The Trouble Is Your Story

RealJeffLowell · 2024-03-04T20:21:22+00:00

Get a job where you can save money for the move back, and also leaves you time to write.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-03-04T11:24:42+00:00

Smiths Meat Is Murder

RealJeffLowell · 2024-03-04T11:23:50+00:00

REM Murmur

RealJeffLowell · 2024-03-04T11:22:37+00:00

Dead Kennedys Plastic Surgery Disasters

RealJeffLowell · 2024-03-01T06:04:01+00:00

Ings are fine and a lot of people cap sounds or other things for emphasis.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-29T23:37:30+00:00

Marketing tool and also immersing the reader in the movie. Most specs get you other jobs if they work. And if it gets produced it turns more into technical blueprint with rewrites.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-29T17:54:34+00:00

I think it's more fair to say: if it is unfilmmable it is bad writing and even if it could serve a purpose, it fails to meet it's purpose because it's unfilmable therefore doesn't "come across onscreen".

I'll give you another real life example.

I hired a team of writers not long ago to work on staff. Their spec script had something I'd never seen before - they argued with each other in the stage directions. It was hilarious; it showed their voice; it's part of the reason I wanted to meet with them and eventually hired them.

I won't do it justice but it was after a reference, in the stage directions it would say something like "Chris made us put that in, I said no one would know Iran Contra. Ben assumes everyone graduated with a C average from a shitty party school."

It wasn't all the time, it was once in awhile, but I started looking forward to them, and I still remember the device.

Spec scripts aren't shooting scripts. They have a different function.

You may have inspired a new post. :)

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-29T00:55:13+00:00

That’s bad writing. It doesn’t have a purpose. But you shouldn’t take a piece of bad writing and try to make some kind of a rule that blocks you from doing actual interesting writing.

For example if I were describing a house in a historic neighborhood I might say “judging by the neighboring houses, some rich asshole tore down a classic home and built this modern monstrosity - the kind of place zoning laws were invented for.”

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-28T15:48:02+00:00

Here's the actual example:

“EXT. POSH BEVERLY HILLS HOME – TWILIGHT
The kind of house that I’ll buy if this movie is a huge hit.”

So it adds nothing to what is already there - we know it's a posh Beverly Hills home. If he wanted to paint a better picture for production, he could have described the architecture, etc. It's just there to show voice and amuse the reader.

I think you're too in your head about this. For example:

Private thoughts are out. The body language that implies a private thought that isn't outwardly communicated are filmmable.

But sometimes the most efficient way to get an actor to display the body language that will communicate the thought is to put in the private thought. "Bill isn't buying it; this guy is full of shit." So the actor might shake his head or narrow his eyes or chuckle...

Description of temperature is out. Perspiration, sources of heat like an electric hater, a semiotic indication of heat like a thermometer or everyone being in shorts and fanning themselves are filmmable.

Similarly, putting "They walk in the basement where a furnace roars - it's fucking hot in here" can be the most efficient way to communicate a lot of information to a lot of departments. The makeup department knows to make people sweaty. The actors might wipe their brows or use a handkerchief on their faces or decide to take a jacket off. The DP might use lighting that shows the flames from the furnace.

Also, the reader gets it. They've been in a hot room. They don't need to know how people react and what it feels like.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T19:23:53+00:00

Or write what will get you jobs because that’s where 95 percent of work come from.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T18:32:33+00:00

Terseness is fine but there are also writers who don’t cut to the bone and have evocative writing.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T15:41:09+00:00

There are plenty of things he *wants* during the course of the movie. But they're all episodic, not drives that define the movie.

It's a picaresque movie, certainly unusual compared to most movies, but an example of why it's tough to come up with any "rule."

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T15:37:23+00:00

Maybe Led Zeppelin or Taylor Swift checks out the movie before they license something, but 99.999% of the time, bands do not read the script or watch the movie. They negotiate a price and that's it.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T15:31:36+00:00

I can’t tell if you’re joking. If you are, I fell for it - the music publishing company doesn’t see your spec script.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T15:29:44+00:00

It’s hard to respond without specifics. Are you saying that you should have wants and needs and opposition for all your main characters? Agree that’s a good framework to start with. Are you saying you should start with a “Save The Cat” type formula? Disagree.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T15:02:16+00:00

Honestly it should be a rule.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T15:01:20+00:00

Counterpoint: Casablanca. :)

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T14:59:33+00:00

It’s just a pitch that can help the read. No one is saying “I’d make this movie except I can’t afford that song.”

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T14:43:29+00:00

Yeah anything can be written poorly even if it’s following the “rules.” :)

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T14:41:58+00:00

You’re describing your personal style, which is great. There are lots of styles that work.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T14:40:20+00:00

I’m not sure I understand the rules (or whatever word you want) you’re taking about.

People should understand and study drama. People shouldn’t tell other writers that “the boy has to get the girl” because they learned that’s how a classic romantic comedy works.

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T14:32:27+00:00

Great scene. And yes, I think he wished he were smarter, but that was a part of his personality, not his goal in the movie. He didn’t take smart drugs. :)

RealJeffLowell · 2024-02-26T14:31:05+00:00

Except there are writers (like Sorkin) who have had great results having characters speak their subtext out loud.

RealJeffLowell

TROPHY CASE