It starts with a scene or a situation.
Where this scene fits into the rest vary, but it often turns out to be in the first haft of the story.
I decide whose story this is, whose point of view.
And then I settle for a beginning and an end, the first and the last images. These images represent the main character’s changes. The first image is also a mood image for the story.
In my feature script “Kim” for instance, I think I will change the first image when I decide to start the rewrite, because it shows her making love and I think it is more appropriate to show her as the assassin she is.
Then I need to figure out what kind of obstacles are in the way and how the final victory will be. It is the time where the main character passes all the tests and proves her worthy. This is a part of the process I need to work with and learn more. I feel for instance that the finale in “Kim” has too little connection with her obstacles getting there.
Next step for me is to find the ultimate happiness moment for the main character. This is the scene in the middle of the story. It’s a point of no return scene. It is a moment where maybe the main character thinks that all goes well, maybe even won.
This matches the contrast scene close to the end of act two which Blake Snyder calls “all is lost”. This I try to make as a contrast of the previous described scene.
In “Kim” the “happy scene” is where she gets married and “all is lost” is where she has lost her husband and tries to commit suicide when the police close in; Two scenes in sharp contrast to each other.
I keep this basic structure as a skeleton to build the rest of the story.
These four scenes help me to remember where I’m heading and where I am each moment in the story.
When I start writing the first draft I might change things if I feel they don’t fit any longer. But I try to keep the contrasts in mind, because I feel it creates a movement in the story.
10 comments:
That's a great summary and I love the way you picture key scenes to help keep you on track! I think I might try that :) Thanks!
My pleasure. Have a happy weekend, my friend.
WOW, You really know the structure of a script. Have you been writing scripts for many years? It sounds like it. Any movies?
Thank you. No, no produced feature movies (yet) but two short scripts are on their way.
I have been writing movie scripts for maaaany years, but it is the last one and a half years that I feel I really is getting somewhere.
It took me a great deal of years to realize that I wasn't great as I was but actually had something to learn.
I know the feeling, as far as writing a book. It takes many years to learn the craft, and it's an ongoing process.
Very nice post. It made me think how I write a script.
I will start filming 'Paralyzed in Paradise' on October 17th, 2009.
I 'll have a third draft coming your way by the end of the week.
So a script you rewrote is going into production this month:)
I'm looking forward to the arrival of the third draft, Robert. 17th of October? Gee, then I'll get a chance to try and work under pressure too. That's splendid, really.
My mind still can't grasp that a script I'm a part of is going to be produced.
Its very common to shoot as you rewrite. I haven't set a date in November to begin primary shooting and the one date in October is so the trees will still have leaves for the flashback scene.
:-) Didn't thought of that.
It looks like shooting is going to be on October 18th now as the newest cast can't be there on the 17th.
A six year old blue eyed blond haired boy will play my oldest son Mark at that age. Mark has brown eyes and brown hair but there are so many cheats to this "based on a true story" that it's silly to get hung up on eye and hair color.
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