This entry is about the process of writing scenes.

 

What’s the scene about: Define Stakes and Conflicts.

What’s the scene really about: Subtext.

How should the scene make us feel: Emotion

What's each character want: Their motivations naturally come out of their previous scenes.

 

What could happen in the scene?

B20 cool moments, motivations, dialogue - stuff to inspire me. Reorder it into rough chronological order

(What else is going on: background stories – and secondary characters.)

(Off-screen stories: (see the sound design commentary track on the Se7en DVD for many examples of this).)

If I’ve got a clear idea of where the scene’s going: brainstorm a starting point.

 

Build a Step Diagram of Bangs: Each character’s input into the scene must provoke a reaction from at least one of the other characters (Ask "What’s the worst they could do?"). Draw a step diagram down the page, taking it very methodically and asking “If Forster does this, what is Peter’s reaction? Okay, if Peter reacts like that, what would Forster say?” The reactions are big, personalised, and surprising - keeping the characters off-balance. Force them to respond to things they’re not expecting. Trap them in a rapidly evolving situation that’s out of their control. Keep swapping through each character’s perspective, trying to continually increase the tension in the scene.

 

B20 each line or beat: Before I begin, read the previous line(s). Bear in mind that the line doesn’t exist in isolation. It needs to flow from what has come before. Imagine the actor who’s saying the line. Then ...

   1. Write down the obvious lines.

   2. Spell out the subtext behind the beat, and play around with that.

   3. Once those lines dry up, try another subtext. Feel free to write down random lines, as they occur to me.

   4. Re-read it all. Jot down any lines that occur to me from that.

   5. I always get a fresh insight (or two) towards the end.

   6. Finish off with some arbitrary stuff. 

Circle the options that appeal to me. Create a separate list of those options and choose the one that most appeals.

 

Resolve the scene: At some point, there needs to be a turning point in the scene where things head towards that resolution.

What effect does this have? On the person who didn’t get their way. On the person who did. On what we want to see next.

Re-examine what the scene's about. How does it add to the About of the film

Simplify the scene.

 

 

 

Sections:

 

-- Overview of my scene-writing process

-- Emotions

-- Tip and Tricks

 

 

-- -- --

 

 

treating drama scenes as action scenes – a little dodge I wanted to try out because action is easy for me to write and visualise, whereas drama and emotions, quieter stuff, is opaque.

 

You see, action scenes are easy to write. I'm not sure why I find that yet - but I build a clear visual image in my mind of what happens, and I find it easy to see where the gaps are and edit accordingly. I also find it easy to create and maintain the point of view (sympathy for the hero) in an action scene, and to increase tension and put the people I like under stress.*

 

* For me to write it effectively, an action scene has a person in jeopardy and something putting them in jeopardy. In the case of The Limit, that something is usually a person. Typically the person IN jeopardy as the hero or the person we have sympathy with in the scene. Because The Limit is a vigilante thriller, the person causing pain is the hero. So I'm constantly finding I have to tweak the scene to keep the hero sympthetic.

 

Drama scenes lack that clarity for me. I feel they should build tension and maintain interest in the same way that action scenes do, but because the (opposing force?) is non-physical, that clear visual image is harder to create in my head.

 

 

How to represent an intangible (not physical or visual) form of jeopardy. What I'm trying is:

 

Clearly determine the main characters motivations.

Break the scene down into acts and turning points.

Visualise how the characters will move within those acts and turning points.

Use those movements to inspire deeper tensions and oppositions.

 

 

 

 

***

 

First-drafty = not worth paying $13 to see.

 

Out of the drudgery of writing, I build momentum.

 

 

***

 

Had an insight while rewriting an interrogation scene. I was giving all the dialogue to the main character. Doing that forced her through sudden changes in her motivation and emotions. For instance, Trace was disbelieving everything Forster said, and then she'd clarify a point he’d made. An odd shift from hatred to logical.

 

So the Insight was: I’d use a third person in the scene to ask all of Trace's rational questions. And extrapolating from that: put as many players in a scene as there are positions to adopt.

 

[theory] Characters can shift positions, just not constantly. I mean, one big shift in position per scene is probably good. When I put more than 3 or 4 into a scene, I get actors complaining that they can't see where their character’s head is at. Of course, the longer the scene the more changes a character could go through – see Richard’s seduction of Lady Anne in King Richard the Third, Act 1, Scene 2.[/theory]

 

 

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[from Freaks and Geeks] One line from the directors' commentary I thought was true is that on a TV show, ideally you're going to be working with the actors you've cast for 5 or more years. So you adjust the script towards them. You want to have fun with the actors, explore the little moments in their character relationships and most of all make them feel comfortable so they can bring a bit more realism to their roles.

 

 

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What’s the most important line of a scene?

The last line.

Why?

It raises a question. Creates a tension we want released. Primes us for what we expect to see in the next scene.

 

 

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A lot of money gets spent on famous actors and CG. Flashy things are supposed to keep our interest, our eyes glued to the screen (a pretty disgusting visual now I think about it). However, with a no-budget movie or Season 1 of a normal budget TV series, there’ll be no cash to spend on those things. In this case, emotions are your special effect.

 

Emotions can grip the audience. They can be complex and spectacular. You can find emotions that haven’t been tackled before. Best of all, they are cheap. And if they’re cool enough, maybe you’ll attract the funding to get those famous actors and flashy CG effects.

Some random thoughts on emotion

The first principle in the first book on screenwriting I ever read was that the primary goal of any screenplay is to elicit emotion from the audience.[1]

 

Scripts deal in emotions and motivations. As script-writers, those are our 2 basic tools. We can make characters behave in plausible and fascinating ways.

We can aim to make the reader (and hopefully the eventual viewer) feel a certain way.

 

An well-drawn action setpiece can illustrate these 2 things working together just as effectively as a moving on-screen declaration of love.

 

 

I think it’s important to know the emotion you’re trying to produce with each scene. That’ll go on the checklist.

 

 

James Cameron says, “Audiences don’t think in scenes. They think in a continuously dynamic and evolving force field of emotions and ideas.” Sometimes when I’m considering the overall script, I don’t think in terms of plot or character; I just go through it feeling what the audience will feel at every stage. Then I ask myself, “Is this a good journey to go on?”

 

“Do we buy it?” was a question often asked in the latter stages of writing lovebites. Do we believe in what we’re reading. Maybe you don’t buy it because the script hasn’t made you care enough … or maybe you don’t buy it because you care so much that you think what the character’s doing is (a) wrong, (b) against type or (c) just something you don’t want to see them do …

 

 

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While talking to DBS last week, he mentioned that the biggest thing he’d learned from writing on Insiders’ Guide was to ‘layer scenes’. To have at least 2 (but more like 3 or 4) things going on. Part of this is to do with subtext, part of it’s about having stuff going on in the background and still more is about keeping the scene alive, filled with energy and keeping the viewer engaged.

 

The idea is to make scenes multi-dimensional as well.

 

 

 

***

 

 

A. Disappointed because I've wasted a lot of time today.

 

B. Satisfied because I've kept asking myself what this scene is about until I realised it's about 'Peter facing the consequences of becoming a vigilante'. I think I'm ready to write and finish this thing.

***

Reached the 50% mark on Saturday. Took a couple of days off and now I’m back working on the scene where we turn Michelle into the hero. It’s good; it’s action again, so all I need to do to write a good scene is a) keep coming up with ways to block her from escaping and b) figure out how to make the situation worse.

 

 

As ever, I know the scene is good when I can see it playing like a film in my head.

***

 

The longer I write a scene, the more chance I have of fucking up what the scene’s about.

 

Action obeys Harold Ramis’ rule for writing comedy: it should take as long to read it as it would to see it.

***

 

Just talked to Jenni’s brother-in-law, Jason, who’s a school teacher. He gave me lots of insights into how fights between students work in primary schools, plus a neat idea about how to personalize this scene I’m working*.

What’s cool is that this scene – which I originally thought would just be a pause in the story - is starting to emerge as a thematic representation of the script as a whole.

 

***

 

 

 

So I’m heading back from Gino’s tomorrow. There’ll be a period of just resettling into my life and then a day where I’m working on my 24 game for this month’s competition, and then maybe a day off.

At the moment The Limit’s going really well – I’ve worked through the big rewrites at the start of the movie & now I’m at the point where I can get through vast swathes in a day. However, last time I took a break I kinda … forgot how to write.

So, for my mind-prodding, here’s some thoughts (I may have written something like this already) …

***

 

A lot of the time, I was watching the film going "Where's the conflict in this scene?" And I realise that my recent experiences with Primetime Adventures have been subtly educating me in this screen-writing tool. Creating conflicts and having to decide which ones are meaningful up to 15 times a game is a really effective way of building up your chops.

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Man, this frickin' script. I had a great start to the rewrite (5 pages in one day, which is fantastic for my first day). Then I hit this big father-son scene at page 14 and get bogged down in it for 2 and a half weeks until I figure out what it's really about (clue: it's personal).

 

Anyway, once I figured out the heart of the scene, it flowed easily & the script has kept going at a nice rate.

 

***

 

 

 

The more important I think a scene is, the longer it seems to take me to write. Thinking of something as "important" makes me freak out, because I need to get it "right".

 

But at this stage of the script, every scene should be important. Every scene needs to contribute. Every moment, too.

 

That means I'm going to have to develop some way off de-freaking-out. Being a full-time writer would be good too (more dedicated time to solve problems and get into a groove). Unfortunately, I may have to let that ambition go for a while, and content myself writing on the bus.

 

(Example: It's taken me five days to work on a single line of the script. It's an important line -- it has to let us know what Peter's worst fear is, and hint at some of the oddness that is to come.)

 

 

 

***

 

A. Disappointed because I've wasted a lot of time today.

 

B. Satisfied because I've kept asking myself what this scene is about until I realised it's about 'Peter facing the consequences of becoming a vigilante'. I think I'm ready to write and finish this thing.