Angels and Demons: My Journey to the Big Screen Part 3

On my journey to the big screen, I have discovered the no-fail method to assure screenplay completion: write with a collaborator. But when my writer friend Denise asked me to be her screenwriting partner last December, I wasn't enthused. I remember that night vividly.

We were sitting in my car in the Borders parking lot, and I began spewing a list of projects I was in the middle of. Not for her ears, really, but for my own. I was trying to talk myself out of it, but with every excuse I threw out, my inner voice was giving me a solution.

"My writing program just takes so much of my time." But you only have five assignments left until you're done. "I really need to get focused on my novels." You've been working on those novels for years - will a few months really matter? "There's the writers' group - I can't neglect that." Yeah, that's five hours per month - it would be awful hard to get a screenplay done with only the 715 hours that are left (I hate it when my inner voice throws down the sarcasm).

Fifteen minutes later, Denise and I were shaking hands and discussing a start date. As I got out of the car, the demon on my left shoulder said This is doomed to fail. Why the pessimism? It's a long story, but it boils down to this: I'm a loner.

I'm a writer for goodness sake. "Must be a loner" is on my job description. And I don't just play a loner for some dramatic writer effect (like that time I started drinking coffee because that's what writers are supposed to do - read all about it here: The 40-Year-Old Coffee Virgin). I'm a living, breathing, bona fide loner. I aspire to sell great pieces of writing some day so I can climb the writers' career ladder to reclusive.

What in the world was I thinking - a writing partner? - me? - was I losing my mind?

Salvation snuck through (as salvation often does) in the form of capture. Screenwriting had snared me in the months leading up to this collaboration agreement, and I knew it was time to stop resisting. And the Obi-Wan Kenobi angel on my right shoulder said, May the writing force be with you. Now go, young writer - your destiny awaits. Forgive me. I've been writing a screenplay for the past two months - my writing seems to have naturally drifted into the dramatic. On the screen, that line would have played out beautifully. And yes, I realize I'm not a "young writer," but Obi-Wan likes to flatter me.

So here's our status (and it took us two months meeting two days a week to get here):

• Our outline is done. In the screenwriting world your outline is your boards. The picture at the top is of our boards. Act 1 is the first board, act 2 is the second and third board, and act 3 is the fourth board.
• Our logline (that one- or two-sentence description you read to find out what a movie is about) is done.
• Our key concepts are done and set in place (opening image, catalyst, theme, turning points, midpoint, long and short plot lines, pinches, emotional shifts per scene, conflict per scene, resolution, closing image). 
• Our subtitle is done, and our movie poster image is roughly drawn. 
• Our character biographies are done.
• Our character grids are done (these are at-a-glance spreadsheets that summarize our character traits)

All of the above, plus printing off each of our 50 index card scenes (identical to our board cards) for note taking, filled up a 2" binder. 

And now, we're writing our first draft. If a scene focuses heaviest on a character whose biography I created, I write it. If it focuses heaviest on her character, she writes it. We're using Movie Magic, a screenwriting program that does our document formatting for us. With Movie Magic. we can link up our computers from anywhere and write together and use a microphone or chat feature to discuss while we write.

So that's where we are, my writing partner and I. Two months down, and about two to go. Our two-day per week schedule is solid. Our personalities complimentary. Each of our ideas stimulate and enhance the ideas of the other. Where I'm weak, she's strong. Where she's weak, I'm strong. We spend our work days laughing (we're writing a comedy) and feeling blessed that God put us on this journey together. I have never enjoyed writing as much as I have the past couple of months. And now I'm starting to think I'm not quite the hermit I portray myself to be.

What are your writing angels and demons telling you, and who do you tend to listen to the most?

Have you ever had a writing partner or considered collaborating?

Untamed Heart Versus Kill the Pimp: My Journey to the Big Screen Part 2

As I journey on the road to the big screen, knowledge and persistence will be my driving force. A writer can never stop reading, researching, learning, submitting (even when your rejection to acceptance ratio is 25 to 1 or 250 to 1), and most of all writing.

Today I'm going to discuss researching because that's the really fun part. How do you research screenplay writing? You watch movies. Preferably in the genre you plan to write. It's nice if you have the screenplay to follow, but I'm finding, even at this beginner stage, I'm able to interpret in each movie many of the concepts I'm learning, without the screenplay in hand. And I'm picking up on concepts that I haven't yet learned but I suspect exist.

Back to genre. Currently my screenwriting partner and I are planning a romantic drama/comedy screenplay, and I've been watching movies in those genres. It's fascinating what you learn when watching a movie through a writer's focus lens instead of just for enjoyment.

I do not know if screenplay writing, like fiction prose writing, has character-driven versus plot-driven concepts, but there appears to be a distinct difference in the movies I've watched. And I'm finding that my experience in prose writing can only enhance my potential at screenplay writing.

Here's the difference. Character-driven stories will provide the viewer/reader with a deeper connection to a character. This is, for example, the untamed heart sways the untouchable heart and invokes a major transformation. It's also Frankie and Johnny (one of my new favorite movies) and Beautiful Girls.

Plot-driven stories will provide the viewer/reader with a deeper connection to some goal. This ending goal can still be love and not be character-driven. The characters can be so driven toward the plot that you don't connect deeply with the characters. This is, for example, kill the pimp to save the girl. It's also The Proposal and Sweet Home Alabama - the goals here were love, but the characters were kept at a distance from the audience. It's easier to see this when you compare it to a character-driven movie like Frankie and Johnny.

It gets more complicated when you throw in things like psychic distance and plot points or mini plots, but I'll discuss these another time.

In the hands of a truly gifted writer, both character and plot can shine, but this is rare. Think of movies like Moonstruck or When Harry Met Sally. Movies in which you felt deeply connected to the characters and dedicated to seeing them achieve their goals. In Moonstruck, I was Loretta going to the opera with Ronny. I was in the seat next to him as he lifted my hand to his lips and tenderly kissed it. At the end I was in the kitchen as Ronny proposed with the ring Loretta had just returned to his brother Johnny - all in one seamless transition. It's a beautiful thing when a screenplay results in a movie that can evoke such an emotional connection while at the same time drive toward a well-developed plot.

I'm a beginner at this. I doubt my first screenplay will be a Moonstruck. But if I had to choose which way to drive my screenplay, I'm finding that I prefer strong characters. I don't need a bold, grand, heavy plot finale as long as I can connect with vibrant characters that grow or change in some way - preferably in a way I can relate to - in a way that tells me something about myself - in a way that makes me think - in a way that strokes a weakened emotion inside me. And I'm not an easily moved person, so I know if it moves me, it will likely move most anyone. That's what I want to write. That's what I want to see on the big screen - more Frankies and Johnnys.

And if, in the process, we create a killer plot - bonus!


Writers: Here's a fun exercise. If you think you'd like to try screenwriting, pick a scene from a favorite movie, and try to recreate it on paper. Pay close attention to setting and camera work, and of course action and dialogue. Don't worry about format - just try to get it written out. If you want to see examples of format, click here or Google "screenplay format".

My Journey to the Big Screen - Part 1

Why is a writer discussing the big screen? Well, because every movie you see on the big screen existed first in the mind of a writer. And while writing a screenplay is a specialized field of writing, any writer who has mastered the art of the written word already has a head start to learning screenplay writing.

A screenplay is the script for a movie. It includes the story, set instructions, and camera work. In the end, if it sells, it is a visual representation of your written story on a really big screen that lots and lots, hopefully, of people will go see. Exciting, right?

It has become very exciting for me recently, because after the first of the year, a friend and I will be writing a screenplay together. Before you ask, no, I’m not trained at writing screenplays - yet. That would be my friend’s area of expertise. I had an introduction to screenplay writing, a few screenplay writing assignments, in my Christian Writers Guild training, but outside of that, I’ve just read a few. I have been screenplay crash coursing through a stack of screenplay media my friend gave me in hopes that I can at least use it to follow along from the theory and structure perspective.

My friend asked me to be her partner on this journey not for my screenplay experience but for my story-telling experience – the emotional impact I seem to have the ability to invoke through writing and the humor elements in some of my writing. Things that would write well into a script – dialogue, action – and connect an audience.

Writing a novel is a series of scenes. Writing a screenplay is a series of scenes. The biggest learning curve for me will be hammering and chiseling those scenes to make them fit into the formal and condensed structure of a screenplay. So I’m starting with baby steps. Scenes I know – I will start there.

See you at the movies some day, but until then, keep checking my blog to follow my screenwriting journey in 2011.

Here are some of the media I am using for my screenplay crash course:

Syd Field's Screenwriting Workshop DVD Learning Series

Screenwriter's Bible

Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need

How to Pitch and Sell Your Screenplay

Movie Magic Screenwriter Screenwriting Software Version 6