WEDNESDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:
SEX SCENES
Thinking of writing your own FIFTY SHADES DARKER type screenplay? This tip's for you!
Today's Script Tip is
- no one under 17 will be admitted
without parent or legal guardian. We're going to be talking about
writing so if you have kids in the
room, you may want to cover the monitor.
People always ask me about writing sex scenes (or "love
scenes" as shy people call them) - how much should you describe?
When is it too soon for your characters to have a love scene? Can
you deduct the research from your taxes?
I admit that I have written "love scenes" - actually, they
were sex scenes. Back in 92 or 93 I wrote a flick with Playboy
Playmate Of The Year Shannon Tweed called IMPLICATED for MGM that's
basically SEA OF LOVE meets STAKEOUT.I wanted to write a spec script
that would be easy to make from a production standpoint - limited
locations, limited cast, lots of excitement. Erotic thrillers were
popular at the time, and as my friend Fred Olen Ray has said:
"Nudity is the cheapest special effect". My script was about an SEC Investigator trying
to make a case against a company's CEO who had cut manufacturing
costs to increase profit... and this resulted in defective products
which had killed hundreds of people and injured many more... and
now hundreds of millions of dollars of company assets were missing
and our hero thinks the CEO has embezzled the money and is getting
ready to leave town. Before our hero can make his case, the CEO is
killed in a very suspicious single car accident and his wife is the
prime suspect. So our hero reluctantly partners with a homicide
detective to watch the (sexy) wife in the event she killed her
husband for the embezzled money. One thing leads to another and
our hero ends up doing some, um, undercover investigations into
the sexy wife... while trying to keep this relationship secret
from his homicide detective partner. Every sex scene included
the fear of being caught by the partner so there was suspense
as well as the, you know, um, nekkid part. The script sold and
MGM Home Entertainment was the distributor. So began my career in
erotic thrillers. I have no idea whether the popularity of movies
like FIFTY SHADES OF GRAY will bring back the erotic thriller,
but what was once a hugely popular genre is probably due for a
comeback.
But enough about my sordid past...
Let's talk about love scenes...
The main question to ask about any love scene is: What
INFORMATION does your love scene give the audience? You see, a
"love scene" really isn't any different from any other kind of
scene (except for the nudity) - it's there to TELL THE STORY. If
the only
information is that they "do it" you can cut away once the
audience knows what's going to happen.
If there's additional information, you have to stick around
and
relay that to the audience. For instance - if they're perfectly
matched in bed but can't stand each other when they're not "doing
it" you'll have to SHOW how in sync they are between the sheets
so that we can see the difference in the way they act when they
aren't nekkid. That is the purpose of the scene in that case, so
the scene will *focus* on that aspect of the, um, nekkid parts.
BETWEEN THE SHEETS
You know, movies are what we wish real life was... not real
life.
In that Mark Harmon/Sean Connery film THE PRESIDIO, Harmon and Meg Ryan have
sex on the hood of a car! In real life, that car hood was
probably really cold on Meg Ryan's fanny, on film it was
something we hadn't seen before. Just like with any other scene, a
love scene or sex scene needs to be *original*. No scenes we've seen
before! That means you have to be creative... and use the naughty part
of your brain (you know it's there). Think of locations, actions, acts,
partners, attire, and anything else that can make the scene different.
This is also where it helps to tap into the current Zeitgeist - try
to figure out what the millions of ticket buyers might find sexy. I
remember having a conversation with a producer who claimed he came up
with dripping candle wax on people in sex scenes a couple of years
before a big budget movie starring Madonna did it. Hey, if you can
come up with something that's ahead of the curve that taps into the
fantasies of millions of ticket buyers - that's sex scene gold! Of course,
I once also had a meeting where a director came up with an idea for
a sex scene that resulted in the producer, development person, myself,
and everyone else in the room saying "No!" in unison (and the director being
replaced by someone less weird). You don't want a "negative zeitgeist" idea!
But make sure your sex scene is original! We've seen a million sex scenes
in bed, is there someplace more interesting for them to have sex?
Or something interesting about the way they have sex? Or
something funny about the way they have sex? What makes this sex
scene INTERESTING (aside from nekkid people)?
LOVE RACKS
When you're writing something like SEA OF LOVE or BASIC
INSTINCT
the key to those sex scenes is a little thing called the "Love
Rack" that James M. Cain came up with in the early-1940s. The
Love Rack is the reason why the couple must make love, and the
reason why they must NOT make love... and it's the same
reason!
In SEA OF LOVE we have a lonely cop who is chasing a Personals
Ad
serial killer of lonely guys. While undercover on a date, he
meets the most fantastic woman. The kind of woman he could fall
in love with. So he pursues her off the clock. The more he's with
her, the more in love he becomes... and the more evidence he
finds that makes her look like the killer! During their sex
scenes he's always looking over his shoulder - will she kiss him
or kill him?
Here's the opening scene from BASIC INSTINCT which sets up the reasons why the detective might want to sleep with the suspect
and the reason why he probably shouldn't:
***
INT. A BEDROOM - NIGHT
It is dark; we don't see clearly. a man and woman make love
on a brass bed. There are mirrors on the walls and ceiling.
On a side table, atop a small mirror, lines of cocaine. A
tape deck PLAYS the Stones "Sympathy for the Devil."
Atop him... she straddles his chest... her breasts in his face.
He cups her breasts. She leans down, kisses him...
JOHNNY BOZ is in his late 40's, slim, good-looking. We don't
see the woman's face. She has long blonde hair. The CAMERA
STAYS BEHIND and to the side of them.
She leans close over his face, her tongue in his mouth... she
kisses him... she moves her hands up, holds both of his arms
above his head.
She moves higher atop him... she reaches to the side of the
bed... a white silk scarf is in her hand... her hips above his
face now, moving... slightly, oh-so slightly... his face strains
towards her.
The scarf in her hand... she ties his hands with it...
gently... to the brass bed... his eyes are closed... tighter...
lowering hips into his face... lower... over his chest... his
navel. The SONG plays.
He is inside her... his head arches back... his throat white.
She arches her back... her hips grind... her breasts are high...
Her back arches back... back... her head tilts back... she
extends her arms... the right arm comes down suddenly... the
steel flashes... his throat is white...
He bucks, writhes, bucks, convulses...
It flashes up... it flashes down... and up... and down... and
up... and...
***
If you are Joe Eszterhas you can suiggest the music cues. You can see how sex and death are connected from the very first scene
of the screenplay. Once our detective shows up (next scene) he is on a collision course with both. Will he survive?
Here's another scenario - Powerful mobster has sexy wife, so
he
has his right hand man be her bodyguard... to make sure that men
don't hit on her. "If any guy touches her, I want him dead." So
our bodyguard is with the wife all the time - that's his job. But
being with her all the time, he falls in love with her. Now, the
minute they hit the sheets you know they're in trouble. You're
afraid they'll be discovered, and the bodyguard guy will be
killed. This adds suspense and tension to the sex scenes. So you
milk that - make sure the only time they have to do it is
somewhere that the husband might discover them. You've added
another layer to the scene - suspense!
Okay, was that GILDA or PULP FICTION? Or any of a dozen other movies with that basic plot?
PORNOGRAPHIC DETAILS
How much detail you go into depends on what information you're
trying to get across. You don't need to be vulgar, but sometimes
you need to be "hot and spicy". In a film like BASIC INSTINCT the
sex scenes are a major part of the story... and you treat them
just like any other important scene: you write them in a way to
give the reader an emotional reaction. You want a "hot" scene to
get the reader hot! That can be accomplished by describing
FEELINGS rather than organs. Again, what makes a scene "hot" may
be the location rather than the friction. You're writing a studio
feature, not a porno film. The hottest scene in BODY HEAT is when
William Hurt breaks through a window to get to Kathleen Turner.
The hottest detail in the sex scene that follows is when he
gently removes her panties... graphic but in no way
pornographic.
From BODY HEAT...
INT. HALL
Racine crosses the dark living room fast. As he reaches
Matty, she lifts her arms to match his embrace. They
come together hard and tight. They kiss. And kiss again.
Her hands travel over his body, as though she's wanted
them there for a long time.
They turn once slowly along the wall, into the dimness of
the central hall. Then he rotates her body away from
him, holding her close.
MATTY
Yes, yes...
Then she is just nodding. Racine puts his face deep into
her hair, closing his eyes as the smell of her washes
over him.
Matty turns in his arms and kisses him hard. Racine pulls
her close to him and they sink to the floor.
RACINE
That's right... that's right.
CLOSE ON Matty's face, a look that might be anguish. She
bites her lip in expectation. Racine moves over her.
MATTY
Please, please ...
She pulls him tightly to her, clinging like a drowning
woman.
***
Sex scenes are like any other kind of scene in a film - it's
there to give the audience new information about character and
story. What is your love scene telling the audience? Why MUST you
have it in the script?
Any scene that's not required to tell the story shouldn't be
in the script in the first place. That's true for love scenes,
too.
Okay, you can uncover the monitor, now!
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*** DESCRIPTION & VOICE ***
IS HALF OF YOUR STORY IN TROUBLE?
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*** DIALOGUE SECRETS ***
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WHAT IS A SCENE?
*** SCENE SECRETS ***
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SUBPLOTS?
*** SUPPORTING CHARACTER SECRETS ***
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*** ACT TWO SECRETS ***
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***BLOCKBUSTERS (and BEACH READS) ***
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All About Rewrites!
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Want To Look Like An Expert?
*** RESEARCH & WORLD BUILDING BUILDING! ***
Using movie examples like TOP GUN, HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, BLUE CRUSH, ADVENTURE LAND, several of my produced films,
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All About LOGLINES, TREATMENTS, and PITCHING!
*** LOGLINES, TREATMENTS, and PITCHING! ***
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READY TO BREAK IN?
*** BREAKING IN BLUE BOOK ***
Should really be called the BUSINESS BLUE BOOK because it covers almost everything you will need to
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to query letters and finding a manager or agent, to making connections (at home and in Hollywood) and
networking, to the different kinds of meetings you are will have at Studios, to the difference between
a producer and a studio, to landing an assignment at that meeting and what is required of you when you
are working under contract, to contracts and options and lawyers and... when to run from a deal!
Information you can use *now* to move your career forward! It's all here in the Biggest Blue Book yet!
Only $4.99 - Kindle version.
STORY IN ACTION SERIES!
THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MOVIES
NEW: Updates On Films 7 & 8 Casting!
The First Six Movies analyzed! All of the mission tapes, all of the “that’s impossible!” set pieces and stunts, the cons and capers - and how these scenes work, the twists and double crosses, the tension and suspense (and how to generate it), the concept of each film as a stand alone with a different director calling the shots (broken in the sixth film), the gadgets, the masks, the stories, the co-stars and team members (one team member has been in every film), the stunts Tom Cruise actually did (and the ones he didn’t), and so much more! Over 120,000 words of fun info!
THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MOVIES - 347 Pages -
Only $3.99 ! - Kindle Version
*** THE BOURNE MOVIES
All five "Bourne" movies (including "Legacy" and it's potential sequels) - what are the techniques used to keep the characters and scenes exciting and involving? Reinventing the thriller genre...
or following the "formula"? Five films - each with an interesting experiment! A detailed analysis of each
of the films, the way these thrillers work... as well as a complete list of box office and critical
statistics for each film. This book is great for writers, directors, and just fans of the series.
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Over 240 pages!
*** THE TERMINATOR MOVIES ***
He's back! The release of "Terminator: Dark Fate" is set to begin a new trilogy in
the Terminator story... 35 years after the first film was released. What draws us to these films about
a cybernetic organism from the future sent back in time? Why is there a new proposed trilogy every few
years? This book looks at all five Terminator movies from a story standpoint - what makes them work
(or not)? What are the techniques used to keep the characters and scenes exciting and involving? How
about those secret story details you may not have noticed? Containing a detailed analysis of each of
the five films so far, this book delves into the way these stories work... as well as a complete list of
box office and critical statistics for each film. This book is great for writers, directors, and just
fans of the series.
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HITCHCOCK FOR WRITERS!
Strange Structures!
*** HITCHCOCK: EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR! ***
Contained Thrillers like "Buried"? Serial Protagonists like "Place Beyond The Pines"? Multiple Connecting Stories like "Pulp Fiction"? Same Story Multiple Times like "Run, Lola, Run"?
HITCHCOCK DID IT FIRST!
This book focuses on 18 of Hitchcock's 52 films with wild cinema and story experiments which paved the way for modern films. Almost one hundred different experiments that you may think are recent cinema or story inventions... but some date back to Hitchcock's *silent* films! We'll examine these experiments and how they work. Great for film makers, screenwriters, film fans, producers and directors.
Only $5.99 - Kindle Version
LEARN SUSPENSE FROM THE MASTER!
*** HITCHCOCK: MASTERING SUSPENSE ***
Alfred Hitchcock, who directed 52 movies, was known as the *Master Of Suspense*; but what exactly is suspense and how can *we* master it? How does suspense work? How can *we* create “Hitchcockian” suspense scenes in our screenplays, novels, stories and films?
This book uses seventeen of Hitchcock’s films to show the difference between suspense and surprise, how to use “focus objects” to create suspense, the 20 iconic suspense scenes and situations, how plot twists work, using secrets for suspense, how to use Dread (the cousin of suspense) in horror stories, and dozens of other amazing storytelling lessons. From classics like “Strangers On A Train” and “The Birds” and “Vertigo” and “To Catch A Thief” to older films from the British period like “The 39 Steps” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much” to his hits from the silent era like “The Lodger” (about Jack The Ripper), we’ll look at all of the techniques to create suspense!
Only $5.99 - Kindle Version
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