plot

From the archives: One scene, three points

Maximum Z action, Back to the Future, characters, comedy, determination, draft, encouragement, perseverance, persistence, plot, screenplay, screenwriting, script, theme, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lots of jumping around between projects this week, but focus has shifted back to the action-comedy. Even though it’s still the first draft, doing what I can to have each scene effectively advance plot, character, and theme.

With that in mind, here’s a post of a similar nature from August 2016.

Enjoy.

After some thorough self-imposed analysis, the revising of the comedy spec is underway. It’s getting easier to spot trouble spots.

There’s one scene in particular that’s giving me some trouble. It’s a pivotal scene involving the main character and offers a revealing glimpse into his backstory. The problem was in figuring out how to best do that.

After much drumming of fingers, rubbing of chin, and a whole lot of attempts, a potential solution may have presented itself. It’s still in the development phase, but for now, quite workable.

One of the first things I learned about screenwriting was what each scene needs to accomplish:  advance the plot, the character, and the theme.

Regarding plot, does the scene move things forward? Does it fall neatly into place in terms of how the overall sequence of events plays out? If you took it out, would it totally mess things up?

I’ve read a lot of scripts where something happens and I don’t know why. Maybe it’ll pay off later? Sometimes it does. Other times, well…

Another handy tip when it comes to advancing the plot in a scene: do it quickly. Get to the point of the scene as fast as you can, then get out. Don’t wait around. Just get out now. Too many times I’ve seen a scene drag on much, much longer than it needs to.

Regarding character, does each scene show them changing a little bit more from when they were first introduced? This doesn’t just apply to the main character. Every character needs to grow/develop. Wouldn’t it be kind of boring to read a story where nobody changes?

And tying it into the advancement of plot, every situation the character experiences should help move their own development along.

Which brings us to theme. The message of your story. This can be a little tricky.

Each scene should tie into the theme, or have it on display in some manner. I recently worked with a writer having trouble tying everything together. We discussed the story and the main character’s internal and external goals. What was the message they wanted to convey? Based on those discussions, we were able to come up with a theme that worked for both the story and as it applied to all of the characters.

One of my favorite examples of a theme in use is BACK TO THE FUTURE. Early on, Marty says “History’s going to change.” And boy, does it. We get a ton of set-up in the first act, and then everything does indeed change in the second act as all of those setups are paid off. Amazing.

Take a look at your latest draft. Does each scene advance the topics in question? If not, do you have a way to fix that so it does? The more you get in the habit of doing this, the easier it’ll get and the faster it’ll become second nature to do it all the time.

Focus: forward

Maximum Z action, characters, comedy, determination, draft, editing, perseverance, persistence, plot, plot points, scenes, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, theme, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Some good progress on cranking out the first draft of the action-comedy spec this week: reached the end of Act One.

One potential snag – my outline lists this as the p45(ish) plot point. This may be the start of more problems, but I’m not going to worry about it just yet. It’ll be added to the list of “Stuff requiring my attention”.

Primary objective: get the whole thing written.

When I started, I was taking a “just write it and DON’T go back and edit”. Naturally, I did a few little tweaks here and there at the start of each subsequent writing session, but nothing major. Maybe cutting a word or tightening a sentence. That was one rabbit hole in which I did not want to keep digging.

Now is all about completing this draft and then going back to figure out what needs to be fixed, added, cut, moved, etc.

Taking an approach of continuously asking myself “Does this scene advance the plot, theme, and character?” also helps. I may not have consistently solid answers every time, but even some kind of placeholder answer works – for the time being.

Still looking at 2-3 pages per day when possible. Anything more is a bonus.

Action first, comedy second

Maximum Z action, characters, comedy, determination, draft, editing, jokes, perseverance, persistence, plot, rewriting, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, story, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another shorty today, but one worth mentioning.

Current progress on pages for the action-comedy spec averaging about 2-3 a day, which is pretty good. The first act is just about wrapped up. This is more of a “just it get written” draft.

This isn’t to say there haven’t been moments of going back and making little changes here and there. That’s actually happened quite a bit.

The focus now is more on how each scene advances the plot, story and characters, and not as much on “is it funny?” or “what’s the joke here?” It’s actually kind of refreshing to not have to worry about it . Some scenes are even totally lacking comedic elements and are there for the purpose of moving things forward.

That’s what the next draft will be about, undoubtedly involving a lot of “how can this be funny/funnier?” I find it easier to apply comedy into an action-oriented scene than the other way around.

I’m enjoying it so far, and it’ll be very interesting to see how this plays out.

From the archives: FBD is a BFD

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This post from July 2024 is about when I was first starting on this new story idea. I’d put that one on hold to spend a lot of time polishing and rewriting another script, so work on this one has resumed. There has been some progress on figuring out the story, but a lot of what’s mentioned in here still rings true – especially the subject.

Enjoy.

Working on this new script idea is proving to be quite a challenge. It’s still in the very early development stages, so any and every idea is being written down for potential use. No doubt some will stay, some will be trashed, and some will be altered/revised/modified to varying degrees.

Adding to all of this is that a big part of the story is similar to parts of a very beloved and well-known film – so similar that it’s one of my comps – so I also need to come up with ideas so my story safely falls into the category of “Familiar, But Different” – FBD.

It’s my goal to have this story be reminiscent of that other one, but not so much that it feels like I’m totally ripping it off. I’ve read a lot of scripts that fall short of that, so doing what I can to avoid falling into that trap.

This film also has a lot of iconic scenes, so it’s even more important I put my own spin on the concept to really hammer home its FBD-ness. The absolute last thing I want is for somebody to read this and think “There’s nothing new here”.

A key part of this is breaking down the components of the original film – not just the story, plot and characters, but seeing what worked, how the various storylines and subplots were laid out AND how they were connected. I can then use all of that as a springboard to putting my story together, and then fine tune as necessary.

Challenging, but not impossible.

Great as it would be to have the final result ready now, finding a new way to tell this familiar story is part of what I enjoy about doing this. I like to call it “go for the hard turn”; Just when you think things are going to go a certain way, there’s a yank on the steering wheel and all of a sudden things are heading in a whole new direction that makes you want to keep going.

One thing I’m fairly certain will play a factor in putting this together is that I’m just enjoying working on it. I don’t think there’s anything like it out there, so there’s a certain thrill to exploring the unknown, so to speak. It’s a priority for me that when it’s totally done – no matter how long that takes – it makes a strong impression for both the story it’s telling and how it’s written.

Even though it’ll take a while for me to figure it out, I’m confident I can make it happen.

FBD is a BFD

Maximum Z characters, confidence, determination, development, enthusiasm, excitement, ideas, originality, perseverance, persistence, plot, screenwriting, story, storyline, subplots, writing , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Working on this new script idea is proving to be quite a challenge. It’s still in the very early development stages, so any and every idea is being written down for potential use. No doubt some will stay, some will be trashed, and some will be altered/revised/modified to varying degrees.

Adding to all of this is that a big part of the story is similar to parts of a very beloved and well-known film – so similar that it’s one of my comps – so I also need to come up with ideas so my story safely falls into the category of “Familiar, But Different” – FBD.

It’s my goal to have this story be reminiscent of that other one, but not so much that it feels like I’m totally ripping it off. I’ve read a lot of scripts that fall short of that, so doing what I can to avoid falling into that trap.

This film also has a lot of iconic scenes, so it’s even more important I put my own spin on the concept to really hammer home its FBD-ness. The absolute last thing I want is for somebody to read this and think “There’s nothing new here”.

A key part of this is breaking down the components of the original film – not just the story, plot and characters, but seeing what worked, how the various storylines and subplots were laid out AND how they were connected. I can then use all of that as a springboard to putting my story together, and then fine tune as necessary.

Challenging, but not impossible.

Great as it would be to have the final result ready now, finding a new way to tell this familiar story is part of what I enjoy about doing this. I like to call it “go for the hard turn”; Just when you think things are going to go a certain way, there’s a yank on the steering wheel and all of a sudden things are heading in a whole new direction that makes you want to keep going.

One thing I’m fairly certain will play a factor in putting this together is that I’m just enjoying working on it. I don’t think there’s anything like it out there, so there’s a certain thrill to exploring the unknown, so to speak. It’s a priority for me that when it’s totally done – no matter how long that takes – it makes a strong impression for both the story it’s telling and how it’s written.

Even though it’ll take a while for me to figure it out, I’m confident I can make it happen.