Volume 2
December 2006

FREE Classes with Special Guests

Ellen Sandler
(Emmy Nominee & Co-Exec Producer of 'Everybody Loves Raymond')
Dr. Linda Seger
(Author of 'Making Good Scripts Great' & 'Creating Unforgettable Characters')
Pilar Alessandra
(Script Consultant & Director 'On The Page' & former Sr. Story Analyst Dreamworks & Radar Pictures)
Michael Hauge
(Author of 'Writing Screenplays That Sell' & 'Selling Screenplays That Sell')
David Freedman
(Agent & Owner of 'Hollywood View Agency')
Kathie Fong Yoneda
(Former Exec with Disney, Touchstone & Author of 'The Script Selling Game')
Karl Iglesias
(Author & Consultant '101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters')

The Great American PitchFest is offering
ALL OF OUR SCREENWRITING CLASSES FOR FREE!

Yes, for free. Nada. Zip. Zilch. And no, there's no catch - This is our gift to you. As the ONLY pitching event created BY screenwriters FOR screenwriters, this is your chance to learn from the best screenwriting instructors in the business. Get a free ticket for yourself and a friend by registering now. For free tickets, register here.

I got an e-mail from a frustrated writer the other day asking me about THE RULES. I get a lot of these kinds of e-mails. What should you “always” do? What should you “never” do? Will the reader pass because there’s voiceover or flashbacks? What if my script is too long? What if it’s too short?

Some writers feel there’s an ordinance against:

voiceovers
flashbacks
excessive exposition
expensive production values
dialogue chunks over three lines
description chunks over two lines
scripts less than 110 pages
scripts more than 120 pages
funky cover colors
a third brad in the middle

Ouch. That’s a lot of "do'ts."

But, sure, some of it’s true. Voiceover doesn't work... until it works. Flashbacks feel corny...until they don’t. In other words, rules applied well can make for an air-tight script. But, break the rules a little and that script could also break out of the mold in a refreshing way.

This is art, after all.

Still, let’s talk about some of those supposed "don’ts":

VOICEOVER: Works when it says something that cannot be conveyed in the action or dialogue. Example: Morgan Freeman in “The Shawshank Redemption” keeps the story moving over several decades and “Million Dollar Baby” voices feelings and back-story that the strong, silent main characters he supports cannot. Voiceover also works well when it's the punch line of a scene. The movie “Election” often made us laugh by voicing the comically dark responses the characters wished they could give. Where a writer can make a mistake is in leaning too heavily on voiceover and not using visuals to tell a story - remember that audiences watch a movie.

FLASHBACKS: Work when they tell a story or solve a mystery. They rarely work when they simply illustrate back-story that doesn't impact the main plot. Write a flashback as though it’s its own subplot, building the story an image at a time, adding a new puzzle piece with each “flash.” Also consider showing the same event several times with a slightly new piece of information or a different point of view. The reader will get the full picture by script’s end and the flashback sequences will feel well-earned.

EXCESSIVE EXPOSITION: Note the word "excessive." All movies require a little exposition here and there to get the audiences back on track. A great writer, however, will sneak the exposition in. She won't stop the film for a monologue, or tell us information we've seen or should have seen in action. In my classes, I have my writers write information-filled scenes without using certain key words that would make them feel on-the-nose. For example: imagine a post-funeral scene in which no one is allowed to actually say that someone “died,” was “buried,” etc. Without these words, the writer conveys the information in a subtle way, implying that someone just passed away rather than directly stating it.

EXPENSIVE PRODUCTION VALUES: I completely disagree with trying to avoid expensive sets, costumes, stunts, etc. If this is a genre piece, write big! Be imaginative! Write as if the most wealthy studio in the world is making your movie. If you deliver in the writing, they just might bite.

DIALOGUE CHUNKS OVER THREE LINES: Forget math. It has no place in writing. However, be realistic about the rhythms in your dialogue. Audiences may tune out if your characters are talking...and talking...and talking.

DESCRIPTION CHUNKS OVER TWO LINES: Those darn numbers again. Stop counting and start reading. How does the description feel to you when you read it? Are you micromanaging the shot? Remember that the camera will focus on everything the words point to, so you may be dragging the script down by overwriting.

SCRIPTS LESS THAN 110 PAGES: Will make a reader happy.

SCRIPTS MORE THAN 120 PAGES: Will make a reader sigh. Make sure the story merits the length. Don't be afraid to cut those precious “darlings.” Doing so often makes the script leaner, but meaner. Suddenly there's a focus there that wasn't there before.

FUNKY COVER COLORS: Got to agree with this one. Would you wear a party dress to a job interview?

A THIRD BRAD IN THE MIDDLE: Never got this one myself. But, save a nickel and leave the middle one at home.

To read the rest of Pilar's article, go to www.pitchfest.com.

Her course Six Steps to a Screenplay will be taught as a weekend intensive
January 6 and 7 in Vancouver at the Simon Fraser University.
Contact: inquire@onthepage.tv for more information.

PILAR ALESSANDRA is a script consultant and director of the popular writing program On the Page, which has helped hundreds of writers create, refine and sell their screenplays. A former Senior Story Analyst for DreamWorks and Radar pictures, she’s trained writers and story analysts at Nickelodeon, MTV, Final Draft and ABC/Disney. She teaches at numerous writing conferences including The Great American Pitch Fest, the Great Canadian PitchFest, the Film and Television Expo for Western Canada (FTX West), and the Screenwriting Expo where she’s an annual "Star Speaker."

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Michael Hauge's Screenplay Mastery News Greetings - It's my great pleasure to announce that my new book, Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds: The Guaranteed Way to Get Your Screenplay or Novel Read, has just been released by Michael Wiese Productions. This is my first book in more than 15 years, and contains my entire process for getting your screenplay, treatment or manuscript read by agents, managers, producers, executives and financiers. It includes a step by step process for preparing your pitch, researching and contacting potential buyers, and delivering your pitch in less than a minute over the phone, at a writers conference, or at a Pitchfest. It also features templates for pitching a variety of approaches and film genres, and contributions by 45 writers, agents and executives on the qualities of an outstanding pitch. As a special introductory special for friends of the Great American and Great Canadian Pitchfests, I'm offering autographed copies of the book for just $9.95 (the regular price is $12.95). This is the lowest price available in stores or on the web, and will only be good through the end of the year. That way you can make pitching your project one of your New Year's resolutions, give copies to friends as holiday gifts, or prepare for the next Great American Pitchfest in June. Just click here for more details, and to order your copies. As an added bonus, between now and December 31st, anyone who signs up for any of my consultation packages - including my pitch coaching package - will receive a free, autographed copy of Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds. In conjunction with the release of the book, I recently gave what I think is one of the best interviews I've had. Terese Walsh, the cofounder of the Writer Unboxed website, asked some great questions, allowing me to reveal a number of the principles in the book, along with some of my latest thoughts about the craft and business of writing. If you'd like to read the interview, please click here. I'm very proud of the book, I hope you enjoy it. I was approached or contacted by more than a dozen writers at a recent Pitch Event, and had great success using the methods they read in the book. Every one of them had requests for their work from multiple companies. I'm sure you will find it equally powerful. All the best - Michael Hauge Selling Your Story in Sixty Seconds

Giving in to pure inspiration is euphoric. The movie unfolds inside your head. You laugh at lines of dialogue, surprised by them even though they came out of you. You gasp when characters show you that they are infused with depth and complications that you swear you didn't create consciously.

And then... your story turns a corner, and you're in a blind alley. Your fingers hover over the keyboard, waiting for the answer. The projector in your mind slips and makes a horrible grinding sound. Your muse goes to Vegas, gets drunk, and loses all of her savings splitting fives against a dealer showing a ten.

Navigating your way out of a blind alley can be addressed in two ways: Clarifying your characters' goals, and clarifying your goals, as a writer, for the script as a whole.

The euphoria of inspired writing is like sheet lightning. When it flashes, everything is vibrant and clear for an instant. A 360 degree snapshot of a reality that is nearly impossible to resist getting down on paper. But your story needs to be more like fork lightning: a focused, bright, driven entity that has a beginning and an end. Focusing your characters' goals is the swiftest way to narrow that broad flash into a narrow laser, driving your story forward.

In Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, the terrified farmers run to a village elder for advice. They are sure to be attacked by bandits when their crops ripen, and they have no way to defend themselves. They are too poor to hire samurai to defend them. In fact, all they have to offer any samurai they hire is gruel to eat. How can they ever defend their village?

The old man answers matter-of-factly: "Find a hungry samurai."

When you're stuck with a seemingly unsolvable problem in your script, redefine the problem into a specific one your characters can manage. A band of weak farmers defending themselves somehow against ruthless bandits? As important as that is as the ultimate goal, it's too nebulous to drive specific story points. Finding a person? That's a focus. That's a specific destination to work towards. And by narrowing the problem, the story is revealed.

From the screenwriter's perspective, it's an important shift as well. By giving the characters a task that's specific, Kurosawa puts them on a journey with a clear objective. Next time your story leads you into an impossible snarl, ask yourself what each characters' individual story is in the context of the larger script, and consider clarifying the central problem. Instead of "Save the princess", think "Get the enchanted ring from the dragon." Instead of "solve the case", think "Locate and interview that missing witness."

After you have focused your objectives, look inside yourself for the best way for the story to convey your message. Why does your story need to be told? What are you trying to say / achieve / accomplish / convey to the audience? When George Romero made Dawn of the Dead, the story of a zombie epidemic was used to comment on materialism and consumerism. The zombie story, on the literal level, was one of survival. But the subtext - the message Romero wanted to convey - provided the roadmap by which the characters' ultimate fate would be determined. The surface story was just the messenger.

By clarifying your characters' goals and making sure to effectively convey your own, you will avoid gimmicky solutions and meandering stories. You will also see improvements in tone and pace, as you are driven forward by the characters and by your own goals. Furthermore, keeping these guidelines in mind while writing will help ease the burden of the rewriting process, and help you return to the euphoria that comes from a story revealing itself to you. Before you know it, your muse will return from her bender, and you'll be working together on your masterpiece.

You can meet Bob, and pitch your television or movie ideas to producers, agents, managers, and more, at the Great American PitchFest, June 23 and 24, 2007.

BOB SCHULTZ is a screenwriter and editor of The Great American Screenwriter. He is also one of the organizers of The Great American and Great Canadian PitchFests. When he is not writing, Bob is a millionaire playboy by day, mysterious crimefighter by night.

June 23 & 24, 2007
Sheraton Hotel at Universal Studios
Los Angeles, California

(until Dec 31/06)
Visit www.pitchfest.com for details

Do you have an idea for an article in The Great American Screenwriter?
Pitch it to us via email at bob@pitchfest.com!