The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe THE SCREENWRITING BIBLE This material is © and 2005 by Sir William K. Coe. All rights reserved. Reader agre es to have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed wi thin the beginning chapters of this book. Includes thirdparty content not owned by Sir W illiam K. Coe. The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe COPYRIGHT © 2005 SIR WILLIAM K. COE. USA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONTAINS THIRD PARTY CONTENT AS CITED IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY. YOUR USE OF THIS BOOK CONSTITUTES YOUR AGREEMENT TO THE EULA FOUND AT: http://www.wskel.com/legal/ Note: Hero, main character, and Protagonist mean the same thing. It is the character your story revolves around. This material is © and 2005 by Sir William K. Coe. All rights reserved. Reader agre es to have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed wi thin the beginning chapters of this book. Includes thirdparty content not owned by Sir W illiam K. Coe. The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe Only constant repeating will finally succeed inimprinting an idea on the memory o f the crowd. Hitlers Mein Kampf This material is © and 2005 by Sir William K. Coe. All rights reserved. Reader agre es to have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed wi thin the beginning chapters of this book. Includes thirdparty content not owned by Sir W illiam K. Coe. The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe INTRODUCTION 9 QUALIFICATIONS, DISCLAIMERS, AND EXCUSES 11 ARE YOU READY? 13 THE GOAL OF A SCREENWRITER 13 AVOID WRITERS BLOCK 13 THE LIFE OF A SCREENWRITER 14 THE POWER OF SCREENWRITING 14 STORY CONCEPT 16 EXPRESSING THE STORY CONCEPT 16 FINDING STORY IDEAS 16 SELECTING THE BEST STORY CONCEPTS 17 STORY CONCEPT CHECKLIST 18 ARTISTRY VS. COMMERCIALITY 19 CHECKLIST TO DETERMINE IF STORY HAS A COMBO OF ARTISTRY AND COMMERCIALITY 20 MODIFYING STORY CONCEPT 20 ASSIGNMENTS 20 21 MY MOVIE STORY DEVELOPMENT 22 CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 24 THE THREE FACETS OF CHARACTER 24 DEVELOPING YOUR HERO 24 CREATE A ROUGH OUTLINE OF YOUR HERO 24 ESTABLISH CHARACTER IDENTIFICATION 24 MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS ORIGINAL 25 MOTIVATION 25 CONFLICT 26 DEVELOPING THE OTHER CHARACTERS OF YOUR SCREENPLAY 26 PRIMARY CHARACTERS 26 FOUR BASIC CATEGORIES OF PRIMARY CHARACTERS 26 RULES FOR CREATING PRIMARY CHARACTERS 27 RULES WHEN CREATING NEMESIS: 27 SECONDARY CHARACTERS 27 CHARTING CHARACTER, MOTIVATION, AND CONFLICT 28 THEME 28 CHARACTER GROWTH 29 KEYS TO CREATING CAPTIVATING CHARACTERS 29 A GOAL AND AN OPPOSITION 29 MOTIVATION 29 4 This material is © and 2005 by Sir William K. Coe. All rights reserved. Reader agre es to have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed wi thin the beginning chapters of this book. Includes thirdparty content not owned by Sir W illiam K. Coe. The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe BACKSTORY 30 THE WILL TO ACT 30 A POINT OF VIEW (POV) AND ATTITUDES 30 ROOM TO GROW 30 BELIEVABILITY 31 DETAILS 32 A WRITER WHO CARES 32 STRONG SUPPORTING CAST 33 GOOD CHARACTER 33 WHAT IS CHARACTER? 33 TOOLS OF CHARACTER 34 THE VISUAL DYNAMICS OF CHARACTER 34 CHOOSING A NAME 35 ASSIGNMENTS 38 STRUCTURE 41 PLOT STRUCTURE 41 THE THREE ACTS 41 TWISTS AND TURNS 41 SITUATION, CONFLICT, AND RESOLUTION 42 MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION 42 YOUR TWO KEY CHARACTERS 42 THE CATALYST 42 FORESHADOWING 42 THE PINCH AND RISING CONFLICT 43 THE RESOLUTION 43 THE LOW DOWN ON HIGH CONCEPT 44 A TITILLATING TITLE 44 ITS GOTTA BE BIG 44 STORY LAYERING 45 GOALS AND NEEDS 45 TWO STORIES IN ONE 46 PLOT 47 EXAMPLES OF PLOTDRIVEN STORIES 47 EXAMPLES OF CHARACTERDRIVEN STORIES/EMOTIONAL STORY 47 SUBPLOTS 47 GENRE 48 MYTH 53 THE STRUCTURAL CHECKLIST 54 7 TYPES OF OPENINGS: CHOOSE 1 55 STRUCTURE 55 TREATMENT 56 FORMAT: 56 THE PARADIGM 56 ACT I 56 THE FIRST TEN PAGES 57 THE SECOND AND THIRD TEN PAGES 57 ACT II 57 MIDPOINT 58 PINCH 58 5 This material is © and 2005 by Sir William K. Coe. All rights reserved. Reader agre es to have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed wi thin the beginning chapters of this book. Includes thirdparty content not owned by Sir W illiam K. Coe. The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe ACT III 59 ASSIGMENTS 61 SCENES 64 HOW TO MAKE A SCENE 64 HEADINGS 64 SCENE HEADINGS 64 MONTAGE 64 SERIES OF SHOTS 64 FLASHBACKS/DREAMS 65 DESCRIPTION 65 CHARACTER FIRST APPEARANCES 65 CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS 65 CHARACTER NAMES 65 REDUNDANCIES 65 SIGNS, NEWS HEADLINES, SONGS, BOOKS, MAGAZINES, NOTES, LETTERS 66 SOUNDS 66 SPECIAL EFFECTS, TRANSITIONS, EDITING DIRECTIONS, MUSIC, CAMERA DIRECTIONS 66 SUBTITLES/SUPERS: 66 KEYS TO GREAT SCENES 66 BEATS 67 TOOLS FOR BUILDING SUSPENSE 68 EVOKE EMOTION 68 CREATE CONFLICT 68 PROVIDE OPPOSITION 68 BUILD EXPECTATION 69 INCREASE TENSION 69 USE SURPRISE 69 CREATE IMMEDIACY 69 ESTABLISH CONSEQUENCES 69 LIMIT TIME 69 MAINTAIN DOUBT 69 LEAVE THEM LAUGHING (COMEDIES) 69 WRITING DIALOGUE 70 CHARACTER CAPTION 70 ACTORS DIRECTIONS 70 DIALOGUE 70 OFFSCREEN 70 WRITING GREAT DIALOGUE 70 WHAT DIALOGUE IS 71 8 ELEMENTS OF THE VOICE: 71 ITS NOT WHAT YOU SAY BUT HOW YOU SAY IT 71 WRITING BETTER DIALOGUE 71 EXCITING EXPOSITION 73 FLASHBACKS 73 FORMAT STYLE GUIDE 74 FIVE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF SCENE WRITING 74 WRITING DESCRIPTIONS 74 WRITING ACTION 74 6 This material is © and 2005 by Sir William K. Coe. All rights reserved. Reader agre es to have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed wi thin the beginning chapters of this book. Includes thirdparty content not owned by Sir W illiam K. Coe. The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe DIALOGUE 75 THE REWRITE 75 THE GOOD READ 78 EACH REWRITE 79 SECOND AND THIRD DRAFT COMPLETED 79 ABOUT FORMATS 81 PRESENTATION THINGS TO DO AFTER YOURE DONE 81 MARGINS AND SPACING 83 PAGE BREAKS: 83 ASSIGNMENTS 84 MARKETING 92 THREE KEYS TO MARKETING YOURSELF AS A SCREENWRITER 92 TWO SOURCES OF INFORMATION REGARDING WHO THE 92 PEOPLE IN POWER ARE 92 FOUR CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE IN POWER 92 WHAT TO DO WHEN COMPLETED 92 FINDING AN AGENT 92 APPROACH PRODUCTION COMPANIES AND OTHER WAYS OF FINANCE 94 THE SCREENWRITERS DEAL 94 THREE WAYS FOR A SCREENWRITER TO EARN MONEY 94 YOUR STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN 95 PRINCIPLES 95 PURPOSE 95 AUDIENCE 95 STRATEGY 95 HIGH CONCEPT 95 TOOLS FOR SELLING 96 LOGLINE 96 THE PITCH 97 MANY WRITERS FEAR PITCHING THEIR STORIES, IF THEY WANTED TO PERFORM FOR AN AUDIE NCE, THEY WOULD NOT HAVE CHOSEN A SOLITARY PROFESSION LIKE WRITING. SCRIPT WRITING MAY BE A SOLI TARY PURSUIT WHEN YOU FACE THE BLANK PAGE; BUT ONCE YOU PUT SOMETHING MAGIC ON THAT BLANK PAGE, EV ERYBODY WANTS TO GET INTO THE ACT. WORKING WRITERS OFTEN PITCH THEIR STORIES WHILE THEY'RE IN THE MIDST OF WRITING THEIR SCREENPLAYS. EVEN AFTER THEY SELL THE SCRIPT, THEY HAVE TO PITCH IT TO THE DIRECTOR AND THE A CTORS. ALL SUCCESSFUL SCREENWRITERS LEARN HOW TO PITCH EFFECTIVELY, IT'S PART OF THE JOB DE SCRIPTION. 97 QUERY LETTER 99 SYNOPSIS 102 TREATMENT 106 STEP OUTLINE 108 PROJECT PLAN 112 POSITIONING STRATEGIES 113 IDENTIFYING PROSPECTS 114 WEEKLY ACTION PLAN 115 ASSIGMENTS 115 7 This material is © and 2005 by Sir William K. Coe. All rights reserved. Reader agre es to have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed wi thin the beginning chapters of this book. Includes thirdparty content not owned by Sir W illiam K. Coe. The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe APPENDIX 116 SAMPLE SCREENPLAY OPENING 116 PARADIGM STRUCTURE 118 STEP OUTLINE 119 STEP OUTLINE 122 STEP OUTLINE 125 TREATMENT 126 TREATMENT 128 QUERY LETTER 133 QUERY LETTER 134 QUERY LETTER 135 QUERY LETTER 136 STRUCTURE TABLE 137 LIST OF AGENTS AND MANAGERS 139 LIST OF PRODUCTION COMPANIES 197 COMMON FORMS YOULL ENCOUNTER 265 COPYRIGHTING SCREENPLAYS 272 WHAT IS COPYRIGHT? 272 HOW DO I ENFORCE MY COPYRIGHT? 273 WHAT IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SOMETHING BASED ON SOMEONE ELSE'S WORK? 275 POETICS BY ARISTOTLE WRITTEN 350 B.C.E TRANSLATED BY S. H. BUTCHER 291 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET SCREENPLAY 319 BIBLIOGRAPHY 430 This material is © and 2005 by Sir William K. Coe. All rights reserved. Reader agre es to have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed wi thin the beginning chapters of this book. Includes thirdparty content not owned by Sir W illiam K. Coe. The Screenwriting Bible Sir William K. Coe Introduction Screenplays have become, for the last half of this century, what the Great American Novel was for the first half. Closet writers who used to dream of the glory of getting into print now dream of the glory of seeing their story on the big or small screen. After teaching about 7000 writers in more than fortyfive cities in the United States, Canada, and England, I have found that the dream is by no means confined to Hollywood. People everywhere watch TV and think tothemselves, "I cou ld write better than that." Or they go to the moviesand lose themselves in the m agic of the dark, and they want to be apart of that magic or that glamour or tha t wealth that they see andread about. Or they just want to touch the pain and th e wonder thatcomes from facing that blank page and turning it into something tot allyone's own. So they decide to give it a shot. And then they meet The GreatDestroyers: Everyb ody's writing a screenplay.