Could It Be a Movie

by Christina Hamlett

  Let’s say, for example, that you want to write a screenplay about Madame Curie. If you type in the words “Madame Curie” under the “Character” search, it will reveal that 10 prior films had characters by that name appearing in them. Or let’s say you want to do a search on “Ninjas.” Twenty-five Ninja-themed movies will be provided for you. On even broader categories such as “World War II,” the search under the “Plots” link will yield hundreds of entries, attesting to the popularity of this theme. By linking to each of the named films in a given category, you can see how previous screenwriters handled the same subject matter.

  You can even do an inquiry related to specific movie titles. Although stand-alone titles do not fall under the same copyright laws as full manuscripts, it’s helpful to find out whether someone has already grabbed up Overboard before you decide to use it yourself and/or whether its plot covers similar ground and characters.

  BEST OF THE BEST

  Certainly the highest praise an author can hear are the words, “This is the best thing I’ve ever read!” If you want a script reader to make the same proclamation, it helps to know what Hollywood considers to be the cream of the cinema crop. Look no farther than the Web site of the American Film Institute located at www.afi.com.

  You’ve probably heard a lot about AFI’s “best” lists but hadn’t considered until now how its contents are applicable to your ongoing film education. Each year, this organization publishes 100 titles/names of what/who the industry considers to be representative of Hollywood’s best work. These decisions are based on a variety of criteria and have included such categories as “100 Best Movies,” “100 Best Heroes and Villains,” “100 Best Love Stories,” etc.

  While you’re as certain to discover that some of your personal faves don’t make the list as you’re likely to be puzzled by some of those that do, it’s a good place to start, as far as deciding what videos to rent as study guides. Let’s say, for instance, that your quest is to write passionate love stories. The top three films on AFI’s list of “Passions” are Casablanca, Gone With the Wind and West Side Story.

  What are the obstacles facing the lovers in each of these films?

  How does the environment impact the circumstances of their attraction?

  Do the respective couples live happily ever after?

  What makes these three romances memorable for audiences?

  What elements does your movie love story have in common with these three classics?

  Another good place to assess cinema trends and popularity is the previously cited Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), one of the most comprehensive electronic sources of movie facts and trivia currently available. At the beginning of each week, statistics are posted that provide a running list of who’s on top at the box office in the U.S. and the U.K. This site also includes a link to the Top Films by Genre, the Top Films by Decade, and the Top Best and Worst Films of All Time.

  In my screenwriting classes for both teens and adults, a favorite assignment is to take the top three movies of any given year, identify the key element of each one, and compose a synopsis that combines all three into one plot. As of the writing of this chapter, for instance, the top three contenders of 2003 are Finding Nemo, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and The Matrix Reloaded. Just for fun, take a moment and see what you can come up with.

  WHAT YOU CAN LEARN FROM FILM REVIEWS

  The pen is mightier than the sword, especially when it comes to the way that critics can slash a new film to shreds. As someone who will eventually enter this vicious arena, you need to remember that there are no educational or professional requirements involved in being a movie reviewer. All that one needs to have is an opinion and a public forum in which to share it.

  For critics at hometown newspapers, for instance, what comes out in print often has very little to do with what was up on the screen. The remarks can be a factor of the weather, a predisposition toward certain actors, a bad meal after the show, a bad date after the show, or even whether they had to buy their own tickets. In a town like Sacramento, California, which used to have two rival newspapers, it was even an unspoken rule that whatever the Republican-oriented press lauded as great had to be automatically dissed by its Democratic opponent.

  If you’re going to study reviews as a way to learn what kind of things critics scrutinize, you need to look beyond your local gazettes. You also need to look at more than one opinion and separate those which focus on the acting and production aspects (which a writer can’t control) and those which dissect and analyze the story (which he or she created).

  The Movie Review Query Engine (“MRQE”) at www.mrqe.com is a user-friendly source not only for current box office fare but vintage films, as well. In addition, news and views can be found at:

  www.rottentomatoes.com

  www.moviefone.com

  www.film.com

  www.badmovies.org

  If it’s an entertaining read you’re looking for, you can’t beat Roger Ebert’s annual collections of film criticisms available at major bookstores or through Amazon.com. Whenever I’m writing a new scene, in fact, my husband enjoys playing devil’s advocate by asking, “What do you think Roger Ebert would say about this?” Even when this popular Chicago critic is totally condemning a film, it’s to his credit that he does so with such mirth and finesse that you can’t help but smile.

  Ebert’s work is also where you’ll find his humorous compendium of movie clichés, among them: (1) the observation that every hotel room in France has a view of the Eiffel Tower; (2) the first time we see a movie bartender, he is wiping out a glass with a rag; and (3) anyone who ever excuses his phlegm with the remark, “oh, it’s nothing, just a little cough,” will die before the final credits.

  LINE BY LINE

  To really understand how films are put together, of course, you need to make a practice of reading as many of them as possible. Fortunately, the Internet accommodates this with a number of sites where complete screenplays and transcripts can be downloaded for free or purchased at minimum cost.

  If you’re planning to use these materials as a study guide for proper format, however, be aware that there is a difference between an actual script and a transcription.

  A script will look just like a script is supposed to but it’s not necessarily the same version as the one actually produced. There also will be incarnations that include numbered scenes, something which would not be used in screenplays you submit for consideration. Watching the film while you’re holding a copy of the downloaded script is one of the best ways to really appreciate the correlation between the written word and the cinema image. If you’re someone who’s inclined to use excessive verbiage, you’ll be surprised by just how little is actually written to convey a big idea.

  A transcription is exactly what it implies; someone has watched the entire film or TV episode and meticulously documented everything that was said or done. While the dialogue or action will be verbatim in a transcription edition, it will bear little resemblance to a correctly formatted screenplay or teleplay and, therefore, should not be regarded as an accurate model.

  Here’s where you can find hundreds of scripts to download or purchase:

  www.simplyscripts.com

  www.scriptdude.com

  www.script-o-rama.com

  www.scriptfly.com

  BOOKS

  For those of you who like to add books to your library, clearinghouses such as Writer’s Digest Books often include hardcover and paperback editions of popular TV series such as The West Wing and Frasier, as well as complete scripts for screenplays such as Shakespeare In Love and Casablanca. In addition to the scripts themselves, you’ll find a variety of development notes, stills, and interviews.

  WHAT’S THE COMPETITION UP TO?

  Many years back, Francis Ford Coppola launched an innovative film site called Zoetrope (www.zoetrope.com) on which screenwriters could give and receive feedback on each other’s scripts. How it works is that yo
u upload one of your scripts to their system, then read four scripts by other writers who have already posted. As soon as your critiques are completed, you receive comments from everyone who has read your script.

  One of the benefits my clients are all in agreement about is that reading the work of their peers helps them to sharpen their own skills. An example of this was a young man who noticed that the author of a script he selected had a fondness for starting every other line of dialogue with “Well.” When he later went back to edit one of his own projects, he discovered that he was guilty — though to a lesser extent — of the very same habit.

  A PESKY LITTLE DETAIL CALLED ACCURACY

  In addition to making your screenplay as bulletproof as possible in terms of presentation, you also need to be sure that the actual content is accurate. With the number of on-ramps available to today’s information highway, there’s simply no excuse for sloppy guesswork. Online encyclopedias, reference books, and bonafide experts will be your most valuable friends as you traverse new territory in your plots.

  Nowhere are these professional assists more needed, of course, than in defining what, exactly, your fictional characters do for a living.

  In the contemporary screenplays I review, the three most common occupations depicted are:

  Advertising/public relations executives

  Detectives

  Hookers

  Unfortunately, they are also replete with all of the traits that are straight from Cliches R Us. Specifically, the ad executives work “normal” hours and have an inordinate amount of leisure time on their hands, the detectives conduct amateurish investigations in between drinking and spontaneous sex, and the hookers — yes, you guessed it — they have hearts of gold.

  While movie magic can grant us certain leaps of logic (i.e., even the lowest paid waitress in the story lives in a bigger NYC apartment than the rest of us could ever afford), your chances for a sale will rapidly disappear if the dialogue, action, and supposed facts are rampantly inconsistent with reality. If you’re unfamiliar with the lingo of Wall Street wizards or drawing a blank on what constitutes a prison warden’s day, don’t write a single scene until you’ve done your homework and brushed up on what the been there/done that pros have to say.

  Some fun sources to get you started on the path of “career accuracy” in your storyline are:

  Surfing for Slang

  www.spraakservice.net/slangportal/

  A link that you can access from the www.1000dictionaries.com Web site, this comprehensive resource covers American, British, Irish, Australian, and a host of other national slangs, as well as the jargon associated with gangsters, drug lords, gays and lesbians, law enforcement, etc.

  The Crime Writer’s Reference Guide: 1001 Tips for Writing the Perfect Murder by Martin Roth (Michael Wiese Productions).

  Writer’s Digest “Howdunit Series”

  This innovative collection shows you the ropes on everything your characters need to know to commit a crime…or to solve one. Some of the titles include: Murder One: A Writer’s Guide to Homicide; Armed and Dangerous: A Writer’s Guide to Weapons; Just the Facts, Ma’am: A Writer’s Guide to Investigators and Investigation Techniques; Deadly Does: A Writer’s Guide to Poisons. Not only do they provide an accurate overview for crime and mystery screenwriters, but they also contribute to startled reactions by one’s dinner guests if accidentally left out on a coffee table.

  Careers for Your Characters: A Writer’s Guide to 101 Professions from Architect to Zookeeper. (By Raymond Obstfeld and Frank Neumann, Writer’s Digest Books, 2001). This text provides descriptions of job duties, salaries, buzz words, wardrobes and tools of the trade. It also lists book, film, and television titles where these professions are highlighted.

  CHAPTER 9: ARE YOU A SOLO ACT, A DUET,

  OR JUST THE MESSENGER?

  Dear Ms. Hamlett: I came up with an idea that everyone says would make a great movie. I don’t know anything about how to write a script so I was thinking I could give it to you since you’re a successful writer and we could split everything 50/50 when you sell it for me.

  At least a dozen times a month, I can count on receiving variations of this generous invitation. Each one, of course, gets the same response, carefully couched in terms that are more diplomatic than what I’d really like to say; specifically, “Do you think I’m an idiot or what?”

  Over the years, I’ve also discovered that I’m not the only one sought out by coattail novices. Fellow novelists, playwrights, and even an advice columnist (“I could fill in for you until I get syndicated myself”) are regularly approached to help ghostwrite the future of total strangers. While I think some of them really believe that a gutsy approach will impress the target reader as the sign of a zealous entrepreneur, the majority really don’t know any better and are somehow convinced they are doing us a favor by volunteering free ideas in the context of their companionship.

  Reality check: People who are successful writers got that way by devoting time and energy to their own ideas. While it’s one thing to give advice and be a mentor to newbies, the prospect of doing virtually all the work for half the pay and recognition just isn’t one that a professional author is going to pounce on with glee any time soon.

  That’s not to say, of course, your stellar plot will never see the light of day. There are actually four viable options open to you, any one of which can help get your story where you want it to be.

  WRITE IT AS SOMETHING ELSE FIRST

  In the chapter on stage, page or cinema, you learned how different aspects of a story are handled, depending on the chosen medium. If your plot is one that could potentially work in a venue other than film, you may want to explore writing it as such before you try your hand at a screenplay.

  This method accomplishes three things.

  The first is that it commits you to a pattern of discipline and forces you to complete whatever bright idea you have initiated. Writing — any kind of writing — is hard work. Certainly the attraction of a collaborative effort is that you would seemingly have to do a lot less. This craft, however, is one that is predicated on passion. In order to understand that passion, you need to immerse yourself in it as deeply as possible. Simply passing off an idea to someone else while you go to the mall isn’t going to wed you to your characters or to any of the conflict in which they are engaged.

  The second benefit of writing your idea as something else first is that it will reveal if you actually have a full-fledged story to tell. Many a time I’ve had a student start out with a promising enough premise, only to look bewildered when I queried what was going to happen next. ‘I hadn’t really thought the rest of it through,” they reply. “I was kinda hoping you could tell me.”

  The third advantage of this practice relates to the possibility of the short story, novel, or stage play getting published or winning a prize in competition. What better way to start out an inquiry letter to a prospective buyer than to share that someone else has recognized its merit and excellence.

  HANDING IT OFF

  Over the years, I’ve known a number of individuals who view themselves as “idea factories.” With neither the interest nor skill level to develop any projects themselves, they’ve been more than happy to share their concepts with anyone who wants to write them. Perhaps you fit that model yourself — someone who would just like a particular story to get made but doesn’t necessarily want or need to be part of the process.

  You might want to start out with people in your immediate circle. Are there screenwriters in your family or social community that you’d feel comfortable pitching the idea to? Maybe you’re taking classes at the local university and there are fellow students looking for hot ideas they’d like to turn into scripts.

  The Internet offers further opportunities for finding writers to take your idea and run with it. If you’ve never visited “Craig’s List” before (www.craigslist.com), this would be a good time to add it to your bookmarks. Not only will you find regional opportunit
y listings but the film-related links often include posts by aspiring screenwriters or start-up production companies seeking original concepts for development.