#29 - Symptoms Or Cause
Edition #29 of the Lighthouse miniLetter!
You'll always get:
Three examples of great screenwriting
Two quotes about storytelling
One thing to think about
Plus some fun links at the bottom.
Three examples of great screenwriting
Freaks & Geeks (Pilot)
Written by Paul Feig
Writers get to create their own context, like Feig does here. Not only did she bring Sam his jacket, but “Science is on the other side of the school.” This is a big deal.
Also, the notion that "Miss Piggy is pretty" is just a sublime touch that shows how much Bill has bought into the Muppets internal logic. Feig really gives his geeks true credibility.
2001 A Space Odyssey
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C. Clark
Super prosey. But never too long before returning to an image.
Nut Case (Pilot)
Written by Sam Jay Gold
These are the opening action lines of the pilot. I particularly want to call out the way Gold’s lines interplay and connect with each other.
Lovely interplay of “Friday-night destination” and “Except it’s Tuesday.” Not only is it clear voice, but helps further characterize the people we’re about to meet.
SAM’s “side of sadness” is doubled by the straightforward “He’s moping.”
And I know “Welcome to Brooklyn off the F Train” isn’t visual at all, but really helps with tone setting which is important this early in the pilot.
Additionally, Gold packs more tone and world-building in the slugline by naming the bar.
Exactly seven lines spent on the page and I have a full and complete world, plus I see how the main character is within it yet apart.
Two quotes about screenwriting
“Time’s up on cheesy, lesser, boring roles for females in the stories that we try to tell.”
“If you’re going to tell people the truth, be funny or they’ll kill you.”
One thing to think about
Are you treating the symptoms or addressing the problem?
Everyone’s heard that “if you have Act 3 problems, you have Act 1 problems.”
Beyond Acts 1 and 3, I have found the paradigm that “problems rarely appear where they actually occur” to be totally true.
When you get a note on page 43 that a character’s decision doesn’t make sense, do you need a line of dialogue on page 42? Or do you need to address the character’s psychology on all the pages before?
If Act 3 “isn’t big enough” are you adding more, or looking at why the stakes weren’t fully established?
I’m not saying every bump is some larger issue. Sometimes, a nip and a tuck is all that’s needed. But only do that after you’ve asked yourself:
Are you treating the symptoms or addressing the problem?
Have a great draft,
David Wappel
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