MONDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:
A LATE START
Your script starts when the story starts. We've only got 110
pages, no
time to waste. If your script doesn't kick into gear until page thirty, it might be that you
are starting too
early... giving us pointless background information or spending too much time setting up
events. You
may want to spend 10 pages introducing your character before the plot kicks in, but
your character
isn't important until the story starts. Character and story are connected on a basic level -
you've chosen
this particular protagonist because of the story - so the important aspects of the
character are those
things that are directly connected to the story. If your story is about an FBI agent
tracking a serial killer,
his previous job as a golf caddy isn't going to be important. Any time spent on golf is
time taken away
from the serial killer story. And what does the golf caddy past have to do with anything?
It's a pointless
detail, and we only have 110 pages... everything has to matter! Every element of your
screenplay is there to tell the story - there are no accidents in a script. Every element of
character, every subplot, everything is part of the story you are telling... or it belongs on
the cutting room floor. Since the only aspects of the
protagonist that are important are the aspects that connect him to the story, which
makes him
completely unimportant until the story starts. The script starts when the story starts.
M. Night Shyamalan's new film THE HAPPENING (which sounds like a 1960s drug movie) is coming out
soon, and the trailers are comparing it to SIGNS... his last film that audiences liked. SIGNS opened with Mel Gibson sitting bolt upright in bed.
Something is
wrong. He gets out of bed and checks his kids' room... they are gone! Yelling from
outside. Gibson
goes downstairs, still no sign of his kids, walks outside his farmhouse... hears his
children yelling. His
dogs barking and growling. The sounds are coming from the corn field. Gibson runs into
the corn field,
yelling his children's names. Hears a muffled response. Runs through the maze of
maize. Stalks slapping
him as he follows the sounds of the barking dogs and yelling children. He beaks
through the corn stalks,
sees his son and daughter. His son is hysterical, says the dogs won't stop barking. Mel
leans down and
grabs his son, asking him if he's okay. His son says he's okay, but is still panicked. By
what? He turns
Mel's head so that he can see the barking dogs... roaming around the center of a
massive crop circle in
the corn field.
The story is about crop circles, and we get them right away. The film starts when
the story starts.
No boring scenes showing Mel and his kids on the farm before the crop circles - that
would be wasting
pages. The story is about a farmer who finds crop circles in his corn field - and that
happens in the
opening scene - the opening MINUTE! Though Mel Gibson is an ex-priest who quit the
ministry when
wife was killed in a car accident, those elements of his character only become important
AFTER he
discovers the crop circles. BEFORE he discovers the crop circles he isn't important - so
any scenes
about him would be pointless. Before the crop circles, Mel Gibson is just a farmer in
rural Pennsylvania. There are HUNDREDS of farmers in rural Pennsylvania. Mel is no
different than the others - no more important than the others. Other farmers have lived
through tragedy. Other farmers have personal lives... but only Mel has a crop circle in
his corn field. The crop circle makes him important. They make him part of the story.
Any scenes with Mel pre-crop circles are about a character that doesn't matter... they'll
be boring! We only have 110 pages, not enough time to be boring!
But not all scripts are about alien invasions and crop circles - what about a standard
thriller? Shouldn't you spend act 1 setting up your character/ Or maybe the first ten
pages introducing your protagonist? Let's say your script is about a businessman who
witnesses a
murder on his lunch hour and gets a great look at the killer. He describes the killer to
a police sketch artist. The sketch looks similar to three known criminals. The criminals
are brought in, and a pair of detectives that fit the same general description are added
to the line up. The witness looks at the five men in the line up, identifies the killer... it's
one of the cops!
Okay. You could start your story with the witness waking up in the morning,
driving to the office, working half a day, breaking for lunch... then seeing the murder at
end act one. But the story doesn't really start until he sees the murder - all of the stuff
before that may be setting up the lead character, but it's boring. It's stuff that happens
BEFORE the story starts.
After the story starts, you can fill in the protagonist's background. Once Mel is the
farmer with the
crop circles, he's an important character - the story revolves around him. NOW that he's
in the center
of the story, we'll want to know more about him... and we can reveal that he's an
ex-priest (people still
call him "Father") and that he quit the ministry when his wife was killed in a car
accident. Once we have
a story, and the story has a protagonist, we can look into the protagonist's life... but still
we only
explore the portions of Mel's life that are directly related to the story. We don't go off on
any tangents.
Mel may have been a golf caddy in the past - it doesn't matter. Carrying golf clubs has
nothing to do
with the story about an event that might lead to the end of the world... but losing your
faith to the point
that you don't want to waist a single minute praying? That aspect of Mel's character is
critical to the
story. Does Mel believe the crop circles are real? Does he believe aliens are invading?
Does he believe
in luck or fate or God? These elements of Mel's character are required to tell the
story.
You want to start as late as possible. If the story can't start until the crop circles
show up in
Mel's corn field... that's not the end of act one, that's not page ten, that's the beginning
of your script! Page one! Start your script when the STORY starts.
MY BLOG!
SCRIPT SECRETS STORE - time to monkey around!
Did FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL have about 5 penis shots too many for you? After seeing FORBIDDEN KINGDOM did you want to see a *real* movie with Jackie Chan and Jet Li?
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