Notes on Screen
Script Writing Master Class
Empire Cinema
Showfilmfirst
21/7/12
Speaker: Ludo
Smolski-script editor and consultant.
*Generate a story
and adapt books for screen.
*There is no
glory in being a scriptwriter. The bridge *between the writer and audience.
*Interior and
exterior. Where’s the action and set the scene.
*Write character
names and lines. The dialogue is written *down the centre of the page.
*Use of beats and
pauses.
*Only use one
parenthesis per page.
*Reaction shots.
*Don’t include camera
shots, focus, cuts or movements.
*Use final draft
software.
*bbc.co.uk/writersroom
*www.johnagust.com
*Originality.
Write, read and write some more. Embrace the opportunity to get it right.
*Guardian.co.uk.
Frank Cottrell Boyce
*Scriptfactory/Raindance
proofreaders starting at £100
*Read other
scripts-Amazon and library.
*Read screenplays
then watch the film. Transcribe a few scenes.
*Loads of books
on the subject so read and write a draft:
An introduction
to the craft of the director-On Filmmaking:
Alexander
Mackendrick
Hitchcock by
Truffaut
Story by Robert
McKee
The 21st
Century Screenplay-Linda Aronson
Screenwriting: The Sequence Approachby Paul Joseph Guilino
Karoo by Steve
Tesich
*Guro.bafta.org
*A good script is
a good story well told! Wold, character, problem.
*WORLD: conflict,
create tone and genre, rom com etc.
*CHARACTER:
Compelled to do something, importance to us and them, the dramatic predicament
and having difficult getting it.
*PROBLEM:
dialogue, action, communicate desire and want, hinting. Show visually what the
story is about.
*DRAMATIC
CONFLICT: story generation and designs. With the character more conflict is
better. What is at stake? What happens if they don’t achieve their goal?
*3 acts-find the
structure.
*80 minutes-2.00
hours.
*Where are the 5
key scenes to tell the story?
*Beginning, end
and resolution.
*Tension and
surprise.
*Keep the story
moving forward for the audience…will *Rocky win the title?
*Organise it so
the audience is surprised.
*Order in a
natural character world.
*What is the
attitude to the story?
*Universal truth
with talent needing to be supported and nurtured.
*What is the
meaning on an emotional level?
*Movies mean
more.
*Technical
Elements-the crafting of skills.
*Dialogue-needs a
good story. A film story told visually.
*Watch a film
with the sound turned down.
*It needs to be
real, don’t repeat ideas and scenes keep it moving forward. Reveal characters.
*What is the
subtext and motivation?
*What is the
tone? Set and maintain overall story script.
*Take control of
he reader’s imagination.
*Open your mind
and heart.
*Only write what
the audience can understand and what they see.
*Prompt the
audience for recognition.
*Encapsulates the
whole. Confirmation of our worst dread.
*Suggestion and
economy of the storyline and story telling.
*One line can say
so much: An unsuccessfully neat person tells us who she is-nature. *This tells
us about her and her job.
*In Taxi Driver-a whole page on the
scene set. We don’t do that anymore.
*Find a literary
agent and don’t send out scripts but email then wait to be invited.
Low Budget Films:
*K.I.S.S. Keep it
simple screenwriter.
*Make Rules-give
yourself parameters.
*Keep filming
between zones 1-3 and locations to a minimum.
*Small parts 1-2
people/ 3 allows you to triangulate.
*Simple
premise-ideas simple, non-linear, twists and turns.
*Entertain:
horror, comedy, romance with fresh twists.
*TEAM: build a
good team, rules, generate stories and themes.
*What is my film
about and would I pay to see it?
*Write a minute
per page.
*For films like
Blair Witch-allow extra time for dialogue in schedule, edit as you go, film too
much rather than too little then cut back. The writer sets the scenes hen it’s
up to the director to rein it in.
BEHIND THE MAKING
*The challenge is
to make a film for £120,000.
*Subject
expectations around micro budget films.
*Create a
respectable low budget film culture.
*Enable
filmmakers to own a real stake in the film.
*Be audience
focussed.
*Mentor and
support from script to screen.
FILM
LONDON-MICROWAVE Competition and funding.
*Develop a script
and the director needs to have done something in order to apply even
commercials o small projects.
*Get a really good
story, which is often a personal one, and then produce a full draft of script.
Don’t make the idea micro,
*Write to scale.
*There are a
small number of charities that can be approached.
*Film in fewer
locations that can be found in a mile radius.
*Embrace your
genre-drama is not always easy.
*On locations
work with limited resources not against them.
*Films can look
poor because some filmmakers don’t know what they are doing?
*get a really
good crew: Cinematogrpaher, producer, director, and editor.
*An ambitious and
eager person in casting can be better to hire because sometimes getting big
names expect and need too much. They won’t be as emotionally invested in your
project because it’s a job for money unless it’s for a cause. Pay everyone
something then they feel valued and part of the ownership of the project.
*Some films pay
in points, other cash and cheques.
Microwave.filmlondon.org.uk
FB, Twitter
-@FLMicrowave
*Logos at front
are for the money people and at the back is usually equipment and services.
*ifeatures
£300-500
*Ingenious
company backing.
*Submit a 1 page
story intro-play, book, and movie
*Title is
important and what is your film about in 25 words.
*Can is be
released internationally or just nationally?
*Website
competitions: showfilmfirst
