Scriptwriting

11 April 2012

GOODBYE MY FELENI: The First Draft

I’ve got two months until we open.

Working backwards from mid-June, I’ll have three weeks of rehearsal, leaving me with five weeks to write a script. But I don’t have five weeks to write a script.

Did I neglect to mention that there’re two readings in the schedule? Part of the fixed-and-unmoveable-deadline package. The first reading is two weekends from today.

I have no actors. I have no director.

My wonderfully supportive Producer has pointed out that without a script, I can’t attract actors. A script also tends to have things like the number of characters, a description of where those characters are, what they’re wearing, and what ~~utensils~~ instruments/tools they are handling.

So.

I flash on Writing fast is really about writing smart which means that for the first five days of my ten day writing schedule, I do a Game of Thrones season one marathon, knock a few outstanding DVDs off my to-watch list, and circle and circle and circle the idea of a script.

With five days remaining, I decided to —

1. rework something I had lying around; and

2. eschew my current timekeeping programme —

WRITER

Today I spent four hours working on my pilot!

THE GODDESS

(without looking up from “You & Your Horse” magazine)

That’s nice.

— for something more goal oriented like a page count.

I’m six pages in and I’ve got four days to go.

Whoa Nellie!

6 April 2012

GOODBYE MY FELENI: The Producer

Two months to jump-off, I call in the few favours I have remaining in this town.

INT. THE PRODUCER’S OFFICE – DAY

Our WRITER sits on a KINDERGARTEN STOOL in front of a MASSIVE DESK, behind which sits his PRODUCER.

SUPER: “Thursday, 5 April”

PRODUCER

You what?

Our Writer kneads a CLOTH CAP that somehow appears in his hands.

WRITER

I uh –

PRODUCER

Shut up.

Our Writer looks at his Producer, his eyes showing equal parts fear and a desperate plea for help.

PRODUCER

Do you have a script?

Our Writer’s face betrays an incipient look of “funny-you-should-ask” --

WRITER

I uh –

PRODUCER

Shut up.

The Producer stares at the Writer.

PRODUCER

You’ve got until –

(off CALENDAR)

– the fifteenth to get me a full script.

WRITER

(whine)

The fiftee-

He freezes off a look from across the expanse of formica.

He notices he’s standing and promptly sits back down.

A THOUGHT BALLOON over our Writer: “15 April MINUS today (5 April) EQUALS -“

TIGHT ON WRITER – is he crying? – as --

WRITER

... Deal.

PRODUCER

Pardon?

WRITER

I said –

PRODUCER

Shut up.

5 April 2012

Box Watch: The Killing (US) and Forbrydelsen (DK)

Last year, we took a gamble and tried out the first season of Forbrydelsen, a Danish police procedural. It’s twenty eps long and some licence is taken with the genre but hey, y’know, it’s European and there’s quite a bit of slack I cut for product from that part of the world. It was a satisfying watch. There’s a second season lying in wait somewhere within the keep (it might have to wait until we’ve done Engrenages) – and then we heard it was being remade.

Yep: the almost inevitable American remake, The Killing, from one of the Cold Case writer-producers. We watched the pilot and second ep and were hooked. It was the same, but different. It had brains and paid the audience the compliment of being subtle.

Things began to slip away from the third ep onward, until the credits rolled on the season finale and The Goddess and I looked at each other in silence, unable to quite formulate our thoughts without lapsing into potty words and descriptions/threats of GBH.

Some internet trawling tells me that the perpetrator won’t be revealed until the end of the second season. Closure after twenty six freakin’ eps? Not even Murder One took that long. Suggesting Twin Peaks invites potty words and threats of physical harm.

The New York Times captures my thoughts exactimundo: “What we’ve been watching is actually a 26-hour-long episode of Law & Order, and we’re only halfway through it.”

Thank you, but no.

2 April 2012

GOODBYE MY FELENI

I’m going to write a play. Oh, I’ve doodled in the past, I know, I know. But this play’s going up in mid-June. This year.

Why theatre? you ask.

Because I’ve threatened to do it a couple of times in this blog.

And an opportunity arose. … Okay: I rashly – foolishly, even – accepted a fixed and unmoveable deadline.

After all – all together now – How hard could it be?

Partly for an escape or diversion or some writerly time-out, partly to provide you, my ever loyal readers, with some entertainment, and partly to start building some profile, I’ll be blogging about it.

31 March 2012

Fem

I’ve always had trouble with women. Women characters, that is. Making them walk and talk was reasonably straightforward. Whatever made them tick always seemed tantalisingly out of reach.

In contrast, tortured (ex-)special forces guys, young idealistic lawyer-types, frustrated creatives – they’re no terrible stretch if one gets into a let’s pretend state of mind.

In my early years of ignorance and naivete, the bar I’d subconsciously set for writing female characters was frightfully low. My female characters would a). never scream unnecessarily, b). never merely stand by as the hero gets a beatdown, and c). react pretty much like I imagined my mother or sister or female-friends would react in whatever extraordinary circumstances they might find themselves in.

This three-step checklist worked well enough until life experience and reluctant maturity coincided with having to write character drama rather than wham-bam actioners or thrillers. Try as I might, just making shit up and tap dancing furiously —

There’s a knock on the door!

— OR —

THe phone rings!!

— OR —

An EXPLOSION!!!

— no longer worked. There was a Truth to be gotten at in the stories: a truth about characters and ‘where they’re coming from’. And try as I might to avoid or ignore it, the answer to this challenge was simple: backstories had to be written, especially for vexsome characters.

(Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure I’m on record somewhere on this blog as saying that backstories are for sissies. What can I say? I was young and foolish.)

Backstories are helpful wee things. Besides being something with which to ~~brain~~ shut up pesky actors with, they are part of the world building process that stories require. With each backstory, each character belongs that much more to the narrative – you can quickly see whether they are essential or not (and if not, start making them essential) – and when you do it right, there’s an inexorability to character arcs and interactions that do away with things like plot devices.

(Those of you who’ve always done backstories have likely known this all along but it’s nice to (eventually) get to this point at my own pace.)

And so one finishes a many-paged backstory for a female main character but there’s something in it that’s just not ringing true.

That’s when one swallows one’s pride and asks one’s wife or friend or colleague, What do women really want?

Once the initial response is over and done with, whether it’s hearty laughter or stunned silence or an impassioned speech on twenty-first-century feminist politics, one soon finds oneself en route to the Truth.

Just don’t hum I am Woman or (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman as you go about it.

Trust me: it’s not worth it.

17 February 2012

So What —

— you might ask about my last post about my new cans.

In the heat of trying to be concise yet informative, finding the right pic to link, and struggling to remember my mental list of What I’ve learned… (which always seems to vanish when I sit down to blog), I completely forgot the reason why I draft the post in the first place: unintended consequences.

And not all being as it seems.

Those are two cool things to work into one’s writing, and devilishly hard to do well.

14 February 2012

In Ear

A hand-me-down ipod nano has been a welcome running companion for the last couple of years. The stock bud earphones that came with it have taken a bit of a beating what with sweat and whatever inclement weather, and the sound was becoming increasingly crackly and intermittently mono. So I bought some reasonably priced but appropriately sporting earphones –

Panasonic Sports Earphones

– that would a) be somewhat more resistant to its operating environment/s and b) not joggle out of my ears.

My first discovery about in-ear phones – personal information alert – was that my left and right ear canals require different sized silicone sleeves. My second discovery was the initially disconcerting amount of external sound that they block out.

My journey of discovery didn’t stop there. The following are a few other things I’ve observed with the new ‘phones on my runs:

1. the percussion I’m hearing for the very first time on a track might actually be my own laboured breathing through the ‘phones;

2. the bass line that’s a little out of sync with a song is probably my heart hammering away; and

3. my apologies to startled and bemused pedestrians and runners on my loop – I sometimes forget the effectiveness of the silicone sleeves and am wheeze-singing along to Whitney‘s Queen of the Night rather than lip-syncing.

7 January 2012

Back When

I hanker for the days of just doing it: here’s the environment, here’re the characters – See them walk! Action reveals character! Environment reveals theme!

The days of just firing up the laptop, typing in FADE IN:, and seeing what happens next are long gone. Time is finite. Enthusiasm will carry one only so far.

I’m trying to draw some comfort from John August, et al, about writing faster and smarter. And I shall not forsake the small voice of stubborn and wilful ignorance in my head – How hard can it be to [INSERT TASK/PROJECT]?

31 December 20116 September 2012

TO’ONA’I: Broadcast

Yep.

The Rialto Channel have kindly agreed to show To’ona’i.

I’m chuffed.

Happy new year.

30 December 2011

2011 in Print

Comics

A nice mix of mainstream, European and indy this year.

Asterios Polyp – David Mazzuchelli
Britten & Brulightly – Hannah Berry
Chance in Hell – Gilbert Hernandez
Doing Time – Hanawa Kazuichi
Fun Home – Alison Bechdel
Hellcity: The Whole Damned Thing – Macon Blair and Joe Flood
The Lagoon – Lilli Carre
Maybe Later – Dupuy & Berberian
Powers: Z – Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming
Shaolin Burning – Ant Sang
The Third Musketeer – Jason
Walking Dead: No Way Out – Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard

Scripts

Hm. According to my reading diary, I read the average annual amount of these this year but very few have wowed me like I want to be wowed.

Billy Elliott – Lee Hall
The Good Wife: Pilot – Robert King and Michelle King
Lone Star – John Sayles
Manhunter – Michael Mann
The Straight Story – John Roach and Mary Sweeney

Maybe it’s just me.

Books

Some ah, research led me to more non-fiction reading that I would previously readily admit.

Armageddon – Max Hastings
Nemesis – Max Hastings
Striptease – Carl Hiaasen
True Grit – Charles Portis

I’m tempted to try the Demi Moore vehicle that started out once upon a time as a film adaptation of Striptease but… ‘m afraid I mayn’t survive it.