{"id":817,"date":"2009-12-01T11:30:29","date_gmt":"2009-11-30T22:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/?p=817"},"modified":"2009-12-01T11:30:29","modified_gmt":"2009-11-30T22:30:29","slug":"first-things-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/first-things-first\/","title":{"rendered":"First Things First"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

INT. ROOM – AFTERNOON<\/p>\n

Our WRITER – wearing his script consultant hat* – sits with a writer\/director who we shall call DIRECTOR.<\/p>\n

They each have a copy of the Director’s SECOND DRAFT SCRIPT in front of them: the Writer’s copy has notes scrawled in the margins; the Director makes notes on her copy as they go along.<\/p>\n

They are well into their session:<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

– this exchange on page thirty between LoverBoy and LoverGirl doesn’t work for me. I can see that their dialogue is supposed to set up the coming confrontation as well as strengthen their love for each other but –<\/p>\n

(turns back a few pages in his copy)<\/p>\n

– you’ve established LoverGirl to be feisty and funny and sexy in two earlier scenes but on page thirty... she’s none of those.<\/p>\n

DIRECTOR<\/p>\n

Not even with ‘the thing’ thing?<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

Especially with ‘the thing’ thing.<\/p>\n

DIRECTOR<\/p>\n

But I like ‘the thing’ thing.<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

I like ‘the thing’ thing, too, but it’s out of character for LoverGirl. Either give a very good reason for her out-of-character moment –<\/p>\n

Director scribbles on her draft.<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

– or establish LoverGirl differently –<\/p>\n

Director scribbles furiously to keep up.<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

– or cut it.<\/p>\n

(off Director)<\/p>\n

D’you see what I’m getting at?<\/p>\n

DIRECTOR<\/p>\n

Yep.<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

If you disagree, you need to say something.<\/p>\n

DIRECTOR<\/p>\n

You’re right. It’s out of character for her.<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

So which will you do?<\/p>\n

DIRECTOR<\/p>\n

(looks at her notes)<\/p>\n

I don’t know.<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

Fair enough. Fix it.<\/p>\n

He smiles to take the edge of his brusqueness. He looks at his draft:<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

Now as for LoverBoy –<\/p>\n

DIRECTOR<\/p>\n

Is there ANYTHING you like about this draft?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nIt was at this point that I realised that I’d totally forgotten to kick off our session with a prayer<\/strike> an overview of the draft – I had selfishly ranted about a recent production that I’d seen.<\/p>\n

I had forgotten that the session was not about me but about the writer and their<\/i> work.<\/p>\n

\n

The Director’s question seems to echo off the walls as the Writer sits very still, mind racing.<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

It’s certainly an improvement on the first draft. The story’s skeleton is good and sound. You’ve begun to flesh out your characters. You’ve reduced their dialogue but they’re saying a lot more now.<\/p>\n

(beat)<\/p>\n

There’s nothing I can say at this point that won’t have the whiff of trying to make nice.<\/p>\n

(off Director)<\/p>\n

Is there?<\/p>\n

DIRECTOR<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

WRITER<\/p>\n

Sorry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\nTime, I think, for a checklist.<\/p>\n

*  A Tui<\/a> cap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

INT. ROOM – AFTERNOON Our WRITER – wearing his script consultant hat* – sits with a writer\/director who we shall call DIRECTOR. They each have a copy of the Director’s SECOND DRAFT SCRIPT in front of them: the Writer’s copy has notes scrawled in the margins; the Director makes notes on her copy as they … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “First Things First”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[110],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scriptwriting","tag-script-consulting"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dfmamea.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}