I am crazy to know who this interviewer is. This brand is built around her interviews and she is so freaking smart and just interesting herself. Can someone at Film Courage interview her? I don't even know her name...and I am and avid follower of this channel mostly because of her! Anyone know who she is? Where can we see more of her?
This is what I do. Been doing this for years. Filled notebooks are great, but don’t forget the plot structure is vital. I end up with a bunch of scenes I never use
I've been a poet and songwriter for years and having a notebook around is always essential to me. I carry a notebook around everywhere I go because I never know when I'll be inspired to write about something. Sometimes I'll write some verses before I write the chorus, sometimes I'll have the chorus before I write the verses, but writing it all out in a notebook helps me to figure out how to write the lyrics for a song.
I tried this without even knowing. When I got to a certain point in my screenplay from the outline, I came up with something better then what I had written done. So, I wrote it but didn't know what came next. Takes longer but it's worth it, whether you do it from time to time or all the time. Outline mix with free-writing can be really rewarding...
So interesting. I do the exact same thing. And the scrapbook part of script writing is sometimes the most exciting part. That's where the creativity flows. The rest is sometimes just formatting, or translating, like David says. But I guess this process looks different for every writer. I think it's important to play to your strengths. If dialogue is your thing. Start there. Start with the fun part. And go from there.
Long before I sit down and position the keyboard on my knees... There's a lot to be said for the organic feel of scratching out notes and development on a paper notebook with a quality pen. That's not to say you have to spend a lot of money on either one... The notebook should be of paper sturdy enough to take the ink and not so rough or smooth as to be discomforting to the hand. The pen should either be refillable, or of a type readily and easily replaced BUT absolutely MUST be reliable in laying the ink to the paper. That's it... It sounds easy, but the "cheap-o" pens often fail this test... or become faulty in short order. More importantly, people have different descriptions for what draws them to movies, but most of us simply enjoy "living vicariously through proxies"... Whether we like learning life-lessons without the messy and painful consequences that are depicted on screen, or we like the power-fantasy of being the only competent fighter among thousands... as depicted on screen. "Struggle" gives a story "heart"... Win or Lose, it's the journey and overcoming as many obstacles as possible, and then how the Character deals with the fall out when he/she can't overcome one... That mix, gives the story its warm, relatable, beating heart. My favorite Characters in-game were "sub-optimal" for this exact reason... facing impossible odds, and knowing it... HOW do they deal with that on their personal level? That's a question that fascinates me more than all the victorious marches through Time Square and ticker-tape parades in the history of cinema. Sure, it's fun when Ripley starts out a scared little feminine pilot, trapped on a big star-ship with a horrible alien that defeats every tactic and kills every crew-member... ONLY for Ripley to save the cat, and defeat the alien menace... Victorious... Then finding out the Incorporated Government has uncovered the whole horde of aliens, and she has to "gird her loins" and go back to fight these things, learn how to face combat... blah-blah-blah... to die throwing herself into the molten lead in the prison planet... to be resurrected and eliminate the last alien on the pirate ship on their way back to Earth... Victorious...victorious... whatever... Rocky, will always remain a classic... NOT because he was a great boxer and defeated anyone put in front of him. At the end of the movie, Rocky LOST that bout to Apollo. He still got the girl, and he'd given his everything in the ring, but when the bell rang... he lost. The story wasn't about winning, though. It was about a "regular work-a-day guy" facing Apollo Creed, CHAMPION... AND standing up for the fight... earning Apollo's and everyone else's respect. That's why Bergis Meredeth's famous line is "You're a bum. You always been a bum, and you're always gonna be a bum!" It's about a nobody, who steps up when opportunity knocks, and takes hold of it... REALLY puts his all in. ...It's about the principle a coach taught me in High School. "Leave it in the field." SO in Rocky's case, it should be "Leave it all in the ring"... The principle is sound. When you're out there, facing your big hurdle, your Apollo Creed, or El Guapo... You can put everything you've got into it, or crumple up... Either way, everyone around you is just going to pat your back. Either way, they're going to offer comforts, "You did all you could, so don't sweat it. He's the big Champ, and you didn't have a chance to start with? You tried." When you go to the showers, though... Deep down... You're going to KNOW every moment when you weren't pounding your feet down as hard and fast as you possibly could. You're going to remember every instant you saw the opportunity to land a shot, and didn't move. You're going to remember every moment, the punch lined up and came at you, and you ate it, rather than duck behind the gloves... or the ball was right in front and you didn't dive or reach or stretch... whatever... ...AND you're going to ask yourself, "What if I had? Could I have really made a point or two better? Could I have made a score to win that game?" OR you can go to the shower, truly beaten... worn to the proverbial nub. THEN when you look back, you'll remember maybe an instance when you were truly surprised... totally outclassed... but you can breathe and admit, "I put everything into it, and that guy is GOOD... He's truly better than me." Don't go to the showers asking "What if..." Leave it in the field... all of it. SO you don't get a gold star or a medal. They are fine things to get... BUT if you're not enough of a person before you got it, or tried for it... getting one isn't going to solve all your problems or fix you. That's what the Struggle is all about... AND it's why the Struggle is the Heart and Soul of a Story. ;o)
Sounds like a great way to start the screenwriting process. I usually do it pretty much the same way... but I think I spend less time in the treatment stage and I think I definitely should try to hang out there more.
I've never written a screenplay but have often wondered if a good way to start would be to just write out a scene that sticks with you and won't go away. Then start writing about what comes next and what has gone before. Once you have these scenes going might be a good time to start outlining to get an idea of how you want to put it all together.
I like notebooks however I use them to collect ideas, quotes, phases, some interesting things, stories, memories of others. And as todo list, plans. I like notebooks, they help me to fight procrastination. I write all the support stuff... characters, loglines, treatments, first draft in Notepad++, I like it too much among all the word processors.
I have story and character documents I fill out, after I know my setting and developed assets (characters, etc). These are loaded with essential questions to help me write an outline. I build a treatment and use it as a very basic checklist for my screenplay. I need to know what the chess pieces and board are, before I can determine the rules and strategies.
If I know the ending and proto-characters then yes is my answer. Methinks, it's locally. The path is easy when you see your goal. "Wizard of the Oz" -- "it works, bitches" (Dowkins' quote). Also I think if you haven't the Vision (some sequences of movie clips for inner-brain watch) of the Story, your work on will be full of pain and rewriting.
I am crazy to know who this interviewer is. This brand is built around her interviews and she is so freaking smart and just interesting herself. Can someone at Film Courage interview her? I don't even know her name...and I am and avid follower of this channel mostly because of her! Anyone know who she is? Where can we see more of her?
Her name is Karen. You’re right, she’s amazing. Would love to know more about her
A very interesting take on the process. It’s a nice blend of outline and free writing which is where I find myself wanting to be.
Sounds like a really organic way of writing, love it.
..the best script-writing-process EVER !!...i can REALLY identify with this process...very ORGANIC....very natural.....
Love the idea of having a special notebook for each story, trying it out for my newest story right now.
This is what I do. Been doing this for years. Filled notebooks are great, but don’t forget the plot structure is vital. I end up with a bunch of scenes I never use
I've been a poet and songwriter for years and having a notebook around is always essential to me. I carry a notebook around everywhere I go because I never know when I'll be inspired to write about something. Sometimes I'll write some verses before I write the chorus, sometimes I'll have the chorus before I write the verses, but writing it all out in a notebook helps me to figure out how to write the lyrics for a song.
I tried this without even knowing. When I got to a certain point in my screenplay from the outline, I came up with something better then what I had written done. So, I wrote it but didn't know what came next. Takes longer but it's worth it, whether you do it from time to time or all the time. Outline mix with free-writing can be really rewarding...
Is so hard to start writing, but so wonderful when is fluid after.
So interesting. I do the exact same thing. And the scrapbook part of script writing is sometimes the most exciting part. That's where the creativity flows. The rest is sometimes just formatting, or translating, like David says. But I guess this process looks different for every writer. I think it's important to play to your strengths. If dialogue is your thing. Start there. Start with the fun part. And go from there.
Long before I sit down and position the keyboard on my knees... There's a lot to be said for the organic feel of scratching out notes and development on a paper notebook with a quality pen. That's not to say you have to spend a lot of money on either one... The notebook should be of paper sturdy enough to take the ink and not so rough or smooth as to be discomforting to the hand. The pen should either be refillable, or of a type readily and easily replaced BUT absolutely MUST be reliable in laying the ink to the paper. That's it... It sounds easy, but the "cheap-o" pens often fail this test... or become faulty in short order.
More importantly, people have different descriptions for what draws them to movies, but most of us simply enjoy "living vicariously through proxies"... Whether we like learning life-lessons without the messy and painful consequences that are depicted on screen, or we like the power-fantasy of being the only competent fighter among thousands... as depicted on screen.
"Struggle" gives a story "heart"... Win or Lose, it's the journey and overcoming as many obstacles as possible, and then how the Character deals with the fall out when he/she can't overcome one... That mix, gives the story its warm, relatable, beating heart. My favorite Characters in-game were "sub-optimal" for this exact reason... facing impossible odds, and knowing it... HOW do they deal with that on their personal level? That's a question that fascinates me more than all the victorious marches through Time Square and ticker-tape parades in the history of cinema.
Sure, it's fun when Ripley starts out a scared little feminine pilot, trapped on a big star-ship with a horrible alien that defeats every tactic and kills every crew-member... ONLY for Ripley to save the cat, and defeat the alien menace... Victorious... Then finding out the Incorporated Government has uncovered the whole horde of aliens, and she has to "gird her loins" and go back to fight these things, learn how to face combat... blah-blah-blah... to die throwing herself into the molten lead in the prison planet... to be resurrected and eliminate the last alien on the pirate ship on their way back to Earth... Victorious...victorious... whatever...
Rocky, will always remain a classic... NOT because he was a great boxer and defeated anyone put in front of him. At the end of the movie, Rocky LOST that bout to Apollo. He still got the girl, and he'd given his everything in the ring, but when the bell rang... he lost. The story wasn't about winning, though. It was about a "regular work-a-day guy" facing Apollo Creed, CHAMPION... AND standing up for the fight... earning Apollo's and everyone else's respect. That's why Bergis Meredeth's famous line is "You're a bum. You always been a bum, and you're always gonna be a bum!" It's about a nobody, who steps up when opportunity knocks, and takes hold of it... REALLY puts his all in.
...It's about the principle a coach taught me in High School. "Leave it in the field."
SO in Rocky's case, it should be "Leave it all in the ring"... The principle is sound. When you're out there, facing your big hurdle, your Apollo Creed, or El Guapo... You can put everything you've got into it, or crumple up... Either way, everyone around you is just going to pat your back. Either way, they're going to offer comforts, "You did all you could, so don't sweat it. He's the big Champ, and you didn't have a chance to start with? You tried."
When you go to the showers, though... Deep down... You're going to KNOW every moment when you weren't pounding your feet down as hard and fast as you possibly could. You're going to remember every instant you saw the opportunity to land a shot, and didn't move. You're going to remember every moment, the punch lined up and came at you, and you ate it, rather than duck behind the gloves... or the ball was right in front and you didn't dive or reach or stretch... whatever...
...AND you're going to ask yourself, "What if I had? Could I have really made a point or two better? Could I have made a score to win that game?"
OR you can go to the shower, truly beaten... worn to the proverbial nub. THEN when you look back, you'll remember maybe an instance when you were truly surprised... totally outclassed... but you can breathe and admit, "I put everything into it, and that guy is GOOD... He's truly better than me."
Don't go to the showers asking "What if..." Leave it in the field... all of it.
SO you don't get a gold star or a medal. They are fine things to get... BUT if you're not enough of a person before you got it, or tried for it... getting one isn't going to solve all your problems or fix you. That's what the Struggle is all about... AND it's why the Struggle is the Heart and Soul of a Story. ;o)
This man understands my love for notebooks. It must be a writer thing.
Sounds like a great way to start the screenwriting process. I usually do it pretty much the same way... but I think I spend less time in the treatment stage and I think I definitely should try to hang out there more.
I've never written a screenplay but have often wondered if a good way to start would be to just write out a scene that sticks with you and won't go away. Then start writing about what comes next and what has gone before. Once you have these scenes going might be a good time to start outlining to get an idea of how you want to put it all together.
Nice interview. .he is very positive.
I like notebooks however I use them to collect ideas, quotes, phases, some interesting things, stories, memories of others. And as todo list, plans. I like notebooks, they help me to fight procrastination. I write all the support stuff... characters, loglines, treatments, first draft in Notepad++, I like it too much among all the word processors.
The Abe Lincoln/theatre reference was hilarious.
David Wappel uses the word "treatment" in an interesting way, and in more than one video. What, exactly, does he mean by "treatment"?
Do you write a treatment, outline, or both before writing a screenplay?
I have story and character documents I fill out, after I know my setting and developed assets (characters, etc). These are loaded with essential questions to help me write an outline. I build a treatment and use it as a very basic checklist for my screenplay. I need to know what the chess pieces and board are, before I can determine the rules and strategies.
I've been experimenting with both over the last couple of years. Still trying to find my ideal process.
First the logline, then the characters and then a mini treatment
If I know the ending and proto-characters then yes is my answer. Methinks, it's locally. The path is easy when you see your goal. "Wizard of the Oz" -- "it works, bitches" (Dowkins' quote). Also I think if you haven't the Vision (some sequences of movie clips for inner-brain watch) of the Story, your work on will be full of pain and rewriting.
Both and step outline :)
Really smart guy, love the content!
I love Abe’s speeches! If you have a chance you should read them.
My hand writing is illegible even to me. So there goes that idea.
Great!
Thats what i have been doning for months
I do the notebook thing for novels
I'm kind of disappointed there's no Abe Lincoln/ theatre joke in the thread...
It’s pretty MIND BLOWING that no one made the joke.
I do that. Start with a notebook.
Why so much talking about note books.. Yes i use them to but that felt like unnecessary information.
Ordinary people....
Take a look at Australia just now, David.
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