SCREENWRITING

SEMINAR

1. THE VALUE OF SCREENWRITING. WHERE DO STORIES COME

FROM?

 The importance of the subtext – this is how the story should be told:
through little actions that will tell how our story is developing.
 Empathy for others – we need to know our characters, who they are,
their goals, but also their ability to grow and evolve.
 Writing means rewriting again and again and again. it builds
toughness – we need to be self-critical and keep evolving.
 Finding your voice. Working out your perspective – through the
process of writing, we can figure out important things regarding life,
such as love, relationships, family, etc. This creates our own,
personal point of view.

Evaluation – Continuous Evaluation

 Assignment 1: presentation of an idea (10%) – groups of 4  five-

minute presentation of your idea for the final short followed by
questions from the instructor and other students. Focus questions:
o Define clearly what your short screenplay is about: what is the
central dramatic argument.
o
 Assignment 2: Pitch of final project (10%) – groups of 4  a five-
minute pitch of our final short followed by questions and answers
from the instructor and other students. This is a pitch not an
informational presentation. You are “selling” your project, and the
audience is deciding whether or not to invest in it, so your goal is to
elicit strong level of interest.
o Take us through your story as though you were watching it on
screen.
o Be clear about the genre, tone and any other relevant editorial
factors.
o Be clear about your characters and what they want.
o Communicate the “why” of your story: what’s the central
dramatic argument? Why do you want to tell this story? Why
will it resonate with viewers? (not everyone needs to talk)
 Assignment 3 – writing a three-page short (20%) – groups of 2
 Assignment 4 – final short (groups of 4) or final exam (individual) –
50%
 Seminar attendance and participation – 10%
Where do stories come from?

Example: Lin-Manuel Miranda

 People or art that inspires you

 Your life and the community around you
 At random points and moments (movement)

An idea for a short film for next week: When we dream, we let go of our
mind and can only observe what happens while someone else uses it,
making all the decisions. That’s why it’s always a POV – we dream but
never really see ourselves. When we dream of dying, this other person
dies and someone else takes their place. When we don’t dream, the other
person is sleeping, too. We can’t be awake at the same time, that’s why
we don’t know them. One day, as our protagonist falls asleep, she sees
herself from someone else’s POV as they enter her house.

SEMINAR 2. LOGLINES

The Emmy Awards: three photos of people who won Emmy – a show called
“Hacks”, best limited series “Baby Reindeer”, best drama writing “Slow …”

“The Princess Bride” – the host makes a one-phrase description of the

show, which is precise and on-point.

WHAT IS A LOGLINE?

 Brief (i.e. – one-sentence) summary of a movie with the most

important details.
 States the central conflict of the story, often using like “when” and
“after” – “After a tsunami hits her resort… a mother searches for her
family.”
 Often includes an emotional “hook” to stimulate interest. – “After a
devastating tsunami strikes the coast of Thailand, a determined
mother navigates the chaotic aftermath to find her family.”
 Think of this as the “elevator pitch” for your story (you get 10-20
seconds with a producer; how would you describe your movie?)

Groundhog Day (1993) – “When a rude, self-centred TV weatherman

finds himself trapped in a time wrap, he’s doomed to live the same day
over and over until he gets it right.”  we can tell that it has a comedic
touch, we get an overall idea of what the movie is about.

The trailer: the romantic relationship aspect seems like a big part of the
movie; however, we don’t have to include it in the logline.
Brooklyn 99: Policemen in the NYPD jungle between fighting crime and
figuring out their personal lives.

My idea: In a world where one’s dreams are someone else’s reality; a girl is
kidnapped and has to discern between what is real and what is not to save
herself.

SEMINAR 3.

The Duplass brothers – well-known in the world of US independent cinema

and TV.

SEMINAR 8. FROM SCRIPT TO SCREEN

John August – writer and director. Major Hollywood screenwriter. One of the
first screenwriters who had a public blog and talked publicly about
screenwriting. He’s very dynamic and has directed quite a few movies –
some of Tim Burton’s, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.

“God” – a short written and directed by John August.

When you introduce an element that is unreal, you need to set the rules
clear and at the beginning, so it doesn’t confuse the spectator; once we
have the rules set, we can let the spectator focus on the plotline.

Techniques:

 Voiceover
 Her talking on the phone
 Directly to us, breaking the fourth wall
 The script reads pretty easily; the way the screenwriter expresses
even in the descriptions seems like talking to a friend. The attention
to details, such as her drinking “a cup of mochaccino” makes the
read easier.

1. What are the main plot points where the story shifts into a new
direction?
a. Margaret introduces her to her relationship with God.
b. Margaret and God’s relationship breaks after their phone call
late at night.
c. Margaret decides to contact the Devil.
 d. Margaret tries and spits the pork and decides to reconcile with
God.
2. In just a handful of few words, describe act 1, act 2 and act 3.
a. Margaret’s life with God’s presence in it, all the “benefits” she
gets; we see her in a number of situations where she tells her
about the dynamics of their relationship.
b. Margaret breaks her relationship with God and ends up in a
series of “revenge” situations, where her hair, her breakfast
and her car suffer.
c. Margaret decides to do the ultimate bad deed for God – eat
pork, but when she does, she feels regret and misses him; the
same minute he calls, they reconcile, and peace is restored.
3. What’s an example of a setup & payoff (“planting”)? – Mentioning
how “hard core” God is with pork.
4. What are examples of “squeezing the juice” out of the
setting/backdrop/world?
a. Having access to all the gossip.
b. Running the universe being an ordeal
c. She mentions topics such as being gay, adultery, which are
very controversial in Christian religious societies.
d. God is all-seeing and knows where she is at any time.
e. Having a relationship with God implies the possibility of a
relationship with the Devil – something which the script also
explores.
f. He can shape clouds.

They are necessary, because they make the reader/spectator feel like the
screenwriter knows their story, that they have power over the world
they’re creating. These details enrich the plot, and also make it unique.

5. What could have been better in your opinion?

a. I feel like the ending was a little weak. I would suggest an
alternative one, where she’s not suddenly asked to do a
mission of a sort – I didn’t get the impression that it’s the
dynamics of their relationship.
b. He got mad for a very stupid thing.
c. Why was the devil’s secretary a woman?
d. The part about worshipping idols, we would add a real person –
Beyonce, or someone else.
6. What’s something you didn’t understand? Word, formatting…?
a. What is the nature of the relationship between God and
Margaret?
b. What is the nature of the relationship between Margaret and
Gavin?
 c. Unabomber?

05/11/2024

5 things about Monty:

 He’s religious
 He much be rich / has high standard – Ford Mustang, camel hair
overcoat
 He has somewhere he needs to get to – a meeting of some kind
 He’s sympathetic
 He does what he wants – a leader
 He’s probably a criminal or somehow involved in a world of crime
 Tolerates pain
 He’s detailed – he inspects the dog
 He’s impulsive
 He appreciates the toughness of the dog
 He’s brave and kind of playful – he goes “like a matador wielding his
cape”
 Reckless and bad luck – Kosta says it flat out
 Not afraid to get his hands dirty

5 things about Jacob:

 Seems younger than Monty, almost adolescent; immature – probably

had a less troubled life
 Attracted to Mary
 Awkward around Monty
 Grew up together with Monty
 Careless about his appearance
 He’s not the cool type of teacher – not authority
 Insecure but with a mischievous and immature streak
 He teaches in the same school that they went to – he’s probably
never gone far from where he grew up, he hasn’t really lived.

12/11/2024

Different ways of structuring the script – knowing the theory is fine but
forgetting it from time to time is also important.

Scriptnotes 403 – How to Write a Movie

The concept of central dramatic argument

Craig Mazin – big Hollywood screenwriter; his first works weren’t his best
works. He’s the creator of “Chernobyl” and also of “The Last of Us”.

All the charts are made form the point of view of the analysis; but it isn’t
going to help us to write anything, as when we write, we don’t break
something apart, we build it up.

Screenplay is structure, but structure is a trap. It doesn’t say what

happens on what page. It doesn’t tell us what to do. Structure isn’t the
dog, it’s the tail. It’s a symptom of the character’s relationship with a
central dramatic argument. It’s not something we write well, it’s
something that happens because we wrote well.

What real writers follow are the characters, and what great writers do is
following the characters that evolve around the central dramatic
argument.

It’s about designing a specific set of obstacles, designing a journey, based

on a common thread. We put these obstacles before our characters, and,
as they deal with them, they grow.

Concepts are simple; it’s the execution around it that’s going to be

interesting and original.

To have a narrative drive and structure you need to be moving towards an

idea, you need a direction.

It’s not just exploring a world – it’s what we want to say about it. This will
determine what our characters are going to deal with.

The argument doesn’t come first – the idea does. After we have the idea,
we think of a central dramatic argument.

The purpose of the story is to take a character from ignorance of the truth
of theme and take them all the way to the point where they become the
embodiment of the theme through action.

The writer’s job is to disrupt the “ordinary” peace of the character, the
situation they content themselves with. This situation will take them out of
their comfort zone, it will “destroy” the character’s idea of peace and will
drive them to break the “stasis” and have to make a choice.

“stasis” – the opposite of change

“You’re the parent and you have a lesson to teach your character. You’re
God and you’re designing the transformation of your character.”  it can
be an explosion, or the tiniest little change, but it will not affect the lives of
the rest of the characters the way it will affect our character.
We are the once to keep forcing our heroes forward as they try to push
back because of the obstacles we set for them. We’ll reinforce their need
to get back.

In real life, people don’t change their points of view easily, probably not at
all, but when it does, it doesn’t happen after a conversation. We need
change to be believable, and for it to be believe, we have to go through a
process – this process shouldn’t be a straight line.

An element of doubt – something or someone is an example of the life of

theme rather than the life of anti-theme. This element of doubt creates a
conflict within the protagonist, but it’s also attractive to them, as out hero
is rational – they have to have the capacity to see that there is a better
way. It’s fear that separates the rational hero from the irrational potential.
The irrational potential doesn’t see value into the change (in the case of
“Finding Nemo”, it’s Dory; she’s not just an interesting fish, she’s the
perfect fish that embodies the theme the writer wants the character to
reach).