Читать книгу Mind Your Business - Michele Wallerstein - Страница 12

KICKIN’ IT UP A NOTCH 3

Getting a screenplay down on paper is difficult, there's no doubt about that. Making it great is even harder. However, if you don't try you may end up living in mediocrity, and you will never get the kudos and rewards of a successful writer.

A great screenplay and film has “legs.” That means that people will want to see the movie over and over again. They might want to bring their friends, or rent the film on DVD, or purchase a copy to own. A great screenplay has meaning beyond the ability to entertain. Even romantic and teen comedies can have depth and wisdom without sacrificing humor.

The secret for writing a great screenplay is not in finding the most unusual story — it is in writing up to the high standards described in the following pages.

CHARACTER ARC

No one wants to stay with a film or screenplay if the main character does not grow internally, does not learn something important about himself, and does not become a better, smarter, or more lovable person. Whether the film is Booty Call or Pride and Prejudice, you will notice the growth of the main characters and love them for it.

UNDERLYING THEME

A great movie is not about the plot. It is about what is going on beneath the surface. It is about something emotionally important or deals with a universal problem of great significance. Jim Carrey's Mask is about the insecurities of all people. It is about the main character's feelings of inadequacy and personal fears. You must find a way to touch something that can tap into the collective and often unconscious needs of people in general. Even the animated classic, Bambi, is about all of our fears of abandonment. As a writer you need to know what you are trying to say about the human condition. Without becoming preachy and pious you can impart wisdom and help people to understand themselves and others in a new and constructive way. You have the ammunition to educate as well as entertain. This will set your script apart from the masses of material that are spewed out every year. Take the time to understand your characters and know why they do what they do. The psychological aspects of a story need to be dead-on.

DIALOGUE

I heard that it was the great actress, Helen Hayes, who once said “If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage.” Nothing in a screenplay is as bad as boring dialogue. You must learn to write characters who speak with unique voices. They must jump off the page with personality, wit, and exceptionally clever ways of saying things. Each character in the piece needs to have a distinct personal quality and voice.

I've always hated screenplays that make me go back and forth from where I am reading to the opening sequences that introduce the characters. If I can't remember which one is Sally and which one is Susan, you haven't done your job. Find the inner core of each important character and have them speak in their own distinctive manner.

PACING

If your pacing is slow, or worse, if it is repetitive, you will lose your reader in just a few pages. Keep moving the story forward like a shark in the water, never stopping, never holding back or over-analyzing itself. If the reader's mind starts to wander at any point in your story, then you have lost a sale. If you spend too much time describing where people are or what they are wearing or the weather, you will lose your pace. Let the characters maintain the pace through their interaction with one another.

LIKABILITY OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS

If readers care about the people in the story, they will want to go forward with the script. Likability is more difficult to explain than it appears on its face. Sean Penn's character in the 1996 film, Dead Man Walking, is an obnoxious murderer. By the end of the movie, the audience understands him and has some sympathy for the child he once was and the unhappy adult he became. Of course our real sympathy goes out to Sister Prejean, played by the great Susan Sarandon. There must be someone to root for in a film — a character whom the audience sides with, and in whose future the audience invests. This character need not be the lead. It may be a juicy character role — the protagonist's parent or even grandparent, for example. Anyone in the screenplay will do, as long as we care about someone.

• • •

Certainly there are more facets to a good screenplay than those I've just introduced, and those you will learn in film schools and books. The professional-looking format and the short exposition matter quite a bit. However, if you want to raise the standard of excellence in your writing, I suggest you concentrate heavily on seeing if the five points above are well covered in your next project. Go the extra mile. These five points will separate you from the crowd, and will turn a comedy, thriller, drama, family film, or love story into a great screenplay.

EXERCISES

1. Write a history of each main character in your story or screenplay

2. Write a description of the psychological makeup for each of these characters.

3. Review your story to see what you really want to tell the world.

4. Write what it is that your main character needs to overcome and how you will resolve his or her dilemma.