Archive for April, 2009
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
Why all good TV Drama is the same (Part 3)
Day three. Hope this is interesting to you too. I will probably blog about something different over the weekend just as a little break. But in the meantime, I’m finding this quite useful in terms of constructing my own cast for a series idea I’m working on. Plus it’s always funs to think about good TV shows that I like and pretend it’s work 
STORY THREE - COMING OF AGE/MATURATION OF A SUB-CHARACTER
Arguably, most stories could be seen as ‘coming of age’ stories as all characters grow whilst overcoming one thing or another. In the same way that the love sub-plot shows a different side of the Protagonist by seeing their emotions, so to does the Maturation plot reveal the Protagonist as the Mentor character (even though they themselves may already have their own mentor).
My theory is that Willow Rosenberg is the actual secret of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s success - especially in its early days. We’d seen characters like Buffy struggling with the responsibility of their powers (although Spiderman was never as funny) and we’d seen wise-acres like Xander many times (although they were usually really irritating - I’m looking at you ‘any character played by Chris Tucker’). But when it came to portraying the horror of High School, I think the mild, sweet and perpetually frightened-by-the-world Willow was where the audience found their way in.
By the end of the pilot, Buffy has become a superhero again. That never really changes in seven years. She just gets slightly whinier. Look at how Willow changes:
I think the series sees her become a far more complex character and this is due to the slow escalation of her life. I don’t think you can do that with a protagonist as they need to be so clearly established in the opening moments of a series. Writers can’t afford to let their protagonist get things wrong too often, whereas someone like Willow can learn the hard way how to get life wrong - even to the point that she becomes the villain in Season 6 - but then, by the time the show ends, she’s become something very different once again.
Hmmn, I’ve written about Willow a lot more than I had planned to (I just hope none of you stumble onto my secret blog which is updated several times a day with posts about nothing but Willow). But I am always trying to temper my more genre examples with something more realistic so will talk quickly again about ‘ER‘. In particular, John Carter.
‘ER’ is specifically an ensemble cast (which ultimately completely replaced itself as the show went on). But if you consider Carter’s journey in the series he’s actually in, his journey is far more subtle than Mark Green’s earnest struggle to do the right thing without enough resources or George Clooney’s struggle to do what’s right for the patients, no matter who he pissed off. And look at how Carter brought out the different/softer side of Dr Benton, turning him into an (albeit reluctant) mentor and what both learned from each other. Sickly really. But also, probably my favourite thing about the show.
* * * * *
Would the gradually evolving stories of Carter or Willow have been enough to sustain their own series? Probably not, certainly not as TV series anyway. We needed the Buffys and the George Clooneys to do the big splashy drama in the forefront and, perhaps, to satisfy the more casual viewer. But perhaps we kept watching because we enjoyed the slow-build of the characters in the background.
So I’m particularly interested what you have to say in today’s poll and please leave any examples or thoughts in the comments box. Do we look the characters behind our the show’s heroes simply because they don’t have to be the heroes all the time? Or if we prefer the supporting cast, is it just because of a poor protagonist to begin with?
Loading ...Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Why all good TV drama is the same (Part Two)
Morning all. Here’s the second installment in my list of what I think are the best recurring serial strands found in most good TV shows. This was originally going to just be one post…but I guess the opportunity to write my own drama serial was too good to resist
Right then…
STORY TWO - THE TICKING TIME BOMB SECRET
Is one of your ensemble actually a secret government experiment to be the perfect weapon? Is one of your ensemble responsible for the death of the father of the woman he loves? If so, chances are you’ll be introducing this to your audience in the pilot but keeping it quiet from the the rest of the cast until a later date.
While the examples I’ve given are obviously fairly genre in their origin, I doubt there are many more ‘realistic dramas that don’t also feature this serial story device. Is someone having an affair? Is someone concealing how they really feel? Who they really are? Sometimes even the audience won’t know the truth. We just know something is wrong!
One of my favourite examples is the fantastic depiction of relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis in The West Wing’s President Bartlett. Creator Aaron Sorkin introduces the ensemble cast in the opening minutes all receiving the rather stupid news that the President has ridden his bike into a tree. This is just a device or MacGuffin to show off all the characters and how they react. The reason - it is revealed many many episodes later - that Bartlett actually crashed his bike is because of an attack of MS. If you’ve seen the show, you know important the MS storyline becomes but also how well it’s handled. Many lamer shows would have just become ‘a show about MS’. Not Sorkin. Not Bartlett.
The point is, whatever your genre, this secret is kept because other characters could be hurt or even endangered by discovering the truth. But the longer the truth is concealed, the higher the stakes become in it being discovered!
Any more examples of your favourite secrets being kept by characters?
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
Why all good TV drama is the same (Part One)
This isn’t a criticism! Whatever your favourite genre is - whether you like kitchen sinks, spaceships, period drama or all three at once, the aspects of characters that keep you watching week after week are all the same.
If you look at any ensemble cast, take away all of the trappings of the show and you’ll be able to spot the similarities to completely different shows.
This is where your sub-plots, serial elements and why people engage with the characters to begin with come into play. This is why we’ll watch them fight crime, save the universe or just survive their day jobs week after week.
STORY ONE - UNREQUITED LOVE or ‘WILL THEY/WON’T THEY?’
Okay, I’m starting with an easy one. But I think this is the one where we can probably all identify. I’ve combined Unrequited Love and ‘Will they/Won’t they’ because usually one leads to the other as the series progresses.
I have heard romantic sub-plots described by both cynical audiences and lazy producers (who then create cynical audiences) as something purely to attract female audiences to a show. But I disagree. Or actually, I agree that women are far more intelligent than us fellahs and need more than just physically attractive cast members and the occasional explosion to keep them viewing.
What the romantic sub-plot does is flesh out the protagonist, showing us a different side to them. Possibly a more sympathetic side. They’re human after all. It doesn’t hurt that most casts are ridiculously attractive (phwoar Niles 
) .
But while this ongoing strand may just start as a source of amusement or for lighter moments amid the heavy drama, it’s also easy for this sexual tension to become a major part of the drama. Love is essentially a selfish drive - what if it distracts you from your mission? Take Mulder and Scully: Scully is supposed to be the objective partner. Can she be objective if she’s in love with Mulder? Mulder is willing to sacrifice everything to find out what happened to his sister, to find the Truth! But can he really risk everything if Scully’s waiting for him back at home?
What do you do with the characters once you’ve got them together anyway? The rules of the writer clearly state:
WRITERS ARE BASTARDS = ALL HAPPINESS MUST BE DESTROYED!!
So the only thing that can happen to a happy couple in a good drama is that they’ll be slowly torn apart (or in the case of Joss Whedon shows, one of them will instantly die. Horribly.)
So…
Loading ...If you voted YES, please share your favourite onscreen couples. If you voted NO, please share the couples who never quite got it together (or haven’t yet, if the series is still going).
There’s unrequited love everywhere you know. Even in this picture below there’s a good half-dozen characters who love someone else but are never fulfilled. Perhaps we’re taught this stuff at a young age and that’s why we indentify. Um. Is…that a good thing? 
Monday, April 20th, 2009
New Writers - Persistence is Futile?
It’s difficult. And sometimes it seems harder than others. Today’s post is about keeping going when you feel like you’re ice-skating up hill.
‘Resistance is Futile’ say the alien hive-mind Borg whenever they turn up in Star Trek: The Next Generation, right? And yet, Captain Picard has encountered them on numerous occassions, winning every time. You can tell he’s a gentleman because he’s never mean enough to point out that Resistance seems to work out just fine for him.
But how about for you? I have a drawer full of rejection letters, commissioners seemed wary of the sort of drama I liked even before the recession kicked in and its very easy trying to get yourself wound up trying to second guess what sort of script will sell. Having just gotten through a wobbly patch myself, here are a few thoughts on how to keep going:
1. REMIND YOURSELF WHY YOU’RE DOING THIS
Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski once said that, if you want to be a writer, you would never enjoy watching anything again. If it’s good, you’ll think that you can never reach that level and, if it’s bad, you’ll just get distraught that something so poor was ever made. I only agree with the second part.
If you’re feeling a bit lost, watch, read or listen to those films, TV episodes, plays and radio shows that got you riled up to do this in the first place. Avoid anything that you think is poor because that’s the low level you’ll be trying to beat. Immerse yourself in the stuff that’ll make you aim higher (and, more importantly, remind you what you enjoy!)
2. ‘THEY’ PROBABLY WON’T KNOW WHAT THEY WANT…
…otherwise they’d have come up with it themselves. But can you find out when they want it for and who they want to watch it? I’ve often found that contacting production companies and asking what slots they’re looking to fill on what channels and which audiences they are trying to reach inspires me far more. Especially if it’s not a slot that I usually watch. You might naturally come up with the best gritty Channel 4 style polemic drama in the world, but if Channel 4’s commissioning slots are full for the next year and your friendly production company wants a Sunday night family drama, you could be wasting your effort.
3. KEEP WRITING
This sounds a bit lame but I mean it. I actually enjoy writing. It’s trying to come up with the most commercial but original ideas ever that ties me up in knots but I’m actually a pretty quick writer once I know what I’m doing. So while wrestling with the idea that everyone’s looking for, I really think it’s important to write yourself a one-off radio play, a half-hour drama, a short story, a short film - just to keep your actual writing muscles in shape and keep you enjoying it!
Your mind may not ever conceive of a show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but that doesn’t mean a good portfolio that shows off how you write will mean you never end up as a writer ON a show like Buffy the Vampire Slayer!
(Some of the Buffy and Angel writers. They’re all great - none of them created the show though!)
4. GET A LIFE
Seriously. Go out. Meet friends. Do stuff. Get a hobby that has nothing whatsover do with ‘meeja’. Otherwise you’ll just end up gazing at your own navel and writing ‘Adaptation‘. Life is where you get your ideas from and what makes your characters and scenarios authentic. For all the brilliant ideas that you have, what makes them truly original is that it’ll be YOU writing them. YOU could be the selling point!
So face it, YOU could probably be a bit cooler, couldn’t ya
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Because Endings give us Meaning.
Having built up the farewell to arms that was the 100th issue of comic book series ‘100 BULLETS’ in my last blog post, it has got me thinking about endings in a big way. And how to end things in a big way.
Is it easier to end a film than a series?
With films (short films or feature length), it’s all about the ending. Script guru McKee (or at least Brian Cox playing him in ‘Adaptation‘) says:
I’ll tell you a secret. The last act makes a film. Wow them in the end, and you got a hit. You can have flaws, problems, but wow them in the end, and you’ve got a hit. Find an ending, but don’t cheat, and don’t you dare bring in a deus ex machina. Your characters must change, and the change must come from them. Do that, and you’ll be fine.
But films only tell one story. The protagonist either does or doesn’t achieve his singular goal (and, if you’re lucky, realises something about themself en route) But ongoing series need much more and so have more to wrap up. But how many series, bigger stories, actually manage this? Coming up with a returning series idea is the Holy Grail as far as TV commissioners are concerned. But there’s a big difference between shows like ‘CSI‘ which, apart from the odd love story sub-plot, you can ostensibly watch them in any order and shows like ‘The Wire’ where, if you miss an episode, you might as well not bother watching next week’s either.
I’m trying to come up with the perfect conclusion for my own idea so here are a few endings I’ve considered when trying to work out where my show’s ultimately headed:
1. THE ALWAYS-INTENDED ENDING
QUANTUM LEAP. Quite possibly one of my favourite TV endings. I think the genius of this ending is that it seemed so inevitable. There are only (really) two recurring characters in 96 episodes. For all the metaphysical quandary that faces Sam Beckett when he walks into a bar that may be some kind of purgatory (and a Barman who may be God/Fate) the important tangible ending that we hang onto (and leaves us satisfied) is that Sam helps his troubled friend Al whose broken first marriage has always led to an ultimately unhappy life…even though the shuffle in time means Sam can never makes a final leap home.
There could have been a million episodes in between the first and last episode. But every seed needed for the finale is sewn right in the pilot.
2. THE LAST MINUTE ENDING.
The advantage of long-running American series is that, if you know your show is not coming back next year, there might still be time to change the ending. ’MILLENNIUM’ - Chris Carter’s increasingly messy follow up to ‘The X-Files’ will always have a place in my heart, simply because the poor third series that saw the show cancelled led to the last-minute creation of one of my favourite TV episodes ever.
For all its messy complications with the shady Millennium group, the manifestations of the demon Legion (’for he is many’) and the evil that lurks within us all - all intensifying as the Millennium approached, the entire series ended with Frank Black (the excellent Lance Henriksen) realising that the shit was hitting the fan beyond what he could possibly do to stop it. The episode opens and closes with Frank bursting into his daughter Jordan’s school. Jordan sees his face and is ready to go and together they just simply make a run for it. A montage of how all the other characters end up destroyed or corrupted by the Millennium Group makes Frank’s effort to live to fight another day for his daughter’s sake seems all the more heroic.
3. THE PROTRACTED ENDING
‘LIFE ON MARS‘ The end sees Sam supposedly returned from 1973 to the present day, only to decide he wants to be back in the 70s and takes a leap of faith off a roof back to ‘Oz’. Some (possibly including myself) argue the series should have just ended with Sam’s leap (a risky and controversial ending, I’ll grant you). But the way it did end does at least provide ambiguity as to whether Sam ever returned to the present day at all (actor John Simm believes Sam never came out of his coma and just made his own decision whether he wanted Heaven or Hell).
In my opinion, the actual concept was wearing a little thin by the second season. Whether Sam was dead/dreaming/mad became more complex and didactic yet the crime stories of the week became more comic and pastiche-y so it increasingly became a show of two halves.
This leads me to thinking about…
4. THE MISSED ENDING
Simply put, ‘TWIN PEAKS‘ depicted the strange lives of the titular town’s kooky residents and how they might have been complicit in the murder of Laura Palmer. Then they revealed who killed Laura Palmer. Good time to end the series, right? Well they didn’t. And ran the series into the ground.
When David Lynch is pleading with you not to take away the show’s spine because it won’t make sense any more, surely you know you’re in trouble!
and finally:
5. THE FINITE ENDING (or the ‘Lost’ Ending)
‘LOST‘. This was one of my favourite all-time shows before I’d even seen the pilot. I remember all the Watercooler conversations when it first aired: ‘Rubbish! Why would there be a polar bear on a tropical island?‘ (whereas I was saying ‘Fantastic! Why would there be a polar bear on a tropical island?‘)
With it’s mega-successful first season, the producers quickly made a lot of changes to make this a long-running series, but with no idea whether this show would run for one more year or another ten, the writers and audience were effectively left treading water. However, during season 3, ’Lost’ then struck an unprecedented deal with ABC to contract the EXACT number of episodes left before the specific ending. This deal meant that the writing team knew the ending and could work their way backwards…and at this point, the show became good again. Really good. But does this actually mean that ‘Lost’ is now just TV’s longest running miniseries?
*****
Of course, I have no idea what the ending to ‘Lost’ will be (and I hope that a certain amount is left ambiguous. I ultimately don’t need to know what the island actually is like I didn’t need to know what was bouncing Sam Beckett round in time) but if you are creating one huge story then it is a good lesson in plotting. There are posts to be done about ambiguity and also season arcs as well, I think.
Whatever you think of the five examples I’ve used, they’ve all given me a lot to think about. Not only in terms of how to pace and pre-empt a series but how an ending should be defined by character, world and thematic closure but prove you can still leave a certain amount unresolved for a satisfying ending.
But maybe I should worry about selling a pilot episode first So what TV endings do YOU like?
Friday, April 17th, 2009
‘100 BULLETS’ - Parting Shots
One of my favourite comic book series is coming to an end this week. ‘100 BULLETS’ has been running for a 100 issues so this post will mostly be a 100-gun salute. But the inevitable ending has inspired me to think about endings in general, especially for long-running series (including the controversial endings for shows like ‘Battlestar Galactica’ and ‘The Sopranos’) and how to plan for them when you’re still writing and plotting episode one.
I hope against hope that I’ll be adding 100 Bullets #100 to my ‘GOOD’ list of endings as soon as I’ve read it.
This title started nearly a decade ago with the high-concept of the mysterious Agent Graves appearing to several characters and offering an attache case with a gun and 100 untraceable bullets inside…as well as the irreputable evidence of someone who had wronged them. These ‘magic bullets’ cannot be traced. You have carte blanche to take your revenge. What do you do?
With this postmodern-noir head start, the series quickly evolved into a massive sprawling, centuries-old conspiracy. (imagine ‘The X-Files’ but if the writers actually had a plan where they were going with it) that consumes its characters and starts a war between secret rulers of America, The Trust, and their enforcers; The Minutemen…as well as everybody caught in between.
I think everyone who read comics as young ‘un has a lull in their buying when they discover new things to spend money on (dating, alcohol, plutonium etc). I never really stopped buying graphic novels (ie - several comics collected into one book) but it was ‘100 BULLETS’ that got me back collecting monthly issue again. I simply needed to know what happened next. And writer Azzarello knew what he was doing and where he was leading us. Not only was the plot ever expanding but the background detail drove me online to find those equally obsessed as to where the conspiracy would take us next.
So many background details would later come back to haunt you in this story. While the central plot was twisty and turny enough to keep the skim-reader satisfied, Azzarello and Risso rewarded you for loyalty and paying close attention. It’s not often as an audience that you feel the creative team isn’t spelling things out but making you work for it.
This was how I ended up as a Moderator on the Message Board section of Moose Harris’ brilliant 100 Bullets site. While we all gabble and guess our way to the story’s end, we’ve also been frequently joined by the creative team - more often than not, I’m sure, come to laugh at where we *think* the story might be headed. My personal best is being able to correctly pre-empt a mere TWO major events or twists in the tale (and one of those was accidental while I was making a joke - but a score is a score )
So while I’ve been patiently waiting for issue #100 to arrive (it comes out here in the UK two whole days after it does in America. Gah!) it was a very nice surprise to receive in the post a little memento from Brian Azzarello himself:
(Ahem…’Venkman’ being my online moniker, of course. Heh)
So I have basically been filling time with this little salute which, with my new shot glass, will become a salud, as the final issue should now be waiting for me at my local comic shop.
Please find out more about the series at the wonderful www.100bullets.co.uk or read the entire first issue for free here. It’s actually odd looking at those first pages now as it’s not really until the second graphic novel that we get our first glimpses of the big picture.
But now it’s time for me to go and collect my final piece of the puzzle .
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
Humour. When nothing’s funny.
By the end of today, I hope the script I’ve been battling for the last two weeks will be ready to send away for Channel 4’s Coming Up scheme for new writers and directors. As I’ve been doing my final tweaks to the script I’ve been deliberating on certain lines that characters have that might seem slightly innapropriate to the scenario of the script. Because they’re funny.
But, this time, they’re staying in the script for a much more important reasons…
The Shawshank Redemption. A film about a man who is wrongly imprisoned for several decades during which time he is supposedly beaten and raped and that even shows us that a man who gets out of prison (Brooks) can’t cope and then hangs himself. Okay, the film does build up to one of the happiest and most triumphant endings ever filmed (and a nice Christ metaphor which seemed appropriate for the Easter season) but it’s a pretty harrowing ride.
Specifically though, it’s a film in which Willam Sadler (pictured) reads Alexandre Dumas’ surname as ‘dumb ass’. Heh heh heh. I wonder that, were it not for those little moments, would we all have endured the two hours twenty minutes to get to the happy ending.
Even ‘Se7en‘ , for its sins, features at least two or three necessary moments of levity to keep the audience from dying of grim-fatigue. Bet you never realised Morgan Freeman was such a comedy giant, didya!
Anyone else think of any other favourite funny moments from (deliberately) unfunny films?
Monday, April 13th, 2009
Men of Character
Hope everyone’s having a relaxing Easter break. Most of the tweets or facebook updates I’ve read seem to have been written as online friends prepare to tackle mountains of food, buns and chocolate…or they’re reeling from their various edible victories. Bravo
…..
EMPATHY NOT SYMPATHY
My protagonist, Cassie, was boring. Just trying to do her job as well as she could without stepping on any toes. Yawn. Now her first scene opens with her condescending the people that, as a Police Constable, she is supposedly trying to serve. Instantly we know that she’s not a particularly nice person - but the person she’s being rude to is an idiot. Superficially, we think she’s rude. But on some level we like her. Because we agree with her.
I hope you’re familar with Gregory House MD. If not…well, I’m just going to assume you are.
I’ve been busy writing and re-writing the script I was struggling with so much last week and, while I was fretting and over-thinking the journey of the character, my major breakthrough came when I focussed fully on the character’s journey. Not just what they did but how they changed doing it.
Why am I using House as an example then? It’s been over 100 episodes and he doesn’t seem to have changed much! Well that’s arguable, but how Gregory House helped me is that I’ve made my own protagonist far more empathetic by making her far less sympathetic. In other words, I only started liking her the second I stopped trying to make audiences like her.
‘IN THE SPECIFICS LIE THE UNIVERSAL’
I have borrowed this wholesale from writer Brian K Vaughan - creator of majorly successful comic series ‘Y the Last Man’ and currently one of the lead writers on ‘Lost‘.
The above quote is from Vaughan describing his creation of ‘Y the Last Man’ protagonist Yorick Brown who, along with his pet monkey, are the only male survivors of a mysterious plague that instantly kills every male mammal on the planet. This is how we first meet Yorick:
Despite being an (unemployed) recent English literature graduate, Yorick is also an aspiring escapologist. I don’t have specific feedback on who reads this blog, but I’m going to hazard a guess that not many of you can escape a straight jacket. But I will bet most of you have slightly incongruous/ weird/pointless hobby. Were he just a ‘normal’ guy, he wouldn’t resonate half as much.
But don’t just give your characters weird quirks. We need to know WHY your edgy action hero is a cross-dresser! For Yorick, his escapology becomes a major theme throughout the series (while being the only man in a planet of women might sound like a dream come true, it quickly becomes a nightmare). Gregory House isn’t just a Doctor who walks with a cane. He’s a Doctor who nearly lost his leg completely because of other Doctors’ mis-diagnosis.
Within the specifics, audiences will latch onto their own shared needs for acceptance, justice, altruism, freedom etc etc. In short, there you’ll find that particular character’s version of the Universal themes that drive us all. But do remember to have some fun with it too
Saturday, April 11th, 2009
Re-write my Fire. (Motivation for your next draft)
Typically, I’ve actually re-written this opening paragraph several times now. The first few versions had an amusing/smug metaphor involving first drafts and quicksand which I found myself stuck in but I have decided against that. The point is, the first draft was finished. I felt victorious. Which is why I haven’t read it in a few days. I’d only get depressed again.
But, as hard as sitting down to churn out that first draft is, once you’ve gotten going the momentum is unstoppable. But then you finish your first draft. You’re spent. This is what I’ve done and will be doing to get myself fired up to start writing it again and make sure the next drafts even better…
1. WRITE A SCENE LIST
Above all else, the first draft makes the ideas you had in your head into a tangible real thing. I always consider the first draft rather than the actual idea to be the lump of rock you chip away at to get the masterpiece. So write a list of the major scenes or beats from your script - just brief bullet-points that describe central action/revelation. Instantly, you’ll be able to see the difference between what you wrote and what you thought you wrote. By just tweaking or re-structuring your list of points, you can now easily turn this into the spine of what you WANT to write.
2. EVERY SCENE SHOULD BE A CHARACTER IN A SITUATION WITH OBSTACLES
Having broken down your plot into the points in your list, make sure that each plot point is a little story with a beginning, middle and end of its own. For example, my script’s main character is solving a mystery. At the beginning she doesn’t know what happened and by the end she does - so at least I got that bit right. But now I need to make sure that first plot point demonstrates my character achieving something too. For example, a giant boulder in the middle of the road could even stop her getting *to* the crime scene which makes solving the crime that much more difficult.
Okay that’s rubbish, but now my opening scene shows our heroine fighting against a character with a higher status for the right to actually solve the crime in question. If she wants to solve it that badly then hopefully the audience will want to see it solved. And the little victories will make the audience want to see your character be the one who does it.
3. YOU GOT YOUR PROTAGONIST WRONG
Anyone would have been better than Frodo to take the One Ring back to Mount Doom. The entire trilogy is littered with warriors and wizards, so the fact that Frodo is our protagonist makes his story all the more dramatic. Despite a lack of magical powers or swordplay skills, I am 6′4” tall so even I would have had an easier time of it than Frodo for the simple reason that my legs are longer.
Think of ways to make your protagonist the WRONG person to overcome the obstacles ahead of them. This makes their journey and the fact that they do succeed all the more impressive. As many boulders as you can put in your protagonist’s path, audiences (even if it’s subliminally) will always be more engaged by characters overcoming things about or within themselves.
4. ALWAYS LEAVE THEM WANTING MORE
(from www.savagechickens.com - very funny)
As a script reader, I see a lot of scripts that make the mistake of thinking that the only time you need a hook or a cliffhanger is at the end of an episode or in writing a twist ending. What if I’m already bored by then? A lot of readers don’t read past page 10 if they’re not hooked by then.
As with the little victories of character keep audiences hooked with mini-dramas within the big story, so too should each scene leave a hook to draw audiences into the next situation. Look at your list of plot points again. What can you leave hanging at the end of each scene that mean your audience MUST know what happens next? An easy way to do this is to leave scenes on a question like ‘So what are you going to do about the giant boulder in the road?’ If our heroine explains what she’s going to do, we’ve no need to then watch the next few minutes of her actually doing it - but if we know she has a plan but she’s not telling, then my curiosity is piqued.
5. IGNORE YOUR LAST DRAFT
So you’ve probably restructured your story a bit on paper and your character talks a little differently than she did in the last draft. So don’t try and shoe-horn that cool bit of a dialogue from the first draft in if that’s not how your character talks anymore. It’ll be obvious. Be willing to let stuff go.
To this extent, because my script is reasonably short, I am actually going to write the second draft without going back to the first version at all. I think I can remember all of the good bits in my head - and the chances are they’re better in my head than they were on paper anyway. You have your list of plot points so you know your story makes sense. Your character is much clearer now because how she solves each one of the little problems you’ve put in her path only makes her more clearly defined as we see her in action. And hopefully seeing her in action will be what makes this story one that audiences want to watch.
And that makes me want to write it. So I should probably get on with it (and resist the urge to re-write this unwieldy blog post. It was a first draft though - it’s meant to be crap )
Thursday, April 9th, 2009
Follow ‘THE END IS NIGEL’ to win £30 of HMV vouchers!!
I am currently plotting and writing a pitch for a much larger version of online comedy apocalypse ‘THE END IS NIGEL’ . So to take a little break from harping on about the other script I’ve been struggling with (which is going much better now btw) I wanted to get some constructive feedback so I can really take this project to the next level.
So, while I hope you enjoy the experience, to add extra incentive for you to follow Nigel through to the End, anyone who leaves feedback on the Nigel facebook group between now and the end of April will be entered in a draw to receive £30 of HMV vouchers as a thank you from me (unfortunately, I’m afraid this applies to viewers in the UK only).
If you haven’t been through the project before, ‘The End is Nigel’ was made for a mere £840 from Screen Yorkshire’s MOViES scheme. It combines video, blogging, webcomics and dummy websites to follow film student Verity’s online quest to prove if local nutter/doom-prophet Nigel was right… that the End is indeed Nigh.
I’d like to take this chance again to thank the brilliant cast and crew who worked on ‘The End is Nigel’ and hope that, if you haven’t already, you enjoy watching what we did or even enjoy watching it again. If you want to know any more, please follow this blog back to the beginning for the project’s origins. Looking forward to hearing from you.
