Friday, April 20, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Answer #3 (part two)
EQ: What is the best way to write a successful screenplay?
Answer: The best way to write a successful screenplay is to throw theme out of the window.
Evidence:
1. Theme grows out of story. Story does not grow out of theme.
2. Theme is cerebral, desire is emotional, and art is emotional.
3. If you start with theme then your writing is limited, like trying to work around proving a point your story becomes more of an argument and a thesis than anything else. This kills the surprise and delight that makes the movie experience.
Source: Hal Ackerman, co-chair of the screenwriting program at UCLA and author of Writing Screenplays That Sell.
Answer: The best way to write a successful screenplay is to throw theme out of the window.
Evidence:
1. Theme grows out of story. Story does not grow out of theme.
2. Theme is cerebral, desire is emotional, and art is emotional.
3. If you start with theme then your writing is limited, like trying to work around proving a point your story becomes more of an argument and a thesis than anything else. This kills the surprise and delight that makes the movie experience.
Source: Hal Ackerman, co-chair of the screenwriting program at UCLA and author of Writing Screenplays That Sell.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Answer #3
EQ: What is the best way to write a successful screenplay?
Answer 3: The best way to write a successful screenplay is to seduce the reader/audience in the first 10 pages, or at the 10% mark.
Evidence: 1. When you're trying to sell your screenplay it is already hard to get someone to even open it, let alone read it. So it essential to seduce the reader so that they will continue to read through the rest of the screenplay. 2. You often hear "grab your reader in the first ten pages". That statement is misleading because if you're writing a love story that has little to no action and think that you need to "grab" the reader then you might think that an action sequence or something flashy and uneccessary should be in the first ten pages. It should not. You also have to be mindful that you must introduce your characters and a significant change in the hero's everyday life by this time. The most difficult part of this whole process is to weave everything together. Somwhere in the first 10% of your screenplay you must introduce characters, their current situations, the setting, etc. This answer is as good as any other answer: have a strong leading character, good plot that is moved by outer motivations and desires, great drama, a satisfying climax and ending, blah blah blah etc. The only difference is that before the reader can read and realize any of those other aspects - which are great answers as well- they either read it or don't. Without being persuaded to continue to read the screenplay they cannot realize the other things that I have mentioned make a good screenplay.
Source: Every screenplay that I have read: Annie Hall, Citizen Kane, Shakespeare in Love, A Knight's Tale, and the book Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge.
Answer 3: The best way to write a successful screenplay is to seduce the reader/audience in the first 10 pages, or at the 10% mark.
Evidence: 1. When you're trying to sell your screenplay it is already hard to get someone to even open it, let alone read it. So it essential to seduce the reader so that they will continue to read through the rest of the screenplay. 2. You often hear "grab your reader in the first ten pages". That statement is misleading because if you're writing a love story that has little to no action and think that you need to "grab" the reader then you might think that an action sequence or something flashy and uneccessary should be in the first ten pages. It should not. You also have to be mindful that you must introduce your characters and a significant change in the hero's everyday life by this time. The most difficult part of this whole process is to weave everything together. Somwhere in the first 10% of your screenplay you must introduce characters, their current situations, the setting, etc. This answer is as good as any other answer: have a strong leading character, good plot that is moved by outer motivations and desires, great drama, a satisfying climax and ending, blah blah blah etc. The only difference is that before the reader can read and realize any of those other aspects - which are great answers as well- they either read it or don't. Without being persuaded to continue to read the screenplay they cannot realize the other things that I have mentioned make a good screenplay.
Source: Every screenplay that I have read: Annie Hall, Citizen Kane, Shakespeare in Love, A Knight's Tale, and the book Writing Screenplays That Sell by Michael Hauge.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Room Creativity
1. I intend to meet the creativity requirement by enhancing the lesson through audience involvement through out the entire 2-hour, not just the activity. When I present anything I want to have a lot of questions to ask the audience so I'll pull names out of a hat. For unique application I was thinking of giving everyone a fortune cookie containing like plot points and asking them to create a story out of the one sentence... but I'm not really sure how we're supposed to address unique application, I imagined if I tied it back to one of my answers then it would have been used effectively.
2. Answer 1: Write with a voice
Activity: ummm pass a peice of clay around and ask everyone to describe it in one sentence. They can mold it into a shape or leave it as it is but they cannot say the word that it literally is. That is to use their voice to transcend an idea. Make the point that no matter how perfectly molded an idea is in your head if you can't get that across to other people it's useless.
Answer 2: Invest in the protagonist
Activity: I was thinking I could probably use the fortune cookie idea here- give everyone a hero and ask them to come up with either a setup (introduce a desire not given in fortune but unique to the student) or a conflict.
2. Answer 1: Write with a voice
Activity: ummm pass a peice of clay around and ask everyone to describe it in one sentence. They can mold it into a shape or leave it as it is but they cannot say the word that it literally is. That is to use their voice to transcend an idea. Make the point that no matter how perfectly molded an idea is in your head if you can't get that across to other people it's useless.
Answer 2: Invest in the protagonist
Activity: I was thinking I could probably use the fortune cookie idea here- give everyone a hero and ask them to come up with either a setup (introduce a desire not given in fortune but unique to the student) or a conflict.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Answer Two
EQ: What is the best way to write a successful screenplay?
It is the job of the screenwriter to elicit emotion in the audience/reader; but in order to do that the audience/reader has to be invested in your character. Development of the main character is essential. We don't pay to see a movie and watch the actors laugh or cry or crap their pants, we go to the movies to experience it; we want to laugh and cry and crap in our pants. Author of Writing Screenplays That Sell, and experienced script consultant, Michael Hauge claims that without an investment in the hero the audience will not know what or who to root for and so any attempt to appeal to emotion is not fully reached because of the lack of empathy for the character. Now you might be thinking well what exactly does investing in the protagonist mean? The protagonist, as professor Solano my third interviewee puts it: is the the driving force of the entire story. If you named nearly every successful movie ever made you could rest assured that the plot was pulled along by the desires and misfortunes of the protagonist. So one way to develop your hero may be to establish the his or her desires and motivations. An example, just off the top of my head would be Forrest Gump, which I would assume you are familiar with. Forrest's desire and motivation is love, or simply Jenny. There is a lot of time devoted throughout the film to establish that he loves Jenny, which both develops Forrest as a character and builds up tension in regards to whether or not they will be together in the end. Another way to invest in your protagonist is to create a great character arc. In plain english that means to make to the character grow. This is no new trick of the trade, in all storytelling mediums the character arc is important. Perhaps the most easily recognized is Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol, where Ebenezer Scrooge turns from greedy into a philanthropist. In Steve Zaillian's Schindler's List, Oscar Schindler transforms from a selfish and ambitious business man into a kind and brave life saver. And in Brian Helgeland's Knight's Tale, protagonist Will transforms from a peasant to a noble/knight.
It is the job of the screenwriter to elicit emotion in the audience/reader; but in order to do that the audience/reader has to be invested in your character. Development of the main character is essential. We don't pay to see a movie and watch the actors laugh or cry or crap their pants, we go to the movies to experience it; we want to laugh and cry and crap in our pants. Author of Writing Screenplays That Sell, and experienced script consultant, Michael Hauge claims that without an investment in the hero the audience will not know what or who to root for and so any attempt to appeal to emotion is not fully reached because of the lack of empathy for the character. Now you might be thinking well what exactly does investing in the protagonist mean? The protagonist, as professor Solano my third interviewee puts it: is the the driving force of the entire story. If you named nearly every successful movie ever made you could rest assured that the plot was pulled along by the desires and misfortunes of the protagonist. So one way to develop your hero may be to establish the his or her desires and motivations. An example, just off the top of my head would be Forrest Gump, which I would assume you are familiar with. Forrest's desire and motivation is love, or simply Jenny. There is a lot of time devoted throughout the film to establish that he loves Jenny, which both develops Forrest as a character and builds up tension in regards to whether or not they will be together in the end. Another way to invest in your protagonist is to create a great character arc. In plain english that means to make to the character grow. This is no new trick of the trade, in all storytelling mediums the character arc is important. Perhaps the most easily recognized is Charles Dickens novel A Christmas Carol, where Ebenezer Scrooge turns from greedy into a philanthropist. In Steve Zaillian's Schindler's List, Oscar Schindler transforms from a selfish and ambitious business man into a kind and brave life saver. And in Brian Helgeland's Knight's Tale, protagonist Will transforms from a peasant to a noble/knight.
Friday, March 9, 2012
The Product
My product so far is an understanding of the journey a screenplay takes in order to be bought and produced. I will apply this by writing my own screenplay (which I did in my independent component) and selling it.
Evidence is hard to provide because the screenplay is written on a writing software that only opens when you have the software on your computer, but Ms. Melogno has a hard copy of it.
Evidence is hard to provide because the screenplay is written on a writing software that only opens when you have the software on your computer, but Ms. Melogno has a hard copy of it.
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