Hey writers, here’s a big philosophical writery question for you today.
Why are screenplays generally written as 3 acts? What’s wrong with 4? Or more even?
TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS!!!
Act Structure
3
New Name – Meet… Zohmbi
I have been on the fence, as you know, about the initial working title “The Zombitch.” The first 2 people to read the rough draft both thought the title ultimately let the story down as it brought a campy element to it.
So I’ve decided on a new name and here it is.
“Zohmbi.”
What do you think?
ps – I’ll be changing over the blog to the new website soon!
Shell-shocked.
It’s 10:27am. Feb 1, 2012. And I just finished the first and roughest draft of The Zombitch. It currently clocks in at 102 pages. And I’ve no idea what I’ve written yet. A friend read the first 50 pages and was loving it like crazy but there’s another 52 pages she hasn’t seen yet and it could die on the vine for all I know.
So I’m a little shell-shocked. I need some space right now. And I need to read it from page one to see what I’ve created. What am I thinking? Not much. Just wondering how much I’ll have to trash and hoping it’s not 50 pages!
Time will tell. In the meantime, how do you feel when you write “fade to black”?
I can has cheeze?
I’m now 68 pages into the first draft and I’ve just used a song so corny, so cheesy and so blummin’ wonderful as a backdrop to a major scene. Art Garfunkel’s Bright Eyes – it was done in ’78 or so for the Watership Down animated film. You can see it here:
It’s REALLY over the top corny and I will now announce to the world that I have ALWAYS loved this song! It makes me so fucking sad (see, I even have to say it in a manly way, just in case)!!
To make matters worse, I wrote the scene here in the bagel shop with tears streaming down my face (it didn’t help that, for added inspiration, I put the song on ‘repeat’ on my iPod so it was all I could hear as I wrote). I was constantly dabbing my eyes with a tea-stained napkin as it was all I had.
What’s your favorite corn-ball song and what sort of scene would you use it for?
3 Weeks In
I’m up to 41 pages and the story is developing all the time. One of the greatest challenges is that if I’m going to re-imagine Zombies, then I’d better make these new Zombies kinda sexy and compelling. But that’s nothing you can rush; it has to come organically. And this week, something tapped me on the shoulder – almost literally.
Whilst out on a night-time walk, I thought I saw something from the corner of my eye. It was simply a shadow and I chuckled to myself that I had spun my head around alarmed, and that something as simple as shadows have been scaring us since we came down from the trees.
But, as I thought about it, I began ruminating on how primal that is. The fear of the dark. Of shadows. How could I tie that into the script? Heck, was it even necessary? But it hit me. Oh, how it hit me. And I’m not going to say any more on the subject but a novel way of incorporating our primal fear of shadows and the dark materialized seconds later.
I’d love to say more about what popped into my head but there have to be some mysteries. Suffice it to say, I think (hope!) this is an original idea that I haven’t seen done yet. Fingers crossed…
7 Signs Of The Zombie Apocalypse
Quick one for today. In The Zombitch something game-changing happens, something that has lots of signs & omens pointing to it. Kinda like a Zombie apocalypse (only it’s not).
What horrific signs/portends can you think of that would herald something Zombie or horrific? Remember, this is a drama not a comedy so stupid ideas don’t count!
Screenwriting Theory 101
In the first week’s draft, I dove into the meat of the story very quickly. So by page 5 we had our first death (it is a film about Zombies after all). I wanted it to move fast but, upon re-reading it, it turned out to be too fast. I’ve since settled into a better groove and that death doesn’t happen until page 12 now. It came from my desire to follow my one rule when writing; grab ‘em in the first 10 pages or you’re lost. But if I have to rely on a death to grab the reader then I’m not doing the story justice which is why I decided to ease back on the throttle. Which leads me to today’s talking point: books on screenwriting.
I read them when I was in college and they were fine up to a degree because they gave me a point of reference. But they saddle you with umpteen rules and I’ve read utterly brilliant screenplays that throw those rules to the wind In fact, some of these books are dangerous because they will have you adhere to a formula and the next thing you know, instead of telling your story you’re telling it according to some random stranger’s parameters.
These books will have you write for the screen but you’re writing for a reader, so you have to grab them and there’s lots of tricks to do that with. Which leads to today’s question. What are some of your tricks? Capitalizing certain words TO MAKE A POINT? Writing things out like:
O.M.
Fucking.
G.
to make a point? I almost wrote an emoticon into a script the other day (it was an accident, I promise) – but would you do that to make it stand out? Give me your thoughts, dear readers.
What.
Would.
Jesus.
Do?
2 Weeks In.
Well almost 2 weeks. Quick recap: 37 pages were written and just as quickly dumped. Began from scratch a couple of days ago and now have 12 pages that I’m liking a lot more than the initial 37! Add to that a rewrite of the 6 Goodnight Burbank scripts AND signing up to play Words With Friends and I think that’s a decent start to 2012.
The biggest change to the Zombitch over these 49 pages has to be the main character Damini. I always knew she was an innocent but her full personality became lost in the initial rush to write. Now things have slowed down a little and I’ve taken that time to paint her a little more thoroughly.
She’s a gorgeous goth but she’s spent most of her life overweight and filled with self-loathing. Now she’s come out the other side of her transformation but has no idea she’s poised to make another, very supernatural one. Howzat!
Her journey is a very personal one for me. I’ve struggled with my weight since my teens. Some times I lose it, most times I put it back on. I’m realizing it’s a cross I shall bear until I die. But rather than let it rule my life, I’m going to take from it and put it into my character to make her that much realer and compelling. So now I’ve bared my soul, it’s time to bare yours. What aspects from your own life have you (or will you) use to color your characters?
Juggling
So yesterday was a wash because of appointments and long lunches so no writing was done. Well, tell a lie. I did half a page (yes, HALF a page!!) after ditching the 7 pages I wrote on Monday. Woohoo! Sort of starting over for the third time. Again, it’s all good as (hopefully) it gets better each time.
But I’m also juggling 6 half-hour Goodnight Burbank scripts and I spent 3 hours this morning on those. As I’ve said before, they’re all written and now they’re just in the re-write phase. I have to say I’m rather happy with the way they’re turning out. I love having an idea at this stage then going back and incorporating it into all 6 scripts. But this is about the Zombitch, not GNB so back to that.
I did map out the first (new) few scenes of the Zombitch today/yesterday and I’m focusing on a couple of themes to weave through the screenplay. The most important theme is free will, specifically the freedom of choice we all have even if our choices are limited. The second is more a visual device – flowers. Not sure where that may have a place if at all yet but for now it’s a nice visual.
I’ll be writing a bit more of the Zombitch today and then hope to attack it full on tomorrow morning when I get to the office. My office is the local bagel/coffee shop. I’ve got my iPod/headphones on, my cell by my side, and more often than not, Facebook and Skype open. I’m basically saying “distract me, world, please!!” So here’s today’s question – where’s YOUR office? Where do you go to write? And what kind of distractions do you employ? :)
Page One Again
Last week was a good one. Wrote 30 pages. Got a feeling for these characters who’d previously just existed as text in an outline. Today’s going to be even better as I ditch the entire 30 pages and start over. It was nowhere near as dynamic as it needed to be in terms of construct but that’s fine because I got my feet wet and I know my characters a little better. 30 pages well spent. And God knows how much more I’ll write and then throw away because that’s the process. Fortunately, I like writing once it gets going..
Today’s question. I want to create a character that’s going to do something big and it needs to be something like the President himself. Only thing is that the moment you start calling old white men “Mr. President” in a movie, the audience is immediately reminded they’re watching a movie. So what big-titled person can I get away with? Speaker of the House? They have to be American. Any ideas?