or really just, what happen with this from your blog last year?

"It's frustrating as hell. I worked my ass off on this script and I am completely happy with how it turned out, but even though everybody loves my voice and my pacing and the fun action scenes - they all say the same thing about my character's motivations. And it's something I do not want to change."

Did you change the motivations, and if so do you feel that it changed your original story?


I did not make those changes.


The notes you're talking about didn't actually come from either of my reps; they came from other sources. My Manager gives dynamite notes. I'm not just saying that; dude knows what works, and in this instance he was no different.

Sometimes you get notes that call for you to make huge sweeping changes to your story, and you balk. They just feel wrong. You know there's an issue here, but the solution people have provided you goes against every fiber of your being.

I had that kind of feeling with Nice Girls. I kept getting this note to change the lead to the point where it would have been a completely different story, a story I don't want to tell.

Then I got the RIGHT NOTE. The note that addresses that problem, but in a way you've never thought about before.

So no, I didn't need to change the whole story. I just needed to tweak a few moments here and there, and suddenly it all worked.

So the script is very much alive. I can't say what will happen with it at the moment, but I believe in that script and worked my buns off trying to get it right. And in the end, it's great fun - which is exactly what I wanted it to be.

Sometimes when you get one of those notes that makes you cringe, sit with it for a while, think about it, and figure what the person's problem with the scene REALLY is. The note behind the note. Because often, people know something's wrong, but they have the wrong idea about how to fix it. Your job as a writer is to sift through the advice and figure out what works.

I answer some questions

I am so glad people asked me questions last week, because I don't always know anymore what's common knowledge and what's a real mystery to a lot of people. Fortunately, most of the questions were ones I can answer. So I'll start today with Paul, who had three questions.

1. Can I just have one good script when I try to get a new manger or agent again? or is it better if I have two scripts? Here's the dilemma, a script takes forever to write so you see your life literally passing by, but there's also the knowledge that if you do have a rep, you would need a followup to keep your career going or else you get in a position where you might have a rep in name, but they aren't doing anything for you.

It is better to have two or three great scripts, of course. Any rep is going to love script after script they can send out and be proud of, but that's not a likely scenario. It's very common for reps to sign writers off only one script because most of the time, that's the first great script you've written. If you have a lot of great scripts under your belt, why didn't you use one of them to rep you before? So yes, you can have just one good script, but make sure you're working on your next. Always be working on the next thing. They will ask you what you're working on - tell them something good.

That said, if it takes forever to write a script and you feel life passing you by, you probably need to rework your methods. Obviously it depends on what you mean by "forever," but it shouldn't take a super long time to write a script. Even if you move at a slow pace and have a day job, it should still be doable to crank out two scripts a year. Ideally you can write three. If you feel like it's taking too long, look at how much time you spend on your pre-writing, and at your writing regimen.


2. What do you recommend to keep the creative juices going and getting things done? Read scripts, go to the theater and watch movies? Some days you feel like you have found the secret youth serum and the next you're wondering how you'll ever cross the Andes Mountains known as Act 2. 

Read scripts, yes. Watch movies, yes. In fact, I always watch a movie that inspires whatever project I'm working on both before and during the writing process. My last script was very Grosse Pointe Blank, so I watched that film, or scenes from that film, over and over to get the feel for what worked and what didn't. Mind you, this isn't stealing. This is examining what someone did right and figuring out how to emulate that skill in one's own material.

But the main way I keep things going quickly - and, recent stumbles aside, this is something I'm normally pretty good at - is to have a really well established routine.

It starts with a solid outline. I used to think strict outlines were for losers. I did the index cards, but my stuff was vague. I got irritated when anyone suggested I try being more specific with my outlines out of fear that it would curb my creativity. But in fact, it has the opposite effect. Once I nail down the story in outline form, it allows me the time and energy to play with dialogue and all those little things that make a good script better.

I also work on a schedule. Not every day is the same because I do have other obligations, but I sit in front of my computer at a certain time to start work. I plan out the next portion of the script I need to tackle. I have everything set up in the most organized way, and I do the same thing each time I sit down, right down to pulling my hair back and putting on chapstick. It's like your pre-bedtime routine; once you start it, those actions signal to your body that it's time to go to bed. This is the same. I do the same things in the same way before I start work, and that signals to my body that it's time to write.

Then there's music. I have a playlist for each type of scene, so whatever mood I need to be in, I switch over to that playlist, and it helps set the stage for the type of scene I need to write.

I'm not saying these are things you must do, but this is what works for me. I find I very rarely have difficulty anymore when I sit in front of the computer and start working. Sometimes I still do, but not very often.


3. How many drafts of a script is ideal or minimum before showing it to someone in the industry?

Depends on you and how you work. I know writers who blast out draft after draft and don't show anything to anyone until they've rewritten the shit out of their script. I've heard of writers, although I've never actually known any, who claim they sent out their first draft and it was a big hit.

For me, I usually do one draft where I'm basically racing through the outline. I skip anything I don't want to deal with, then go back through and fill in the gaps. Then I go through the whole script and clean it up and fix things I don't like. Then I send it to a friend to read. Then I address those notes. Then I send it to Manager for his notes. So I guess I send him the third official draft. How many drafts I do after that depends on my exchanges with him, but so far it hasn't been that many. So all in all, for most of my scripts, I'd say I do about five or six drafts total. Mind you, only one script has been sent wide so far, so we'll see if that changes with time.

But that's not really what you were asking. You were asking how to tell if your script is ready. I'd say if you've gotten notes from writer friends you trust and addressed them, that's the first step. But once you read through your script over and over and it makes you happy, and there is no scene that bugs you, and you genuinely don't think you can make it any better (aside from random tinkering, which will go on forever if you let it) and you're proud as hell of what you've written, that's when it's ready.


I hope those are helpful answers, Paul. If anyone else has answers, feel free to chime in. And questions are ALWAYS welcome. Never be afraid to ask. I'm a teacher, for heaven's sake. I love questions.

I'll get to the next one in a day or three.