The Screenplay vs. The Novel

Continuing my writing series, I first talked about my process then tackled inspiration. Now I'm taking you down the more technical road to explain the differences between a screenplay and a novel (and there are many).  This may come as a shock, but writing a novel is different from writing a screenplay as they're two completely opposing mediums. Who knew??

All forms of art begin the same way: an idea. Depending on the interpretation, one idea elicits boundless results in many forms. Give ten painters one subject and no painting will resemble another. Give ten screenwriters one idea, one "logline" as its known in the Industry, and suddenly you'll have ten different films from which to choose.

After the "Idea" phase, the novel and the screenplay move in separate directions. Being an artistic medium made up entirely of paper and ink, a good book requires endless descriptions of people, places, things, smells, sounds, and emotions. Ever read Tolkien? Authors create entire worlds filled with cities made up of classes and communities full of diverse characters human or otherwise doing and saying interesting things. These stimulating visuals surround a story enriched by themes, philosophies, and conflicts hopefully felt in some degree by the reader to create connection. A novel IS the medium whereas a script is the blueprint of the medium of film.

Like the plans for a building laid out by an architect, a screenplay has parameters in which it must remain, the main two being time and structure. Most films are ninety minutes to two hours with exceptions like Disney animated features coming in around eighty minutes and large scale epics like Lord of the Rings reaching the three hour mark. Novice screenwriters will want to whittle FINAL drafts down to around ninety minutes. Conciseness is key in filmmaking as Time. Is. Money.

As for structure, if a script lacks proper structure and grammar, a Reader will throw it out. Period. Some executives make exceptions toward grammar if the story and characters are unbelievable. In terms of structure, each scene requires a scene heading, descriptions are short, dialogue is written with the character's name in all caps and his/her words centered underneath. Page numbers are in the top right corner, use black Courier font, a script must have a title page, and there are absolutely no pictures or gimmicks: let the film speak for itself.

Visual, present tense, action-filled writing is the only acceptable style for scripts. If a writer can't SHOW it then whatever "It" is needs to go; no subjectivity or emotions. Unless a screenwriter can show a character's feelings that part is left to directors and actors. For example, "Seeing his friend's grave made Aaron sad" is unacceptable and amateur. Something like "As Aaron reaches the top of the hill, a small gravestone reading "Dan Smith: Loyal Son, Brother, and Friend" comes into view. Approaching the stone, Aaron drops to his knees, pounds his fists into the ground, and sobs."

For fun (as I believe writing should ALWAYS BE FUN-- take that Hollywood!!), I stylize my writing when describing people (and places) as it keeps me on my toes. Instead of introducing a character as "JAMIE, 27, blond, tall, and heavy-set wearing skinny jeans and a T-shirt..." I would write "JAMIE, a long-legged 27 year old whose curvaceous frame remains stylish at any size with a perpetual smirk plastered on her perfectly made-up face..."

Dialogue is a whole other matter that will be saved for a future post.

Furthermore, the position of a Novelist is solitary work. You can lock yourself away in a remote cabin somewhere in the north woods with nothing but you and your computer, and write until your fingers fall off. Your publisher will send you notes for revisions. Writing the initial screenplay might require a Screenwriter to lock himself away until he finishes the first few drafts, but once the script moves into the hands of agents and producers, kiss any power you had over your work goodbye (unless you're Charlie Kauffman, Quentin Tarantino, or Aaron Sorkin). Everyone gets a say in the revisions, from financiers to producers to the director to the actors-- even other screenwriters may be brought in to rewrite the script. In fact, unless the writer is also producing and directing (and most of the time this spells disaster *cough* M. Night Shyamalan *cough*), he is last in the filmmaking chain of command.

Yet, the writing process and basics remain the same for novels and screenplays. Both need intriguing stories with compelling conflict; both require dimensional characters who elicit emotional reactions from readers. Every writer dreads the blank screen and blinking cursor, experiences Block, and thinks everything he writes is shit and he should have been a doctor like his parents always wanted. No work is ever complete and always needs further polish, though, as someone who grew up drawing and singing, this attitude is adopted by artists in any form.

So why do I write? Am I masochistic or utterly vain? I write because I have something to say and writing is the best way for me to do it.

Writing Inspiration

Remember when I told you about my writing process?  Well the next question I'll answer in my writing series is what inspires me.

As I stared blankly at my computer for several minutes, listening to "Dirty Paws" by Of Monsters and Men, I came up with nothing. Just kidding. Maybe.

In a sense, nothing and everything inspires me. I never know when a news story, Facebook status, tweet, photo, overheard conversation, or human interaction will trigger a desire to write a blog/script/story. Sometimes I'm just sitting or exercising (mostly sitting) and an idea comes to me from inside my brain with no help from the outside world at all... it's rare but it happens. Movies, television, music, and books also provide ample inspiration in the depths of their art.

Wow. What a non-committal, general, boring answer.

To dive deeper into the specifics, I draw themes from experiences throughout life. For example, I'm wholly fascinated by vanity and the general bias and preference toward physically attractive individuals.  At the same time, my faith inspires questions and struggles with a belief in God and following a religion.
My awareness of my imperfections-- okay okay, my self-consciousness-- and excellent powers of observing people help me add flaws and dimension to characters and write realistic dialog. I have a general curiosity about the mind, what makes people tick, and how to influence them-- sounds utterly villainous of me, doesn't it?

Interests also influence the desire to write: my love of fantasy and animation, Jane Austen, action flicks, and humor. I'm a firm believer in not taking oneself too seriously and coping with life through laughter. This ideal, I believe, is pushing my writing into a more comedic direction... though I don't think I'm funny. I just find things amusing and feel that nothing in life is without hope.

What most inspires me to write is the process and act of writing itself. Taking my ideas and turning them into whole stories with people, places, and things. I use writing to rifle through my feelings and figure out more of myself-- it's therapy.  It can be utterly frustrating, completely joyous, intensely emotional, and is always personal. That's why many writers hate criticism or won't ever share their work: my creative work is a part of me and it took months to complete! For me, though, once I get the words out and on the page, it's time to send my work out to take shape in the world and find its place.  Actually, blogging has greatly helped my fear of sharing.

Watching letters become words become sentences become paragraphs become stories is incredible. Then to have someone else interpret and bring your story to life is even more beautiful because you get to see first hand how your work influences others. But first and foremost, writing is for the author, not the audience. So if you feel the urge to write, do it for yourself and no one else.

The Process of Writing

My cousin-- an expert librarian (she has a Masters, people!) with an insightful book review blog-- asked me a few questions about my writing process, inspiring me to answer them with a series of blogs (that and the message was getting WAY too long). I also love talking about myself.

Here are the questions:

• Do you schedule time for yourself to write or just whenever you feel like it?
• What inspires you?
• Is writing a script like writing a novel or is it more formulaic?
• Is it more difficult to write dialogue than narrative?

And so we begin with the Writing Process (question 1)...

Though I've been privately writing for several years, not to mention telling stories since I realized I had this great thing called an "imagination," I still feel like a complete noob. That's mostly due to the fact that I've never been hired to write professionally (any day now!) so I have no idea what such an experience would be like. 

The other side of feeling like it's still the first day of Writing School (if only such a place existed) is the inadequacy of realizing how little I know or-- to put it another way-- how much I still need to learn. One of the key ingredients to great writing that I'm figuring out is my writing process.  Do I work better during the day? night? morning? afternoon? Should I play music, if so what kind? Where should I write? How should I write a script? 

I certainly can't write immediately in the morning-- at least not before coffee. I also don't do well on a graveyard sleep schedule. For a while I would wake up at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and stay awake until 6am... okay, sometimes 9am. I never got anything done. I would love a desk workspace, but at the moment that's not possible. While I love music, if I listen to songs I know, the lyrics distract me from the story. All things I'm learning and learning to work around. While it's good to know what does and does not work, I want to be flexible rather than fussy if I can't have things my way all the time.

When I do try to create a schedule it lasts one day, maybe two if I'm really on the ball. Yet I respect and adhere to deadlines: every college writing assignment made it to the professor on time. Personally, I think the idea of turning the creative process into a 9 to 5 job is pointless: you can't schedule inspiration.  

I feel guilty about not having a writing schedule, but then I think about what the late Nora Ephron said about her own process:

"I don't have much of a routine. I go through periods where I work a great deal at all hours of the day whenever I am around a typewriter, and then I go through spells where I don't do anything. I just sort of have lunch-- all day. I never have been able to stick to a schedule. I work when there is something due or when I am really excited about a piece."

If Nora Ephron could live without a writing schedule, then perhaps there's hope for me yet.

Beene

Here it is, my first screenplay installment! Please try to contain your excitement.


Beene is the title of a short 12pg screenplay I wrote in college for Adaptation 1. It's inspired by the short story "You Know How to Spell Elijah" by Dave Eggers. The script is such a loose adaptation that I don't really need his permission to make the film (these words actually came from Eggers after I emailed him about it-- all he wanted was a copy of the film if it ever got made... such a cool guy).

The logline is as follows... wait... you don't know what a logline is?! If you do, you have my permission to skip to the next section. Every film you've ever watched has a logline. It's a one (or at the most two) sentence summary of the movie. In extremely simple terms: it's the idea. This is not to be confused with the "tagline" of a film which is that little blurb on the movie poster that makes you more curious about the it.

Example... Brave: Change your fate.
It says nothing about the actual story, but you're definitely intrigued to see it!

Sidebar: I can't tell you how RIDICULOUSLY excited I am for this film!!! Like... pee-in-my-pants excited. Have I mentioned it's a goal of mine to work with/for Disney Pixar?! I'm sure everyone who loves movies would love to work for them, but I would LITERALLY CRY if I got the chance. Tell you what, when that happens I'm sending all of my followers a Pixar present. I'm 100% serious.

Anyway, here's my logline: After several discouraging encounters with people throughout the day, a man flips out at the airport over a family's argument about how to spell "Elijah."

My favorite part about writing this script is that while I was still in school, my professor asked if she could use it as a teaching example (no, not for "what not to do") because she really enjoyed my character descriptions and writing. It felt amazing to have my peers recognize my name in other classes because they'd read my work. Not trying to brag, I'm completely blessed to have that happen.

For the most part, I thoroughly enjoy Beene. It makes me laugh. As the writer, there are always bits and pieces I want to adjust, but perfectionism will destroy an artist's career so I'm throwing my script out into the Internet on its fifth draft.
Couple things: My scripts belong to me. I own the rights and have registered my work with the WGA and am seeking copyrights. Not that I think YOU'RE going to steal my work, but I need to protect myself from shady-ass people.


Also, I love CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. If parts don't make sense or you're not a fan of a character or even the story, that's OK. Just please tell me why and be cool about it, don't just comment that the script is "stupid" or "sucks." Yes, people will be downright mean in the Biz, but on my blog we play by my rules. Prison rules.
And if you love it, I'd also love to know why. It all goes toward helping me improve as a screenwriter.

As always, thanks for reading!

You can read my script here.

Two Shots of Euphoria

While I'm busy trying to pull films out of my ass create brilliant cinema with the written word, my super sexy and awesome husband is building his portfolio as a Digital Composer. What IS a digital composer? It's a person who uses a computer program with digital loops to create music, specifically scores for film/TV/commercials, etc. Before you musical people scoff at the idea of anyone making beautiful music with "loops," digital composing is an actual career in Hollywood and a very affordable way for filmmakers to add music to their films. Not to mention, Michael-- who was a drummer for many years-- is GREAT at it. And this is coming from a musical person.

With loops, it's not just a matter of putting a few together that sound good and pressing play. Michael can change time signatures and keys; add effects like delay, reverb, distortion; you can stretch the loops, fade them in and out, speed one up while slowing another down. And don't forget about mixing the sound levels of each loop to balance the piece and finalize the tone.  Yes, he's still semi-new at it and there's a lot to learn, but hell, aren't we ALWAYS learning?

The little SoundCloud widget I added on the left is my favorite piece he's created so far. Have a listen-- it's about two minutes. You can hear more of his stuff here.

The reason I even mention this-- besides bragging rights-- is that Michael and I have gotten his blog "Two Shots of Euphoria" going again. Don't you just love the title? Anyway, we're collaborating meaning he tells me what he wants to say and I artfully and brilliantly and humbly write it out for him. I'm basically a not-so-ghostwriter. So check out his blog: Michael is creative and has a great perspective on life.

Hermmm.... Do you think I could use this on a resume since I'm technically writing for someone else?

Me vs. Them

I’m back from my unintentional hiatus! I’ve missed you, dear readers, and I’m sorry for disappearing the last two or so weeks. As you can see, I’ve added Google Adsense to make a little (VERY little) DOE on the side while I continue my ongoing fight into the Hollywood Industry.

And that’s what it is… a fight. In one corner are the ever looming and always biased Film Execs, trying hard to control the product (movies & TV), the people who make it (aka writers, directors, etc.), and the money. In the other corner are me and Michael—nobodies from the Midwest—and our coach: God. I’m confident.

This slow and steady process has a few many hurtles to overcome. Back at Freshmen College Orientation (so… fall 2003… dear God, has it been that long?) the ever-useless academic counselors advised the naïve students—who’d already paid their tuition—that only 1% of us would “make it.” Of course, this included major changes, drop-outs, people who change their career path, but it’s still a pretty sad statistic.

Oddly enough, that didn’t deter me and here I am today: a “nobody” in LA… but I’m HERE. Getting to LA is half the battle. Staying in LA is the other half. The rest is all networking. Though Columbia College doesn’t have job placement (what Arts school does?), they do have the Semester in LA program, which, if you’re a current film student, you should 100% sign up for it. The program not only gets you to LA, but you also work with a tight-nit group of people who’ll become the start of your network (a second family), and more times than not it’ll get you an internship which will most likely lead to a job.

I missed out on that opportunity; however, I got married, stayed in Chicago longer, lived in beautiful Appleton, and got closer with Michael’s family. The four-year gap hurt those friendships I made in college, yet I feel like I have a shit load of life experience under my belt that has added confidence to my writing, my self, and taught me to appreciate both the fast-paced and slow-paced ways of life.

However, building a network almost from scratch is difficult, especially in a town where everyone’s out for their own gain and trusting the wrong person could mean the loss of millions of dollars and amazing opportunities. People in LA are cautious. If you know someone in the Film Industry it’s tough to get in. If you don’t know someone in the Film Industry it’s that much tougher. The overnight success stories (an ironic term considering how long the process to get the film funded, made, and distributed actually is) of films like Paranormal Activity, Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project, and Bridesmaids is a one in a million shot. Making the success stick is one in a hundred million.

Wow… rereading this I realize how pessimistic this must sound. And although I know all of these frustrating things, the need to push on remains because writing is something I love. Not just writing but creative writing… writing scripts! It’s damn fun because writing is utterly limitless—the limits of imagination are the only limits for the initial draft. Of course, once you finish, the limits of time (features should be between 90 to 120 pages, each page representing one minute of the film). But revising is half the fun :)

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you some of the CHALLENGES of becoming a screenwriter. Oh… wait… I didn’t tell you that I’ve decided that screenwriting is where my skills and talents lie, so that’s what I’m pursuing.  I have a business card so you know it’s official. It’s nice to have focus—thank you God. I’m nervous, excited, thrilled with the challenges. I tend to do things the hard way—not necessarily the best way—so breaking barriers is nothing new.

I hope to share more about my creative process down the road and tell you more about the opportunities that come my way.