Me, a writer of movie scripts

Tart

2012-01-25T17:07:00.000+01:00

Sometimes the choice of words could be less fortunate, but quite funny.

As you know, my native language is not English. I work hard for you not to notice.

I needed a phrasing for a man to describe a beautiful woman, and not any man and any situation, but with a sexual hint from a man who never understood the concept of having one partner only. I wanted something close to vulgar, like young women could be described as lamb chops by Swedish men.

“A true tart for a man’s soul” I wrote. Tart in the meaning of that sweet bakery-thing. I figured that some form of sweet food would do fine.

I checked with WordWeb.

“A small open pie with a fruit filling”. Yep, that was what I thought. But there were more:
“[offensive] (informal) a promiscuous woman” and “[offensive] A woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money.”

Eeegh. . . Guess “tart” was not what I was looking for. I didn’t want the woman to appear vulgar.

But it turned out quite funny, did it not? I’m looking for a vulgar man’s description of a beautiful woman and accidently picks a word for a vulgar woman instead.

To imagine beyond that first vision

2012-01-24T11:00:00.000+01:00

In my story The Power of Bitterness there is a crypt with the royal family's tombs. My idea of what it could look like was something like the image above: the crypt of Lund Cathedral, a place where I've walked more than once when I was a kid, thrilled with its stories.

Now, many gurus in screenwriting and storytelling in general say that you should write about things you know. And here I use my memory of a actual place for my story. It should be a perfect example of using my experience in my writings.

Except that I think I'm wrong doing so.

This story takes place in a fantasy world. It is not another planet, like Avatar, but a world occupied with humans, with horses, and trees and emotions just like our world, just another time and another place. You know, the classic fairytale world. Except that is not how I want it. I don't want the cliche image of prince and princess and wizards and swords jammed into a stone.

The classic fairytale world is from somewhere in the middle ages with knights and stone castles. This crypt was finished year 1123. When the knights were fighting and if anything, this crypt is built in solid stone. It matches the cliche image as a hand in a glove.

I needed something else, something special.

My thoughts wandered and I remembered a narrow, dug out corridor that led inside a hill, into an old grave. That corridor... Perfect.

And when I explored this environment in the first scene it was used, I realized its mighty potentials for far more than just this scene. The crypts suddenly was part of her character in a very appealing way.

Impossible pursuits

2012-01-20T09:30:00.000+01:00

My grandmother made the best hot chocolate in the whole World. She had always cream at home and mixed the cacao and the sugar with it (my mother mixed with milk). Then she always said “I don’t add that much sugar, because it is undrinkable if it is too sweet. It’s better if you add sugar later if you need it.” I always got whipped cream on the top.

Once I read a clean heroinist’s description of the drug as the first time is the most wonderful experience you ever had, and the rest of your time as an addict is a pursuit of that glorious moment. But it will never return. Every following intake of heroine will result in nightmares.

My life as a grownup has been a pursuit of my grandmother’s hot chocolate.

I’ve made my own, both simple – like granny did – and more exclusive, with expensive cacao or different kinds of sugar. I’ve tried to add tastes of mint as well as lemon. To find that perfect cup – not as my grand mother did it, but giving me the same feeling.

I’ve bought hot chocolate in cafes. And for just about the same price got everything between premixed powder containing of mostly sugar and a delicate hand-mixed content with heart shaped whipped milk on top.

Not even an $8 dollar cup with Valrhona chocolate beat hers.

Why do we pursuit things we know are impossible to find?

The heroinist knows it will be a nightmare. I know my grand mother’s chocolate was not in the recipe or the actual taste, but in the heart of a child sitting in her granny’s kitchen.

Yesterday I sat with my two boys, all three of us drinking hot chocolate with whipped cream on top, thinking that in some way I had found what I was looking for.

Hot chocolate from Café Schober, Zürich, Switzerland
Photo Andrew Bossi
Used under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License
Image edited by the writer

Spread myself too thin? No!

2012-01-17T22:17:00.000+01:00

Some in my family thinks that I spread myself too thin. Why is it so hard to get that I need to do certain things to feel well? Yes, I love my family and yes, I want to keep my job (at least until I sell scripts with a resulting income matching my current, then I’ll reconsider), but I need to write and I need to be creative. I can’t just stop being creative. It is there and needs to get out. I think I have things under control. I’ve learned how to handle myself over the years. When I feel lousy it is not in general because I “spread myself to thin” it’s because some parts of my day-job tend to be more or less chaotic in a way that makes me go bananas if I don’t have any safety went. And then I hear I spread myself too thin. I guess I should be happy someone cares. But still, I don’t dare to tell about any problems because then it suddenly becomes all what my life contains. If you don’t look upon it in a financial way I should probably do better only keeping my family and the creative parts, and skip the day-job, but that is not very practical. Honestly, you are not helping me by saying I’m too creative – because that is what it results into. Help me to find time to be creative instead of blaming me, please. And if I tell about a problem in my life, it is only a part of my life; not the whole of it.

A quick update

2012-01-17T21:58:00.000+01:00

I've rewritten the first five pages of The Power of Bitterness, that should have been about ten pages. Now they are ten pages. Ten good pages. Not stuffed with pointless filling, but pages that really adds to the story. One could say that now there is a story, because as it was I probably was the only one getting it.

Recharging sidetrack

2012-01-16T18:00:00.002+01:00

I’ve been sitting with some ancestry research lately. It was one of those urges appearing. It’s been all stuffed in a shoebox and lists with relatives are not nearly as helpful as a tree. So I decided to spend some time to get it all into a digital tree with photos and documents and all. It would be one less bad conscience and something useful for the future.

Then I could not resist to do some search in the document the service hinted existed. I found for instance my mother’s uncle in a crew list for the ship where he worked. Fun. But on the whole I found little in the documents that I didn’t already know. For those that I had hoped to find some more information there was nothing to find.

Somewhere during those hours I found that I was done. I realized that I was ready to move on. The tree is there. Sure, some photos and documents are still to be added, but nothing that bubble up as a huge urge as it was when I started. Finally I was satisfied.

To be honest I almost turned upset when I realised how much time I had spent on it rather than writing.

But things are not that simple. I’m not sure I would have been able to write. Those urges that pop up are desperate calls from somewhere inside me. So far I have not found a safe way around them. Easiest is to just answer the call and keep from spending too much money getting there.

This morning I asked myself if it was worth to keep writing for a professional level. Less than twelve hours later I’m a marvelous writer again. This afternoon I sat down and wrote and found that I had both passion and confidence for what I’m doing.

Oozing bitterness

2012-01-12T10:30:00.000+01:00

I’ve made a few realisations when I rewrote the first pages of my project The Power of Bitterness.

One is the importance of letting that first scene immensely oozing the current mood. There should be no doubt what so ever that this is someone genuinely bitter about her life.

Another is that I in my urge to keep the necessary focus on the main character, hardly have any scenes without her. To tell the story I need to have scenes which she is not a part of; otherwise we will not know that the King is a sleepyhead, handing over much responsibility on his much too young son. If we don’t see this father-‘n’-son situation – where the main character is absent – we will not understand the prince’s reactions later.

A third realisation is that although I planned remarkably well, notable things were still missing. Some of it was alright, because some things only appear when writing – it is only then the characters truly comes alive. Some, I should have thought about beforehand. I had for instance not made clear what question was about to be asked on the first pages. The question is crucial. It really is. It is not as the main character needs to stand up and ask “What would happen if I turned the world blue?”. The question is more like a wonder, maybe a doubt, motion or a proposal. It sets the story in motion, not in action, but in mood.

Steering by the ear

2012-01-10T10:00:00.000+01:00

I have had an ear infection. It’s not that bad now, but when it began a week ago I ate one or two painkillers. I think it was a mild cold I had who sneaked up into my ear and filled it up with goo on the backside of the eardrum. Ouch.

Now the pain is gone – it only lasted a day – but the ear still feels stuffed and it makes constant sounds.

I wonder if the goo sneaked up into my brain too, because I don’t feel like writing at all. The 3rd place winning might have caught me on the backside - loosing confidence instead of gaining. Quite ridiculous, if so. I have to turn that ship around.

So, here we go! - - - - - Fine. Now I'm back on track.

Structure of the setup

2012-01-04T11:00:00.000+01:00

I began writing on my new feature The Power of Bitterness the other day. The fingers were flying over the keyboard, I made some excellent descriptions, the dialog was on the top. . .

. . . Except when I thought I had reached page ten I was on page four.

Too much of a rush on the setup.

If you enter a new world, thirty seconds of introduction is a bit short, don’t you think? We need to get a grip if there are aliens or humans living in the houses. Answer if they have horses or dragons or spaceships for transportation. We need to get some idea of what kind of world it is.

Then we have the main character – a girl of seventeen. We hardly have time to grasp her being a young girl before she has put on clothes and makeup turning her into something frightful in black. A little bit more time here, please, so we understand what is happening. We need to know her some, before she transforms.

The dialog between her and her friend is terrific, but could be a little longer and a little more informative without write it on their noses.

Then there is another thing: There should be a question asked. A question asked that tells us something about what this movie is about; a question that is answered by the end of the movie. As it is now, I give no hint what so ever what this movie is about. So much for fabulous writing.

The good thing is that I’m pleased with what I have written. I don’t need to erase, but expand. That feels far better than deleting a text written with passion and heart.

My type of condensed, effective writing is perfect for short scripts. I need to write less compressed to make it work in a feature. Other writers have problems with their overly detailed language and lengthy, unfocused dialog. I need to add things instead to make it work. That feels strange.

I will not move on until I have ten pages. Ten pages I am pleased with too.

Gothenburg Film Studios

2012-01-04T10:59:00.000+01:00

What can I say? I'm proud to have this creative place in my home town.

3rd place winner!!!

2012-01-03T10:08:00.002+01:00

”It is with great pleasure that we at The Writers Place have selected your submission, Escape Room Game, as the third place winner for the May – October 2011 teleplay/short screenplay contest. During this six-month contest period our readers reviewed many finely-rendered, well-structured stories. Less than 5% advanced to the finals, and your submission truly excelled.”

This came as a complete surprise. I had sent the version to the contest first, and then gained feedback when it was too late to change the submitted script. Why do I always do that? Wouldn’t it be a great idea to get feedback first and then submit? So I thought that my script cannot be that good. I was happy to reach the finals.

Yet, my somewhat quick ending did obviously not ruin the whole script.

There were 18 finalists. If that constituted 5% of all entries, it should have been 360 scripts. And mine placed as number three. That is pretty darn wonderful.

Photo by Dan Brian Gerona

Used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Edited by the writer

Planning scenes - finally done

2011-12-29T20:30:00.000+01:00

I have finally reached the last scene in my scene planning (with SuperNotecard).

There are two problems left. One is the environment where the story is set. I have not yet successfully erased the middle aged castle from my mind. I need to have a clear image of where the story is set, or I will have her climbing stone walls like Disney's Robin Hood.

The other problem is one of the characters. She is an important supporting character, but tend to pop up a little too convenient when needed and it does not feel natural. Another thing with her is her attitude making her very sarcastic about life, and I'm a bit scared about writing her dialog - a bitter jester making fun of everything.

But here I am. Basically ready to start writing my script. If I only dare to start.

Some wise words

2011-12-21T15:09:00.000+01:00

"Every day you should try to do something creative. Improve your destiny. Take your health, or your moral life, or spiritual life—one thing at a time—and change it as you desire. If you can control the mind, the whole world will gravitate toward you. Do not be a helpless failure. Control your destiny by changing your thought. Do whatever you make up your mind to do. To concentrate the mind in this way doesn’t cost you a thing. Inwardly determine to change yourself, and you can change your destiny according to your will."

The Divine Romance by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda, 2000

Read more of these wisdoms together with some great photos at Nice Art Life.

A Christmas Story - a republished favorite

2011-12-20T11:54:00.001+01:00

Once upon a time there was a big, big company producing soft drinks. They were so big that their name was known in every country of the world.

In a small, small country they had hired a local brewing company to make and sell their products. The people in the small, small country were a strange folk however; they didn’t drink the big, big company’s soft drinks for Christmas, but something called “julmust”*.

The big, big company told the local brewing company in the small, small country that they had to stop making “julmust” since it competed with the big, big company’s products.

The local brewing company in the small, small country refused. They had the best “julmust” in the country and was not about to give it up.

The big, big company got angry and withdraw their license and established themselves in the small, small country.

When Christmas came closer they sent commercial on the TV-channels and put up posters on the bus stops telling the people in the small, small country that the big, big company’s major soft drink with its red and white label was perfect for Christmas.

The impact of the commercial was prominent.

The big, big company's selling of soft drinks dropped immediately.

And the local brewing company in the small, small country sold more bottles of “julmust” than ever before.

The next Christmas the stubborn people in the small, small country found a new label of “julmust” in the stores with all the required features and a genuine look 'n' feel.

With small, small letters the name of the big, big company could be read: “the Coca-Cola Company”.

First published 10th of December 2009

* From Wikipedia: “Julmust” is made of carbonated water, sugar, hop extract, malt extract, spices, caramel colouring, citric acid, and preservatives. The hops and malt extracts give the must a somewhat beer-like taste, but much sweeter and, since it is not fermented, it contains no alcohol. 45 million litres of “julmust” are consumed during December (to be compared with roughly 9 million Swedes), which is around 50% of the total soft drink volume in December and 75% of the total yearly must sales. Read more here.

The enviroment for a Fantasy story

2011-12-18T09:00:00.000+01:00

One of my long time friends and critiques read my outline for The Power of Bitterness and asked what kind of environment it was set in. I had always thought the classic fairytale world with the common middle-age look.

His question got me thinking. Didn't that world - that middle-age, fairytale world - made it all a little too boring? If I have a chance to be God and create a world, why copy-paste from everybody else? Sure, I see a stone castle, but honestly, I see a stone castle because it is a classic imprint, not because it needs to be a stone castle.

Why not something more Viking-looking? Build something on my own folklore and history.

And the story has its roots in the powers of Nature. Shouldn't the environment the story is set in reflect on these roots?

Yes, it will take a little longer before I start writing, but I really got something fascinating started here. I need to get it all in place first.

Gee, this script is going to be so great. If I ever get started that is.

Photo by Sven Rosborn

Used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Image edited by the writer

Change is part of life

2011-12-16T09:00:00.000+01:00

Some people can’t stand change.

It is unfortunate, because change is part of life.

Of course you feel most comfortable in a world that you know and feel safe in. Everybody who has kids or remembers their own childhoods knows that knot in the stomach when starting a new school or class. And the only thing causing that knot was the change to something unknown.

But knot or no knot, change will always be a vital part of life.

The quicker you learn to handle it, the better.

No matter if the change make things better or worse, some things are nevertheless something you can never affect. To use energy to prevent an inevitable change is a complete waste. It is a much greater advantage to use that energy to adapt, no matter if you like the change or not. Whining about it will do no good. Not for you and certainly not for anybody else.

Mind you, I’m not saying you should just float with the stream if something vexes you. I’m just saying that trying to affect something that is beyond your reach is nothing but pointless whining. You will not get happier, and your negative emotions will probably spread.

Image by Jurii

Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

Image edited by the writer

Those moments of doing nothing

2011-12-15T14:52:00.000+01:00

I’ve kept my brain too busy lately.

That sounded quite pompous. I didn’t mean to be. I’ve just realized the importance of letting the brain mind its own business from time to time.

I’m very fond of computer games. And with a Smartphone I get the chance to play while waiting for the bus and later while travelling with it. Fun, but. . . hasn’t my writing slowed down lately? I thought it’s just the fact that I’ve not taken the time to do so, but I think there is more to it than that.

I think I’ve not taken time because I haven’t thought about it. And I have not thought about writing because my brain had nothing to say. It has not been given the time it needs to process and transform.

When I forced myself to sit down to work on my scene planning the brain boosted and I could hardly leave the keyboard.

Yes, I had to force myself because I didn’t feel inspired, but that is quite common. I know that once I sit down the inspiration comes. But that boost was something new.

And usually I feel an urge to sit down even if I don’t feel particularly in the mood for it, just because I know it works. But I have never forgotten I am a writer before.

Before playing Angry Birds and WordFall while I was waiting for the bus I was thinking about what to write here on the blog. When I got the chance to write it down I did and later formed it into something well thought out. Now, when I do other things while waiting, I loose that time to think, and therefore miss the opportunity to plant a seed for a blog entry.

I’ll try to stay away from the games and see if it I notice any difference.

Gee, I wish I could do both, but if I have to choose, the games will go.

Image by Filosofias filosoficas

Used under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license

Image edited by the writer

Wisdoms from the movies

2011-12-11T19:37:00.001+01:00

Professor Albus Dumbledore: Words are, in my not-so-humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic. Capable of both inflicting injury, and remedying it.

From: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

Keeping the plan - not.

2011-12-08T10:00:00.000+01:00

According to may plan I should be ready to start writing the 11th of December. I don't think I will make it. I've not even quite done with the first act. Have you also noticed that there is more to do around Christmas?

I'm making steady progress, but not as fast as I had hoped. And I do want to make a proper job and not leave the third act to its fate again.

What I have looks good though, and that is very encouraging.

Is the story worthy?

2011-12-08T09:00:00.000+01:00

Marty Kane on Screenwriters Networking Group on Facebook asked:
"Is the story worthy? [..] How do "you" know what's worthy of you spending all the time that we spend developing a story, and characters, that goes into writing your screenplay?"

My reply:
"I don't choose the stories. They choose me. Sometimes I turn out to be worthy the
responsibility, sometimes not."

The more I think of it, the more I belive that my spontaneous reply was spot on how I see it. It is not a matter if the story is worthy, it is a matter if I'm able to tell it.

Short script "Escape Room Game" has reached the finals

2011-12-07T08:47:00.001+01:00

I’m a finalist!

I am a finalist!!

My short script ”Escape Room Game” has reached the finals of The Writer’s Place’s teleplay/short script contest. One of eighteen finalists is my work.

Wowowowowo!!!

Winners will be announced the first of January.

Photo by Jujuly25

Image used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

Edited by the writer

No child should need to die

2011-12-06T09:35:00.001+01:00

21 000 children under five years of age die every day – e v e r y d a y. Most of them die of insufficient nutrition, diarrhea and other diseases which all could be easily cured.

But even the simplest solution costs money. Even clean water. Many people in the world do not have any money at all.

When you buy your Christmas gifts, please also remember that you can save lives for the money. You can’t save all the 21 000 children, but you can save the life of one, and for that child and its parents your gift means life and hope for the future.

For every blog entry exposing this situation re:member donate 6 bags of Plumpy Nut. It is a nut cream full nutrition used to help staving children back to health. They need three of these bags each day.

Do you want to do something too? Find blog material here. You can also support your local UNICEF in their work.
No child should need to die.

Photo by UNICEF/Pelle Bergström

Age of characters in movie scripts

2011-12-02T10:00:00.000+01:00

I had a discussion on a forum, with another writer, concerning one of my short scripts. He didn’t approve of my rather thin character descriptions. “You don’t even write her age” he pointed out.

I claimed that I had written what is needed for the story – what we need to know is that she has a good looking, curvy figure. The script as a whole tells us that she is old enough to be working as a teacher, and young enough to still work as such. I insisted that a precise age was of no importance. If the director were to find a fifty year old actress with the charm and curves needed, the story would work just as well as if the actress was twenty-five.

Then he went bananas and wrote a long text about what differs between someone who is twenty-five compared to one who is fifty, both mentally and practically.

Of course, there is a difference between someone who is fifty and someone who is twenty-five. But the story still works.

I don’t see any reason to limit the mind of the one reading my script, by adding things that are of no importance for the story.

The type of character descriptions I dislike most, is THOMAS (33). Is it significant that he is exactly 33 years old? Is it written in his face that he is? No. He is between thirty and thirty-five. It is likely that the story works if he was between twenty-five and forty as well. Not only is an exact age of idiocy, it gives me a terrible read. It’s like (33) jumps out of the story like a flying sticker and lands on the forehead of the guy.

It is true that the movie script is like a blueprint for the final movie, but any attempt to make it an exact and detailed design is doomed to fail.

The writer writes the story. That is our job. That is what we do, and we do it better than anybody else in a film crew. Just because we are skilled at our job, and we make the foundation of the next blockbuster, we should not elude ourselves to believe that we know directing, casting, costume and makeup too.

Just because I see a thirty-year-old woman with a curvy body in a slim, green suit it doesn’t mean that her whole appearance is vital to the story. As a matter of fact, it might not even be necessary that it is a female character.

Sure, you should paint an image with your words, but I think you should try to do it with descriptions that leave all but the truly vital aspects open. Put your energy on what is essential.

As for the writer I had a discussion with, I’m looking forward to read a script of his someday, to understand what he looked for in mine.

Photo by: Lajpat Dhingra

"As part of the activities of the Bole Kishori or Girls speak out project of Vacha, girls living in Mumbai bastis are encouraged to express themselves through writing, drawing, photography, theatre and slideshow presentations. The project's facilitators now look forward to training the kishoris, or young girls, to tell their own stories through the medium of video."

Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Image edited by the writer

Review: SuperNotecard

2011-12-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

I want to plan my scenes. One reason is that it is inspiring and adds value to the final result when I generate as much as possible before I begin to write. Another reason is that writing is the hard part. It is the thing where I truly show my skill, the result that matters – and I want to spend that energy as effective as possible. I don’t think it is efficient to write the perfect scene only to realize that it does not fit the whole picture.

Celtx has index cards, but I have found them not only dull but also tricky – I had a few cards involuntarily deleted on my last feature project.

I wanted something that was more than an index card where I could add some text. I wanted to add which characters were involved, and where in the arch they were, setups for later use and so on. Visible, sortable and searchable.

What I wanted as output, was some kind of list, with all the data for each scene, which I could flip through on the bus or open on the screen while I was writing.

I found a piece of software that could do exactly this: SuperNotecard by Mindola.

It is not free. The basic version costs $29.

They have a bigger version that is also a scriptwriting tool, taking the index card to the next phase. I was not interested in this, and, therefore, didn’t look at it.

The project file is one single file, so it is easy to embed it into the Celtx project.

You could add what they call Factors that could be characters, or places, or other things, which you could connect to a card. Each Factor could have one or many Characteristics which also could be tied to a card.

This means that I can have an index card to which I connect my main character – a Factor. What is interesting in this scene is to show her background, so I also connect my main character’s characteristics “background” to the card with a note what I want to tell about it. Close to perfect for my needs.

I paid the $29.

The next thing I’m going to do is add categories, set up characters and their “characteristics”, make a “stack” of “cards” for each act and then fire away.

Review: KeepNote

2011-11-30T10:00:00.000+01:00

I was looking for a program to work with the scenes for my current project. After testing Celtx index card in my last project I was not very pleased and needed something else.

Then I stumbled on KeepNote. It is a freeware made by Matt Rasmussen and it is also new and updated regulary.

It does not fulfill my needs as a scene-software, but it might very well do as a note keeper in the first phase of the process when I just sit down and let the mind guide freely. So far this has given me a rather long and unsorted document. With KeepNote I think I might get something more structured, and yet keep the flow.

First the boring stuff: what is negative about it, from my point of view.

I like to keep Celtx as the center of the wheel and collect all things concerning a project within a Celtx file. Then I just need one file to move around and I can see all I need when I have Celtx open. This is not possible with KeepNote.

KeepNote does not create one file, but a file structure based on the notes made and their organization. This makes it impossible to embed the notes into Celtx. Overall it also makes it more difficult to move the notes around to different computers and send the notes to others (yes, you could zip them, but it is much more work).

And now to the positive: That is the rest.

You start with creating a notebook. You can add folders and pages. And subpages to the pages.

When you add a new page you have a big, blank space where to write. Here you can change font, make lists, links, add images, separators and add files. And when you want to start a new page, you just press Ctrl+N, give it a title if you like, and then continue to write.

The pages could be rearranged and the search options are cover most needs.

I miss the option to tag a page with keywords that I can see in the list with all notes, but that is a minor problem. Compared to just writing a long document, this is far easier to work with.

I will definitely try this program on the next project. With a little luck, there is a new version by then which covers my missing needs.