Could It Be a Movie

by Christina Hamlett

  “For the start-up fee of only $1,000,” he promised, he would put my book in print and let me keep a whopping 10% of every copy sold. I wrote back and asked why I should fork over $1,000 to someone who couldn’t put together a decent postcard of introduction. How did I know, for instance, that they wouldn’t type my whole book with the same ribbon, xerox a few copies on cheap paper, and throw it together with a rubber band? Their response: “Well, obviously the finished product will be perfect. We were just trying to save ourselves a little time and money at the front end and cut to the chase.” The lesson here: You never get a second chance to make a good first impression, no matter how much time and money you’re trying to save.

  Enter early instead of waiting until the last day of the contest. The same psychology of theatrical auditions curiously applies to the order in which scripts are read; those seen first tend to set a precedent for those that follow. Toward the end, the judges are more rushed and impatient just to finish up and go home. Suffice it to say, a lot of scripts begin to look exactly the same after a certain point.

  Fill out the required releases and contest forms legibly and in black or blue ink. This isn’t the time to show what a maverick you are by dazzling them with a bright pink or neon green.

  Include the contest fees in the same envelope with your entry forms and the script. (You’d be surprised how many people forget to do this and mail the money as an afterthought.) Your check should be paper-clipped or stapled to the entry form, not submitted loose where it could accidentally flutter out of the envelope and fall behind a credenza.

  In the event you move or change your phone number during the competition period, let the contest officials know that via mail. If their letter of congratulations comes back returned or they call only to hear the message that your number has been disconnected, it’s a lot less work for them to simply award the prize to someone else than to try to track down your whereabouts.

  CONCLUSION: PLAYING TO YOUR STRENGTHS

  If there’s a broken heart for every light on Broadway, you can just imagine what the stats are for Tinseltown. Nevertheless, it hasn’t dimmed the hope that burns within every writer who has something to say and who has chosen film as the medium in which to say it. Nor has the passage of a century diminished the ripple of excitement that courses through a cinema audience each time the houselights go down. From the Holland Brothers’ Kinetoscope Parlor of 1894 to the most high-tech multiplex down your neighborhood street, they are there for one thing: to see a good story that will give them their money’s worth.

  After finishing this book, there’s no reason in the world that next story can’t be yours. Now that you’ve learned what it takes to get an idea from script to screen, all that remains is to draw upon the energy of your most valuable resource: You.

  Tape the following list to your mirror, incorporate these simple habits into your daily routine, and—to quote Sir Winston Churchill—“Never, never, never give up.” Success, after all, is sometimes just a matter of outlasting the competition.

  OBSERVE. Every morning that you get up, there’s a world of free material that is already waiting for you. Train yourself to keep your eyes and ears open to it. Whenever you leave your house, whether it is to go to work or just run an errand, remember that, to the screenwriter, nothing is mundane. Life is a story and every life is a different story. As you watch and observe the human condition, you will discover the many common threads that bind us together and how these threads are woven together into hundreds of successful scripts every year.

  NETWORK. Talk about your craft, take classes, pursue leads and opportunities to be around moviemakers. To be a successful contributor to this industry, you must be able to communicate, to send a message with broad appeal in a unique voice. This cannot be done in a vacuum. To communicate with people through the medium of film requires you to be able to communicate with people as people. No amount of gimmickry or gadgetry can compel audiences to take the trip to the theater or video store if what is lacking is a story that strikes the funny bone or brings a tear to the eye. In order to accomplish this, you need to “know what you don’t know” and seek out the experts who can fill in the blanks of your cinema education.

  EXPERIMENT. Think of your writing style in the same way you look at fashion, trying on things until you find what’s the right fit and shows off your best features. Look at every piece of paper as a fresh opportunity for expression. Get to know your characters, what they feel and how they behave. Take them out to breakfast on occasion just to become more familiar with their idiosyncrasies. As you get to know them, you will also discover how much there still remains to learn about yourself.

  REMEMBER. Reflect on the favorite films you grew up with. What are the images, lines, or feelings that still remain with you, even if it’s been years since you last watched them? These memories translate to the same kind of lasting impressions you’ll want to create for future audiences who see your movies.

  CELEBRATE. Get in the practice of rewarding yourself for finishing a scene, working out a tricky bit of dialogue, getting your test readers to say “Aha!” in surprise and amazement. It can be something as simple as a walk, a long soak in the tub, eating a meal off of your best plates—or even treating yourself to a movie. And don’t forget a glass of champagne, either. You—and your ideas—are worth it!

  POSTSCRIPT:

  GIVING SUCCESS A PERSONAL DEFINITION

  So how will you know when you’ve reached “It,” that nebulous goal that represents the culmination of years of hard work, rejection and angst? What if you’re already there and don’t even know it?

  On a late August night in 1971, I was having dinner at a vintage café on Sutter Street in Folsom, California after rehearsals at the Gaslighter Melodrama Theatre. Why is this evening so indelibly etched in my memory? Notwithstanding the fact that my dining companion and summer heartthrob looked exactly like a young Michael Landon, it was also the year that I first got paid to act and to write—two careers that have been inextricably linked from that magical season forward.

  I remember making an announcement to my date that I was going to be a success.

  “Define success,” he replied, nonplussed by the ramblings of a star-struck 19-year-old.

  I shrugged, thinking it an odd question. Success, by my limited definition at the time, meant being able to actually afford everything I was putting on my Macy’s card. Success meant one day having the keys to my dream house, a Victorian mansion that was located just up the street from the theater where we were performing. For that matter, success also meant Barry Manilow would write an original song and dedicate to me.

  “You should write all those things down on a list and tuck it away somewhere,” he recommended.

  I asked him why.

  “So you’ll know when you get there,” he answered.

  Obviously my original list has undergone radical change with the passage of age and the coming of wisdom. I long ago stopped worrying about my Macy’s bill, the grand on mansion on Sutter Street has sadly fallen into a state of disrepair that not even a dreamer could rescue and—as far as I know—Barry hasn’t started penning my lyrics yet.

  The one thing that hasn’t changed since that summer night is the satisfaction I derive from people being touched by something I’ve done or said. In theater, it’s the affirmation of applause. In novels, it’s the e-mails from strangers who declare that my cliffhangers kept them turning pages until 3 a.m. In the arena of teaching, it’s the joy of having a student come up after a lecture and tell me, “I’ve been struggling with such-and-such for the longest time and what you just said about thus-and-so was exactly what I needed to hear.”

  It’s experiences like this which remind me that I reached my goal of success some time ago and that whatever happens now is just icing on the cake. Whether or not I ever have a Pulitzer, a Tony and an Oscar all sharing space on the fireplace mantle has become incidental to the satisfaction of being a catalyst for the next generation of
aspiring writers and sharing what I’ve learned along the way. In the event that you, the reader, become one of those next bright stars as a result of anything you’ve read in these pages, I’d like to hear from you.

  I’d be remiss in a postscript, of course, not to mention what my long ago dining companion’s own definition of success was. Though our paths went different ways after the second summer and his enlistment in the Armed Forces, I recall his wistful contemplation of what it would be like to see his name in a book someday. “There’s an immortality to things in print,” he remarked. “It means that people will always remember that once upon a time you passed this way and made an impression.”

  And so to Keith Snook—wherever you are—I say thank you for giving my dreams a sense of definition and my words a sense of purpose to all who read them along the journey.

  FILMOGRAPHY

  A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1951) – Alastair Sim, Kathleen Harrison; (1984), George C. Scott, Nigel Davenport (TV).

  A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971) – Malcolm McDowell, Patrick McGee.

  AMADEUS (1984) – Tom Hulce, F. Murray Abraham.

  ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD (1951) – Paul Douglas, Janet Leigh, Keenan Wynn; (1994), Danny Glover, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd.

  ANNIE (1982) – Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney, Carol Burnett.

  APOCALPYSE NOW (1979) – Martin Sheen, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall.

  AUSTIN POWERS, INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY (1997) – Mike Myers, Elizabeth Hurley, Robert Wagner.

  BATMAN AND ROBIN (1997) – George Clooney, Chris O’Donnell.

  BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (TV) (1987-1990) – Linda Hamilton, Ron Perlman.

  BIG JAKE (1971) – John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Richard Boone.

  BLACK ROBE (1991) – Lothaire Bluteau, August Schellenberg, Tantoo Cardinal.

  BOWFINGER (1999) – Steve Martin, Eddie Murphy.

  BRAVEHEART (1995) – Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan.

  BROADCAST NEWS (1987) – William Hurt, Holly Hunter, Albert Brooks.

  BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) – Paul Newman, Robert Redford.

  CALENDAR GIRLS (2003) – Helen Mirren, Julie Walters.

  CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935) – Errol Flynn, Olivia DeHaviland.

  CAPTAIN HORATIO HORNBLOWER (1951) – Gregory Peck, Virginia Mayo.

  CARRIE (1976) – Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie; (2002) - Angela Bettis, Patricia Clarkson (TV).

  CASABLANCA (1942) – Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman.

  CHARLIE’S ANGELS (2000) – Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu.

  CLUE (1985) – Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Christopher Lloyd, Leslie Ann Warren.

  COMING HOME (1978) – Jane Fonda, Jon Voight, Bruce Dern.

  COMING TO AMERICA (1988) – Eddie Murphy

  CRIMSON PIRATE (1952) – Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat.

  DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990) – Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal.

  DAS BOOT (1981) – Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Gronemeyer.

  DAVE (1993) – Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Frank Langella.

  DAVID COPPERFIELD (1935) – Freddie Bartholomew, W.C. Fields.

  DEAD AGAIN (1991) – Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson.

  DEEP BLUE SEA (1999) – LL Cool J, Samuel L. Jackson

  DIARY OF ANNE FRANK (1959) – Millie Perkins, Shelley Winters.

  DICK TRACY (1990) – Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino.

  DIRTY HARRY (1971) – Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino.

  DR. NO. (1962) – Sean Connery, Ursula Andress.

  EASY RIDER (1969) – Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper.

  EL DORADO (1967) – John Wayne, Robert Mitchum.

  E.T., THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (1982) – Henry Wallace, Dee Wallace-Stone.

  FATAL ATTRACTION (1987) – Michael Douglas, Glenn Close.

  FINDING NEMO (2003) – The voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Brad Garrett.

  FORREST GUMP (1994) – Tom Hanks, Robin Wright-Penn, Gary Sinise.

  FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (1994) – Hugh Grant, Andie MacDowell.

  FREAKY FRIDAY (1976) – Barbara Harris, Jodie Foster; (2003) - Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan.

  GALAXY QUEST (1999) – Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman.

  GIGLI (2003) – Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez.

  GLADIATOR (2000) – Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Oliver Reed, Derek Jacobi.

  GLORY (1989) – Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington.

  GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) – Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh.

  GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997) – Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck.

  HEAVEN’S GATE (1980) – Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt.

  HOUSESITTER (1992) – Steve Martin, Goldie Hawn.

  HULK (2003) – Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly.

  IN HARM’S WAY (1965) – John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal.

  INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996), Bill Pullman, Will Smith.

  ISHTAR (1987) – Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman.

  JEFFERSON IN PARIS (1996) – Nick Nolte, Gwyneth Paltrow, Thandie Newton.

  JUMPIN’ JACK FLASH (1986) – Whoopie Goldberg, Stephen Collins, John Wood.

  LARA CROFT, TOMB RAIDER (2001) – Angelina Jolie, Jon Voight.

  LEGALLY BLOND (2001) – Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Victor Garber.

  LES MISERABLES (1952) – Michael Rennie, Debra Paget, Robert Newton; (1978) - Richard Jordan, Anthony Perkins (TV).

  LETHAL WEAPON (1987) – Mel Gibson, Danny Glover.

  LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) – Dustin Hoffman, Faye Dunaway, Chief Dan George.

  LOST IN SPACE (1998) – William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Gary Oldman.

  M*A*S*H (1970) – Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould.

  MEMENTO (2000) – Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss.

  MIDNIGHT COWBOY (1969) – Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight.

  MOONSTRUCK (1987) – Cher, Nicolas Cage.

  MURDER AT 1600 (1997) – Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane.

  MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING (1997) – Julia Roberts, Dermot Mulroney.

  NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) – Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason.

  OVERBOARD (1987) – Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell.

  PAPER MOON (1973) – Ryan O’Neal, Tatum O’Neal, Madeline Kahn.

  PATTON (1970) – George C. Scott, Karl Malden.

  PEARL HARBOR (2001) – Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale.