The Speed of Write

How Fast Do You Write?

I was reading a chapter in William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screentrade (which, by the way, is a great book on screenwriting by one of the all-time great screenwriters… also the man I heard was secretly responsible for Good Will Hunting, but you can draw your own conclusions on that) about the speed of writing and it prompted me to do this post.

Every writer seems to have his or her own thoughts about how quickly writing should happen. Some sit every day and force the words while other wait for inspiration to hit and, when it does, write for hours or even days straight. Personally, I’ve tried approaching writing every which way, but have found that if I break with a project I’m writing – that is, if I wind up having to take more than a day or two away from it for whatever reason – it most likely goes off the rails. Once I’m onto a book or a screenplay, I have to basically commit to working on it each and every day until it’s finished. For short stories and short scripts, I have to do them in one sitting.

Goldman says in his book that there’s a certain energy to starting and then getting through the work as quickly as possible and that the energy translates into the finished product. I would agree with that, especially when it comes to screenwriting.

I’ve always done a good amount of preparation before starting a new screenplay. I’ll have character bios and a decent outline ready to go.

Now, I’m in the outlining module of the ProSeries, and we are on our 6^th draft of our outlines. I’ll repeat, 6^th draft! It makes what I used to do to ‘prepare’ look as professional as a gorilla in a tie. For each pass, we’ve focused specifically on one element of our screenplays, until we’ve been as thorough as possible.

There is something to be said for the ‘just start with a loose idea and inspiration will come approach’… but what I’m finding is that inspiration will strike even in the outlining phase, and in the outlining phase, it’s easy to revise. Things can be moved around, reworked, or flat-out changed at little cost to your time. This doesn’t mean that you might not be struck by some new idea to add in later, when you’re writing, but it does mean that the overall foundation of your story is going to be solid enough that A) You’ll have a better chance of finishing and B) It’s going to have a sound storyline that won’t take years of revision to fix.

I think the real benefit of all the outlining, though, is that by the time I get to the writing phase, I’m going to be able to get through all the writing quickly, with a completed screenplay in a matter of weeks. And I agree with Goldman in that there’s an energy, once you start writing, that you don’t want to lose. Stepping away for days or weeks at a time pretty much guarantees that you will lose that energy. The more prepared you are before beginning, the less likely that is to happen, because you always know what’s coming next in your story, how you want to handle it, and how you want the audience to feel.

***Now for a few quick, exciting updates! This past week I had two great pieces of news. First, my short story ‘Not There’ was accepted for publication in the January 2013 edition of All Things Girl, an online literary magazine and print anthology series (www.allthingsgirl.com). Second, my short film, Chance, is an official selection of the Williamsburg International Film Festival, which is taking place in Brooklyn from Sept. 20-23!

I’ll keep you all posted on both the scheduled show-times and the release of the short story!

 

The Quest for High Concept

This summer has been about getting re-focused on screenwriting. I spent a lot of last year learning film-making and getting a better grasp of the industry while working on a novella instead of a script. Since the end of May, though, I’ve done a complete rewrite on a screenplay, and have now started a program the focuses on selling your screenplay: the ProSeries. This six-month course is all about screenwriting from a marketing point of view, with an eye toward getting a screenplay sold or optioned by the end of six months and often through the company that sponsors the class (bonus for them!).

So far, I’m impressed with the ProSeries. It’s intense - averaging one project per day – but over the course of six months, teaches 300 skills for creating sellable screenplays. It’s also cheap ($850 for the whole six months and then life-long membership in their contacts-loaded ProSeries alum.) This is far more helpful and direct for a student’s career than any MFA program.

I started three weeks ago and thus far, the focus has been concepts, concepts, concepts. While I’m not at liberty to divulge any of the copyrighted course material, I will tell you that we brought into the course a list of ten original ideas – which have now been put through the mill of various marketing formats and other concept elevating processes – to generate anywhere from 50-100 totally new concepts. One of these will hopefully achieve elusive ‘high concept’ status. (I’ve generated 77 concepts total, maybe having three that are close to high concept.)

‘High Concept’ is that thing which, once you really have it, you’re going to sell your screenplay. I find that most people don’t really know what it is, though. It’s not simply a good idea, or an idea that you love, or even a big-budget idea. A high concept consists of three things, regardless of budget:

1. It’s unique.
2. It has a wide audience appeal.
3. You can say just one line and see the entire movie.

A word on ‘unique’: this doesn’t just mean a unique spin on an old idea, or something that’s somewhat different from other movies… Unique means thoroughly, completely hasn’t been seen before, yet can still fit in with the 2^nd and 3^rd criteria above. And, yes – a lot of screenplays that are not truly high concept might still get sold… but not with the same gotta-have-it fanfare that a high concept will.

Most of my original ideas were borderline high concept, but needed a bit more development. After having reworked them, I narrowed my 77 down to a new, higher-brow group of ten. Then the real fun began.

Going through the script consulting/production company that the ProSeries is associated with, my ideas along with my fellow members’ ideas have now been ‘tested,’ meaning that we each got a batch of ideas and had to either call or meet up with trusted friends (people who liked movies but who are not professional writers or actors) to pitch them those ideas in one line and get their reactions.

Results were really, really interesting.

One of the things I found most fascinating was how different people’s tastes are. I knew my clear favorites… but they were not everyone else’s clear favorites. I also had people rank their #1 and 2 choices out of the 10… and if I base my final results off of what got the most ‘likes’ versus what had the most #1 and 2 rankings, I get different results.

My next step was analyzing feedback on my ideas to determine which are my top 2. Then, (this afternoon!) I’m having a call with my screenplay coach with the goal of finding something she agrees can be pitched to production companies as high concept. (Her background: she pitches regularly to 59 production companies out in L.A.) Once we pinpoint that elusive idea, I’ll spend the next couple months writing it.

I highly recommend that if you’re going to spend a few months working on a script to first see if you can’t improve the overall concept and then see if people respond well to the concept before devoting your time… More often than not, your first choice might not be what appeals to others, and if you’re just starting out, you need that first script to SELL! (Write your love projects later.)

TA'ing at the DFA

So in addition to the many random things I’ve been doing lately, I’ve become a teaching assistant at the Digital Film Academy. Not too much to say about this, except that it’s interesting to be on the other side of the desk. It’s actually a good set-up for me, since I get to basically re-take classes I had a few months ago while helping the teachers out. (Also in consideration: I might be buying one of the DFA’s official cameras. The little video camera I currently have is excellent for what it is, but it wouldn’t be up to par on a film set. We’ll see!)

I actually worked as an adjunct teacher at two universities prior to getting my publishing job, and I really do miss it sometimes. Teaching is enjoyable, and I luckily am comfortable talking to a class. (A plus for someone in a creative field, as they often wind up doing some teaching in their careers to help make ends meet.) It’s been fun to hear about what the students are planning for their short films, which they’re actually shooting now… it’ll be really interesting to see those short films at the next screening in a few months, and to find out who’s the next Director’s Choice Award winner from this new crop of filmmakers!

Equally interesting is analyzing students’ personalities. True, we all get the chance to observe other people’s behavior every day, but for some reason, a classroom atmosphere makes it extra clear – who takes charge; who takes charge, but with an attitude; who doesn’t expect to have to work; who wants to work but is too shy to step forward and do it… I think a heightened awareness/recognition of these traits can help us to hone our own traits however we want. A great part of teaching (or even just being a teaching assistant) is that you step into that role of the one in charge, the one who knows what’s going on… a role we should all be putting ourselves in every day.

This was just a short post, but I'll be back soon with what I've been learning these past few weeks about creating high concepts for your screenplays!

Film Education - PERSONA

So, as part of my No MFA program, I’m doing something film schools everywhere do – pumping my student (aka, me) full of a lot of ‘great, game-changing’ movies. My Netflix queue is now a mile long, filled with movies I’ve been told I need to see for my ‘film education.’ Today’s flick: Ingmar Bergmann’s horror classic, Persona.

The fact that I just finished watching it an hour ago, have already read about four online analyses of it, and am now rushing to do this blog post (when I haven’t posted on other movies I’ve watched), should give you an idea of the effect it had on me.

It’s not that I completely loved the movie.

It’s that I was completely, thoroughly disturbed by it.

Also, it’s that I disagree with a lot of the interpretations I’ve read online. Granted, it’s very complex and touches on a lot of themes, and any number of interpretations could be valid. But everything I was reading seemed to agree on two things that I completely disagreed with, so I have to state my point of view.

Before getting into that, though, let me give you the basic premise of the film… a renowned actress, Elisabet, suddenly goes mute. Whether this is by choice or a true affliction is up for debate. For her treatment, a doctor recommends that Alma, her nurse, takes her to a beachside home where the two of them will stay alone together for a period of time. Throughout the film, the nurse basically winds up losing her marbles, eventually begging the patient to speak with her.

The first thing that most all viewers seem to feel which I completely disagree with is that Elisabet is cruel. One psychoanalysis online even went so far as to say she’s incapable of caring for anyone but herself and rejuvenated only through others’ suffering. She will not acknowledge Alma as a human being.

But I completely disagree. At the start of the film, we see Elisabet’s desperation. She cries both when she is alone and when she sees a monk burn himself in protest on the news. She’s also afraid. During one super-uncomfortable, looooong stretch, she stares directly into our eyes, pleading with us silently to help her. (I had to fast-forward it, it was so unnerving. I also had to fast-forward two other scenes that included disturbing imagery, one of which is only thirty seconds into the movie; it may be the first time I was ever so uncomfortable with a film that I had to fast forward.)

True, Elisabet seems to recover bit by bit at the beach… but the root of her problem, as stated by her doctor, is that she’s realized nothing she can do or say can capture the truth of life; it is all pretend. Therefore, she decides to do and say nothing. I didn’t think she was trying to be cruel to Alma. I just felt that not even Alma’s pleas seemed sincere or genuine - that nothing anyone could say seemed real to Elisabet. Most people online also feel that Elisabet's profession as an actress shows her narcissism - I just felt it reinforced this idea of everything being make-believe.

The second thing that everyone but me seems to agree on is that Alma’s big speech at the end is truly revealing Elisabet’s past and not Alma’s. (By extension, everyone seems to believe that these are two separate women.) I’m not convinced that either of these is true.

First, Alma had no way of knowing all the things she claims are Elisabet’s history. Elisabet hasn’t told her and, even though Elisabet’s husband shows up briefly (and sleeps with Alma, believing her to be his wife,) I don’t think he’s shared (or could possibly have known) all the details Alma goes into, either. Furthermore, I think it entirely possible that these two women are supposed to be the same woman, stuck in an internal war with guilt and the struggle to understand life.

At any rate, it is brilliant film-making, and, according to what I read, this film includes the first-ever instance of the awesome face-merge shot in cinema:

TADA! This is two women in one.

It was beneficial to watch and I have a feeling it will have me thinking for quite a while… but, if you rent it, be warned: by the time I got through it, my first thought was: “Thank God, I survived it.” I was completely relieved it was done.

The Fine Art of Revision

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… revision has never been my strong suit. In fact, I’ve never really revised. Sure, I’ve read through the first draft, maybe changing commas and a couple of lines, but never got into the deep, intensive work that is true revision - which is why I finally justified forking over some cash to take a screenplay revision course at Columbia University.

Granted, the course was pricey… pricier than I would have liked. (Since I haven’t been billed yet and might possibly get a small discount, I haven’t yet posted the final charge in my expenses section!) I entered thinking there was nothing I could get from 6 weeks that would actually justify the cost, and telling myself that I was doing it more to report back to all of you on my experience… what surprised and delighted me, though, is that I found the course to be absolutely worth it.

This super-intensive workshop required a total reworking of an already finished screenplay.  I speak for everyone in the class when I say we started off feeling like:

And ended feeling like:

Everybody loved it: but the intense rewrites, workshops, and massive amounts of required reading left everyone exhausted and dazed by the last class (yesterday).

I brought Left, a feature-length dramatic script I wrote in grad school, to work on. It won Emerson’s Evvy Award back in 2005 and, in true go-getter fashion, I hadn’t touched it since. I never imagined how much richer the script could become since, having the award in hand, I already considered it to be pretty great. My eyes have been opened.

The professor for this course, Jessie Keyt, was amazing (you can check out her credentials here, just scroll down to her name), but what really put this workshop over-the-top was the other students. Two of them already have financing for their films, and they all have background with filmmaking and writing. Their input and advice on everything from character to structure were invaluable.

The best technique I picked up from this class, though, is to start your revisions with your outlines. Not all screenwriters start to write from an outline (although they probably should) but whether you start with one or not, make sure you have one after your first draft is done. Then, after a re-read of the script, look to the outline to start adding in what you felt the script lacked. Start your rewrite by rewriting your outline – then follow it when you go back into your script. Trust me, this is a billion times easier, both practically and psychologically, then starting a revision/rewrite in the script itself.

After this incredibly exhausting adventure, my big plan is to take two weeks off from Left. Then, I’ll go in for another rewrite (having just done a rewrite throughout the six week course), which I then am so lucky to be able to send to the professor and the other students from this class to get their feedback once more. I’m determined to whip it into way-better-than-average submission shape before the year is out.

As an aside, I was able to speak with the professor on the pros and cons of going all-in on MFA programs, and she was actually the first to say not to do it unless you have a fellowship to pay for it.

If instead you put up the full MFA program amount, you could wind up feeling like this:

My First Paid Film Job!

(Assuming you don’t count script-writing gigs I’ve have in the past!)

Last Saturday I had my first official paid film job, which was set up through the DFA. It wasn’t on a film set, but actually at a silent film screening downtown. The two films that were shown were the drama Battleship Potemkin and the comedy The General. I was very impressed by both, devastated and delighted, respectively:

                                                               Buster Keaton = Hilarious

                                                       Battleship Potemkin = My soul is crying

I forget who it was that said it, but in a documentary I saw, someone said if sound had come into movies just a few years later, there would have been far greater breakthroughs in cinematography. I’m inclined to agree, since relying only on image, these silent films have done amazing things.

Basically, my job consisted of shooting b-roll footage – outside the theater, people arriving, ushers taking tickets, popcorn popping, etc. – and then filming the Q&As after each film was shown. I was at the theater for about five hours but, given that I watched the movies, I really filmed for about two hours out of the five, making my three-figure salary not too shabby. I loved getting the freedom to wander around and shoot things that I found interesting, and to brainstorm what might be useful to the editors for the final promotional video.

But it wasn’t all popcorn and fun.

I couldn’t use a tripod, which meant using a shoulder mount to film. A shoulder mount is a device that balances the camera on your shoulder. There are handlebars in the front for you to keep it steady.

By the end of the day, my shoulder felt absolutely destroyed. It’s no mystery why you usually see big guys doing these kinds of jobs, instead of, well – me. Walking around with the camera and being able to shift it when I needed to wasn’t so bad – but filming the Q&As, both of which were almost 40 minutes, was excruciating. Sitting in one of the audience seats, toward the front, I had to remain perfectly still and balanced for the entire stretch of time. Additionally, things moved along quickly – Q&As would start before the lights even fully went up. There was no time to figure out a solution for balancing the camera on a chair or armrest before things were underway and the camera had to remain still for the rest of the shot.

If I were to have another job like this in the future, I’d insist on having something to balance the camera on besides myself. But, all in all, this was a great experience, and it felt good to be working and making contacts in the film world.

And, even though my camera apparently grazed right over him as I was taking shots of the crowd (he was in sunglasses and a hat, after all!), Matt Damon was there.

                                                                He was not posing like this.

Random Updates...

It’s been a few weeks, so I just wanted to catch you all up on a few random things that have been going on.

For starters, I got a new computer! Not just any computer – directly from the DFA and fully loaded with all the necessary filmmaker software. I got a good deal since it’s used, but it’s in great shape. Now I can do editing and make DVDs from home, instead of having to go back and forth from the school, which is a big time saver.

I will be at the school tomorrow, though, to pick up some film equipment – for my FIRST EVER PAID FILM JOB! Yep. New York’s QUAD Cinema is holding silent film screenings tonight and tomorrow, and I’m going to be filming the crowd and the Q&A sessions after tomorrow’s event. What with the recent success of The Artist, they felt it was time to have a film-school-esque discussion on silent films!

For more info:

http://www.tribecafilm.com/news-features/Quad_Classics_May_2012.html#.T77G8O1Qbk5

The other cameraman you’ll see there, if you go, is another member of my former DFA class. DFA truly doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to helping their students find work! This is actually the second job they’ve put me up for. The first I actually turned down since it was mostly a receptionist job, but it was with a DVD company and a legit, full-time, benefits-and-all position – not bad.

If you’re wondering how I plan to feed myself in the future (aside from obviously hoping to get more film and writing gigs) my craziest piece of news is that my mother and I pooled our funds this month and went in together to buy the pet care business (Tails Around Town) she’s been working for for the past three years. The original owner recently had twins and was looking to get out. Random though it may seem, I’m thrilled with the decision. This business basically equals a very flexible part-time job for me, which is perfect for balancing with my more creative endeavors. I’ll be doing mostly invoicing and other administrative tasks from NYC, as the business is actually run on Philadelphia’s Mainline – but I will occasionally be making the journey to do some pet visits and overnights myself.

For more info on us, you can visit the below website… we haven’t updated the owner info on there yet, but you get the idea.

http://www.mainlinedogwalking.com/

Definitely thinking of adding a pet video section to the website. :)

My final bit of random news is that last Sunday The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article I wrote about our wedding in India in their Travel Section! I made a little bit of money off of it, and it’s another publication to add to the resume, so I'm pretty happy.

I’ll be back soon with details on how tomorrow’s filming goes!