ScreenwriterBones

TEACHING at UCLA

2009-07-31T01:47:00.001-07:00

Teaching screenwriting at UCLA Extensions on and off and a student, overwhelmed with facing the blank page, asked for help.

Some of her concern - and it's something that everyone feels, whatever level you're at:

I am having a hard time starting my 10 pages. I have read the

chapters you listed, but am still having a hard time. I have never written in this style and format and it is nerve racking. What do I do to even get started. I think most here have already done this by looking at their work. They have some idea of what they are doing. And, how am I suppose to critique some else's work when I don't even know what I am doing, much less them. I don't know if they are formatting correctly and if they are doing their story correctly. I don't feel qualified to correct their work -

I think anyone can relate to that feeling, to that concern - to just feeling clueless sometimes. But what the hell to do with the feelings of cluelessness?

Well, all I can tell you is even the professional writers, when they sit down with a new project, feel much like you do. "What the hell am I doing? And what the hell do I know?" are things I hear from my friends who do this for a living. So in that sense - you are doing just fine!

We are all story tellers, our lives are stories and what compels us about stories that we love is that they speak to some deep inner place our ours that knows about struggles, dreams, disappointments, hopes and failures. We've all had them in our lives - and we've all had mentors, allies and enemies.

So I think you're very much qualified to tell a person that something rings true in their work, or doesn't, that a piece of dialogue is emotionally moving, or perhaps should be looked at again to nuance more emotion out of it (we must critique gently after all), etc.

As to starting - the first page is always the most difficult. And yes, there is a specific structure required for the modern screenplay. No way around that. however, if it feels all too much at first to do structure and creative writing, abandon structure for now.

Write everything out in single line format, like a play. Character left margin, with a colon after it, followed by dialogue - then space inbetween next character, space inbetween your next narrative/description of action.

That way you can get into the flow of the talking and the action without having to worry about structure - you can always structure it later, that's mechanical, but creative writing needs to flow and we have to serve that as best as we can (I do this kind of writing sometimes, by the way. when an idea comes fast and I don't want to have to worry about structuring it...)

So - go for it. Sit there. Something in you wants to do this, or you wouldn't have signed up. Give it some time at the desk to manifest, sit there even if it's not coming, because it will. Pace around the room if you need to, jog, stationary bicycle while thinking - come back and sit down again - walk around with a tape recorder and act out the lines as they come out - they don't have to be perfect, you'll take the ones you want later, or sit and over-write knowing you can edit later, or if you dictate come back and transcribe, there are as many methods as writers, find yours. (Rod Serling, supposedly, dictated EVERYTHING and had someone else write it up, how about that?)

And remember to be a bit light about it all - after all, it's something you chose to do, something you want to do - that's pretty cool. (As opposed to being in a flood or being chased by angry bulls in Spanish streets, you know?) This is something you're doing for you.

You shall prevail.

Tony Gilroy Master Story Teller

2009-07-23T22:48:00.000-07:00

Check out the Bourne Ultimatum at any free script site for style and brilliant economy of words - particularly Gilroy's descriptions and actions. But, needless to say, his dialogue is sparse, succinct and emotional.

I have read it several times, merely for my own enjoyment, and came away accidentally with an education.

Whether or not you are in the same genre, you can take inspiration from Gilroy's craft. When the action hits - it's easy to over write and try to explain it all. What a mess.

The real trick is being the 'eye on the page' and leading us - important/crucial image to important/crucial image - and leaving a lot out believe it or not. Fragments, half sentences, hanging words match the breathless cutting of visual action.

You're the poet placing drops of paint on the canvas, that's it - let the reader fill in the rest. That absence - that vacuum inbetween the description - pulls them irresisttably along.

Prexy of Production

2009-07-23T01:39:00.000-07:00

Meeting with a President of Production carries a certain weight to your time spent, in that you feel it's time well spent. To get where he is the guy knows what he's talking about and has experience making movies (more often than not).

So when you discuss theme, tone and casting you know he's not play acting - he's really done it.

Upside - he knows the dollar value of each sequence, the drawing power of a certain name, what story beat will appeal to what age group (quadrant) and are you making a 'four quadrant picture'? (Getting every demograhic into the theater - sort of neccessary in the 200 Mill and up club.

Downside - he'll want your picture to be four quadrant, may insist on a certain name to drive a film, get stuck on story points he's worried won't play for a mass audience.

I was in such a meeting today, discussing a script I'm writing and getting feedback. What comes at you -

1) What's the tone of this story? What are we going for here - is it broad, or is it real? (This is when you supply the films that this story is like, still a very tried and true Hollywood requirement, so they can feel it. "We're shooting for Pirates here, National Treasure say, not a Will Ferrel movie."

2) Who do you see starring in this? (More than likely he's worked with him.) Have your names ready in your head, often the list isn't long, and you'll know right away if you're both thinking of the same film. If you say Nicholas Cage, and he says Chris Rock, you're making different movies in your mind.

3) Fight for your characters, they will be what's remembered. The quirky and quixotic in the midst of major set pieces - they are what's remembered.

4) Is the hero emotionally tied into the ending - ? I got that question - and it's a good one. The people who have it together ask that note - as often act three becomes very situational, driving and intense but not emotional.

5) And what's the theme? It's really not an academic, or student film class question only - it is deeply important to good story telling. Know your theme - it often indicates the emotional drive.

Bones is Back

2009-07-23T01:37:00.001-07:00

After a long hiatus, I have returned to the web to share my extremely personal and peculiar experiences in the Hollywood.

Words as Toys

2006-09-26T00:34:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who was lamenting the other night that he didn't write something like MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, because even though it was crap it did so well at the box office.

Are we having fun yet?

First of all, I thought the movie was funny.

Second of all, all I could think of to say was - the author didn't write it to make a box office smash, she wrote it because she loved writing it and it cracked her up.

Same for JACKASS, by the way. Sure there's a financial formula involved, but those jack asses really LIKE what they're doing and it shows.

The energy that goes into any project, is the energy we feel coming back out of it.

If that energy is fun, if your happiness goes in, or even if it's bittersweet and you're writing a tragedy, if it's still thrilling to you, soul healing, or just plain fun, we'll feel it.

Andthat's contagious.

So don't forget to play with words as if they were toys.

And don't play with words as if each line has to make $200 mill at the box office.

It's more of a problem for those who are successful. You begin feeling like you have to feed that success and you begin to second guess and doubt yourself. When the reality is, if you just be true to the fun you're having, the success will just come.

I'm a bootleg music collector, Beatles primarily, and the one thing that has blown me away when I hear a rehearsal track, or an out take of an incredibly famous song, is how much fun these guys were having together when they worked. Experimenting, trying different versions of the same song, not afraid to completely kill a slow version of something and turn it into something fast and you suddenly recognize the hit. What starts as a ballad on one track, becomes a hard rock hit several tracks later. Same song. Or the heavy metal sounding jam because a lighter rock hit because they pulled way back on the intensity - and you recognize the hit. They were incredibly unattached to what something had to be - they just loved an idea, ran with it, played with it, listened to it, followed the flow where it took them - until it felt right.

Don't be afraid to follow the flow and play even as you work within an outline.

And truly, the energy you put into your project is the energy people will get back out when they pick it up and read it.

Think of words as toys.

Write the Unsaid

2006-09-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

Real dialogue has as much said as there is unsaid, as there is in any real discussion between two (or more) people.

Furious at your father, you may not mention your feelings.
In love with the woman you're speaking to, and she's unaware, you may not mention it.
Dreaming he'll ask you to marry him, it may not come up when you chat, but it's on your mind.

In drama the unsaid is very powerful, and it pulls us into that empty moment.

How do you write the unsaid?

You must know the emotional life of your characters. You must know not only how they feel in a specific moment, but what is the arc of emotions in their story. Often a character's mind wants something - that drives the plot (money, sex, power, an item) and their heart want something as well - (love of a stranger, reconciliation with a loved one, redemption for past failure) and that is what is completely UNSAID.

Specifically, it is unsaid TO the primary object of affection.

Crucial that is IS SAID to a trusted friend, ally, or piece of paper with a voice over.

That's the challenge in the spoken drama, how do you get OUT of the character's head? The friend can be a shoulder to cry on, or the voice of conscience urging action. So that the HEART story can be voiced. But when it comes down to closing the deal, the hero can't do it. They can't say what needs to be said, can't heal the wound, and has a moment of LOSS, an opportunity missed, perhaps eternally, where the loved one moves off. That is the power of the unsaid - the hero has to be facing the abyss of LOSS after a moment where they could have succeeded. Perhaps time and time again. But ultimately that is too unbearable, forcing them to grow - take a chance - and face their heart's desire and finally SAY the UNSAID.

We've seen it a thousand times in love stories and when it works at the end, it's incredible. Sometimes the unsaid is an action and it's the spontaneous passionate kiss - and when the lovers melt into each other - nothing needs to be said, you've shown it.

In an action film - not surprisingly - action has to accompany this moment, and it's often the physical action that has been UN-ACTIONALBE. Can the hero slay the dragon, essentially, after past failures and current narrow escapes where friends and loved ones have been lost in the struggle? The weight of failure resting so squarely on their shoulders that victory seems a distant dream. But the hero never gives up hope, or re-discovers hope, and re-commits to their mission, so that in the final moment, when they do slay the dragon, it carries that same power.

Less is more.

Write the unsaid.

Let the work reveal itself

2006-09-19T23:13:00.000-07:00

You've heard this before, but you've got to be in love with the process, as well as the product.

After I get a great idea, and sit down with my outline and figure out exactly what I'm going to do, that's when I really discover how little I know about my own idea.

Happens to me, anyway, just about every time.

Interestingly, my structure usually stays pretty much the same, usually 75%. But as the interior life of the piece goes from dough to diamonds - that's where the real brutality lies.

Because the only way I can let my idea out into the world is to write it out, over and over, until things start happening i never thought of.

I throw away first drafts and first passes as motivations that seemed to make sense in an outline don't play in scenes. Characters that were just glimpses of an idea, suddenly talk with more authority than my lead.

I used to take this as clear cut evidence that I had no idea what I was doing.

Now I realize that it's more like I'm being done to.

The way a seed grows from the inside out, so I find I have to write from the inside out, in that if I'm not wholly in my character's voice, or thoughts, it all pales anyway.

And something cool plotwise that worked mindfully in the outline - may not make sense once a character locks in tighter than I expected.

That's how I know I'm writing something worth while. When it begins to reveal an emotional solidity, an undeniable reality that seems as real as memory.

Let the work reveal itself even if it shies from away from first thoughts. It may be leading you to it's best self.

If you're re-writing, and are assigned to keep your structure, find this in the inner landscape of the characters. Let their inner lives reveal things that make the spaces you are in make a deeper sense in their story.

Remember how loss connects us to a place, fills us with doubt, haunts our lives, creates the need for redemption or rebirth.

How does that reveal itself in your story?

Can't Write in Longhand

2006-09-18T11:55:00.000-07:00

Getting back from my trip at the end of august I asked my computer to restart a way it couldn't and pretty much shut off its brain and it wouldn't restart. Then my lap top was connected to an external hard drive that was shut of incorrectly and wouldn't restart. Then when it did, it wouldn't connect to the internet. I basically pulled out all my remaining hair in the first 24 hours of coming home. And none of my hardware worked. Couldn't write, couldn't burn disks. So I was pretty much crippled.

It was not a nice feeling. You don't realize how much you rely on something until it's gone.

Don't wait until this is a wife, girlfriend or boyfriend out there by the way.

Anyway, without computers and internet for so long was very disturbing.

and i just can't write long hand anymore.

So up and running again. Will post more today. Wll be sending out CD's very soon! Thank you for your understanding out there!

Traveling For Much of August

2006-08-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

Be back soon, honest. Blogging from out of country has not been user friendly.

Audio CD of Screenwriting Workshop is ready!

2006-08-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

Some of you (out of towners) have asked me for, and I have now put together an audio CD of my writing workshop!

As I said to one of the attendees from last weekend: "In the end, I think a lot of these 'screenwriting systems' lose sight of how simple it has to be, how little you really need to prepare, and how much to trust the writer with just a few simple guidelines. Then, of course, you just have to work your ass off."

So for those of you who have already ordered, thanks. For those of you who are ready to work your ass off, and are interested in the guidelines for quick story construction and execution, here is some quick feedback from the last workshop:

"Phil has such an extensive understanding of the craft of storytelling, and he freely shares the many techniques that he’s developed during his long career working within the studio system. I’ve taken seminars with McKee, Truby, Michael Hauge, Linda Seegar, and many others, and while it’s always great to hear analysts deconstruct story, there’s nothing like getting tried and true writing tools directly from an accomplished practitioner. This isn’t some enormous screenwriting seminar at your local Hilton, it’s just a working writer chatting craft and structure at his home on a Saturday afternoon. I highly recommend attending the next time he does one."
Warren Hsu Leonard - check out his blog - http://www.screenwritinglife.com

and some more feedback:

"Thanks for your excellent screenwriting seminar. Your informal presentation of structural theory, witty anecdotes, market info, and pitching skills was appropriate for a wide range of screenwriting levels and addressed a lot of the issues and unknowns that I currently struggle with.
Thanks, Matt"

NOTE: And Nick just added:

I had to write real quick and THANK YOU again. By exploring my characters
emotional lines I have discovered my second act in a way I never thought
possible. Your seemingly simple suggestion has accelerated my writing to a whole
new realm. I can not fully express how amazing this. I haven't left my room
since your workshop - I cant stop writing. Thank you, thank you!!

Hey, thanks to all. Of course, my secret is that I think I had more fun than they did. But that's the trick with good writing too, in the end. And the secret of how to always find that place, even amidst horrendous development, is something I talk about too.

You can listen to it in the car like a book on tape, or put it in the computer at home and make a crib sheet. Whatever suits your style the best.

Click on "Audio CD" on the sidebar for more info!

When to Cut and Run, When to Stay and Fight

2006-08-07T10:42:00.000-07:00

A very real problem for every screenwriter on any project. You've sold your spec, or handed in your first draft on an assignment, and you're handed a sheaf of notes a mile high that are either constructive and exhaustive, or pig-headed and ignorant. The instinctive response to both is to cut and run, of course. Not that you necessarily do - it's just the fight or flight response. But it's much easier to fly away from a fight. That's survival. You just spent months (years) putting a script together, they bought it and now want to change it. So you want to cry. I know I do.

But the real question posted from the previous post:

"But I'm still looking for that elusive 'rule' that would explain when to cut bait and run vs when to stay in the mix and fight. Both can be painful, and rewarding, in their own ways.

The most frustrating and confusing thing about this process for me is that sometimes, even the ideas that seem like total crap at first look sometimes aren't, and sometimes spawn new directions that couldn't have been anticipated had the crap not been waded through. Ugh!

So, it seems the battle for me is between instinct, belief, and 'stinking thinking.' Which is a roundabout way of coming full circle, because I still have NO IDEA where to draw the line and when to back away. Hope is a funny thing - sometimes, in certain situations, it can be a disastrous come-on leading to wasted energy and time. And sometimes the challenge of applying a new set of ideas can be much too tempting."

The problem is, there is no qualitative rule to give you the exact guideline, no warning sign that is exactly ever the same, and most frustrating - a rosy ending may start in the muck at the bottom of a swamp (and a swampy ending can begin with a dozen roses).

Point of fact: Many years ago a friend of mine is wooed by a big director as his script is so great, he's promised a great creative relationship. Friend sells script to studio with this director. Director then abuses and tortures the hell out of him trying to get him off the script, telling him it's crap, smells like shit, on and on - (because the director wanted him to quit and re-write himself and take credit.) My friend didn't walk, stuck it out, delivered a great re-write the studio loved it and it went into production. The script didn't only do well, but received four academy award nominations - and my friend had an immediate A list career.

I was on a project at Paramount, wrote an original adaptation, and for three years wrote about nine drafts, with two different directors who came on and off the project, in various different step deals. The project is still at Paramount and now, though a great script still exists, there are other less good versions as well, all in the history of this project, and the project is now asleep.

I've never walked from a project. I'm not saying I wouldn't, I'm just saying I haven't hit that moment when my inner 'knowing' says:'bail, now!'

For me the rule would have to be this: You don't write when you are faced with a change of direction you know that you couldn't write well.

Notice I'm not saying a change you don't agree with. As mentioned before, I've had a friend on a project for eight years - countless drafts, finally taking him down roads he not only disagreed with, but wound up taking out every special bit of story that he liked about the project to begin with. Nevertheless, he stuck it out anyway. It was finally greenlit last year because he gave them exactly what they wanted, and the film just finished principle photography in Van Couver. He knew he could still write what they were asking him too - and write it well. He realized it was just good business. And I agree. Part of the gig is craft. And sometimes you're bringing that wholly to a project.

In the Bhagavad Gita, it tells the story of Prince Arjuna, born into the life of a warrior, filled with doubt on the battlefield as he's about to enter a climactic war. He has some beloved relatives and teachers on the enemy side, who he has to head into battle and kill. He balks at this idea. And he's told by his God that in this life he must play out its part. What frees him is a glimpse by the divine of the divine truth, that once we release our attachment to the ego and desire here, we re-join the oneness of God - as does everyone on this battlefield, and beyond there is no suffering.

The teaching, of course, is meant to guide the reader to release his attachment to everything here right now and see the divine in everything, and live a life free of suffering here, whatever walk of life they travel in, well before they are crushed by an army of charioteers.

Good writing can only happen when we release our own attachment to what 'should' be, even in our spec. scripts, and let through what 'has to' be. When you're handed notes and have to re-shape along lines you disagree with - you're merely constructing a new house so that the inspiration of what 'has to' be can flow in the new form.

So we too are offered a path to play out. Re-writing from the notes of others may feel as repulsive as heading into battle to fight your relatives, but somehow we've attracted this life, and the sword in our hand is our pen. If you release your attachment, and release your resistance, you have a good shot of writing well.

And in the end, that's what we're here to do. Good writing will always generate more work, if not on the project you're on, then on another. Bad writing is a dead end.

I always vote to stay in the game as long as you can write it well.

caveat: You may have a conscious objection to the turn of a story. It introduces violence to a character or group you feel is morally repugnant, etc, or it may bring in a darkness of storytelling that you don't want to bring into the world. I've actually made that choice myself. I think that's a healthy choice.

Flexibility

2006-08-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

What any screenwriter is faced with, on any given day, is the endless testing ground between rigidity and flexibility. Because it's the only art form that is endlessly collaborative. Your friends will give you notes, your wife, your gardener will have an opinion. And that's way before you get studio notes.

What note do you listen to? How much do you change something even if the notes are good? And how much do you have to change something even when you disagree?

You will undoubtedly have to make changes from your first draft through your re-wrties and polishes, through to shooting. That's inevitable. And cringe, whine, anticipate or hope as we may, that is the one constant in our lives. The script will change. M. Knight Shymalyan wrote - I believe - 14 drafts of the Sixth Sense, realizing only about halfway through the process that his hero should be dead. Sometimes writing reveals the answers, and sometimes 'answers' are foisted upon us without a question. "Change the male lead into a woman and we can make it," is a favorite note of mine. (And not one to me thankfully. The changes were made. The script is still not made.)

So the real challenge becomes how to stay inspired, how to stay connected to the material, how to keep the thrill of storytelling alive amidst a barrage of changes that may deconstruct your carefully modeled Architectural Digest home.

Well, as a friend of mine says:"There are a thousand ways to do something right. Just pick one." There's some real wisdom here. So how to guide your transformation into something that keeps its vitality?

You have to keep in mind what your 'big idea' was that started the whole thing. The bright jewel, the sun in the sky that made you smile every time you thought of that story. That has to be kept alive, even as the bookends, and surrounding story structure change to appease the notes. If you have to re-seed the story with new roots to make the new structure make sense, grow them all from that original big idea - fight to keep that intact. Because in the end you can't win every battle in notes warfare. But you have to pick your fights. So always fight to keep the big idea intact.

There is an old Chinese saying that says something to the effect of:"The reed that bends, doesn't break." Some writers don't tolerate notes and would prefer to walk off a project. I prefer to keep in the mix, keep the story alive with me as the guide, doing my best to shine my light through it for as long as possible.

Great Workshop

2006-08-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

I had a great time, thanks to all!

The Meeting Mill

2006-08-04T01:43:00.000-07:00

This week I've taken meetings at one major production co. at Universal, Silver Pictures at WB, John Davis Co, and another major prod. co. at Paramount.

Whew.

So what did I learn in the gossip mill?

1) That everyone thinks Dreamworks is the trojan horse that will devour Paramount. As one exec. put it, at Paramount with the new regime in place, there is still no clear 'there' there. No clear mandate. No clear take on what a 'Paramount Movie' is right now. So people aren't bringing them big projects. They're shopping big projects elsewhere first. Like - to Dreamworks.

2) Much chatter about the Broder Webb devouring of ICM's TV department. Well, more truly the surgical replacement of ICM's TV department with Broder Webbs'. The feature side will be a merging of the titans. As one exec. put it - two tanks of sharks, put in bucket of chum, serve, enjoy. (I'm glad I was repped at Broder Webb, and coming in to new digs)

3) Mandate from one head of studio: no more arab bad guys. No more Iraq war narrative. Geo-political global marketplace feedback is getting sensitive to it. This specifically altered one big project already in development at this studio, and pretty much tanked something that had been pitched to me that I was working on. Wow. That one hurts. So much for freedom of expression. Freedom of commerce doesn't seem to permit it.

4) There is now the $35 million movie, and the $150 million dollar movie. But there really isn't anything inbetween. Very serious discussion about this in one meeting on potential project. Very savy prod. exec. was pointing out our effects shots and casting made a potential adaptation of a soon to be published book a $65M picture, which was no longer a category. You're either in the lower budget block with acceptable demographics non-star driven vehicle and predictable returns. Or you're in the star driven tent pole movie which shoots for the moon and every potential cross over.

Also endlessly fascinating - the same EXACT pitch got a luke warm response in one room, and a bowled over cartwheel inducing effect in a different room.

This is the upside of meetings. In the cartwheel room the feedback was rather joyous to my reps. Which means I've generated a fan merely by showing up. That's the value of meetings. Passion, enthusiasm, good story telling always wins the day. Whether or not the initial project survives, proactive action and continued attention could create new opportunity. And in this changing marketplace - one less friendly than it has been - the savy writer needs to always be conscious of creating new opportunity, new fans, new champions. Don't leave it soley to anyone else to find the job for you. Be diligent, be creative, be proactive, be positive. As Lawrence Kasdan once said: 'be the hero of your own life."

Workshop - Saturday, Aug 5th, Noon!

2006-08-02T07:52:00.000-07:00

Come join us! I look forward to seeing you! For those of you who are just finding out about the workshop, all are welcome! Leave any questions or thoughts about it here!

NOTE: This is an LA workshop.

When Agencies Collide

2006-07-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

It was revealed Thursday night that Broder Webb and ICM are merging, and Broder Webb is going away, as are some ICM agents, so that the two agencies will now be one. And it will be ICM, run by the chairman of Broder with many agents from both. Though it seems that Broder is coming in to run things while some things stay the same.

So I was repped by Broder, but I'm now repped by ICM, as Broder won't exist anymore. The odd thing is, I was at ICM years ago, then went to Broder. Now they've mixed like some science fiction creature.

More to the point - the business consolodates again. What does it mean? a lot of people are suddenly out of work. Many agents took the hit in one day, unexpectedly. Hopefully a lot of writers will be suddenly in work. The concern of course, fewere buyers, fewer agencies...

On the other hand, hollywood seems to need more product.

Workshop Still On - but moved

2006-07-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

We're still on, but moving it to another weekend. Please let me know what works best for each of you in the next few weeks and we'll pick it!

Workshop On!

2006-07-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

My Screenwriting Workshop is on for this Saturday! There are still places available. Come hear solutions to problems, tools for moments of confusion, techniques for wrestling the bear (writing). I'll talk about character, structure, taking pitch meetings (the pitfalls and preparations), how to deal with notes, pressure on deadline, or your own pressure to just finish a draft! What makes a good scene, what are the different arcs needed in long form story telling, where do plot and emotion collide, and the secret to the page turner.

And ,of course, any and all questions answered.

Noon to 5pm. $85. This Saturday, July 29th.

Pirates

2006-07-24T23:39:00.000-07:00

There's more craft and rich story telling in Pirates than in many films that have been out there this year. And at the same time, I think the narrative is the least 'tight' of the films these guys have written.

Does that matter? No, and I'll tell you why.

And - by the way - you'll read plenty of reviews that try to toss the bucket of water on the bonfire, pointing out the lacking of this or that in the structure, or too much of this or that in the structure.

But what the reviewers don't understand, is that these guys get to the heart of a story like no other. The team of Ted and Terry start their story with lovers torn from a wedding, jailed and separated. Their only hope of reunion is in Will finding their opponent and securing his compass, if he takes too long his love may be executed, and when he returns empty handed so will he. And in the next moment we meet their opponent, the pirate, using the compass to secure some profound treasure, and then given a black spot on his hand, the mark of instant death from an immortal ocean demi-god fixated on reclaiming his soul. Brilliant immediate triangle - stratospheric stakes, they are all doomed to die unless they can help each other. There isn't even a clock - the clock has run out before their first meeting - so it's a race to beat the executioner on all sides. That new obstacles and characters crowd in like rush hour at Grand Central Station matters little, the gunshot has started the race, the catapult has released the stone, the arrow has been released - emotionally. The emotional through-line starts immediately. That is the brilliance in Pirates.

That all of the myriad characters that pour in for brief or long stays are each fun, clever, witty, and all emotionally grounded in the midst of the hysteria - keeps the emotional reality of the potential loss of each character extremely vibrant, and therefore gripping.

That the director knows how to stay in close to his characters and capture looks of longing, defeat, fury, wanting, panic, while getting every other dazzling angle in every impossible set piece - is his genius. And I think in terms of effects, it has to be as deft a handling as Spielberg or Jackson.

So yes, I liked it.

And who the hell needs lean story telling after all that?

Did it take me a little time to warm up to it? Yes. I was amused for the first 45 minutes, and then something happened, and they had me.

I won't spoil the moment I was hooked by telling scenes for those who haven't seen it yet, but by the box office count, it seems like everyone already has seen it.

Suffice it to say, I feel all story telling has at it's core the family, how we fit in it, live with ourselves in it, try to change our own, or escape our own, or make new ones, re-shape the ones we find, or suffer in the ones that we can't stand up to and can't change.

That this idea of family, re-uniting with old, trying to for new and how that's threatened, was used quite deftly in this film made it all the more engaging.

The epic story at its heart, needs heart, and loss - loss - loss - fighting with one's life if only to gain one fragile moment of togetherness at the end - and lose that as well as the sands of time threaten to rise up around the hero(s) and vanquish them.

And of course, keep it light and funny. Have Captain Sparrow and bit players react with endlessly inappropriate moments as hell is raining down on everyone. But every other lead plays it real so you know each of the 150 minutes is deadly.

They really get it.

When in Doubt, check the Undertow

2006-07-16T23:37:00.000-07:00

When you ram through act one, and it's full of tension, drama, a real page turner, and then you suddenly find yourself doing a lazy backstroke swimming through act two and can't find the edge of the edge of the pool - - you go 'what the - F?'

Whenever I do this to myself, and check the wording, because it is me doing it to myself, I realize I missed orchestrating my structure correctly. There isn't enough opposing force for my hero (villain, force of nature, force of man), there isn't a sufficient clock he's working against (his own death, a city's death, a bomb, a terminal loved one, a loved on leaving town), and most importantly - he's not rushing toward an inevitable end that is destructive and will inspire rebirth.

Or rather, that ending isn't rushing towards him.

Pulling at him through a series of events unseen, a primal, unbeatable and titanic force that will make sure the hero has no other choice than to face his ending, like an undertow that pulls you out to sea.

Whatever direction your hero thinks he's in charge of splashing about on the surface, the undertow is the Jovian force that works on a cosmic scale, the fates, karma, kismet, what have you - pulling him towards his worst nightmare. And as he heads towards it like a freight train, and it comes crashing towards him like a meteor - it should delight you.

As much as the hero will try to toss and turn his boat, Poseidon must make sure the hero will face his worst most crushing test. And you have to know it, see it, and delight in orchestrating it.

Face Act 2 with delight as you check the undertow.

Don't Carry the NO Out The Door.

2006-07-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

I've said this before, but one of my favorite things said to me in this business about this business was buy someone I know who's achieved great success. He said the only difference between his being a struggling writer and a successful writer was that he drove a nicer car.

I laughed until I stopped. And then said - wow. It was eye opening, kind of like a bit of wisdom as a two by four cracking me in the head. Because he's worked with Spielberg, other directors, directed his own film, worked with heads of studios, and has dealt with just as much frustration, bad manners, incoherent notes and unpleasant behavior at every step of the process, all the way to the top - just like have we all at every level we're at.

And I found that idea incredibly freeing.

Because it laid bare the point of the whole process. If you don't enjoy what you're doing at your desk when you're writing, and if that isn't the place where you live, come alive, channel the universe, suspend reality and drop your personality, leave your body behind, expand your consciousness into the universe, and let what's up above and come down through you, and find that one of the greatest things you can do, the rest of it won't matter anywhow.

Because they're not going to make it any easier for you anywhere on the ladder.

So that's what I mean by the point of this post. The crap will always be in play at some point from someone about something. But you don't have to let that stick to you when you walk out the door of whatever meeting, phone call, memo, email or fax you got that day could potentially harsh your mellow.

Point of fact: I just left a meeting yesterday pitching to the head of a large movie company. It wasn't an easy meeting to get to. It started with me six months ago being asked my take to adapt a book, yet to be released, with Dreamworks and this other big Co. in co-production. My pitch goes over very well. But two teams of executives ask for tweaks. We do that. More meetings with great promise follow. Four months of meetings later at Dreamworks and then they're SOLD to Paramount and the new regime passes on the book. Nice. But this thing is still in play at the other big shot Co. So I meet with top executives there, twice, over two months, adjusting and tweaking pitch specifically just to this place - and they LOVE it more now by the way - so they all approve it, pitch it to their boss, but he wants to hear the full out thing from the writer. That's good - that's the room you want to get into. Sell the top dog. That was yesterday. Pitch goes great. Executives are laughing along with me all the way. They all turn expectantly to the boss. The Pres. pauses. He doesn't like it. Gives notes as to why. Some notes are good notes, that are intelligent. Some notes are 'what the F?' 'Were you in the room?' The three other execs in the room are a bit stunned - and all come to my support, they want to hire me. He won't pull the trigger. Thanks for coming in. I could come back and work it up again based on his notes, however, if I like. I suspect that beating a dead horse will not get it to gallup, trot or even start smelling less bad in his eyes. But I'll let my agents say that.

Some things happen after he leaves which will go unsaid.

Stars couldn't have been aligned better than for this one, so boy was I bummed out. Lot of time and energy invested in that one. But his lack of a clue doesn't stick to me when I walk out the door. Let myself feel bad about that one for a few hours. Then let it go. And you have to let yourself feel it - whatever it is - before you can move on. That goes for anything.

Back to the original, the other meetings, the other pitches.

We shoot many arrows into the air in this business as pitches, spec. scripts, conceptual meetings, what have you.

Let them fly and get the next quiver ready and restring your bow.

In Production in Canada

2006-07-12T13:56:00.000-07:00

The Hallmark movie starts principle photography. Considering that I've written some scripts at studios that five years later are still referred to as highly regarded projects, with the ever present unspoken promise of production...someday...but I'm not holding my breath any longer...it's amazing to think I wrote this one in April-May, finalized in June and they're shooting in July. A bit head spinning.

Everyone Has a First Act

2006-07-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine says he has 30 first acts in a drawer of his desk. I have about the same. Just because you have an idea, and a first act, doesn't mean you have a movie.

Try to write past page 31 and you'll see what I mean.

Some ideas are explosive, full of fire and life, and come hurtling out of the gate with such force that you can't imagine that you DON'T have the whole movie.

It's very exciting ina new world with a new character, hurtling toward the wall that will change their life forever and send them on an adventure.

But sitting in your chair you will quickly reveal to yourself just how deep one has to send the roots down, to support the tree.

What the hell is the adventure, and how does it tie in emotionally to your character?

Know your character's history, their loss, what they hope to gain, and what part of them has to die that's holding them back from completing that desire, so that a new part of themselves can be born to grab the sword - be ready to let go of their own life - and make the selfless act that raises them to a higher level. (in a drama, of course, all this works on an interior level). either way, only then can they become worthy of the prize they seek.

Who is the villain, who are the friends? And will a friend turn against them, or a villain become an ally? What wound does your hero need to heal and how does this story get them that?

Otherwise, you may just have a great act one.

Pirates Steal the Treasure of Box Office

2006-07-10T09:54:00.000-07:00

Nothing like good story telling. $132 million clams. Talk about head spinning. The biggest opening, ever.

A lot of things have to come together for this kind of success. But if it ain't on the page on the first day of pre-production, the road is less traveled.

Congrats to the maestro's of wit and light-hearted adventure tales of doom and triumph!

Writing Workshop Audio CD

2006-07-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

Some of you (out of towners) have asked me for, and I have now put together an audio CD of my writing workshop! The one day workshop is five hours, which I wouldn't subject anyone to on CD. But the CD is over an hour, and highlights everything crucial in the process that I've learned over my twenty years doing this lunacy and getting paid for it.

Good tools, tricks and the way to keep creating inspired screenwriting, which is the one topic I see little written about.

If you're interested, it's $25.00. This was for a time available as a hard CD and mailed, but this proved complicated and too difficult with postage to different countries, so it is still available but only as digital download.

I would ask the favor that if you purchase it, and enjoy it, you keep it for yourself and don't transmit it to others but instead direct them here. Thanks.