So, You Want To Be A Movie Critic? Guidelines To Being An Online Media Reviewer

So, you’re a young, fresh faced movie geek. You’ve just watched your first Kurosawa or Hitchcock film; you’ve memorised all sorts of random facts about your favourite franchise (Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Jem and the Holograms, etc.), from the names of the production staff to what kind of tape the gaffers used on the set; And, the biggest one of all, you don’t have an immediate circle of people with which to share your passion. For them, cinema is just for big explosion fests, cartoons and maybe the odd ‘serious’ movie around Oscar time.

So, what do you do?

Jump onto social media and become a film critic (or reviewer, depending on your influences and how you view your craft and dedication) of course! Maybe a Youtube channel, popping out a couple of 5-10 minute videos a month, or perhaps a blog that you update every few days. You might even go to Wix or WordPress and start up your own website. Either way, you want to start talking about and dissecting movies.

But how? What are some of the fundamentals you need to get right? Well, as someone with seven years of experience in the field, spanning written and video content (Blasting News, ThirdActFilm (alas, now defunct), Youtube), and collaborating on projects such as Red Ribbon Reviewers), I have a few possible suggestions:

1. KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!
Do you know a thing about what the process of, say, directing or screenwriting or producing or cinematography is? Do you know your mise-en-scene from your Inciting Incident? Do you understand how dialogue works within the confines of ‘show, don’t tell’, or the importance of three point lighting?

If the answer is no, even to just one of these, then congratulations: you’re already lagging. It’s shocking how many people make movie reviews without understanding the basics (just like people who try to write and/or direct shorts without knowing about the craft). You don’t need to have made a film to talk about film, but you ought to get informed on the how and why if you want to present the best and most thorough review possible. After all, would you trust a doctor who didn’t go to med school, or a firefighter with no training?

There’s a veritable wealth of videos and literature that will greatly expand your knowledge of the medium, as well as make for stimulating reads. Added bonus? If you ever do decide to dip your toe into filmmaking, as study or hobby, you’ll have a heads-up with these.
Some of the usual suspects include, but are not limited to:

• Film Art: An Introduction by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson. This is like a great sample platter of everything that film study has to offer: the medium’s history, evolution, roles, techniques, as well as how to analyse material.
• Biographies of famous artists can be handy for both understanding different crafts, as well as learn film history, such as On Directing Film by David Mamet, Making Movies by Sidney Lumet and Rebel Without A Crew by Robert Rodriguez. As their titles imply, these take you through the much exhaulted yet not-commonly-well-understood process of actually directing a film. Also, William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade is a great read for wannabe writers and those curious about the movie business during ’70s ‘New Hollywood’.
• Save The Cat! The Last Book On Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder. An informative but simple guide to screenplay structure and construction. Also, you can throw in  Christopher Vogler’s The Writer’s Journey (which covers the old chestnut of ‘The Hero’s Journey’, first coined by anthropologist Joseph Campbell and then popularised by George Lucas via Star Wars).
• In The Blink Of An Eye by Walter Murch. Essentially Save The Cat but for editors, editing legend Murch (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient and too many more to count) gives you  everything you could want to know about the art and science of editing and how it affects the audience. It should also finally enable you to properly articulate why you hate jumpcut-fest action sequences so much.

Now, in terms of video/audio content:

• Every Frame A Painting: Terrific video analysis of why movies work, from the styles of auteurs like Edgar Wright, to the soundtrack of movie titans like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Also recommended: Nerdwriter1 and Lessonsfromthescreenplay.
• The Movie Crypt Podcast: Joe Lynch (Everly) and Adam Green (the Hatchet trilogy) talk about and to filmmakers and their staff about the highs and lows of making movies and TV for a living. The hosts have great chemistry but also great wisdom and respect, allowing their guests to be relaxed and talk freely of the harder times in their careers, which can be a real eye opener. Guests have included Chris Columbus, Adam Wingard, Jordan Peele, Seth Grahame-Smith and many, many more.
• Listening to commentaries and watching making of featurettes? Good, keep at it: right from the horse’s mouth is always best. Stephen Sommers may not be one of the medium’s giants, but his commentaries for The Mummy films and Van Helsing gave me my first education in film.

2. Know about other critics
While this may seem obvious, if you’re getting into movie reviews because you’re a fan of maybe, tops, three or four people on Youtube, then you’re limiting your knowledge base as well as inspirations. Nothing wrong with the likes of Chris Stuckmann, theFLICKPick, schmoesknow and Screen Junkies: but like with my next point, the more you know, the better your own work will be.

Watch and read a variety of reviews, reviewers and critics. Some immediate names, past and present, include Roger Ebert, Richard Roeper, Mark Kermode, Janet Maslin, Pauline Kael, A.O. Scott, Peter Travers, Owen Gleiberman and even the anti-christ of film criticism himself, Armond White, all have distinct ways of breaking down films. Some favour a more general deconstruction, step by step, while others will focus on specific elements like say, plot or character or pacing.

3. Have a broad palette
If you want to be a film reviewer, and your only frame of reference is superhero movies, the odd Tarantino flick and some cheap fart comedies, then you might be in trouble. Not saying anything is wrong with these, but to properly discuss and analyse film, you need to be aware of what types of movie there are (same if you were writing about television or video games), how they work, when they were made and how they succeed.

You don’t have to like everything, but you need to at least be aware of all the genres: action, horror, adventure, thriller, comedy, sci-fi, western, biographical, documentary, parody etc. There are plenty of ‘Top 100’ lists out there from both critics as well as film establishments like the American Film Institute or the British Film Institute to help you, but some of the immediate suspects you should have crossed off:

• Citizen Kane (Yes, really. They’re still ripping off its tricks, even today)
• Casablanca
• The Good, the Bad and The Ugly
• Gone with the Wind (Yes, really, there’s a movie before damns aren’t given)
  
• The Godfather (Yes, really, there’s a movie beyond Brando’s wheezes)
• Taxi Driver
• Seven Samurai (Any movie about teams owes something to this)
  
• Psycho (Yes really, there’s a movie beyond the shower scene)
• Bicycle Thieves (this is where the whole ‘realism’ schtick came from)
  
• Chinatown (a holy grail among screenwriting teachers, too)
  
• Jaws
• Alien
• Raiders of the Lost Ark (really, there’s a movie beyond the boulder scene)
• Die Hard

And that’s just a quick skim! I could’ve done an entire article on the must-see movies for any young film enthusiast. Variety and perspective in your film diet counts for a lot when you want to really get stuck in with cinema and discuss the medium in all its strange quirks and habits.

4. This versus that, comparisons versus futility

Unless they are very similar films (like say, Friday the 13th vs My Bloody Valentine), comparisons in a review are a silly and fruitless exercise: why would you dismiss a film because, say, it’s not Citizen Kane, when it’s obviously not trying to be Kane? There are many reasons why, say Transformers: The Last Knight was bad, but it sure isn’t because it’s not Gone with the Wind or Schindler’s List. Likewise, obviously trashy fare like Killer Klowns From Outer Space or the 80s Hercules movies with Lou Ferrignou make no pretenses about being anything other than what they are, and have enjoyable merits of their own if you are willing to try.

These types of sweeping statements stink of amateur and show you haven’t developed a great love or understanding of the medium, yet, if you have to resort to quick name-drops. It doesn’t prove your street cred to fellow film geeks, it’s just hackneyed. Plus, we’re reading or watching to hear what YOU have to say about the film in question, not what you think you’re meant to say and compare it to.

5. Don’t know it? Don’t use it!
Again, another way to avoid looking like a dumb kid on the internet: if you’re not sure what something means, don’t try and sound clever by using said word in your reviews. The people who don’t know it will be confused, and those who do will laugh at you for using it wrong. It’s laughable how often people will say ‘cinematography’ to talk just about camera when, if you actually know what the word mean, you’ll realize it covers more than that. Same with how often tone or theme are misused as well.

In this day and age, you have plenty of resources to be able to check if you want to talk about certain ideas or subjects (like the reading list above) but aren’t entirely sure. If you don’t put in the effort to get your facts and definitions right, then why on Earth should anyone give you their time?

6. Read it, then read it again!
Proof reading is one of the most overlooked yet important elements. Not just basic tidbits like minding Ps and Qs, there and their, its and it’s etc. but also the structure and flow of your piece. Is your focus clear? Is your argument, positive or negative, detailed and well-supported? Do you adequately explain why you thought, say, the musical score was off-putting or the cinematography was intoxicating?

Detail is everything to a film review (or indeed, media criticism period): it’s the eggs and sugar of a cake, or the yipee-kay-ay of McClane. Bad articulation of points, poor use of terminology, bad structure and a conclusion/verdict that doesn’t match the preceding points, whether it’s written or a video review, is what undoes countless newcomers.

7. Do it because you want to
If you think writing movie reviews is the shortcut to fame and fortune, then you might as well put that time into something more practical, like engineering or computer coding. The truth is that there’s very little money in online content nowadays (ad rates have crashed over the last decade), save for those who prove themselves worthy of sponsors or having people willing to pay for a Patreon.

You create your channel or page because you actually want to talk about and share your views on film. You do it because the magic of the silver screen, whether it’s in 2019 or 1939, compels you, entices you, baffles you, intrigues you. You do it because you find merit in the hard work of dedicated artists and craftsmen. The reasons why are legion, but what counts is what you add to the discourse as a unique individual with a unique worldview. No one can do it like YOU.

Bonus tip: be respectful to your audience. Just because you’re the one at the keyboard or mic is not an excuse to behave like a condescending elitist. People will gravitate more towards someone they could actually talk to, and don’t appreciate being yelled at.

(This article was originally posted on ThirdActFilm.com on 26th August 2017. Some elements have since been revised.)

Screenwriting Professionally: 2020 edition

Back last year, I did a big recap post, going over the highs and lows of my screenwriting efforts. 2019 had been a year of halves: a quiet first was followed by a busy and exciting second. I got to visit Coronation Street, met some new contacts and got signed to prep Never the Bride. With that high, I set out to make 2020 the big push: get representation, score another broadcast credit and set up the pieces for future gigs.

Oh, little did I know...

Jan-Mar (Winter): Like with last year, the year began earnestly enough. I sent out my 1950s period drama spec, which had netted me the Corrie placement last year, with the intent of placing on shadow schemes, as well as attaining referrals to show to an agent. I went about my usual routine of setting up more meetings with development folk at various production companies, while also keeping an eye out for new schemes.

Then, Covid happened, and everything came to a screeching halt. Well, almost: one of the few upsides was that development people were still working and, with shows not being greenlit or proceeding in any fashion, it meant they had more time to read scripts. Indeed, I got some of my fastest responses and turnaround in this period, with agents consistently showing interest and asking for reads.

Apr-Jun (Spring):  One of the most surreal chapters of my life. Each day blended into the next in one long haze. I was sending out stuff, as mentioned, but time felt utterly meaningless. Writing, likewise, suffered greatly. The siren call of vegging out on Youtube was often too great at times, and the sudden evaporation of work did little to counter it.

I'm usually a machine, able to reliably turn around a script in, give or take, a week. That's how it's been the last few years. Now, that same script would take close to a month to get into any sort of shape, because of how 'out of it' I was. I wanted to do it; I had the enthusiasm and the ideas, but not the drive. When the world looked to be on such a knife-edge, it had me even questioning at points 'why bother?' It was the lowest I had felt since circa 2016, when everything fell apart on the animation project.

However, it wasn't a complete wash: Never the Bride took a big step forward when, after rewriting the series treatment, I got given the go-ahead to write the pilot script. Escaping to the dark, twisted and goofy world of Paul's books did help me get somewhat in the groove.

Jul-Sept (Summer): Getting back on the bike and writing proved to be a challenge. I made several attempts when I wasn't working on Never the Bride, which I sent off in August. In the end, I managed to eek out a new draft on a first part of a three-part drama serial about a Spanish-British family coming to terms with an ugly past. It felt good just to have something, anything, down on the page in front of me: clicking 'Save As PDF' when I was done on Final Draft like some Olympic achievement. 

By this time, however, the agent race had cooled significantly - rejections came aplenty, though it was more down to the agents needing to prioritize existing clients, rather than due to poor work on my part. indeed, I received consistently enthusiastic and strong comments on my spec, which was a silver lining. Given I had tried to get an agent last year for a time, and was likewise met with no success, I was much more mentally fortified to deal with rejection this time. Indeed, it's important to remember none of this is personal - just wrong place, wrong time.

Oct-Dec (Winter again): Like poetry, time rhymed as the winter became so much like last year's: After so much fuss and bother, new opportunities began to manifest that gave 2020 a shot in the arm. I finally landed my first agent, Andy Townsend, in rather quick fashion after getting a referral from Toby Bruce at Dancing Ledge Productions; I then secured a place on the BBC New Voices Festival, a development opp for writers in children's television. The two day festival was very informative, stuffed with seminars from producers and script editors at CBBC and Cbeebies. The best part, for me, was a talk on animation by Andrew Burrell, of Danger Mouse, Demon Headmaster and Disenchantment fame. He brought a self-deprecating humour to the presentation that endeared him to all of us: plus, he was hugely detailed on his process of writing a script.

With the talks done, we were all sent a range of opportunities to apply for: joining writers rooms on several new shows; commissions on podcasts and webseries like My DG; mentorships with production companies; even the chance to work on a new Christmas Ballet to be broadcast on Cbeebies next year. I've been applying for the three I wanted, so now have to wait and see. Beyond that, me and Andy began reaching out to places, with several (hopeful) new projects next year looking for writers.

For all the things that can be said of 2020 (many with very colourful and fiery language), I can at least say it wasn't boring: scary, worrisome and annoying, to be sure, but never lacking in something to occupy my mind. Even if it wasn't the way I expected, or wanted, things to happen, I still achieved my main goals this year: secure representation and find new commissions. It serves as a reminder that you can get to where you want to be in your career: just be mindful of all sorts of left-turns and diversions that will get you there.

Got an Agent and BBC New Voices 2020 placement

Not in the way I expected, and not in this of all years, but I did it. I achieved that most treasured of prizes: 

I'm now a represented writer!

The man to whom I now am merged with is Andy Townsend of The Galton Agency, an agency best known for wild comedy writers and performers like Tom Mayhew, Sam Avery and Red Bastard (yes). They've been increasing their screenwriter roster and, thanks to a referral, got myself a meeting and we hit it off like rats in a pack, lunch in a sack (cookies if you get the reference).

And that's not all: just before I netted an agent, I also placed on one of CBBC's most prestigious and fruitful schemes, BBC New Voices. I'll let them explain it:

New Voices will be a six-month long professional development programme which will give writers the training and tools to create and sustain a long-term writing career within the Children’s sector. It will launch with a two all-day online festival on 12th and 13th Nov, giving valuable insight into the Children’s landscape. After the festival attendees will be given the chance to pitch and apply for commissions and paid work placements at CBeebies, CBBC, and with Independent production companies, to help build stronger relationships, attend story conferences / workshops and follow the process of creating Children’s television more closely. 

Now, I'm not here to gloat, and I mean that - this has been a turbulent and testing year for many out there, many not as lucky as myself. I've lost work, been unable to see family and suffered terrible anxiety, but I also still have a roof over my head, and paid work on the horizon. I acknowledge how fortunate I am and thank everybody who's supported me and helped me get better as both a writer, and as a person.

To Dominic Carver and Michelle Goode, who helped hone the scripts that got me this far; to Toby Bruce at Dancing Ledge Productions for setting this up; to Andrew Brenner, Helen Stroud, Barry Ryan and David Walton, who gave me breaks; to my friends and family who've cheered me through highs and lows these last seven-odd years.

Diary of a Spec Script - Day 58 - 67 (September 23rd-October 2nd)

After taking a slight hiatus due to external circumstances, I returned to pound out outline revisions and then dive into the first draft (or second, if you think of this as one overall project). I think now is as good a time as any to restate that first drafts will never be perfect. As a work develops and evolves, you will change things. Depending on if it's purely a spec or a paid assignment, the level of detail will vary a lot. Of course, on paid work you will also have a regular collaborator, there to help and guide you through treatments and outlines. 

When it comes purely to specs, I try to fix the most glaring stuff but the key, for me, is to have the shape of the story right. Even if characters may not be fully well-rounded, or every scene vital (because again, evolution), it should hit the key beats and have enough scenes that do excite me. For example, as I was working through this outline, I changed up the three main setpieces. In a treasure hunt story, these are your highlights: the boulder in Raiders, the mine carts in Temple, the plane chase in Mummy. Before, they were all underground crypts with traps. That's fine, but I wanted to toy with that a little bit - how could I play around with traps? Where would the crypts be? Did they all need to be crypts?

Another change came in integrating the families of the main cats more - it not only added more texture and dimension to the world, but it also gives you additional ways to explore the main three when they are not 'on the job'. How do people behave to the world versus in their own world i.e. the home? What does where they live, and who with, say about them? Their successes, their failures, their aspirations etc.

Just like last time, I aimed to get the script draft written within a week. Like before, it was a tight squeeze, but I found it rather exhilarating, pushing myself to move as quick as possibly while still producing something with detail and humour. Four acts plus a teaser, and clocking at at nearly 60. I'd say that hit the spots. In first drafts, to also restate a past point, getting the thing done is what counts - you don't need to worry a whole lot about spelling or tweaking and rejigging scenes at this stage. That comes later - just get it down. What actually exists can be edited and fixed.

In the end, I came out of this much happier than the previous version - I think the characters have real room to grow and actually want something, rather than the kind of homogeneous mass of before. It was less aggravating than before and I just let myself have more fun this time. The mistake, before, was in thinking too much of the lore and setup, rather than on actually crafting a story. World building is a wonderful thing, but without character or stakes, it's all just text.

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Diary of a Spec Script THE RETURN - Day 45 - 57 (September 1st-11th)

Well, this took some left turns, eh? Life certainly took some big ones.

But hey, you've already heard enough about 'that', so let's back to talking shop about writing an adventure-spec pilot. Last time, I had completed a first draft of a family-adventure series about a family of adventurers (insert George Lucas poetry line here). I was looking forward to rewrites and a whole world of new possibilities with my characters.

Then, reality happened. 

Momentum went crashing to the floor.

Then, I realized: actually, the script sucks. 

Start over!

Alright, that's a bit oversimplified, but looking back, I found the first draft lacking. Even by the standards of first drafts (i.e. bad), I just couldn't find the enthusiasm I had for that version. Emphasis on that word: version, as in, the story I had produced didn't thrill me, but the concept still did: a 'family' of adventurers in modern times, an update for 2020 of the Tintin/Blake & Mortimer/Fabulous Five type of yarn. I still wanted to do it, I just had to find another way.

Enter the news: always a good source for writers to get inspiration, even if usually their effect is the exact opposite. News about furloughs, universal credit and concerns about jobs got my brain (as well as memory of being on JSA and having to go to a JC) cooking: what if adventuring could be a job an ordinary person could apply for? Could it be something that had the same process as, say, getting an office gig? Working from that, what sorts could it attract, and how could that affect the plot?

Instead, I shifted from a blood family, to a figurative one - people brought together and bonding in adverse circumstances. I wanted to play around with ages and the types of people you'd see in adventures shows. These weren't square-jawed Harrison Fords or Nathan Drake - these were regular people, who's particular life experiences and skills made them an unusual but serviceable fit for serial daring-do. For instance, one of them was an older cleaning lady - what could she do? Well, being in a discrete if slightly grubby job, she'd know about entrance ways; security systems; combinations of chemicals to produce certain effects. What about a supermarket worker? Inventory, item management, maths, understandings of temperature and machinery, multi-tasking.

I also opted for a more domestic goal for the historical artifact - the Romanovs were cool but overdone, and the real history did present certain challenges for explaining how certain things could still be possible. Instead, I went with the good old English Civil War, as well as the more obscure historical figure of philosopher and proto-archaeologist John Aubrey, who studied Stonehenge and other ancient monuments. Through him was a path way to ancient Celtic magic and beliefs - a rich pool to draw on potential artifacts, thanks to the strange myths of druids and their odd incantations.

I settled on three new characters - two young, one middle aged; settled on a temp agency for the vessel for adventures, with the head and team mentor being my take on an 'older' Lara Croft. I made the main maguffin revolve around the concept of wishes - fitting for people in non-ideal circumstances. Over the course of a few evenings (since I'm working on other projects too, such as Never the Bride and other originals), I wrote and then quickly revised a treatment for the first episode.

Next up, a step outline!

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Do you need to write social distancing into your screenplay?

The industry is picking itself back up, with shoots resuming under new guidelines. Testing, social distancing, PPE, bubbles - all measures there to protect cast and crew. All of which, also, will impact how productions are filmed and directed and, in turn, how they will be written in the immediate future.

The question that I've seen pop up among screenwriters is, 'Do I have to write in social distancing in a script? Does this mean stunts and romance are out? Are my thriller and action specs, or anything with a lot of more intimate scenes dead in the water?'

The long and short answer are: No. At least, for spec scripts.

If you are going to make it yourself, or will more directly know the people doing it, then yes. There, you have a more direct responsibility on what is likely, a lower budget production. But in most cases, the people who are asking this question are thinking of agents and production companies i.e. the classic way into the industry. Having spoken to three different development people at Mammoth Screen (Endeavor, Victoria), Hillbilly Films (Tin Man) and Hartswood (Sherlock, Dracula) respectively, the answer was all the same: leave that to production, just focus on the writing.

In addition, specs I have been sending out to both types have received no rejection or disqualification, by virtue of having been written, pre-pandemic, with those larger elements. The industry has had to find ways to make these aspects doable - realistically, you can only work around them for so long. People want romance and action and other types of more physical, close up scenes in their shows. To this end, projects like The Batman, Jurassic World: Dominion and Fox's War of the Worlds have been getting back up and running with new protocols. Richard Clarke, director on WotW, has been documenting it on his Twitter.

Writing has undeniably been made harder because of Covid disrupting our routines. I've certainly talked about this plenty. The broader economic woes don't help much either. However, this at least one aspect that you shouldn't concern yourself with much - the focus, as always, should be on quality writing.

Stay safe.

Writing in the Time of Covid - How to get back up, and why little steps are OK

Not feeling up to it? Still out of sorts? Just 'vegging out' when you're at the keyboard, with another cuppa?

mmmmm....

Well, that means you're a writer. You're procrastinating, a rather undervalued part of the process. However, all jokes aside, you may have felt more 'out' lately, burdened down by the worries of the wider world and feeling, paradoxically, like you have to write, yet have no energy for it. As I've said, COVID-19 is a collective trauma - everybody's dealing with something. You are not alone, nor should you feel guilt for something you have no control over.

Now, as to what you can do? I've got a few suggestions (some discussed before, but I've thrown in some newer ones) to help you slowly, in small doses, get your groove back up:

• Let's start with tips from top writing talent, including aces like Sarah Phelps (The Dublin Murders, The Pale Horse), Daisy Coulam (Grantchester, Deadwater Fell) and Chris Lang (Unforgettable, Primeval). This handy article offers up some ideas of how they're coping:
  
  https://www.alcs.co.uk/news/keeping-sane-solvent-six-audiovisual-writers-share-their-lockdown-advice 

• Screenwriting superstar and Scriptnotes co-host John August (Aladdin, Big Fish) shares with us his 'writesprint'. It's a simple planning system that gets him going for the narrative grind in timed sessions that maximise concentration: https://johnaugust.com/2020/writesprint It's very similar to the pomodoro technique (what I've been doing). Simply put, it's a timer. Do short, timed sessions. Can be as long and short as you wish - all that matters is getting it done, one step at a time. https://lifehacker.com/productivity-101-a-primer-to-the-pomodoro-technique-1598992730

• Maybe these are a little too brief, and you crave something deeper, more inspiring. Maybe you need a complete recharge? Well, why not have a go at Julia Cameron's acclaimed book, The Artist's Way. The one-time Scorsese collaborator and spouse has built a little empire out of her soul-searching, exploratory and guilt-free take on creative motivation. It even comes with short exercises! 

• Indeed, if exercises are your jam, places like Kindle are awash with workbooks and writing exercise manuals for dirt cheap - just type in Writing Prompts/Exercises/Workbook. Or, if you want something physical, try The 3 A.M. Epiphany: Uncommon Writing Exercises That Transform Your Fiction by Brian Kiteley.

I hope these help you out in getting back on the writing bike. Of course, I reiterate again this: These are times humanity has not had to collectively live through since before the middle of the last century. Don't feel guilty for not writing, and don't feel guilty for being anxious. You owe no one anything - the industry will still be there, and it will, when you want to get back up. Right now, the focus should be on you - getting through, looking after yourself, and, most importantly, not stressing yourself. If it's baby steps, it's baby steps - no reason to be ashamed.

Stay safe.

The Value of Diversity and Why TV isn't a Meritocracy - A Response to Tabasam Begum

Increasing diversity in media has become more and more of a hot topic in recent years. As the demographics of the population shift and change, what we see in print and on our screens should, in some way, reflect that. People of all walks of life want to tell stories or just have fun and make their dream project. One of the immediate solutions to tapping this new talent vein was for the industry to put up schemes targeting said groups, providing training and resources. All well and good, or so it seems.

Film critic Tabasam Begum wrote about being on one of these. In the piece, Begum recounts her experiences on an (unnamed) major soap's diversity scheme and how condescending her treatment was by the staff, highlighting how her race was viewed as trivial or a nuisance and-

STOP! 
STOP, STOP, STOP! 

You, YES YOU! YOU, reading this and reaching for the keyboard, about to type in the comments of here or Facebook, or somewhere else, a version of 'meritocracy', 'I don't see race', 'best writer for the job' or the myriad of other miss-the-point-lines - sit down and wait. Or better, actually read first, then try and offer an opinion (something that has proven rather hard in the digital age we live in).

Anyway, Begum's piece follows on, not long after The Guardian ran another piece, where TV director Christiana Ebohon-Green (Grantchester, Holby) and actress Wunmi Mosaku (Lovecraft Country, Luther). recount the barriers they've faced in their careers: the lack of similar peers and how isolating it can feel, and how systemic racism has left them both stuck at particular levels that only recently started to shift. And well, if that's too subjective and 'appealing-to-emotion' for you, here's some hard data from London School of Economics, but let's bring it back a bit and ask: how did it come to this? Surely, the industry gets on top of problems and only chooses the best, right?

I've spoken before about the need for much, much stronger pipelines in this business so as to stop screenwriting being treated as the lottery: if someone can write well, they should get a turn at the wheel and background shouldn't be holding them back because of the homogeneity of the industry. Systemic racism, a word I'm sure many have become more familiar with in recent months, isn't always about active or deliberate malice: I and I don't think Begum or Green are saying that there's some hidden KKK cell at  one of the big four.

Rather, this tends to happen when you surround yourself with one type of person for so long: you end up only going to that type and thus, you're not incentivized to go out of the comfort zone and find different talent. We as humans can be an incredibly complacent lot and not feel the need to go outside our comfort zones - and somehow this is meant to be a 'meritocracy'? A word misused by online commenters who don't work in the industry and have no idea how people get gigs? 'Meritocracy' is a nice abstract ideal, but if that was the case, why is this a business so dependent on referrals and networking i.e. the opposite of being chosen solely on 'merit' if you already have prior relationships?


And this doesn't apply solely to race - disability enters the equation too (and here's where I come in). Pablo gave me my break - there, the mission statement was letting creators on the autistic spectrum tell their stories. They put time and effort to either train or simply enhance our writing ability. One of the big joys was being at the premiere for Series 2 (now on iPlayer, plug plug) and seeing all the autistic kids there, who did little voice roles in the cartoons. They did something no one would expect of them and got to just be themselves. It was wonderful.

But then, it comes with a flip side: if we hadn't given them the chance to show they could do it, who else would've? Would any other show hire them, or just brush them aside in favour of a 'less demanding' child? Would I, as a then-green writer with several years worth of non-starters behind me, have gotten the same shot to tell my story? And if you think I'm being hyperbolic, superstar writer Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials, The Aeronauts, This is England) has spoken of his battles in trying to get disabled performers parts in his shows, only to be told no for no justifiable reason. If he's struggling, what does that say about how parts of the industry currently engage with the topic?

And if you still want to cling to the idiocy of 'b-b-but meritocracy', how can you create a truly equal, merit driven system where race and gender and everything else are irrelevant IF PEOPLE CAN'T GET THE EXPERIENCE TO HAVE MERIT BECAUSE YOU DISMISSED THEM OUT OF HAND OR IGNORED THEM? Nobody is saying 'hire a random black guy' - the people talking about lack of opportunities have worked hard, have the skill and talent, and yet still don't crack it and are given some rather uncomfortable reasons why. Yes, not everyone will get a job, such is the arts and real life - but after a while, even the most skeptical has to notice something's rotten in Denmark.

Is there a clean, one-size-fits-all answer to this? No - obviously this is a great task, and requires changing decades worth of practice to achieve. These schemes and initiatives are a step in the right direction, but clearly need more fine tuning: They need consultations and boning, as well as, in my opinion, a great expansion of winning places and something for runner-ups. As said, the sooner we start treating screenwriting as a proper job, rather than mere artistic whimsy, the sooner serious solutions can be made for everyone, especially those with the deck stacked against them. The search for diverse talent, should be treated as a long-term investment in the talent, not a short term pat-on-the-back - these are communities with stories worth telling, not people randomly demanding preferential treatment.

Need proof of the good of embracing diverse creators? Try these: Black Panther, Creed, Empire, Murdered by My Father, She-Ra: The Princesses of Power, Citizen Khan, Get Out, Us, Dear White People, Black-ish, Sense-8, Pose, The Farewell, Moonlight, The Owl House, Gentleman Jack, I May Destroy You and so many more. More great stories come when we see talent and background/heritage as complimentary to their creation, not contradictory.

Review: Writing Diverse Characters for Fiction, TV or Film

In a time where things are uncertain in film and television, a question that gained renewed relevance is diversity - how do we ensure people form different communities and backgrounds don't lose out on work, training and opportunities as production crawls back to life? Just as important, how do we reflect that in our writing? How do we show off the multicultural society and times in which we live, in a dramatic and compelling plot?

Consultant and Bang2Write head honcha Lucy V. Hay, a name familiar to my readers and anyone in the online writing community, is no stranger to providing writing advice, as well as advocating for more thoughtful debate and open-mindedness in writers. This crystalizes in arguably her greatest book, Writing Diverse Characters for Fiction, TV or Film, as she discusses the value of diversity in novels and screenplays, how writers can better implement it without being tokenistic, and contextualises it with current success stories in media.

Combining industry insight with a good all-rounder on character, Hay provides a guidebook built on what feels like a painfully obvious yet overlooked aspect of writing: WHO your characters are and what they represent. Hay, chapter by chapter, writes in a bubbly and lively style, making the many stats from surveys and institutes regarding representation in media and literature, much more digestible than it should be. Through this, she then breaks down, in wholly unpretentious terms, how this correlates to spec scripts and books, the mistakes new writers make and how to fix them. 

She's comprehensive with character too: not only going over the old chestnuts of heroes and their character development arcs, but also encouraging you to think about your supporting cast and even incidental/background characters. These kinds of 'blindspots' are something every writer has, at some point, done in their writing. Hay is not interested in shaming you - rather, she just wants you to engage more thoroughly with your process and ask 'why?' Indeed, that warm tone I described above helps what could be patronizing come off as not only welcome, but compels you to want to do better.



Hay, however, is also critical of the pro, as well as the anti-side, when it comes to this discussion, arguing that true representation should not just be about simply heroes, nor the ever-sticky question of 'role models' in stories that defy the standard white-hetero-male paradigmn that, regardless of your own politics or tastes, has been the default for a long time in media and literary canons. Why, Hay posits, can't women, BAME and LGBT persons get the fun parts like villains or sidekicks? Why does every story have to draw attention to their condition or orientation: why can't they just have adventures and escapades like the regular white guys in movies and TV shows do? In turn, from an industry perspective, this could only broaden the available opportunities for people from under-repped backgrounds.

Writing Diverse Characters for Fiction, TV or Film is, to put it succinctly, a great primer on creating layered and varied casts. It comes highly recommended, as does her free E-book, Writing Female Characters.

What next for UK Film & TV? - A Response to Ewan Morrison and John McVay

Crystal balls are not much help right now, as everything is in flux and could go any which way. June looks like a make-or-break month: thus far, VE Day and other bank holidays haven't lead to an explosion in cases, but will that hold true as kids go back to school and shops reopen?

On the Film & TV side, it's also very touch and go: Soaps are developing strategies to shoot and keep elderly actors off as much as possible, with Emmerdale resuming operations last month, Coronation Street next week and Eastenders aiming to do so by June's end. What's more, Warner Bros., Disney and Netflix are working with the Tory government to restart in the next month or so, with safety measures, on major productions like The Little Mermaid and Matt Reeves' The Batman. Ideas being put forward include skeleton crews for filming; actors doing self-makeup; floor markings; minimizing stunts; prioritizing outdoor shooting and favouring local crews.

But that's now - what about new productions? What kind of shows could be made? Well, the BBC ran a piece, interviewing several high-profile industry folk on that question. Among them were screenwriter Ewan Morrison (The Outlaw King) and PACT boss John McVay, who voiced thoughts and concerns. The main ones being settings for shows, as well as scale and logistics.

Both raise valid and important points: the bigger the project, the more headaches it will be to keep everyone safe. The reduction in spectacle, too, could lead to some more creative filmmaking and storytelling that isn't reliant on eye-candy to woo audiences - indeed, such a cost cut from budgets could lead to some leveling of opportunities for lower-tier writers to staff on more prestigious shows, now that you don't have to fret so much over money. Morrison's remark about seeing more shows in both smaller yet more fantastical locales like space or underwater could lead to a resurgence in domestic genre programming, which is great for nerds like me who want more homegrown sci-fi and fantasy (and even work on them...).

From my end, I think the idea that we could be entering an era of more conservatively budgeted shows that could, as a by-product, take more risks (in slight difference to Morrison's view) is a huge-plus for new talent, an issue that both Film and TV have, admittedly, not done a great job of engaging with. Apprenticeships and prizes are all well and good, but newcomers need solid, professional credits to get anywhere. That said, this is still a short-term solution: like it or not, you can only reskin a confined show so many times before people will want to see dragons and armies again. A healthy industry, regardless of circumstance, is one that produces a variety of content - too much in either high or low is bad for creatively, careers and culture. Expensive shows limit who can work on them, but cheap ones will only be able to take on so many people. In addition, depending on the show, certain people may get left out altogether: make-up artists, special effects artists, set designers, costumers, stunt people etc.

Like it or not, McVay must know that eventually, big shows will have to start up again. You're dealing with months, if not years, of contracts, deals and other paperwork behind these big-timers, and far too many types of professionals who need the work. You obviously don't want sets to become outbreak points, but this, like so much else in the Covid pandemic, is the result of various societal problems crashing into each other. I think this present anxiety is based on an idea of Covid remaining exactly as it is right now, which no version of the science, optimistic or pessimistic, supports. As discussed before, our understanding of Covid has rapidly changed, and relatively fast. Even if we don't get a vaccine by year's end, we will likely have measures, and probably treatments, in place to file off the worst parts (ala HIV).

As for Morrison's 'resurgence of big-budget animation' prediction, I'm going to have to err on no from a drama POV (though Morrison doesn't specify what age-group he's indicating: does he mean a four-quadrant British Pixar, or a return to the more experimental days of Watership Down and The Plague Dogs?) Anyone involved in animation fandom has seen this crop up many times over the years - the odds of the BBC or ITV making what amounts to British Anime (animation meant for a prime-time audience that isn't strictly comedy, to pick up the current need for drama shows) is pretty much a non-starter. Amazon and Netflix might (and have) in small doses, but by the time you could get a dramatic show animated, the live-action industry will likely have found workarounds on how to shoot, thus rendering it moot in most cases.

Plus, working from home doesn't mean the process'll go any faster in creating regular cartoons and adult animated series - material still has to be vetted, altered and given notes, in addition to all the pre-planning like designing, storyboards and animatics.

In so far as Morrison's worries over Covid being an excuse for producers to double down on adaptations - on the one hand, that's a real risk. In times of trouble, people stick with what's familiar. People who already bemoan our TV being dominated with novel adaptations have every right to feel frustrated, and that IP value is only going to increase as companies need to carefully marshal resources and pick the best project to get a return on.

At the same time, however, I do think we must be careful not to adopt a dismissive attitude (especially not after Morrison advocated a progressive stance with genre content earlier in the piece) - in times where money will be tight and people, including and especially children's, access to the arts is going to be impacted, Film and TV could pick up the slack and introduce classic works to new generations. How many of our favourite books, sometimes the very things that inspired into creative careers, came out of us watching the movie or TV version first? And, frankly, shouldn't creating quality productions matter more than where they came from?

Something which the article doesn't touch on much, but anyone active on Twitter and the like has seen, is the indie debate. There, the question is could this be a new golden age for independent films and content that can be made with few resources and people? Some seem very confident in it, and I see the rationale, but there's a flip side: these projects may be more open and able to social distance, but the lack of money also means less PPE and safety measures can be put in place. how many actors and filmmakers are going to gamble on a project which pays little-to-nothing, just for exposure? (if anything, the golden age could be for audio productions.)

It will be tough - you're effectively rewriting decades worth of habits and practices in a matter of weeks. For newcomers, it's a scary time and it seems like it could all vanish at the drop of a hat. For veterans and even for those of us who have climbed up the first couple of rungs, like myself, it's all on the razor's edge, and only by being wily and careful, can we navigate this.

But, as McVay himself points out, this could be an era of innovation, where cream rises to the top and we find ways to overcome adversity. This could, too, see a meaningful increase in diversity behind and in front of the camera as new opportunities and methods arise. Some doors close, but others could yet open.

A Screenwriter's Questions in the Time of Covid - What can you do?

The UK film and TV industries are on one giant hold, and understandably, you as a budding, or even moderately advancing, screenwriter are concerned. Can you talk to anyone? Will anyone read scripts? Can you staff on shows, or ask to staff on them if/when things resume? Will things resume?

I can't offer all the answers, but I can, at least, give some heads up about how you can deal with this present situation.

1. Is anyone still out there?
 Yes, yes there are. Production has stopped (nobody's filming and, ergo, no one is commissioning new material), but development people are still reachable and likely working from home, since you don't need an office to read a script or do other paperwork. Usual decorum rules apply, as discussed in past blogs, but you can still give a roll of the dice and ask a fitting producing or development person if they'd be interested in reading your script.

Indeed, now may be the best time, while people wait and plan. No troublesome commutes or sudden meetings or festivals/conventions - just zoom from home. Space to read is up - it will still take a while, but hey, he who dares...

2. Can I get on a show?
Staffing on a TV show as a writer is, well, out for the time being - that phase counts as part of production, and since nothing is getting made, shows are not getting green-lit/recommissioned and thus, not hiring. I should know, as I was in the middle of talking to a few about this before the penny dropped. How soon they will restart is anyone's guess (many hope some time in the summer, but the more elaborate, international shows may well be out till next year. All depends on if it explodes again or not).

However, all is not lost: keep an eye on the trade presses, as they will keep you up to date on if and when something is coming back. Have a short but sweet email on hand for when it's so, giving some quick praise and why you think x show is great, and why you'd like to write for it (indeed, here is where some part of your background could come very in useful. Do you have an experience or viewpoint that others may not?)

3. Can I still look for an agent?
While I've seen some on groups and threads say not to, I've chatted with some pro-writers who say it's not an issue or inappropriate. Plus, I've been doing it and had no problems with getting read requests. Just make sure you A) Have a damn good script and B) Read the guidelines on the agency website. Chances are, if they get back to you, they will make clear it will take a little longer than normal to reply to you. Like in normal times, patience is a virtue here.

Indeed, this and the first point tie together - getting a referral from someone in the industry will improve your odds of being read, so I'd advise doing it that way first, instead of just sending your script to an agency with nothing. Remember, you still need to stand out on the reading pile from all the slush.

 
4. What should I write? Is a bigger-scale script going to screw me?
With so much unknown yet about finances and travel, it can be really daunting to think about what shows will get made. All that matters, however, is the writing - a badly written cheap show or film won't impress anyone. Passion and emotion will out. Plus, as I've discussed in the past, be mindful of what your goals are at this stage - create and run your own show, or get on producers' radars and get staffed on similar shows and projects? Period pieces, fantasy and anything bigger budget will be much harder in the former category (usually, companies will just buy books and IPs for these), but can be useful on the latter.

Having a nice, tight, contemporary drama serial or feature is never not a bad thing to have on hand, and can work in both scenarios. However, don't trend-chase: if you want to stand out, write a script that is informed by a subject you care about or perspective only you can bring, thanks to your life experiences and history.

5. How can I write? I have no drive for it!
This is a malady which, I'm sure, many will have seen all over Twitter and the like - writers feeling helpless and lost, just ravaging the biscuit tin, or ploughing away on Animal Crossing or Doom Eternal. No matter how much they yearn, they can't summon up the drive to write. You can't set a routine or page count or just get up!

Well, let's turn to some pros for guidance on what you can do to try and get yourself back in some level of gear. First, let's start with a nice all-rounder from a selection of great writing talent, including aces like Sarah Phelps (The Pale Horse) and Chris Lang (Unforgettable). How are they managing?
https://www.alcs.co.uk/news/keeping-sane-solvent-six-audiovisual-writers-share-their-lockdown-advice

Also, screenwriting superstar John August (Aladdin, Big Fish) shares with us his 'writesprint', a planning system, and how it gets him going for the word toil:
https://johnaugust.com/2020/writesprint

And lastly, instead of a read, how about a listen with the excellent Write Along Podcast, hosted by Doctor Strange screenwriter and friend to the struggling artiste, C. Robert Cargill. It's exactly what it says on the packet - primers to help you get out of jams and sticky situations in your writing, as well as figuring out what method works for you:
https://writealongpodcast.com/

Hope those five are of use to you, and as said last time, if just can't, don't. Focus on you first and foremost. Take care all you.

(Not) Writing in the Time of Covid - And why you should not feel bad

Hey. Been a while. Longer than I had promised or planned for.

Funny how fast things change. I had articles in mind, projects I wanted to talk about, things I wanted to say as lockdown went into effect. But then, reality came in, and before i knew, March 31 became April 15, and then May 1. Time became a blur, broken up only by biscuits and watching back old Two Fat Ladies episodes. I just, for as much as I wanted to, couldn't find the will to write. I wasn't depressed persay, but I just couldn't type, or scribble. I just wanted to lay back and let the world run by.

My story is not alone, and sadly, many writers are in worse straits than I. Family, finances, food, relatives getting sick and then, sadly, not making it - it's heartbreaking how in 2020, so many social evils are still permitted to run through our society, hurting the vulnerable. These are tough, scary and unpredictable times, and you know what - there's nothing wrong with just waiting.

There isn't. At all.

AT. ALL.

Anyone who tries to guilt and call you a failure because you're not writing is, to put it mildly, a complete and utter tool. You owe no one anything - the industry will still be there, and it will still be, when you want to get back up. Right now, the focus should be on you - getting through, looking after yourself, and, most importantly, not stressing yourself or giving into harmful mindsets. If your idea of coping is playing games or watching movies or playing with your kids or pets, or even just laying back on cushions and chilling to something smooth on iTunes, do it. You are not committing a crime: you're just getting by.

And it is easy to think that all there is is darkness - news and the social media cacophony of the ignorant and the doomsaying can be crushing. However, there are, and is, bright spots: the timescale for a vaccine/treatment has been shrinking, down from 18 months, to 12 to potentially within 2020 (obviously, a cure existing and being widely distributed are different things, but still), in addition to the titanic research effort around the globe; global recovery rate of victims is 4x the death rate and has passed 1 million; the job market will now see the use and need for work-from-home, meaning certain sectors could be greatly levelled in favour of people with circumstances that would make office commutes difficult (financial, family, disabled); there's greater awareness of the challenges facing freelancers, and there's has been greater calls for not just support, but potentially rethinking the system and what securities they have. Plus, public sanitation and hygiene is probably the highest it's been in forever, and companies/local governments will have to maintain that if they want anything to happen economically so, again, another plus.

I know it's cold comfort for some, but we don't help frontline workers or the vulnerable if we only ever think in the purely negative. And, just as importantly, we don't help ourselves. Don't feel guilty for not writing, and don't feel guilty for being anxious. We all are. These are times humanity has not had to collectively live through since before the middle of the last century. But, like the tides of the sea and the consistent satisfaction of a chocolate digestive dipped in tea, there will always be a tomorrow.

Take care.

Diary of a Spec Script Day 39-44 (24th-29th Feb)

Alright, so I had a little hiatus, but it was for good reason. As you'll recall from last time, 'Project A' fell apart on a narrative level and needed a rethink. I went away, did some brainstorming and tinkering, and found a way forward. I decided to change up the family dynamic and background, playing up the working-class dimension and having it be less of a fragmented family story. Before, the idea was to use the fantastical adventures as a way for divides to heal, but the two sides didn't merge. Instead, I decided, let's just make it a team show, and it felt more natural.

In moments like this, it's important to 'listen' to your characters - if something just feels wrong, don't go there. That's your characters saying 'I don't belong there. It's not how I tick'. Forcing your characters to be something that they're not is a surefire way to waste your time and write a script that reads as hollow and disjointed. You want to put your characters in peril and make them do things they don't want to, that's drama, but having them act in ways that are completely counterintuitive is not.

With that, I quickly cracked out a short treatment that contained most of the beats I wanted. Subplots were a little thin, but hey, now at least I had clear indications of what was available and where they could go. The characters also didn't get in the way of the adventure and felt like everything worked as one cohesive unit.

That said, another issue rose - time. I had other writing projects that were more pressing, from a career perspective, and couldn't spare a whole lot more time at this juncture to experiment with this one. At least, for now. So here is where I had three roads to go down: Pull, Push or Pass.

• Pull - Continue the present strategy - keep devoting time and energy to it and just find a way to compromise with the other stuff.
• Push - Get it written in the time left. A vomit draft that will get down just the absolute basics and save basically any and all fine tuning till another time.
• Pass - Just junk the project. It's too much hassle and it took so long to even be functional, so why bother?

I opted for push and cracked down on getting it written within the week. It was tight, but I found it liberating and, along the way, made notes for ideas I could add or that arose, for next time. This draft is very much as basic as it could get, clocking at the bare minimum for something that's meant to be a four-act, hour-long piece. In first drafts, as a rule, getting done is what counts - you don't need to worry a whole lot about spelling or tweaking and rejigging scenes. That comes later - just get it down.

Naturally, while there is always relief that hey, it got done, I did feel a bit of disappointment - a big thing I had stressed throughout this was a renewed emphasis on really pounding out and breaking the back of the treatment and the outline. This was going to be a new and different way for me to write scripts, where more time is spent prepping the treatment/broad strokes of the story - however, in the end, it kind of went back to my usual method. Best laid plans, as they say.

So, what happens now? Well, I'll be turning my gaze towards other projects, includign Never The Bride. However, 'Project A' will be returning before too long, I guarantee, loyal reader. I hope what this phase of the script's development has demonstrated is just how mercurial and temperamental the process can be. If you ever run into situations like, I hope I've demonstrated its normalcy and taken off some of the stress and pressure. You didn't irreversibly f*ck up - it's all part of the journey.

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Diary of a Spec Script Day 35-38 (Feb 4th-7th)

And well, as to be expected with any creative journey, we come to the first major roadblock. I don't view these as negatives - annoyances, but not terrible things. Instead, they are challenges, obstacles to force you to interrogate your process and beliefs in a story.

So, I got to work, rejigging the step outline, following a round of reading and notes. All going well - expanding the teaser, clarifying the action and what each specific character was doing. I was looking to recreate a style and vibe reminiscent of Secret of the Unicorn - nice, creppy house, mobsters and quick wits. All very nice and dandy... until I came to the first big scene in my first act. This is where things started to spin out: I was trying to effectively introduce the core family and give the audience a sense of who they are and what their respective conflicts are. The mum's an overworked nurse struggling to hold the family afloat; the older child is on bad terms with Dad owing to life choices; the younger child is disabled and wants to gain some kind of approval, and Dad's a deadbeat whos given up his real life goals.

At first, I simply streamlined and reordered the scene - it was a before-school/breakfast scene, so just shifted up the arrival of the bus and tightened the time to make it more of a rush. Nothing like a bit of time pressure to get people to reveal themselves. But then, as I progressed from there, more started to come undone from the treatment - the conflict with Dad made less and less sense. Why was he a deadbeat in this way? How did the reason given provide enough justification? What's stopping him from going away or being a workaholic to get away from that reason? This has bigger knock-on effects as the tension between him and the older kid was the backbone of the story - their coming back together again gave the story a heart, beyond the adventuring and treasure seeking shenangians.

I tried to just power through it (in line with past strategies I had used) and, well, it only got worse: the mum had less and less agency in the plot; the disabled child got lost in the shuffle of everyone else; the treasure clues became more archetypical and less inventive. Slowly, the whole thing was falling to pieces and no amount of raw gut determination could change that.

Something author and writing instructor Lucy V. Hay has discussed came to light here: I hadn't interrogated my concept enough and, worse, hadn't pushed my characters enough. It was eitehr too generic, driven more by nostalgia, or too disjointed to make sense or be emotionally gripping. The family are the key to this story: if they don't add up or do enough, what's the point? Treasure and history are nice and all, but what's the glue? What's the reason to care? Why watch/read this and not someone else's adventure?

Naturally, as a fellow writer (possibly a newer one), you might wonder: how did you not notice this in the treatment? In fact, what's the point of any outlining if you can't see mistakes ahead? A valid question, but one which is a bit simple: creativity is not a scientific formula. You cannot just plug in a and b and get c - it can change and vary alot, depending on what you're writing about. Plus, writing about something in broad overviews and prose can create a presentation of events that, when put into a more action-y format don't work. Like I said before: it's easy to tart up weak treatments.

So, I put on the breaks for a few days. I need time away from the project, make notes, brainstrom, and just reconfigure my approach. I have some notions rattling around in my head, but I need space to properly crack it. Rest assured, the fight ain't over...


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Diary of a Spec Script Day 32-34 (February 1st-3rd)

The work of honing and expanding a treatment gets underway. In revisions, I find it good to take your time and really work on individual scenes - especially ones that gives us a greater lens into the chaarcter's mind and psychology. Even in an ostensible old-school-esque adventure yearn involving lost Russian treasure, it's still important to ensure consistent and interesting characters who gain something out of the experience beyond material wealth. In this case, it's a story about ideals and expectations - how we can have something set in our minds, how we get disappointed, and how learn to accept, and possibly even love, the change.

Something which I got from my time on the Corrie scheme was the idea, more so than I had done previously, to treat every paragraph in the treatment like a scene or beat. In the past, I tended to be less strict, allowing one scene to occupy multiple paragraphs to detail and pull it out as much as I could. However, being direct and to the point is an important component of screenwriting and, to be quite frank, if you can say something with brevity, then clearly you've not thought it through enough and are just writing filler.

Indeed, it is tempting to throw in loads of trivial details to pad out a treatment - here is where you can be tempted to go really purple prose in your writing. Now, sometimes, there is leeway: if building up a picture of the world or environmnet helps you decode or unravel the character, then that's fine. But exorbitant detail about things like clothing, or over-descriptive actions, or just minor elements of the scene that don't connect to the core dramatic action - ditch them.

Something else that I'd like to highlight - what happens when you don't know everything that a character will do, or how a scene will play out? Is it right or proper to force yourself to slow down to really finetune one element, or do you just move on? Now, you might think it's the former, since I've talked at length how this treatment was going to be a more deliberate affair than past ones. However, I take the cue from C. Robert Cargill on this - if in doubt, just put in a placeholder for what you want to happen in the scene. Remember, when you write on spec, you're on no one's schedule but yours - do what you have to, but getting it right is more important than being a perfectionist.

Next time, onto the step outlines. Let's see what ends up changing.


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