Fade Out
January 16th 2007 11:12
For reasons too
something
to get into here, Ive decided to bring The Scriptwriting Blog to an early conclusion. Some are personal, some are audience related, some are others. Lets just say Im going in another direction. But rather than just stop, Im going to give you in point form the gist of what the next series of columns would have been, so if you have been following this, itll point you in the right direction, and hopefully youll get it finished and out there.
Editing
So, youve cut the first draft. Its at his point you should remember Hemingways words: The first draft of anything is shit. You may very well think its good, even great, but it isnt. The words arent chiselled into stone, they can be changed, and probably should be.
At this point I make a soft copy of the script, and call it Draft B (all of your first drafts are the first draft until you give it to The Powers That Be), and begin reshaping it. What this means for me is printing out a hard copy, getting a red pen and looking hard at it, really hard. Are you repeating points? Is the dialogue easy to speak? Try it for yourself youd be amazed how often something that reads fine is actually quite difficult to deliver convincingly. Are you using too many explainers? As you know, because of point a, we had to follow point b, which led to and so on. You dont want them. Well, very few of them. Your audience is smarter than you think they are, if you keep the action flowing and deliver the key plots points through action as much as dialogue, theyll get it.
Once youve made all the changes in the hard copy, go back to Draft B and type the changes in. Read it onscreen. Does it look better? Are the characters coming across clearer? Does it flow from scene to scene?
Editing Again
And youve finished. Well, no. Actually, you need to start the process all over again. Put it aside for a couple of weeks. Maybe a week. Some kind of grace period to get it out of your system. In the meantime, work on something else, a new story outline, another script, reviews of movies and tv shows (for your own research into why these do and dont work), a series of haikus dealing with the development of the garden around your house, anything.
Then open it up again and start reading. How does it feel? Does it read as well as the professional scripts youve read? Because thats the style and quality you are trying to match. If you can equal or surpass what they are doing on that level, and come up with engaging, original stories, you at least have a chance of being read.
Does it work? That is the crucial question. Keep building it up and cutting it back it until you are as happy with it as you can be. Always keep in mind people will want you to change stuff, even give it to other people to rewrite (once youve been compensated), so everything is fluid. This can be a good thing: my experience has been that most of the time, when changes are suggested, they only improve the final product. On the other hand, if you are asked to change a point you feel is vital to the story, explain why is brief but very clear terms why you think so. Some you will win, some you will lose. If you do lose, try to minimise the damage.
Readers
At this point, you now needs friends. People you trust. Because they have to read your script.
As you probably know by now, reading a script is a bit of a speciality, its not like a novel or a short story, you have to fully grasp what a bunch of technical terms mean, how they work, what effect they have on the flow of the story. Not everybody will get this, even if you take the time to explain the terms. More than likely you will have to find people who already get it.
If youre already writing, this shouldnt be hard as youve probably met other writers, even if only online. And if youre lucky, you may know people with other skills in the industry: producers, directors, actors and so on. You may be surprised how many live in your area. If you trust these people, ask them to read and critique your story. I cant stress enough that if you have good friends that can say anything to you without hurting your feelings, then your script will be sharpened significantly. That has certainly been my experience. But the bottom line is, at the end of the day, they may say some things you disagree with. Again, go with your instinct and skill and knowledge of what works in your story.
The Final First Draft
With all changes now factored in, you now have, hopefully, a finished first draft. It should look and feel significantly better than your very first draft. And if not why not?? Go back and start again!
Your script has to be as good as all the sample scripts youll have read, and probably better than most of the other spec scripts. And ask yourself the question: Is It As Good As It Can Be?
Into The Big World
This is the tricky part, if you have no contacts in the industry. You need to get it out there and known. Dont worry about people stealing your idea. If you live in the States the WGA has ways of registering your script, and there are similar safeguards in place. But more to the point, if your script is good theyll pay you for it, and if it isnt, youll get it back by return post. Or theyll shred it.
There are plenty of websites out there to offer advice and contacts in the industry. One good place to start would be to Google Absolute Write, because when you join, you have access to an ebook of agents. Most of them will say no thanks, but if youve done the hard yards and dont gush to much in your introductory letter, you may get away with it.
And now I must head off to other points. There is much to be done and, really, not a lot of time to do it in. I hope that some of this has been of some use. Ill be answering any posts if you have questions or the next couple of weeks.
So write, dont stop writing, keep pushing until your scripts stand out and then well see what happens next.
Australis
Editing
So, youve cut the first draft. Its at his point you should remember Hemingways words: The first draft of anything is shit. You may very well think its good, even great, but it isnt. The words arent chiselled into stone, they can be changed, and probably should be.
At this point I make a soft copy of the script, and call it Draft B (all of your first drafts are the first draft until you give it to The Powers That Be), and begin reshaping it. What this means for me is printing out a hard copy, getting a red pen and looking hard at it, really hard. Are you repeating points? Is the dialogue easy to speak? Try it for yourself youd be amazed how often something that reads fine is actually quite difficult to deliver convincingly. Are you using too many explainers? As you know, because of point a, we had to follow point b, which led to and so on. You dont want them. Well, very few of them. Your audience is smarter than you think they are, if you keep the action flowing and deliver the key plots points through action as much as dialogue, theyll get it.
Once youve made all the changes in the hard copy, go back to Draft B and type the changes in. Read it onscreen. Does it look better? Are the characters coming across clearer? Does it flow from scene to scene?
Editing Again
And youve finished. Well, no. Actually, you need to start the process all over again. Put it aside for a couple of weeks. Maybe a week. Some kind of grace period to get it out of your system. In the meantime, work on something else, a new story outline, another script, reviews of movies and tv shows (for your own research into why these do and dont work), a series of haikus dealing with the development of the garden around your house, anything.
Then open it up again and start reading. How does it feel? Does it read as well as the professional scripts youve read? Because thats the style and quality you are trying to match. If you can equal or surpass what they are doing on that level, and come up with engaging, original stories, you at least have a chance of being read.
Does it work? That is the crucial question. Keep building it up and cutting it back it until you are as happy with it as you can be. Always keep in mind people will want you to change stuff, even give it to other people to rewrite (once youve been compensated), so everything is fluid. This can be a good thing: my experience has been that most of the time, when changes are suggested, they only improve the final product. On the other hand, if you are asked to change a point you feel is vital to the story, explain why is brief but very clear terms why you think so. Some you will win, some you will lose. If you do lose, try to minimise the damage.
Readers
At this point, you now needs friends. People you trust. Because they have to read your script.
As you probably know by now, reading a script is a bit of a speciality, its not like a novel or a short story, you have to fully grasp what a bunch of technical terms mean, how they work, what effect they have on the flow of the story. Not everybody will get this, even if you take the time to explain the terms. More than likely you will have to find people who already get it.
If youre already writing, this shouldnt be hard as youve probably met other writers, even if only online. And if youre lucky, you may know people with other skills in the industry: producers, directors, actors and so on. You may be surprised how many live in your area. If you trust these people, ask them to read and critique your story. I cant stress enough that if you have good friends that can say anything to you without hurting your feelings, then your script will be sharpened significantly. That has certainly been my experience. But the bottom line is, at the end of the day, they may say some things you disagree with. Again, go with your instinct and skill and knowledge of what works in your story.
The Final First Draft
With all changes now factored in, you now have, hopefully, a finished first draft. It should look and feel significantly better than your very first draft. And if not why not?? Go back and start again!
Your script has to be as good as all the sample scripts youll have read, and probably better than most of the other spec scripts. And ask yourself the question: Is It As Good As It Can Be?
Into The Big World
This is the tricky part, if you have no contacts in the industry. You need to get it out there and known. Dont worry about people stealing your idea. If you live in the States the WGA has ways of registering your script, and there are similar safeguards in place. But more to the point, if your script is good theyll pay you for it, and if it isnt, youll get it back by return post. Or theyll shred it.
There are plenty of websites out there to offer advice and contacts in the industry. One good place to start would be to Google Absolute Write, because when you join, you have access to an ebook of agents. Most of them will say no thanks, but if youve done the hard yards and dont gush to much in your introductory letter, you may get away with it.
And now I must head off to other points. There is much to be done and, really, not a lot of time to do it in. I hope that some of this has been of some use. Ill be answering any posts if you have questions or the next couple of weeks.
So write, dont stop writing, keep pushing until your scripts stand out and then well see what happens next.
Australis
| 46 |
| Vote |
Add Comments
Comments (1)
Read More
. Or days at the beach with my kids, when the sun was bright and the days were long. Or the days when I was a kid, living way out west, learning to ride a bike, swimming in the local pool, all the simple pleasures of childhood.
Comment by Australis
on Dreamcasting
The Scriptwriting Blog
Personal Blog - A Writer's Life
As with a lot of these things, it's a bit of a juggling act. What I meant was the character has to be strong and distinctive, but not a fit for any particular actor, with the exception being if a particular actor is already lined up for one of the roles.
Dreamcasting is a useful tool for a first draft, but in the last draft before submission you have to have the strongest characters for the story while not making them exclusively for one actor or another. Imagine if Hugh Grant got the part you dreamcast with Clint Eastwood.
No, on second thoughts, don't. Really. Don't.
Oh, no! Too late!
"Oh, gosh, ah, well, ah, go ahead, ah, um, make my, um, day..."