#46 - Obstacles
Edition #46 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
The Last of Us
Written for television by Craig Mazin
In my opinion, nobody uses italics to show what characters are thinking better than Mazin.
The italics always perfectly contextualize and color the action. People talk about directing on the page, but this is acting on the page and it’s fantastic.
Kubo and The Two Strings
Screenplay by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler, Story by Shannon Tindle and Marc Haimes
This whole script is clever and sharp like this dialogue exchange, but what I actually want to highlight is in the top right corner.
Page number and total page count.
I’m not sure if this is for a specific production reason (related to stop-motion perhaps?) or just something Haimes and/or Butler wanted to do.
I’d love to hear if you have any thoughts.
Saltville (Pilot)
Written by Kristen Tepper
I really like Tepper’s use of bolds here to spike out these aggressive knocks, and then the Gruff Man.
Simple and effective as they cut through.
Two quotes about screenwriting
“People keep telling me, “You don’t like boys!” And I’m saying, “Wow, no, it’s just that you’re not used to them being objectified in movies, but women are so often objectified in movies and we don’t care.””
“Scriptwriting is the toughest part of the whole racket…and the least understood and the least noticed.”
One thing to think about
What keeps you from writing?
Addendum: What keeps you from writing, that’s easily in your control?
You won’t be able to address some of the obstacles, but you can remove a lot more than you think.
Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things I’ve done:
prep my computer & desk the night before so I don’t even have to open an app or my notebook
write a detailed plan of my writing goals for the next day
“Pause” my email inbox until I’m done writing for the morning
turn off Wi-Fi
use alarm timer on coffee pot in the morning
journal the night before about what I want to write the next day (similar, but different from detailed plan)
Lower the expectation for my session (”I’m just going to write for 30 minutes.”)
Use insane software like Flowstate
Some of these are practical, some are more motivational, but anything you can do to tweak your routine or your practice to keep you writing is good in my book.
What are some of the ways you remove friction from your writing habits?
What keeps you from writing?
(And how do you get past it!)
Have a great draft,
David Wappel
PS Don’t Miss