Major Project - Defining an Identity as a Screenwriter

Something that my lecturer has told me that I need to work on as a concept is giving the writing style I use more of an identity. This is something that I can understand as I want this series to have characters that audiences can relate to. Another thing i've been told is to not be so overly descriptive and to take out some concepts such as the Dream Sequence at the start of Episode 1. The Dream Sequence would take audiences too far away from the action of the shows concept and is a lazy way of describing how he becomes hyper aware and paranoid of his surroundings.

I've scrapped the dream sequence and made a different approach to the Dream Sequence
which involves a special chip given to Elliott after a car accident.

One thing I want to concentrate on for Different Perspectives is to cut back on a lot of the unnecessary detail from the location description, plus characters. Just state exactly what I want to have shown. Making strongly-defined characters is something I need to work on more, as well as giving the series more unique twists and turns. It's very difficult sometimes, to work in a medium you haven't had very much experience in. This is why I wanted to work on this concept since last year. One more thing i've realised is that screenplays are emulating and pro-conceiving a visual medium so you have to write visually. One way or another, as you keep writing you learn what "writing visually" means. Things that work in your own head might not exactly work translated to the big screen.

Major Project - Writing Treatments

I am in the midst of writing Episode 2 right now, and very soon I will most likely start writing out my treatments. I previously did part of this in my pre-Production phase. There are a few reasons why Treatments can be extremely useful, and particularly when pitching a series with more that a couple of episodes, it is a necessity. If a script is the blueprint for the movie, the treatment is the blueprint for the script. It's the base, and what you lean on when you sit down and write. A treatment is a rundown of every scene, with bits of dialogue sprinkled in between.

This is very useful, because when I sit down and write, I know where I can go next, because I know if I get lost, I can always go back to the treatment. In large part, a treatment is basically a summary of what happens in your movie. It simply tells the story from beginning to end. This serves as an outline which will guide me in the writing the screenplay process. It is also a useful tactic for overcoming writers block, as you can essentially get to the meat and potatoes of the story.

Stephen King, 1973. In the midst of writing another chapter.

Major Project - Tutorial (19/02/16)

I had a tutorial with Simon today in regards to my project. I was happy that I was given a lot of really useful feedback to implement into my scriptwriting.

• Only write what the audience can see.  "Show but don’t tell".
• Let the audience discover
• Better flow. 
• Bring atmosphere into your script through descriptive paragraphs.
• Let the dialogue ‘breathe’.
• Tell us more about the characters
• Dialogue still a bit clunky, make it smoother.
• Set the scene better.
• Describe Elliott's job clearer.

Since my last tutorial I have tried to build on the advice that I was given, this week it was much the same although I definitely felt a clearer understanding of where my project is going.

Major Project - Billy Wilder Screenwriting Tips

Billy Wilder was one of the most acclaimed writer/directors in film history, having co-written and directed such classics as Sunset Boulevard, Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, and Double Indemnity. 

Here are some of Wilder's screenwriting tips:

1)  The audience is fickle. 

2)  Grab 'em by the throat and never let 'em go. 

3)  Develop a clean line of action for your leading character. 

4)  Know where you're going. 

5)  The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer. 

6)  If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act. 

7)  A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They'll love you forever. 

8)  In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they're seeing. 

9)  The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie. 

10) The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then—that's it. Don't hang around.

Major Project - Writing Descriptive Material & Learning From Mistakes

When it comes to writing for my Scripts I've realised that I write far too much descriptive passages where I assume that the reader knows how its going to come across visually.

You have to write a lot, and see how it lands. You have to read enough so that you understand what good writing is. It's a judgment call, and one of the things I struggled with when I first started writing was when to exercise that judgment. I felt like, if I could see it vividly in my head, I had to communicate it on the page exactly as I saw it, down to the last detail. What I eventually realised is that describing every act and every object in such detail is counterproductive. It makes reading the script a grind. And most importantly, it robs those moments where you really are trying to create tension of their power.

I've often heard that young filmmakers tend to overestimate the amount of information audiences need and underestimate the speed with which they can process it. This is why it is important for me to look beyond these mistakes and address what I am writing from a different angle. This is one reason why for me, the tutorials with Simon have been so useful. I feel like i'm learning something new every step of the way.

Major Project - Script Draft

Today I submitted my first script draft for Different Perspectives. Although I received some positive feedback I was told that the dialogue that had been written was quite clunky. I was also told that I was far too unnecessarily descriptive when writing out scene actions.  These are somethings I found myself agreeing with as I re-read the script. It is clear that I still have quite a way to go to mastering the descriptions, but I'm going to keep trying to improve it so that eventually it should flow a lot better.

Different Perspectives - Episode 1: Draft

Major Project - Getting Inspiration For Ideas

As far as i'm concerned, the most important thing for scriptwriting and screenwriting is just to write and keep writing. Even if you have to force yourself to write a few pages a day, it's important to do. So, if I'm in a pinch, I just sift through the "scene ideas" folder, and more often than not, within 15-20 seconds, I'll find something that sparks my imagination and gives me a starting point to go from.

In general I have a tactic where I build the world for my idea first, then develop a character to see how they would react to each pivotal point in their story. When the occasion arises that I borrow from other work that inspires me, I try to actively break down those borrowed inspirational elements into their base qualities. A characters look, tone, or presence. The worlds style, culture, or feel. Then carefully use them to mold my character or world without mimicking the original.

Here is a short interview with famed Director, Martin Scorcese talking about ideas that have encouraged him to keep writing. He also said the following which I found was quite intriguing coming from someone who has been a part of filmmaking as long as he has.

"It's always gets me annoyed these days in Hollywood and a lot of places where people write scripts they talk about the first, second and third act... Why, why only have.. why talk about movies in terms of theatre?" - Scorsese 

It's clear that he believes that film has the power to take audiences to places that they would have never imagined before. As such it is not always necessary for the writer to be restricted by a set of rules if you have certain ideas for your project that don't fit into a three act structure.

and here are some inspirational quotes that have helped me during my screenwriting.

Major Project - Using Channel 4 As My Network

During the pre-Production stages I decided to go with Channel 4 as the platform for Different Perspectives because it is one of the biggest channels in the UK. In terms of story I could see it suiting the channels target demographics well. There were also shows that are quite similar in terms of the 25 minute comedy-drama format that led to feel that this platform would be an great way to gain the 18-36 target demographic I am hoping for.

During their 2014 annual report Channel 4 describes its main goal as “staying commercially self-sufficient”. This is largely because they have a huge reputation as one of the largest independent Television programming channels in the UK for original content. In 2014 they spent £602 million on total content, £430 million of it being spent on completely original material.

In a statement on Channel 4's website they use the following statement:

‘We are a publicly-owned, commercially-funded public service broadcaster. We do not receive any public funding and have a remit to be innovative, experimental and distinctive.’

This is largely why I want to use Channel 4 as my outlet, because they are looking for creative, original content above all. Since the tone of this production is as a comedy-drama with dark undertones, I believe that Channel 4’s demographic will be interested in a Television show of this type.