School begins. Story never stops.

Hey, just checking in to say my first week of classes has come, so my last week of Graduate school has begun. I have to say I'm really excited this year because all the hard work of learning is really starting to translate into unique well-formed ideas and strong tightly-written pages.

I can't stress enough how important it is to really work on story before even thinking of getting to pages. The first classes of the year are always full of us writers pitching our ideas and it was such a huge benefit for me to have my entire story down in outline form to pitch. I got great feedback, notes, and ideas already just one class in.

There is no shortcut to telling a memorable story. Those who came in and pitched just an idea without much idea of the characters involved and how the plotting unfolds were left without much given in return, besides the obvious answer, "You need to think more about that character or concept."

The best writers are great storytellers. It's in their DNA and they can churn it out on the page or in the room. To become a professional you must repeat story over and over until you know it inside out, backwards and frontwards. If whatever you're writing doesn't get you passionate enough to repeat it to people over and over, you're probably not telling the right story.

Find the ONE...start working on that.

Need to get writing done? Use Google Docs.

I have really good news. The reason I haven't posted in a while, besides the fact that a bunch of DOA movies snoozed into theaters, is because I've been getting a ton of work done. 

Now, I've been looking for productivity tools to help boost my output all my life. Anything that can help me get more work done in less time and effort is a great thing. But, it's difficult to find anything like that in the writing world. Writing is, and I'm probably not quoting it right, "Butt in chair." That is the hardest part, yet you don't need much more than that.

When I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, I started to use Google Docs to keep a spreadsheet and share it with my diabetes caregiver. What I realized was Google Docs is a wonderfully designed app.

So at first, I decided anything I think of for story, I would put it into a Google Doc. Well, pretty soon I was writing everything; idealines, loglines, beat sheets, outlines; everything except scripts with Google Docs. Because of one simple and amazing feature.

GOOGLE DOCS GETS DATES RIGHT. As I mentioned in an earlier post, getting writing done is all about setting a deadline. The way Google Docs sorts documents is a genius way to show if you are getting work done.

With Dates that are clearly readable and sections sorted with labels "Today" , "Yesterday" , "Earlier this Month" ,  "Earlier this Year". Now you can clearly set the goal of writing every day, by not letting that Document leave from under the "Today" label.

Google Docs is part of the future of the always on Internet connection world, which I believe we are moving towards right now. If you use Google, it's really worth checking out.

GOOGLE DOCS

What is a beat sheet? Story simplified.

I love beat sheets, but when I was first starting out I had no idea what a beat sheet was. (Please Note: This is about Story Beats, not the beat used to indicate a pause when a character is speaking.) Even today, it's hard to find good accurate examples of what a beat sheet is. I guess beat sheets are still the best kept secret in the writing community.

Beat sheets are integral to the TV writing process, so using beats to work out a one hour drama show was how I really learned the proper use of a beat sheet. The first thing to understand is that a beat is NOT a scene. If you come across beat sheets that list every scene in a movie, and so run 60 to 90 beats long, this is WRONG. Do not follow this method. That is a scene by scene breakdown or outline and should not be confused with a beat sheet.

So what is a beat? A beat is a moment where new information is introduced into the story. Therefore, a plot point is a beat, but not all beats are plot points. And again, not all scenes are beats, rather beats are made up of scenes. I like to break down scripts in this way:

The Screenplay > Acts > Sequences > Beats > Scenes

When I write a beat sheet I like to do a sentence per beat. A feature length script (90 to 120 pages) is going to run between 30 to 40 beats. Much less than 30 and you don't have enough story to fill a script, and more than 40 you're probably writing an epic like Inception or Avatar, which you really shouldn't be doing unless your name is Christopher Nolan or James Cameron.

I have only found two good examples of beat sheets online. The first comes from John August's blog. In my opinion, this is a perfect example and I love that a Professional I highly admire provided us with such a rare gem. I recommend following John's model. Another I have found is Robert Towne's for Chinatown. Here, Towne takes it a step further with a paragraph per beat, which then often goes by the name of Step Outline instead and is usually the next step after you complete a beat sheet.

Beat sheets are a great way to learn and analyze story. On more than one occasion, I have sat down with a favorite film and done a beat sheet on it. I have one I'll share using Dr. No. Older films can be a good place to start because their longer scenes and more obvious sequences breaks allow you to get down the story beat on the first time through more often.

"Dr. No" Beat Sheet

If you know of any other good beat sheets out there, let me know in the comments. Thanks.

What to see? Weekend of August 13th.

Early reviews of Stallone's latest action extravaganza confirm my worst fears. After seeing the film, I will say it's worth seeing just because of the one scene with Stallone, Willis and Schwarzenegger, though can't say that's worth the price of admission. On the other hand, I have also seen Scott Pilgrim and completely feel it is worth the price.

Go see:

Hollywood Studios:

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - Universal - Rated PG-13

Like "Dick Tracy," "Sin City" and "300" before it, Wright has, in the words of French film theorist André Bazin, the ability to capture the unique essence of one medium (comics) within another (film) and his stylistic remediations are stunning adaptations of the source material...read more.

Independent & Foreign:

Animal Kingdom - SPC - Rated R

The crime family/saga film is practically a tradition in Hollywood. With well established rules, stock characters and even stock stories the genre has largely run itself into a rut. The inner workings of the large crime families are general knowledge and really, the entire idea of the successful contemporary crime family is practically a lifestyle that's packaged and branded. So how wonderfully bracing it is that from the start of writer/director David Michôd's debut feature film, he tosses out everything that has become routine in the genre and starts from scratch...read more.

Enjoy the movies.

Not sure how to approach a rewrite? Stallone and Cameron.

When I was just knee high to a grasshopper I loved war, particularly Vietnam. At six years old I co-wrote my first story, largely based on my fascination with the TV show Tour of Duty, and oddly enough it was the only surviving item in an apartment fire my co-writer suffered, so naturally he got to keep the very brief manuscript. Was this a sign I’m destined to write war movies?

My favorite war movie as a child was Rambo: First Blood Part II. I was an action junkie and I probably watched the recorded off broadcast VHS tape well over twenty times. To this day I can still quote Rambo’s final monologue. At the time, I had no idea my favorite action star was also writer on the shooting draft of the script, or had hired a young upstart writer to pen the first draft, now one of my favorite writer/directors, James Cameron.

I recently sat down and read the Cameron draft and then the Stallone draft. What a terrific exercise in script development, and I highly recommend doing such a process of reading early and later drafts of scripts and analyzing the changes. Great scripts often go through double-digit draft counts, so you should never feel discouraged when your first or second draft isn’t ready for the eyes of those in the biz.

When it comes to rewriting, there are so many ways to approach it. I have always tended to start broad and then narrow my perspective down to single scenes, and then get as specific as single lines. Of course, starting with the whole script can be daunting, so beginning on a single important scene could always be a good way to get going.

I’m linking to a PDF of one scene taken from both the Cameron draft and the Stallone draft. I picked this scene because it’s fairly easy to answer the important questions of: 1) What is the scene about? 2) Whose scene is it? and 3) Why does it need to be in the script? It’s interesting because, while Cameron’s early take uses much more flowery language and so one could argue it's better written, Stallone’s version is much better in terms of the dramatic conflict and using only what's needed to move the story forward. In other words, Stallone asked those questions above to focus and improve the scene. Still, Cameron does get credit for the great button on the end.

Rambo II scene comparison Script

I hope looking at this can help you think about how to tackle rewriting scenes in your script. Leave me your thoughts on the scene or rewriting in the comments.

What to see? Weekend of August 6th.

Adam McKay writes and directs his fourth feature film starring Will Ferrell. While I haven't been blown away by anything this comedic duo has brought thus far, The Other Guys has a pretty good cast, currently sits at 78% on the Tomatometer, and I'm desperate for a good summer comedy to sit down and get my laugh on. Will McKay and Ferrel deliver? You be the judge and leave your thoughts in the comments.

Go see:

Hollywood Studios:

The Other Guys - Columbia - Rated PG-13

From its balls-out opening (narrated by Ice-T, of course), "The Other Guys" plays with testosterone-injected, action-movie tropes, speeding up the editing while slowing down the fight sequences. But as easily as director Adam McKay makes the transition to action, he never entirely leaves his comic roots behind...read more.

Independent:

Get Low - SPC - Rated PG-13

They don't make 'em like this very often, and they really should. "Get Low," takes a true story and uses it to spin a charming, loose and laid back tale about redemption and regret that is surprisingly warmhearted, fresh and funny...read more.

Foreign:

The Disappearance of Alice Creed - Anchor Bay - Rated R

The opening of writer-director J. Blakeson's debut film "The Disappearance of Alice Creed" is smart and effective. To a point...read more.

Documentary:

The Wildest Dream - National Geographic - Rated PG

Directed by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Anthony Geffen and featuring the vocal talents of narrators Liam Neeson, Hugh Dancy, the late Natasha Richardson, Ralph Fiennes and Alan Rickman, The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest is a breathtaking mountaineering adventure that seeks to provide answers to the enduring mystery of the death of George Mallory on Mount Everest...read more.

Enjoy the movies.

Want to read the script for Inception?

Inception crossed the $200 million mark on Tuesday, consistently beating estimates. Will it reach $300 million domestically? Leave me your thoughts.

If your interesting in reading the script, Amazon has released the shooting script for sale. Of course, I'd love to have my hands on early versions to see how the script developed, but who knows if we'll ever be so lucky.

Help support the blog and pick up the script through the link below.

How the idea behind a character becomes dialogue in a script.

When I first started out writing scripts, I didn't like doing anything except writing in screenplay format. Why waste my time when I just want to get pages of a screenplay done so I can go and sell it? How naive I was.

Today, I won't sit down and write pages unless I have a road map of where I'm going(I hate the term outline). I strongly prefer the beat sheet, which I learned from TV writing and now use for film scripts. I know I need to get in the habit of writing a prose treatment, but I'll save those thoughts for a later post.

So, while structurally I'm very happy with beating out the story and having that to go on, I'm still struggling with what work to do on my characters before the page writing begins. At school, my professors have typically assigned doing character biographies. This is sometimes a sheet of questions about the character(age, height, sex, education, job, etc.), which I hate and think is utterly stupid, or it could be writing a page similar to a diary entry that gets more into the psychology of the character, this I like a little better.

Still the best process I've come across, but still don't know how to formalize, is just thinking about who the character is like and comparing them to either people in my real life or others characters in film and television. If I say about one of my characters: this is a Don Draper type, then I know exactly the things to inform my writing when it comes to the character.

What really hit that home for my was finding the transcript of a Raiders of the Lost Ark story conference between George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan. As someone who is admittedly more plot focused, I've always known I needed to work harder on making multi-dimensional characters, but I couldn't see how this character work was actually being put to use in my script. The Raiders story conference really opened my eyes to it. So here goes a brief lesson in taking your character work and turning it into great dialogue that serves all the purposes that character work is needed for.

Story excerpt taken from Raiders of the Lost Ark story conference transcript spoken by George Lucas and discussing the villain of the movie:

“He’s the corrupt version of our guy. He’s the one that really goes in and rapes the temples and steals all that stuff and sends it off to private collectors, and takes antiquities and breaks them into small pieces and sells each piece for the price of the original. He’s a real corrupt guy. Maybe he’s the head of his own museum or something. He’s sort of legitimate, only he’s a real corrupt person, and our guy knows that...So it becomes a personal grudge thing.”

Now, the dialogue by the "corrupt guy" spoken to Indiana Jones written by Kasdan:

BELLOQ

You and I are very much alike. 

Archeology is our religion, yet 

we have both fallen from the pure 

faith. Our methods have not differed 

as much as you pretend. I am but a 

shadowy reflection of you. It would 

take only a nudge to make you like 

me. To push you out of the light.

Three great minds together making story magic. 

I love the approach taken in developing characters and I'm still attempting to adopt it to my process.

How do you develop your characters?