Scriptwriting - continued

By Steven Rhys Lewis

The list is endless. Finding the right story is absolutely crucial. There is no point in spending the next 2 years of your life working on something which was doomed from the start. The best way to test a story is to work out a little pitch. It doesn't have to be a great pitch, but if most of your friends aren't excited by the subject matter, then move on and find something that does excite both you and them. And what is the difference between a TV story and a film story? I remember once being told on a course that it is casting actors and you have a film. I disagree. I think it's more complicated than that. I think that film requires a subject that will benefit from the space film can provide (both visually and in terms of story). A TV film will often be topical and also needs to get into it's stride fast, as it's competing with other channels.

It is unusual for a person to walk out of a movie so you have more time to grow your characters, themes, etc. This is not saying that TV is simpler in anyway, it isn't. But the look and feel of 'made for TV' movies is different. TV is in your home, it is more familiar, passive. To watch a film in a cinema is a different thing altogether. You have to leave the warmth of your house and pay money. It requires more effort and therefore your audience's expectations are higher. So for the writer, you have to search that much longer to reward your audience for getting organised, finding a baby sitter, reading the reviews, etc

If you read any script writing book, it will tell you that the main character must be interesting. Absolutely. Also, it helps hugely if the main character is also likable. I watch so many films where this key thing is forgotten. If the central character is deeply flawed to the point of being unlikable, then you are going to have a real uphill struggle as a writer. Sure, you might be so skilled that you can get away with it. But in the early part of your career I strongly recommend that you take the easy option and go for someone the audience wants to spend 90 mins with. You have enough on your plate starting out - don't make life more difficult that it already is.

Show don't tell, show don't tell, show don't tell. This is such an important message it should be tattooed on your eyelids or on the back of your hand. Exposition (explaining boring stuff through dialogue, like a radio play with pictures) bores audiences rigid. All the time it is your job as a writer to think of new and exciting ways of showing the audience your story with striking visual images. Put your hero in a beaten up car, instantly the audience will pick up that your hero has financial problems. That's 2 pages of dull dialogue saved. When you start to shoot you will soon discover that your best asset is not your actors' voices, it is their faces and in particular their eyes. It takes a very long time for a human being to get bored with looking at an interesting face. Remember that fact and you won't go far wrong.

I believe that William Goldman is probably one of the best, if not the best, screenplay writer ever. His screenplays are the only ones I have ever found that you can actually read for pleasure. All his excellent books make clear that structure is everything. He likens screenplay writing to carpentry. He says that you could throw some pieces of wood together and then eat a meal off the results. You could say that what you have created is a table of sorts. But let's face it, it's not much of a table. Structure advances with time, as audiences become more sophisticated (that's why it is important that you keep up to date with new films), boundaries are pushed... and the bottom line is that one day you may end up as good as Mr Goldman and be able to create your own structures (anyone for 9 acts?). But until that day comes, I think it's best to stick with what is working for everyone else.