Senior Thesis- Part Eight

This week I began the editing process because I felt like I needed some time off from writing the actual screenplay. The way it is right now, I’ve written the first 50 or so pages, and now I’m editing what I have. Looking back on it, I’m not sure this was necessarily the smartest approach to editing my screenplay, especially not for someone as lazy as I am.

From all the professional writers that I’ve spoken to, it seems like people prefer to write 2-3 pages a day, and edit those before they continue. That way, you get the writing and the editing out of the way in one sitting. Both of the professionals that I interviewed said that approach works the best. When I discussed it further with my mentor, Mr.Huber, he gave me the precise reasoning behind it. He said that if you edit it after you’ve already written the entire thing, you’ll find mistakes or scenes that you want to take out, but if you take them out, you’ll be forced to change 10 other scenes because they build on that mistake.

Its a lot like that board game Jenga, that I used to play back in the day, where you’d build a stack with these blocks, and then you had to go around and take out a block one by one, until the whole thing crumbled. I feel like if I take out any scenes, I wont be able to replace them with anything better or worthwhile.

Whats more, I have so many scenes and lines which I love and that I think are necessary, but now that I’ve given my script for a few people to edit, they’ve told me to remove entire scenes. The most blunt answer that I got was from Mr.Huber when he said, “editing is something that a lot of writers dread. When you get rid of a really good line, it feels like you’re drowning one of your own kids.” As gruesome as that image was, he was right. Every time I get rid of a really good scene, I have a sort of separation anxiety for the rest of the day. The only thing that pushes me to keep editing is the thought that my screenplay will only benefit from it.

Senior Thesis- Part Seven

I’ve been writing for a few months now, and it’s not getting any easier. If I was to come up with an image or a phrase that encapsulates the process of writing a screenplay, I’d say that “writing a screenplay is like squeezing an orange”. In the beginning, it couldn’t have been easier. The slightest touch and the juices would immediately start flowing. The first few pages were the easiest. I had written the first 10 pages within the first day I sat down to write.

Then, as the weeks progressed, I had to apply a bit more pressure. The dialog was starting to become a bit stiff and unoriginal. I still had good lines, I just felt like they weren’t coming as easily to me.

Then it came to the point where I was hunting for any spots that still felt moist, any spots that still had color. I was now squeezing the white part. The hardest part wasn’t writing the scenes and lines anymore (which was still hard as hell). It was figuring out how to transition from one scene to the next. I couldn’t figure out how to go from two characters fighting with each other, to having the two of them go their separate ways. I kept writing, but I couldn’t help but feel like I was selling the scene short. It’s like there’s a movie theater in my head, constantly playing this film, and there’s a guy watching it, and he’s like “What the fuck, that’s it? That’s all that happens? That what I came to see?”

On the other hand I’m trying to avoid overwriting certain scenes. Nothing is more annoying in a movie that a scene that goes on even a tiny bit too long. The movie Superbad (2007) which I personally hold to be comedic gold, cant be considered perfect because, despite the 99% of the movie that made me laugh, there was still that tiny, miniscule, one-friggin-percent that managed to have a voice loud enough to annoy me. I would have considered the movie to be the greatest ever if the cop car scenes would have just been trimmed down a bit.

Finally, I’ve reached the point where I’m squeezing the peel. I’m really reaching for any drop I can get. I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel. What’s worse, I am not even close to the 120 page quota that’s considered industry standard for movie length. At best, im another 40 pages away. At this point, overwriting isn’t even on my radar. I’m hitting road blocks left and right. If I manage to write one or two pages, its considered a GREAT day.

So as far as achieving what I set out to do in my thesis question (Writing a successful screenplay) I don’t think I’ll even be able to come close to figuring it out on my own and translating it into my work. I do think, however, that I’ll still be able to research existing works and spot the things that work, and the things that don’t.

Senior Thesis- Part Six

Writers seem to be a lot more down to earth than other people in Hollywood. I think it’s because of the occupation itself, writers have to get used to a lot of rejection before the ever hear good news. I think that screenwriters nowadays epitomize the stereotype of a “starving artist”. One of writers I interviewed this week said that he had 88 of his stories rejected by various publishers and studios before he ever managed to write “the big one”. I don’t necessarily know if I have that kind of resilience, but I did learn something new about the field, which is what this project is all about. I always knew it was hard to be a writer. But I honestly had no idea it was that hard. Part of the reason for that is because I figured, If you have talent, than no matter what, someone will eventually realize it and start paying you.

Looking back on it, I guess I didn’t have to interview anyone to find that out. I could have simply gone to the box office and see how much crap is out there, in front of millions of moviegoers. For example, how come a movie like Made of Honor (2008) staring Patrick Dempsey gets to be produced, but other films like I-Robot (2004) spend ten years in a studio drawer collecting dust before they ever get produced and filmed. More than anything, I’ve learned that being a successful screenwriter is a borderline impossible task. I’m like Socrates in the way that I’m just realizing how little I know now.

Not to spoil my interviews, but I found that the successful writers out there struggle with the same type of issues that I do, and that I’m not alone. Even other aspiring writers who I’ve talked to on various forums and websites have said the same thing, sometimes it just isn’t there. Sometimes you do run out of ideas, you do run out of stuff to say. The thing is, the ability to push forward and continue writing despite that is what seems to separate the ‘aspiring’ writers from the plain old fashion writers.

Senior Thesis- Part Five

Despite all the books I’ve read, all the screenplays I’ve seen, and all the movies I’ve watched, nothing has taught me more about writing a screenplay than actually sitting down and writing (for 3-5 hours at a time). Its one thing to have an idea in your head that sounds nice, that sounds like a good movie. It’s another thing to actually sit down and try to write it out into a hundred minute movie (industry standard).

I’ve already talked about how much time I spent preparing a storyboard and a treatment before writing the screenplay itself. But after spending time writing the screenplay, it felt like I didn’t prepare at all. At first, I only put in the dialog which I thought was absolutely necessary to move the story along. After a week of this, however, I realized that I was going to be short by about 40 pages (that’s forty minutes for those of you keeping score). This actually put me into panic mode because it meant that I wouldn’t have a finished product, I wouldn’t have a movie that I’d be able to sell to the typical production company. So to pinpoint the problem, I decided to watch a few movies and find out what I was missing from my own.

I was actually surprised that I didn’t realize this sooner. After watching a few films, it jumped out at me. Not every seen need’s to be there. I don’t mean that directors put in scenes for no reason and that the movie is better off without them. I mean that in most movies, not every scene in the movie needs to move the story along. Some scenes are just there. They don’t contribute the story and they aren’t plot driven.

This doesn’t mean that those scenes need to remain purposeless necessarily. In some cases, though the scene isn’t crucial to the plot, it might be crucial to understanding the personality of a certain character. An example off the top of my head would be in Iron Man, where Tony Stark (Robert Downey) is at a charity banquet, dancing with his assistant (Gwyneth Paltro), and they make small talk while he gazes into her eyes. This scene has nothing to do with his metamorphosis into Iron Man, or his fight against evil. But it does show the viewer a certain side of Stark that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. It shows the viewer that despite his reckless behavior and his blaze attitude, he is capable of having emotions, particularly warm ones which are not typical to a weapons maker. It also somewhat contributed to his metamorphosis into a more heroic-like character. Before hand, he wasn’t really a good guy; he just wasn’t a bad one.

So after picking up on little techniques and nuances like this one, I’ve begun to insert scenes like this into my own movie. It still like my movie will be short a few pages, but I’m more aware now and I’ll have something more presentable. One thing that I know for sure, even after I’ve presented this project to a panel, I still won’t consider my movie to be 100 percent done. It has a long way to go before it’s worthy of the silver screen.

The Treatment

I know a lot of people have no clue what my screenplay is even about, so I decided to put up a link to the original treatment I wrote. This is actually just a bunch of disorganized thoughts I had that I wrote down before I'd forget them. This will give you an idea as to what my screenplay is about. Hope you enjoy!

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dff9wxf7_34gbdf6rfw