MONDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:
SCRIPT SPACKLE
A "plot hole" is when a series of events
doesn't make sense. When one event CAN NOT lead to the next.
Unfortunately, the usual solution is to patch it with a
liberal coat of "script spackle": A scene which plugs the hole
using coincidence or fancy footwork on the part of the writer.
Instead of solving the story problem, they've covered the hole
and hope nobody notices. The writer tries to solve a script
problem by grafting something on, rather than going back to the
central concept of the script and solving the actual problem.
"Script spackle" covers the crack, but hasn't solved the
foundation problems. That crack is still there, under the
spackle. I've seen screenplays with more script spackle than
script! This is solving a problem from the outside in, instead
of from the inside out.
DON'T SAY A WORD is a script that seems to be mostly spackle.
It is based on a novel by Andrew Klavan, and I'm guessing that all of the problems come
from the novel's wacky plotting. Novels are a different animal than a screenplay. A
different experience for the audience. You may not noticed some strange plotting or
script spackle or inconsistency when you have a
big book that you read over a period of days, and may not remember the details
from one scene when reading another dfays later. Books are also usually told in *chapters*,
and read in chapters. So you are focused on what happens in *this chapter* and not as cognisant of the story as a whole.
But when you condense that book down to a 110
page script, all of the plotting flaws and script spackle become obvious. This
is why adapting a novel is often more difficult than writing an original
screenplay - the story that works good enough for the book may not work at all when
turned into a script. You often have to start from scratch with the concept and create
a version of the story that works on screen. You need to streamline the story and
remove pointless subplots and characters, focus on a central conflict, and remove
any structural or story problems.
That didn't seem to happen in DON'T SAY A WORD.
The story: Brittany Murphy knows a certain piece of information that mad-dog
killer Sean Bean wants to know. To escape from Bean, Brittany
goes crazy and cuts up her boyfriend so that she'll be committed
to the maximum security wing of New York's Hospital for the
criminally insane. No way Bean can get to her, there. So Bean
kidnaps psychiatrist Michael Douglas' daughter - the ransom: get
into the maximum security wing of the asylum and get the
information from Brittany by 5pm or they'll kill his
daughter.
Douglas breaks into fellow psychiatrist Oliver Platt's office,
reads his files on Brittany, then goes through all of those
locked doors to Brittany's cell then begins to "shrink against
time". He tries to break through to her - and get the information
Bean wants.
Bean hears every word said. He planted a bug in the maximum
security cell to make sure Douglas doesn't hold out on him.
Wait a minute! If Bean can't get past all the security to get
to Brittany, how did her get the bug into the cell? That doesn't
make any sense. Which is where the script spackle comes in...
It seems that Oliver Platt's girlfriend was kidnapped by Bean.
Platt planted the bug.
Wait a minute! If Bean controlled psychiatrist Platt, why not
have Platt get the information from Brittany?
More script spackle! To plug this plot hole they have Platt
tell Douglas that he's the best shrink in New York earlier in the
film. See, Platt may be in charge of the hospital for the
criminally insane, but he's just not as good as Douglas in
dealing with the criminally insane. Why they would hire Platt
when he's incompetent is a plot hole that is never plugged.
They also never plug an obvious plot hole - if Bean controls
Platt, why not have Platt bring Brittany out of the safety of the
maximum security wing of the hospital? Later Douglas just walks
her out on a "field trip". Why didn't Bean just have Platt do the
same thing?
The way to solve a plot hole problem is NOT to go back and
plug it with script spackle, but to find the reason the plot hole
exists in the first place and solve that problem. Platt and
Douglas are almost the same character - having both of them in
the film is redundant. Instead why not just combine the
characters into one - Douglas. Now about that bug in Brittany's
room? Why not just get rid of it completely. It doesn't make any
sense. Problem solved! Find the ROOT of the problem and solve it,
don't try to cover up the problem with script spackle. The
problems always show through... and weaken your script. DON'T SAY
A WORD dissipates any power it might have by splitting the story
between Douglas and Platt and Jennifer Esposito - two of them
exist only to solve plot problems that should have been FIXED
instead of covered over.
Of course, nothing can explain why Bean would kill a dozen
people, kidnap a child, spend ten years in jail for murder, and
get stabbed and shot at... all for a jewel he'll end up fencing
for a tenth of it's value. Heck - he could have taken a day job
for those ten years he spent in slam and made more money!
Even though DON'T SAY A WORD began as a novel, and the plot holes and
script spackle may have come from the book and just not repaired when the
screenwriters adapted it, I have seen many original scripts with plenty of
script spackle covering the plot holes... and script spackle seems to be
a common suggestion in development meetings. If you find a plot hole in
your screenplay, going back and adding a line or scene to cover the hole is
*not* the solution. Instead you really need to solve the problem at its root, and that
may require a major rewrite. Yes, that is a lot of work. Yes, that requires some
analytical skills on your part. Yes, screenwriting is often about solving problems. Just hiding
the problems never works! All of those problems you thought you covered up, show on screen!
Don't patch your story with script spackle, *repair* the story by finding the root problem and fixing that.
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