The two questions came to me one after another. One writer was about to write a script for the first time and didn’t know how to begin. The other writer was working on a film script with some particular stylistic challenges – those questions were specific to flashbacks and flash forwards in a script. How do you deal with those kinds of format or style questions, when you’re heading into writing territory that you’ve never encountered?
Find someone who has encountered them. This may sound like obvious advice, like “Eat your spinach.” or “Drink plenty of water”. But I’ve seen many promising writers skip that part and go about reinventing the wheel. A little research goes a long way.
It’s no secret that almost everything you can think of has been written before. Almost every subject, genre, and style has been tackled somewhere. Does that mean if you’re doing something similar, you should hang up your gloves? No, it means you can find evidence of what’s been done and learn from it. The role models I’m talking about might be people (if you can find a scribe who wrote in the style you’re tackling) or you can zero in on finding a script that lives in the territory you’re exploring.
I’ve found it refreshing and fun to track down scripts of episodes of shows I love, or scripts from movies I enjoy. I’ll often share them with clients who are stuck. Their relief is palpable when they realize – some smart writer has blazed a trail.
All they had to do was find the script. How do you do that?
Some you’ll find for sale at a book store or online, others will be available free in a Google search. Try it. Use the masters to study their work. Find out how the professionals make a story sing on the page. What techniques do they use to describe stuff? What are their scene slugs like? How do they chart out tricky moments and transitions? How do they keep us focused on a main character – even when that character speaks very little? This isn’t to say that you should copy the style or the exact convention you discover in the material you find. But reading a similar script will likely give you a boost of energy and spark your imagination around how to solve script problems. Take the time to find the best sample and study how it’s done.
Why live in the mystery when the answers can be right at your fingertips? There’s so much to soak up if you locate the right source. It’s what search engines were made for.
Try searching for your favorite script today and see what happens. Read it and take notes on how the writer made the story hum along.
Looking for script feedback? My intensive page-by-page script consult is described here.
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THE NEW TV SEASON IS HERE: How to Learn from the Pros
This month, the TV networks unveil the returning and new TV shows. If you’re like me, you’re excited. In fact, I’m started a thread on twitter asking you what shows you’re looking forward to seeing in the coming days. Among my favorites from last season: The Good Wife, Grey’s Anatomy, Empire and The Flash. This year I’m eager to catch new shows Code Black and Supergirl.
Part of the reason it’s useful to identify what you’re looking forward to is because it’s a GREAT way to learn about TV by watching. I’m a firm believer that with a certain mindset, writers and aspiring writers can ACTIVELY watch television to learn about storytelling on the small screen. Make physical or mental notes – dissect and examine the script choices, the character choices. Figure out WHEN and WHY you get hooked on a new series. What is it that draws you in? Why? It will teach you a great deal about your aesthetic and about the industry.
You can find a complete list of show premiere dates here.
Set your DVR and get ready.
Let me know what you like, and more important, what you’re learning about yourself as a writer and the craft of TV writing in 2015.
