Here's a question I wanted to pose to a writer today: Does the place your lead works require the rest of their staff to be slightly dumb? Or is it that you require all characters that orbit around your lead to be dumb so that we can all understand how smart he is?
The I.Q. test. It isn't applied to your lead, it's applied to secondary characters. Making them dumber does not make the lead smarter. It makes the script vapid.
Audiences like smart characters but they don't grade on a curve.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Pathos != Comedy
Here's a type of script I get about once a week:
The lead is selfless. Noble. Does everything for her husband/wife/boss even though they don't even notice. All around the lead friends say 'Be more selfish! Steal their money! Ditch work! You deserve it!'
The lead then leaves said spouse/boss, struggles without much struggle for about an act, meets someone awesome (awesome in these script always equals noticing that the lead is really the awesome one) and then leads the life to which they were entitled. Awesome.
Can you spot the comedy is this set-up? Neither can I, and I've looked.
I think it has something to do with how everyone who isn't the author-insert is an amoral shrew or lying, weapons-grade sack o' scum. Or perhaps the hilarity is in the first act where the lead is stepped on by everyone other than a two-dimensional buddy character that exists for no reason other than to have less morals than the lead and/or give them someone to talk to.
The love interest/new boss is the exception but still isn't much more than a sock puppet. They get to share the lead's claim on good behavior but only to show how 'good people' love the lead.
If this is your kind of script I probably can't talk you off the ledge. Just don't label it a comedy. I haven't laughed yet.
The lead is selfless. Noble. Does everything for her husband/wife/boss even though they don't even notice. All around the lead friends say 'Be more selfish! Steal their money! Ditch work! You deserve it!'
The lead then leaves said spouse/boss, struggles without much struggle for about an act, meets someone awesome (awesome in these script always equals noticing that the lead is really the awesome one) and then leads the life to which they were entitled. Awesome.
Can you spot the comedy is this set-up? Neither can I, and I've looked.
I think it has something to do with how everyone who isn't the author-insert is an amoral shrew or lying, weapons-grade sack o' scum. Or perhaps the hilarity is in the first act where the lead is stepped on by everyone other than a two-dimensional buddy character that exists for no reason other than to have less morals than the lead and/or give them someone to talk to.
The love interest/new boss is the exception but still isn't much more than a sock puppet. They get to share the lead's claim on good behavior but only to show how 'good people' love the lead.
If this is your kind of script I probably can't talk you off the ledge. Just don't label it a comedy. I haven't laughed yet.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
How to Make 10 Mistakes on the First Page
Hard to believe, but I just found a script with 10 no-no's on page one:
1. Slug line did not specify setting of first scene, just the building
2. Scene moved between four rooms/locations w/o scene changes
3. Action lines filled with multiple, separate, actions. Fine for a novel, but not a script
4. Action lines tell us info we could not possibly see
5. Lead character's name in caps twice instead of just at first sight
6. Other character's name not in caps at first sight
7. Upcoming plot point is something we could see in a few pages, but the lead tells us about it instead (killing the mystery and breaking the 'show, don't tell' rule)
8. Dialogue states the same point twice
9. Specific song was mentioned as playing on radio
10. Lots of 'we see's in action lines
And one to grow on in case any of the above are up for debate:
11. No description given on meeting any of the characters
Art has few rules, but screenwriting is an art that has quite a few. I recommend scripts that break a few here and there, but ten in the first page? No reader could recommend this without risking their job.
Help us help you. Master the rules. Then, whether you follow all of them or not, your mastery will show in your work.
1. Slug line did not specify setting of first scene, just the building
2. Scene moved between four rooms/locations w/o scene changes
3. Action lines filled with multiple, separate, actions. Fine for a novel, but not a script
4. Action lines tell us info we could not possibly see
5. Lead character's name in caps twice instead of just at first sight
6. Other character's name not in caps at first sight
7. Upcoming plot point is something we could see in a few pages, but the lead tells us about it instead (killing the mystery and breaking the 'show, don't tell' rule)
8. Dialogue states the same point twice
9. Specific song was mentioned as playing on radio
10. Lots of 'we see's in action lines
And one to grow on in case any of the above are up for debate:
11. No description given on meeting any of the characters
Art has few rules, but screenwriting is an art that has quite a few. I recommend scripts that break a few here and there, but ten in the first page? No reader could recommend this without risking their job.
Help us help you. Master the rules. Then, whether you follow all of them or not, your mastery will show in your work.
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