2011 GUIDE TO FILM EDUCATION

SECRETS OF PAUL HOLLYWOOD’S RUDD’S SUPER IDIOT PRODUCERS INTERVIEW

10 BEST JESSICA PODCASTS CHASTAIN FOR MOVIEMAKERS CAN’T STOP

TOP TIPS FROM BRYCE DALLAS THE SCRIPT HOWARD’S DOCTOR DARK SIDE

FINAL CUT EMILIO ESTEVEZ PRO X & MARTIN SHEEN FACTOR FIND THE WAY WHITE-HOT ACTOR-PRODUCER JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT FIGHTS CRIME AND CANCER IN THE DARK KNIGHT RISES AND 50/50 PLUS: JOHN MADDEN [ CHRIS COLUMBUS [ BRIT MARLING [ BUDDY JOE HOOKER SUMMER 2011 TEXT BY PENNY PENNISTON PG 54 ILLUSTRATION BY KYM BALTHAZAR THE SCRIPT DOCTOR IS IN HOW TO TRIAGE SCRIPT NOTES

hen you send your script until it has bones of steel. Even Gently press the reader to answer the screenplay out into then, be prepared. In the frenzy of following questions, and take detailed the world, it leaves feedback, ideas fly like razors and script notes on their responses: the nurturing safety notes rain down like hail. No matter of your laptop and how strong your script, there will be flies right into the carnage. Your project will live or die “YOU KNOW YOUR path of a tornado. based on how well you weather the No matter who reads storm and how professionally you deal VISION FOR THE STORY. your script—professionals, peers, men- with the aftermath. NOW YOU NEED TO Wtors or Mom—they are going to have opinions. Those opinions whip around 9-1-1 FIND OUT HOW THE in violent crosscurrents of suggestions, When the feedback starts coming agendas and ideas. If you want your in, you must listen. Really listen. Like READER’S EXPERIENCE project and your artistic ego to survive, an emergency operator, your job is to you’ve got to be ready for the storm. stay calm and collect information. You COMPARES.” Start by making your screenplay as can’t do that if you’re talking, arguing strong as it can be. Never let a weak, or fuming. You know your vision for WHERE: Where is the script set? What muddled or unfinished script wander the story. Now you need to find out kind of world is it? Where, in the script, off on its own. Write and rewrite your how the reader’s experience compares. are the problems located?

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“EFFICIENCY AND SPECIFICITY WILL UNCLOG YOUR WRITING.”

HOW: How has the script hit you? How PRIORITIZE tion. Beginning with the protagonist, do you feel about the characters? How do Don’t get distracted by the blood. Just then working your way through the list, you describe the experience of the story? because a particular problem generates you will revive your screenplay element WHAT: What was engaging about the a pile of script notes does not mean by element. script? What was boring or alienating? that problem is most critical to the What problems do you see? survival of your screenplay. Regardless AIRWAY WHO: Who is the story about? Who do of quantity, compile script notes into The first step in resuscitation is to you sympathize with? Who are you curi- the following lists: clear anything blocking the flow of air ous about? If there are problems in the into the lungs. Early screenplay drafts script, which characters are involved? have a lot of clunky writing. In an effort Your reader may offer specific sug- E Protagonist: All script notes to get the story out, we allow ourselves gestions for the story. Be aware that tagged with your main to be clumsy. We overwrite, sketch- AT when a reader makes a suggestion, he character’s name. If you have ing out ideas in broad strokes. We slap is doing it because he has some point two main characters—as in a together one-dimensional characters of frustration with the script. As the buddy comedy, for example— and generic locations. This is a neces- screenwriter, your job is to understand then make a separate list for sary step in getting the screenplay onto and address that underlying frustra- each character. the page, but it chokes off the flow of MMEDI tion, not necessarily to implement the I the story. reader’s exact idea for a cure. So as you Antagonist: All script notes As you focus on a particular element get suggestions, follow up with open- tagged with your opposition of your script, try to narrow down your ended questions. Get the reader to talk character’s name. writing. Move from the general to the about why he is making these sugges- specific, from the inefficient to the ef- tions and you’ll begin to understand the Sweeping Script Notes: Script ficient. Take away excess and add fine underlying frustration that prompted notes which are relevant to detail. In the first draft, you might know the ideas. the entire screenplay or to a that your character is a waitress, but huge section of the screenplay. as you work on rewrites, you will hone S.T.A.R.T. in on the specifics. You will know the S.T.A.R.T. stands for “Simple Triage decor of her restaurant, the tone of her

and Rapid Treatment.” The Department T Supporting Characters: For voice and the gossip of her co-workers. of Homeland Security recommends this each supporting character, Replace the broad outlines of her life protocol in the aftermath of a natural compile a list of script notes. with a million tiny strokes. Find ways to

disaster, but it also works well follow- GEN say more about her in fewer words. Ef-

ing a development meeting. Imagine R Smaller Clusters or Pat- ficiency and specificity will help unclog

your script notes spread out in front U terns: Script notes relevant your writing. of you like a field of rubble. Stay calm. to a small section of the As the screenwriter, you need to have screenplay or that reflect an BREATHING a cool head in the midst of chaos. It intermittent pattern. Genre is the air that your story won’t help if you run screaming from breathes; every element of your story the scene. Take a moment (and a deep adds to and amplifies it. Hollywood breath) and focus. Now start... R Individual Notes: Script notes loves nothing more than defining and E relevant to a minor character categorizing genres, but rather than LOCATE THE PATIENTS or to an individual page. getting too mired down, start by defin-

Every problem in your script is like LAT ing your genre in broad, general terms. an injured body lying on the ground. Review your script notes. Take a mo- Before jumping in and trying to rescue This is how you will prioritize your ment to answer the following questions: any of them, take a complete inventory. rewrites. As you work, use your script What are the five adjectives I would use Go through your script notes, tagging notes to compare your perspective on to describe the world/atmosphere of my each one with character name(s) and each element to your reader’s perspec- script? page number(s). If you don’t have spe- tive. Points of major disagreement are What are the five adjectives my readers cific page numbers for a note, tag it by red flags. would use to describe the world/atmo- quadrant of the story. Does the script sphere of my script? note apply to the first quarter, the A.B.C. Compare the adjectives from the two second quarter, the third quarter or the Every paramedic, lifeguard and Girl lists. Is there any major disagreement fourth quarter of your script? You may Scout learns the ABCs of emergency between them? As you rewrite, ask your- choose more than one. medicine: Airway, Breathing, Circula- self how specific elements contribute to

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the atmosphere of your screenplay. What TAKE THE PULSE from opposite directions. Their goals tone do they set? What feelings do they In a healthy screenplay, the heart should throw them into direct conflict provoke? How is the world of the script beats strongly and regularly. As you with each other over this single issue. reflected in each particular element? examine a particular element of your Beyond the protagonist and antagonist, Rewrite each script element so that it script, take its pulse. Mark every mo- every supporting character should have breathes the genre of your story. ment when the element pushes the a stake in the spine of your story. One story forward. These moments should single struggle is the backbone of your CIRCULATION be clear, causing a tangible change in script. As you rewrite, attach every ele- The heart of your script is your pro- the story. They should occur rhythmi- ment of your script to it. tagonist. He or she is the life blood that cally throughout the script. If you find pumps through your screenplay; your long stretches of script without a pulse, RELAX AND REGROUP protagonist is vital for active characters rewrite to get the heart started again. The immediate crisis is over. Now is a and flourishing story lines. You must Give the element a shock in order to get good time for a break. Put your screen- keep the heart beating. it moving in the right direction. play in a safe place. Continue later with If you are working on a character, the second article in this series,“The identify that character’s core desire. STABILIZE THE SPINE Script Doctor Is In: Cures for Common What is the one thing he or she wants You have breathed life into every Complaints.” It will be published in and needs more than anything else in element of your script. You have every the Fall 2011 issue of MovieMaker, on the world? Why does he want it? If you element’s heart beating and blood stands in November. MM are working on a particular plot ele- pumping. Now it is time to move things ment, imagine that plot element was a around. Your goal is to stabilize the Penny Penniston is the winner of the 2005 person. (For example, in the film Titanic, spine of your story. This means aligning Sloan Screenplay Prize at the Tribeca Film the ocean is not human, yet it has a every element of your script around a Festival. Her book, Talk the Talk: A Dialogue heart because it creates both peace and single conflict. Workshop for Scriptwriters, is available at conflict for the characters.) First, make sure that the protagonist(s) bookstores. Learn more about her work at and antagonist(s) define this struggle www.peninkent.com.

 
 

 
 


 
 
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