By now, I had meant to do more entries in my series about issues I’ve
been running across while reading screenplays for coverage and script
consultation, but I got behind and am only now doing my second one. So,
so sorry to be so sluggish. This particular column might seem a tad
trivial, but it will focus on the use of two words I’ve
seen crop up over and over again over the past couple of years, the use
of which strike me as rather odd (if not maddening). The first one is
“ironic” or “ironically” and the second is “smirk”.
I am
constantly running across dialog in which the actor is instructed to say
something “ironically’. I have to be honest. I have absolutely no
idea what that means or how you say something ironically. I suspect
that they mean “sarcastically”, “tongue in cheek”, “dryly” or something
akin to that. This may be a generational thing and perhaps those
younger than me have an idiomatic or slang use of the word that I’m
unfamiliar with.
However, that is not the only use of the
word that puzzles me. More and more, I’m running across narrative in
which someone is described as “wearing a shirt ironically” or “has an
ironic hair style”. I really, truly have no idea what this means. But
even more importantly perhaps when it comes to writing a screenplay,
that is not an action. From an audience stand point (and certainly from
a reader’s standpoint), a character can’t do something or wear
something or have a style of dress that is ironic (in the opening scene
of The Social Network, when Zuckerberg is accused of wearing sandals and
socks ironically, no one in the audience would have come to that
conclusion without the line of dialog).
The second word is
“smirk”. I have seen this crop up for a number of years as a synonym
for smile. At least I think that’s how it’s being used. But “smirk” is
a smile that is derisive or superior in some way. All smirks are
smiles, but not all smiles are smirks. But when I see it used, it is
used by a character in which the attitude isn’t remotely derisive. At
first I thought “smirk” was being used in this way because English was a
second language for the author of the screenplay since the stories took
place in another country or were about characters who were immigrants.
But more and more, it’s being used anywhere and everywhere.
It
is possible that it is being used because of the recent advice that is
constantly cropping up about not employing “neutral” or “bland” words in
the narrative (i.e., not “run”, but “dashes” or “zooms”—I will have a
column about this in the future). Maybe some writers feel “smile” is
too bland and want to spice up their narrative. But whatever the
reason, it really causes a disconnect when I read since it is constantly
being used incorrectly.
So in conclusion, don’t use “ironic”
or “ironically”, ever. If you mean to use it in place of
“sarcastically” or a word like that, don’t; use “sarcastically”. In the
same way, don’t use “smirk” unless the person is giving a smug,
derisive smile. Otherwise just use “smile”.
About Me
- Howard Casner
- PLEASE NOTE: I have moved my blog to http://howardcasner.wordpress.com/. Please follow the link for all my updated postings. Thank you.
Showing posts with label screenwriting advice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label screenwriting advice. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: a discussion on facebook
- I'm not sure what you mean. I don't think I have any criteria before I come up with a character or put them in a script. I don't even have the complete cast before I start writing. but I may not understand what you are saying.
- I don't stringently outline my characters either. But the main character will have a defined dissatisfaction of some sort. Other than that, I depend on the enneagram system to help me structure qualities and faults within a character. I like the enneagram theory as a character tool. It outlines 9 basic personalities that change according to whether a person is in a state of stress or comfort. The whole system just seems to work well in terms of character and conflict.
- I have tried developing my characters indepth before hand but it always changes as I write. Not a bad thing necessarily. I have had more success in just having a fragment of a character idea in mind and then as he / she meets each conflict, ask what would my character do. Not what I would do but what would my character do. That question gets me thinking about my character. The decisions that my character makes under stress is what actually builds my character for me. But just as everything else, something may work for me but it may not work for you.
- Marty, I develop my characters, but not that much before I start writing. For the central ones, I have a general idea as to their personality and what they want, but I discover things about them as I go along. And I have to make up characters as I go along in order to fill out the plot. It's like doing an outline or treatment, etc., if I did that I would never get to writing the screenplay. For characters, if I worked too much on them before I started writing, I would never write the screenplay. I don't have a specific criteria before I put them in a script. But characters and dialog seem to be the easiest thing for me to write, it's structure I have issues with.
- Characters and dialogue come easily for me,too. Structure jyst comes naturally to me at this point. It's a coming up with a good story that's worth writing that I find the most challanging. When I do find one I beat out the whole story so I know where it's going, and having developed characters with depth helps along the way with intertwining with the plot. I think we all have our favorite parts of writing, and our less than faves. I don't particularly like all the preperation, but when I sit down to write, it's fast and I'm at my best.
- I know I'll need characters who demonstrate some sort of extremes of the same flaws the leads (protag, antag, love interest) possess, as well as attacking Theme from different angles and extremes...
I don't always have a list of those flaws or angles on theme, but, upon completing a first draft, I use those two things as markers when I go back to flesh out the conflicts that occur between my characters.
I beat the story out 'for story' first, then go back and detail thematic elements and flaws/character growth elements, and incorporate those into each interaction between all my various characters. - Once I have a good idea as to how the script is forming, which usually includes named characters, I do character biographies that will start with basics but will venture into detail to the point where they start to assume their own voice and identity based on questions that I literally ask the character. I'm amazed at some of the answers I end up getting. Probably not new to anyone here but it works for me.
GETTING THE READER'S ATTENTION: Facebook discussion
- I think there's got to be some kind of strong hook to entice the reader to keep going. But that hook depends on the type of story. Tim and Wilton have defined it well. The best I can do is describe it as a 'moment' when the reader might say to himself, 'what the hell is that about?' And that moment keeps the reader interested in finding out more.
- Howard Casner Great characters. Readers will give the writer a great deal of leeway come plot and structure if the characters are so interesting or believable or realistic, that they want to find out what happens to them. People often won't believe me, but characters are far more important than structure and plot to keep a reader reading in the first ten pages. I assert that no matter how strong the hook or rapid twist of events there are in the opening, if the characters aren't there, it won't matter. But if the characters are there, the reader will go along with openings that are hookless and don't have a rapid twist of events. Sorry to disagree so strongly. That's just been my experience.
- Howard's right about engaging characters, but they need a strong plot line as well. So in the first seven to ten pages, there needs to be what I call a first scene reversal.
The script opens with the protagonist after a goal. But somewhere in those first pages there is an incident, occurance, or event that nudges or sometimes pushes the protagonist off the path of pursuing the original goal and onto a new path going after a new goal.
IE: Mrs. Mulray walks in and asks Jake to find out who the blond haired woman is that her husband has been with. Clarise Starling is given an "interesting errand" to interview Hannibal Lecture. In my favorite film for this centruy Winter's Bone, Ree learns that if she doesn't locate her father and get him to trial, she will lose her house and she and her family will have no place to live.
It doesn't have to be a Indiana Jones or James Bond opening, but it must have enough of a reversal that we as readers and audience want to stay around to find out how what will happen next and how the new goal might be achieved. - Although I agree with what most of you have been saying about strong characters, I have to say that stating a solid theme, whether it be through characters or visually, will suck in a reader.
Have a couple of cool characters chatting with some quick sharp dialogue and you'll definitely get some attention. Take the same characters, or even less interesting ones, and throw in a solid theme and I bet every time a reader will prefer the latter.
Take the opening to the movie Schindler's List for instance. - A strong, innately dramatic character demonstrating a forceful personality factor in an intense situation. That creates a character to care about and makes the audience wonder what he/she is going to do next in this time and place. I have yet to see a really good movie or read a solid script that those two factors didn't immediately bring to mind the story theme, Marty. Doesn't matter if it's comedy, drama or a juvenile cartoon. Gotta deliver the three-way punch up front.
- Sorry, I had to bail right in the middle of my last comment. My point was to raise a topic, a point, an argument- state an interesting theme that someone is dying to sink their teeth into, and you'll have a reader "interested". It's not just a character that talks cool, but what the character is saying or doing. Or what you're showing the audience.
A shark attack, and a cop responding to the call. He's not interesting yet, it's too early in the story for us to know much about Brody (Jaws).
Or a man getting dressed up and pinning a Nazi pin on his suit and going out to impress some Nazi brass, then Jews being rounded up and hearded off. We don't know that Schindler is a great character yet that is going to have an epic character curve. But the theme comes right at us and compells us to continue readin/ watching.
A hobbit, who wants nothing to do with "adventure", but is drawn into one by some dwarves and a wizard. Sure, it's interesting to hear about a hobbit, probably because we've never seen one in real life, but it's when the hobbit is drawn in to doing something that up until then would be unspeakable that it really becomes interesting (The Hobbit).
I have to say theme. It has to be there, with or without characters, to get a readers attention. Of course we all have different opinions, and that's what helps us to improve on our craft. - A combination of Tim and Howard's point... Strong opening scenes is what builds your protag and characters. Through strong visuals you draw in the reader and help them to better understand and connect with your character. I also agree with Marty, some of the best movies I've seen reveal theme from the very beginning. I especially like how the Artist portrayed strong scenes, characters and theme without any dialog. Unless the dialog is superb, too much of it in the first ten minutes and no action, risks boring the audience. That's just my opinion, we're all different.
- Howard Casner As the dialog goes: "But with a little bit of sex." "Yes, with a little bit of sex. But I don't want to overemphasize it".
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
SCREENPLAY PRESENTATION: How to Submit a Hard Copy, Interesting Discussion on Facebook
- Bind it with brads. Someone who wasn't all that important casually said he would read my script, with no possibility he would have any role in getting it made, so I gave him a copy, and his main reaction was that it should have been bound with brads - and when he sent it back he even enclosed a brad to show me what one looked like.
- Howard Casner I use the standard three whole punch, but only two brads (I usually have them copied at a copy shop who already know the routine). I also use heavy stock on the front and back. I haven't, but I'm stupid for not--go through each copy and make sure there are no missing pages.
- 20 pound bond paper; standard three hole punch, with 110 pound card stock--also standard three hole punched. Use same color card-stock on front and back. Take one and a quarter or one and a half inch brads with the large heads. Put one through the top hole front to back; one in the bottom hole front to back. Flatten prongs to the as much as possible in the back of the script on the covers.
Of course make sure that when you open the script, you have the title page first: Title down about 17 lines from the top edge of the paper, centered; all in caps with smart quote marks on either side, then staying centered, triple space to the words Written by--with the letter W capped, then staying centered double space to your name or you and your partner's name on one line and be sure to connect you and your partner's name with an ampersand (&)--NOT the word and--between the two names. From there go down about three-quarters of the page from the top--not from the title block--and on the right side put your phone #--the one where they can most easily reach you--and your email. That's it, no date, no draft #, no copyright or WGA notice.
The next page is page one, with title and FADE IN:--though I've seen many a script without one or either--and the screenplay begins. There is no number on page one. Page 2 begins the numbering with the number 2 and it's consecutively numbered from then on. Make sure it is consecutively numbered, that there are no blank pages or misplaced pages in the script and that THE END is not on a separate page.
Hopefully, now your script is all dressed up with someplace nice to go! - my ritual before handing any of my babies off to 'Someone' (as opposed to 'anyone else') is:
- get drunk
- post on FB and all my other screenwriting haunts all about how awesome I am and how everyone else sucks (because I'm way drunk by this point...)
- page 1 rewrite, while still very drunk, and on thru the next day, hangover day...
- at some point, I'm gonna have to throw up; I'll say it's due to excitement and adrenaline, but most likely, it's from the drunk... hopefully, I don't puke on the new, fresh script pages... or the cat...
- print, collate, same-colored card stock front and back cover sheets, 3 hole punch, 2 brass brads, shipping box, shipping labels, professionally packaged to perfection
- send that sucker off!
- a few more long lonely days of drinking... actually, it's probably weeks, but, when you're drunk, time doesn't seem to matter or make sense any more, right?
- at some point, I get a call or e-mail, maybe even a visit from some 'important offical' type person with some follow-up concerns and questions..
the inquiry almost always has to do with why oh why did I send a dead, puke-covered cat to the rep or production company...
oh, bother...
write on! - 3 hole punch, two brads, cardstock covers, final draft takes care of the format. I make sure the title page has the right contact info. make sure the pages are all there. I have no problem including the WGA or copyright # on the cover. I know some believe that it's unprofessional, but I really don't see why.
- No Copyright because--or so I've been told--you're making subtext, text. By putting in Copyright and/or WGA, you're saying to the folks you're sending the screenplay to, "I don't trust you." Well, you don't, but first we assume you're a professional and have registered your copyright, and second, you don't go broadcasting the fact you don't trust them. It makes for bad feelings all the way around.
- Yeah, I've heard the same thing. But I just feel like people who read into the posting of copyright on that deep a level - as a statement of mistrust - might be taking it way too personally... Competitions seem to require proof of copyright or registration these days, so I wonder if the unspoken rule of 'don't show the copyright' is changing.
- I have access to a repro center, so I just print on normal (non-punched) 20 lb. stock, and then later I use a paper drill to make the holes. Then I bind with those "professional" alternate non-brad binders that spin shut, like a screw. Then I add in the index with all my drawings, concept art, character bios, diagrams, maps and the other stuff you're supposed to include with every script.
But when I say this, I mostly mean just for me - because in the five years I've been pursing this, only one company asked for a hardcopy.
And I don't include the copyright info/date, or the WGA registration number, for the reasons stated above. Just a note that says "DO NOT STEAL OR I WILL FIND YOU", which I'm told is industry standard. - Yeah, you def. Register your script, to get copy written at the admin. Office and Never ever Hand in the original. Always have extra copies. And to the ppl out there who don't know all about getting it reg. At the copywrite office, you can always just mail it to yourself, in a self addressed envelope, then when you receieve it, do not open it. Lol just. Store it in a good spot til you need it. :) happy scriptwriting Friday, everyone!!
- Howard Casner Sorry, Nicole, but I'm not sure I understand what you're saying about mailing it to yourself at the copyright office. Are you suggesting that mailing it to yourself is sufficient? In theory it is (in theory, once you write it, it's yours, period), but in actuality, I would never depend on that; it's far too dangerous and you'll probably never be able to get any monetary damages if someone steals your script and it's a real dicey legal situation. Always register with the copyright office. Always. Even if you register with the WGA, register with the copyright office. Always.
- Howard Casner Sally, that's happened to me. I've gotten them with butterfly clips. I think that's probably how they got it and just sent it on to you as was.
- Howard Casner But speaking of being asked for a hard copy of the script by a production company, etc., rather than a PDF, to be honest, warning bells do go off a bit in my head. I would send it, of course, but I would wonder why this guy was so out of the zeitgeist.
- Howard: Maybe it's my age, but hard copy is easier to read, catch errors, determine what is working and what isn't. Of course, that's for critiquing a script. For just reading to know if it's good to produce, maybe it doesn't matter so much if it's on the computer or hard copy.
And, yes, I realize all one has to do is print it, but that takes ink and paper and a bit of time, and from all I can figure out about agents and producers, they really don't want to have to be bothered by all that.
Or did I miss something somewhere?
SCREENPLAY STORY DEVELOPMENT: Interesting Facebook Discussion
- Great question, Marty! I first just right the screenplay the way I visualize it then I go back to see what worled and what didn't. Look at the holes in the character arcs and make sure they not only make sense but are believable, convincing. Fill in the blanks, move things around, punch up traits and how they bounce off the traits of other characters, delete exess wording, look at unusual visual settings, etc. I guess that's the norm...
- Character Profiles until all are alive demanding to be shown then the "What if" logic of the Plot Paradigm. Before investing my soul in the writing I make damn sure I feel a PASSION for the point the story will make. At that time I know what I have to research for authenticity. When those ducks are lined up, I start the actual writing and tell the world to go away.
- Howard Casner I tend to sort of wing it. When I have it generally mapped out, then I start writing and things come to me. I take a walk and suddenly I'll have an idea as to how to do this or that or make the scene stronger. I'll have a problem and think about it until I have a solution. I'm a instinct writer, I write more based on taking it as it comes along rather than heavily planning things out (if I planned things out in any serious or deep detail, I'm one of those people who would never start writing). That's what works best for me. However, it's not until I finish it and have people read it and get feedback and reread it that I really start fixing the issues and finding out what scenes, characters, et. need work.
- Howard Casner Thanks. I sometimes think of it like a creating a crossword puzzle. You set up the outline of it (which squares are dark, which aren't; how many squares there are); you then fill in the major blocks that can't be changed (the ones that contain the theme of the puzzle); and then you start filling in the other words--these can be changed and fiddled with, but in the end, have to fit together to make the puzzle work.
- Are the seven major turning points in the three act structure clear? Does the contact point (opening) involve the characters as well as the Reader? Do I know what the protagonists original goal is? What is the protagonist's new goal after the first 7 to 10 pages? What and who are blocking the protagonist from reaching that new goal? What about the three minor turning poiints near the end of Act II or into Act III? Are they clear and how do the characters get there? What are the changes outwardly and inwardly that the characters go through--especially the protagonist? What are the 3 subplots and how do they answer all the questions posed so far? What are my rhyming scenes and my connectives?
This is not to say that everything is set. It shouldn't be. You need to--as others have suggested--discover new plot lines, character traits and development, and unexpected reversals along the way. In other words, you need to let lagniappe happen. But you also need enough structure so you have a pretty good map, and in case you get a little lost--which is okay--you can always get back to the map to know where you wanted to go or maybe take the detour that's necessary to find your way there. - I'm not sure if I've found my way yet as I seem to do it different each time and dabble in a lot of different things. I did one totally free hand. It was a mess. I did one with a beat sheet, into an outline, into index cards, and it came out sterile. Lately, I've tried doing beat sheets but I get hung up on one of the points later in the story and then get frustrated. So instead of writing it, it gets shelved. Now...I get the basic beats in my head and then write it out. If something isn't working, I go back to a physical beat sheet and map it out again. See where it is falling apart. That seems to be the most comfortable method to me at this time. :)
- outline, outline, outline. I can't start without it. I'll even bullet point each scene and sketch some dialogue or ideas:
Ray and Sydney in car.
“You like her”. Ray denies. He drops her off at her apartment.
I also use the document as a scratch pad where I just copy/paste any research notes I find from the internet, I'll also write in my own ideas etc. The document is a mess of words, and notes and outlines. Ugly. - As much as I like some of the stuff in "Cat," I have no idea what 40 beats and 5 point finale means. If a written, author's scene is between 3.5 and 7 pages--which I believe and see in most every movie that it is--with a beginning, middle, climax, and end, then there really can't be more than about 22 to 25 scenes or scene cards.
I can usually pinpoint when a scene begins and ends--even with some of the transition shots that tie scenes together--but pinpointing beats sounds like the definition of shots, which means there are many, many more in a screenplay than forty.
But I would be happy to do a back and forth on this. Maybe I can learn some new things, which is always helpful. - I would love to be able to outline. I just have no patience for it. I'm also one of those people who just starts writing and whatever I feel at the time that makes sense, I put in. Then I go back, of course, and read it through and try to decipher what works and will stay in or do the "What the hell was I thinking?" bit and rewrite what is needed.
- R, I'm no guru, I'm probably the last guy-who-calls-himself-a-sc
reenwriter who should be involved in a back-and-forth as a teacher or guide or guru regarding any screenwriting-related topic, but, since you ask, in my humble amatuerish opinion, the STC method (15 beats + 5 Point Finale into 40 'scene cards') is basically Blake Snyder's take on the sequence method...
you state the obvious mathematical and logical bit which dictates 22-25 scenes or cards (at 3-7 pages/minutes per card) = 75-120 page/minute screenplay/movie, and you're not wrong. STC doesn't go into too much detail regarding what goes into those magical mysterious 'extra' 15-20 beats/cards, so, what inevitably happens is those cards play out a sequence that could, techincally, be considered 'one scene/sequence/card'...
the 15 STC Beats (or 20, if you count the 5-Point Finale) ARE those same 22-25 scenes/sequences...
it's just that, rather than using one card to say:
CARD # 4: '20 minutes of set-piece action and mayhem occurs... no really, it's going to be awesome! for realz!! believe me! whatever the production people can come up with to fill this section of my sci-fi action-adventure horror epic saga, it will be awesome and it occurs here in the story for the next 20 minutes...'
you might take 4 or 5 cards in the Fun & Games 'beat' of the STC outline, to detail the Foot Race to the Car Chase to the Gunfight to the Bank Robbery to the Getaway Car Chase... or whatever...
it's still 'one beat' out of 15 STC beats, called the Fun&Games beat which takes up the first half of Act II, but it takes up 3, 4, 5 cards to outline the beat in however many sequences you choose, or according to whatever other set of rules or paradigm you wish to mix into the STC method...
that's what I get out of the STC method. As I say, I'm no master, nor master debater. Mileage may vary...
write on! - If I started writing based on an idea, I'd spend hours and hours staring at the screen wondering what to write next.
I like to do a "STC" outline first so that I have a general idea of what is going to take place in the story, then I beat it out. I used to use a big cork board and index cards, but now I use the "STC" software. Like it or not, structure is very important, and can mean the difference of you getting rewritten out of your own script by another writer or not.
Once I have all my index cards filled in I can look at the story and see where it's weak and strong and do my improvements there. By the time I'm finished with my beat board, I know the story so well that I barely have to look at it, and when I sit down to write, I can find my character's voice and spend hours and hours doing a lot of really productive writing. It's so productive that I really don't have to rewrite it- just give it a polish or two. And, it only takes me a couple of weeks to finish a script.
The problem? Coming up with stories that I deem worthy of taking the time to write, then fleshing out a whole story. The jury is still out on a lot of stories, so yeah, sometimes I don't get to writing as quickly as I'd like, but I'm always writing, whether I'm going for a walk, reading a book, or day dreaming- I'm always conjuring up something.
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