story

Perfect! Brilliant! Oh, wait…

Maximum Z creativity, Doctor Who, plot, Radioslot.com, scenes, screenwriting, story, The Script Adventurer!, writing
Not bad for a first attempt. Try again.

For some inexplicable reason, my brain decided to cooperate and I was able to navigate a somewhat twisty-turny route that got me to the end of Act Two. After some self-inflicted nervous anticipation, it actually worked out better, and admittedly easier, than I expected.

But all is not sunshine and roses. There’s one short sequence that still bothers me.  As it reads now, it comes across as too comedic, almost even silly, and it doesn’t seem to match the tone of the rest of the story.  At the time it seemed great, but in retrospect…not so much.

My first instinct is to dive in and change it. But before I do that, I need to approach it from several angles. Does it move the story forward in terms of plot, character and theme?  What other way (or ways) could this happen so it still maintains the overall feel of the story? How could this play out so it surprises and entertains  the reader/viewer?

Granted these are things that should apply to every scene and sequence throughout the entire script, but they’re always in the back of your mind when you’re narrowing your focus.

-As far as I know, there are still some slots for this fantastic opportunity. If you can attend, I highly recommend it.

-I recorded a special summer movie preview edition of The Script Adventurer! earlier this week with some movie-loving chums. It was a lot of fun, and will air Monday at the usual time (1PM PST on radioslot.com).

I also found out how to break the bonds of your computer and listen to the show on your smartphone. Open your phone’s web browser, go to radioslot.com, click on ‘Listen Now’, then click ‘Listen Now’ under the Talk Slot section. On the right side of the space marked ‘Now Playing’, there should be 4 little icons. Click the left-most one – WinAmp. And voila! My dulcet tones should be working their way into your earholes. Let me know how it works for you.

Ain’t 21st-century technology grand?  But sadly, still no jetpacks or flying cars.

Follow that bad guy!

Maximum Z antagonist, creativity, Movie of the Moment, originality, plot, Raiders of the Lost Ark, screenwriting, story, writing
Villains should be just as interesting as heroes; maybe even more so

It’s been a real process working my way through the end of the current project’s Act Two. I know what comes before it, and how Act Three plays out; it’s all that stuff in the middle that’s throwing me.

So while that occupies part of my attention, I also need to build up the antagonist’s story line.  Right now, he’s pretty absent from most of the story, which is not good. I came up with some stuff early on, but it was too silly, so out it went.

I thought about watching/studying something to get a better sense of how to approach this, but I’m not sure what would be comparable.  Basically, the protagonist is actively pursuing the antagonist, who doesn’t know it and is going on about his usual bad guy business until the protagonist catches up to them.  My first thought was RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but any other suggestions would be welcome.

Developing that storyline will also mean cutting back on protagonist scenes.  At first this was a negative, but eventually became a necessary positive.  The last thing I want to do is drag this out.

-Movie of the Moment – BATTLESHIP. Wow. Somebody was actually paid to write this? Shouldn’t they have done a couple of rewrites before production began? This reeked of amateur. Cliched characters straight off a checklist. Bad guys with ambiguous intentions. Unoriginal dialogue. Predictable to the nth degree. Major overuse of rock music to ’emphasize’ the mood of a scene.

Imagine a second-rate 80s action flick spruced up with 21st-century special effects.

What’s even worse is that this is NOT the last movie based on a board game. Apparently we can look forward to catching RISK, MONOPOLY and CANDYLAND at the local cinema sometime soon.

And the studios wonder why they’re losing money.

So close I can taste it

Maximum Z Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Dark Shadows, Doctor Who, editing, Johnny Depp, Movie of the Moment, plot, productivity, rewrite, Richard Walter, screenwriting, story, subplot, writing
Not my first choice for a celebratory meal

You know that feeling when you’ve been working on something for a very long time, and then you get to the last part? The little voice inside you saying, “Don’t stop! You’re almost there!”

That’s where I am with this edit/polish.

One scene remains to be rewritten. I did a lot of last-second rewriting throughout the whole thing over the past couple of days, but this one’s pretty important – wrapping up some minor subplots. It would be too easy to fall into the trap of putting too much into it, so this is going to take some planning.

It was a challenge to go through this as both writer and editor. Not only did I have to make sure everything was working in terms of the plot, story, character development, and that kind of thing, but also had to keep an eye out for spelling mistakes, overuse of prepositional phrases, repetitive dialogue, etc.  End result – leaner, tighter, faster-moving pages.  I hope.

Also nice – page total down 4 to 111, and I already know a few things here and there that could be taken out, or at least changed.  Part of that will also depend on the feedback and comments I get from the select few I’ll ask to read this latest draft. Count me among those who appreciate constructive criticism.

-Movie of the Moment – DARK SHADOWS (2012). Entertaining, but poorly written. Too much tell, not enough show. Lots of set-ups without payoffs, and vice versa. Characters disappear for 30+ minutes. Didn’t like the ending either.  Just because you like the guy who wrote PRIDE, PREJUDICE & ZOMBIES or ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VAMPIRE HUNTER doesn’t mean you should have him write your movie. Incidentally, the trailer for the latter made K laugh harder than anything in the movie we came to see.

I thought Johnny Depp did a pretty good job as Barnabas, but I wonder how he would do in a non-quirky role. (Although I am interested to see the forthcoming LONE RANGER, but not because of Depp).

Not necessarily something I was looking forward to, but glad I only paid $6 to see it. Also – way too many trailers!  Ben Affleck’s ARGO looks really good. Adam Sandler’s THAT’S MY BOY looks like total shit.

-If you’re in the Westwood area of Los Angeles this summer and want to get really serious about writing a screenplay, you can’t go wrong by clicking here.

Getting left and right brain to work together

Maximum Z analysis, Attack the Block, Movie of the Moment, movies, rewrite, scenes, screenwriting, Shawna Benson, Star Wars, story, The Avengers, The Muppets
Image
It’s like they’re looking inside my head!

I have a deadline in place. I’m striving towards being completely done with the edit/polish by the end of the month, so I work on it when I can.  A scene or two here, a few pages there.  It’s coming together.

A key part of this is making sure each scene does what it’s supposed to and fits where it’s supposed to. A member of my old writing group used to say, “Each scene should advance the plot, the theme and the character.” A reliable chestnut, indeed.

It’s also been a good exercise to look at the components of each scene and figure out if there’s a way to do it more effectively. Do I need a stronger verb? Can the character say this in one sentence, rather than two? Does it fit within the framework of the story? (I’ve written before about the economy of the scenes in STAR WARS. Lucas was able to say a lot with a minimal amount of words. I need to work on that.)

We watched ATTACK THE BLOCK over the weekend (an unexpected absolute blast – smart and original, but watch it with subtitles on). One thing that really stuck with me were the character arcs, especially for the leads. This was done in a very subtle, non-in-your-face way. Very impressive.  This reminded me that I need to make sure this happens with my characters as well.

-Another great interview on The Script Adventurer! yesterday. Talked with writer Shawna Benson about her background, as well as some of her current exploits. Really interesting stuff. The show will play again here Sunday at 7pm PST.  Don’t mind the occasional technical difficulties.

-Apart from ATTACK THE BLOCK, other Movies of the Moment include: THE AVENGERS. Wow. The closest we’ve come to a live-action comic book. Further proof that Joss Whedon can do no wrong. We saw it as a family at a small 2-screen neighborhood theatre. Perfect setting. Everybody liked it, even to the point I may even seek it out on DVD.

The other movie was THE MUPPETS. It was okay, but a little disappointing. It felt like they were relying on the nostalgia factor almost as much as the script. Too many jokes were aimed squarely at adults (a reference to the TV show BENSON? Really?), which didn’t help. V watched it with a friend, and both seemed bored.  Apparently there’s a sequel in the works. Hopefully they can get back on track.

What? It’s been done?

Maximum Z 36 dramatic situations, creativity, ideas, screenwriting, scriptshadow, story
Similar, yet different

My work schedule has been all over the map lately, so not only has my writing time been limited, but also my script-reading time as well.  Nevertheless, I try to read when I can.

(*If you can, I highly recommend getting an iPad. It’s perfect for reading scripts. Apparently this is also now the industry standard.)

A few weeks ago, Martin Helgeland’s SLAYER was among the selection of that week’s Scriptshadow offering.  “This is the dragon slayer in modern day script that just sold for a boatload of money.” How could I resist?

My immediate reaction: I can see why it sold. It’s a solid, action-packed story loaded with lots of cinematic images that muscles its way forward and jams the action down your throat with a vengeance.

I wasn’t crazy about the writing. It seemed a little too showoff-y. “The sword KEENS.” Huh?

But what really got my attention was how similar the story was to one I came up with about 2 years ago. Obviously, some of the details are different, but they share some basic story points.

This isn’t a big deal because the story itself isn’t completely original. You’ve probably seen or read ones just like it numerous times. Helgeland has his version; I’ll have mine,which isn’t even written yet. It’s still in the outline stage, and I can use this as a guide for how to make mine more different.

This happens all the time, and has been going on for quite a while, as evidenced here. Most likely, everything you or anybody else has ever written is in there somewhere.

So stop worrying about someone stealing your ‘original’ idea and focus instead on how your work can stand out from all the other ones just like it.

It may not be as hard as you think.