THURSDAY'S SCRIPT TIP:
STORY = CHARACTER = STORY = THEME
A story is when a character is forced to deal with an emotional problem (usually a character arc) in order to solve an external problem (plot) in order to prevent a catastrophic event from occurring.
So, I start either with a character or a plot, then find the plot or the character that fits... hopefully with a wild "high concept" idea attached. My Showtime film BLACK THUNDER began with a call from a producer I had worked with in the past. Could I show up at the office the next day with 5 ideas for action movies that either feature a helicopter or a stealth fighter plane (they had stock footage of each). So I brain-stormed up a bunch of plane and helicopter ideas overnight and showed up in the office the next day to pitch them (3 of each)... and as usual, the one they selected was the one I liked best. I never know whether that's because I pitch it better or because it's a better idea. The ones they select are usually the ones that are closest to me.
Which meant I ended up with some stock footage of a pair of Stealth Fighter planes in a dog fight, a "glamour reel" of a Stealth Fighter plane from the manufacturer (I think Lockheed)*, some footage of the Blackbird Spy plane in action, a star signed to a multi- picture deal the producers needed a film for... and three weeks to turn in a first draft.
The idea I had come up with was about the ultimate Stealth Fighter Plane - push a button and it's INVISIBLE. Terrorists steal it. How do you find an invisible war plane... before it finds you?
That was science fiction a decade ago, but today it is theoretically possible - a recent article in the science section explained how invisibility was now possible... exactly the way I explained it in my script! My concept of "active stealth" had begun with my research - a bunch of books I bought on Stealth planes on my way home from the pitch meeting. One of the books mentioned that the RAM-skins used in Stealth Fighters is a "passive system" - it doesn't create invisibility, it just absorbs radar beams. Well, if there's a passive system, why can't there be an *active* system? (The rule of logical opposites.) In the book I'd bought about the SR-71 Blackbird there was a bit about how this pre-passive stealth plane had used a radar jamming device - an active system. Well, the SR-71 was *decades ago* - what if they had continued tinkering with that radar jammer and come up with an active stealth system that could bend light around an object... making it invisible? I created the phrase "active stealth" to describe this system.
Though Clint Eastwood's FIREFOX was about stealing a high tech plane from the Russians, there had never been a movie about someone who steals a plane *from us* and we have to get it back. This was basically an original idea.
Because I was dealing with a stealth plane, CONCEALMENT became the key to theme, and the rest of the screenplay came from the theme of concealing yourself as a form of betrayal. Because movies are about *people*, this included the protagonist concealing past relationships and the emotions from those relationships... from himself. Those would be the emotional conflicts that he was dealing with, while stuff blowed up real good around him. Even a stupid action movie is all about the characters... or it's crap. That theme of concealment for betrayal created situations and scenes that were theme-based..This helped me write the script in 3 weeks, and it also helped to make the script more than just a dumb action movie. I was exploring an issue and exploring characters.
THEME IN ACTION
1) The plane is stolen by Colonel Ratcher, who conceals his identity by wearing a Mission Impossible style mask that makes him look like test pilot Moore. Concealment for purposes of betrayal! I needed a way to steal a top secret plane right off the military base with no shortage of security. So I gave him the test pilot's face, uniform... and severed thumb so that he could pass through a biometric security point. Anything worth stealing in a story has to have an equal amount of security. If you are stealing a candy bar, there isn't much security. If you are stealing the world's most powerful war plane? It should be almost impossible... then our job is to find the most clever way to get past all of those security devices.
2) Local woman Mela and her Uncle Rojar Ebair conceal that they are members of the underground, preparing a rebellion. I needed some reluctant allies for my hero Vince Conners when he is alone behind enemy lines, and thought it would be fun to have him accidentally put the local rebels at risk - so *they* want to kill him, too. But they reluctantly pool their resources. This gave me a fun scene where Conners is being chased by an enemy patrol through a village, ducks into a house thinking he's safe... and has a gun shoved in his face. Out of the fry pan, into the fire! Then the parol knocks on the door! The fry pan *and* the fire!
3) Mela has weapons concealed behind a false wall in her house...
4) And she conceals our hero behind the same false wall when the patrol search for him. This created a tense scene when the police search the house and almost find Conners.
5) Of course, the stealth plane itself is all about concealment... but our hero and his co-pilot Jannick have to conceal their Stealth plane when they land behind enemy lines. The fun part of this was that it allowed me to "show" the Stealth plane from stock footage on the ground next to our heroes... by throwing a camouflage tarp over... probably the grip truck or a Honeywagon... with a plywood mock up of the plane wing. On these films that use stock footage you're always looking for ways to match your real people to something that already exists on film.
6) When Jannick is captured he must conceal the existence of our hero... and the mission. We'll talk about this scene tomorrow - along with the relationships of the characters in the story.
7) In order to pass through a checkpoint, Rojar conceals our hero under some melons in his produce truck. This scene actually didn't begin with theme - it began as a joke. Roger Ebert always joked about how every car chase ends with someone plowing into a fruit cart. I thought it would be funny to have the fruit cart in the car chase, and also needed a way to get out hero through a checkpoint into the villain's military base. That gave me Rojar Ebair the Libyan Produce King. Say Roger Ebert with a french accent, you get Rojar Ebair.
The produce truck rolls up to the checkpoint to make a regular delivery for the commissary, and the guards give the contents of the truck a thorough search... creating suspense, because they keep *almost* finding the hero hidden under the crates of melons and produce. Just when they are about to let the truck go... they discover an irregularity and draw their weapons... leading to the "fruit cart" chase.
The produce truck chase was fun to write - I envisioned it as a Western scene. The truck is chased by a pair of motorcycles... like a wagon chased by villains on horseback. When they begin shooting at the truck (blasting melons) our hero springs up and returns fire. That was his character's big change from being concealed (hiding in Act 2) to fighting instead of hiding (what breaks us into the character aspect of Act 3). Theme again. One of the cycles speeds up, and the rider jumps from cycle to the truck bed - just like an Indian in an old western jumping from his horse to a wagon. This leads to a big fight in the bed of a speeding truck trying to evade the other motorcycle. Double excitement! Of course, our heroes win the battle and the fruit truck smashes - sending fruit all over the place and satisfying Roger Ebert's Fruit Cart Car Chase Rule.
THEME SCENES
At the time I wrote this script, I was a regular on the Compuserve Showbiz Forum, as was Roger Ebert. All of the characters in the story are named after other Forum regulars. The evil terrorist Stone was named after my friend Bob Stone who writes comedy presentations for businesses. The pilot named Hinkle... well, Don Hinkle now posts on my message boards. It was fun for all of my online friends to see the movie with characters named after them - and Hollywood actors playing those roles.
There are dozens of other scenes created from the theme of concealment, including a "character twist" at the end revolving around several photos which are really the same photo - which we will talk about in tomorrow's tip about Character Keys.
I came up with a list of scenes - many more than I needed. I picked the best of the scenes and used them in my outline. Pacing is critical in an action script, so I made sure that roughly every ten pages included one action scene of some sort - each action scene had an emotional component that demonstrated "concealment for purposes of betrayal". Either one character concealed information or betrayed another, or a character's actions betrayed them to the enemy, or something was concealed or there was the THREAT of betrayal within the scene. Every scene was thematic.
By Act 3, it was ALL action scenes! One action scene rolling right into the next! A huge action-packed raid on the enemy military base... that leads to a series of dog fights setting one Stealth against another - and one squadron of fighter planes against another.
Whether you start with a character or concept, you can usually find the other... and find your theme while you're at it. They are all connected in that wonderful thing we call "story"... and we look at The Thematic Method in my Story Blue Book. This also helps when you're trying to beat the clock and turn in an interesting draft in 3 weeks.
Want to read that first draft? Here's what I came up with in 3 weeks, reading research books at night and blasting out five "good" pages a day. Sure, some of this needs work... and he filmed version had some changes...
BLACK THUNDER - CAR CHASE SCENE!
* for reasons never explained to me the Stealth Fighter footage I wrote the script around was never used! Instead they substituted some ugly old 1950s plane. I suspect after they sold every single foreign territory *plus* a US deal that included Showtime and DVD before the film was made... they decided to trim the budget and pocket the difference. They found cheaper stock footage and even used stock footage of *stars* from my CRASH DIVE movie instead of hiring stars for the supporting characters. Many changes happen on the way to the screen, but that's the biz!
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WRITING INDIES - Writing an Indie film? This class covers everything you need to know - from Central Locations to Confined Cameos. Using examples from SWINGERS, THE COOLER, STATION AGENT and others, this 80 minute MP3 is packed with information. How Indoe films challenge the audience (while mainstream films reassure the audience). Structures, using BOYS DON'T CRY, RUN LOLA RUN, HILARY & JACKIE, and others as example. Writing for a budget, writing for non-actors, getting the most production value out of your budget. Writing Indies is $10.00 (plus $5 S&H)
WRITING HORROR - The essentials of a horror screenplay - what do ROSEMARY'S BABY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EXORCIST, BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, THE OTHERS and OPEN WATER have in common? This class will tell you! All of the critical elements necessary to write a script that scares the pants off the audience. Writing Horror is $10.00 (plus $5 S&H).
Click here for more information on CLASS MP3s!
STORY IN ACTION SERIES!
THE MISSION IMPOSSIBLE MOVIES
NEW: Updates On Films 7 & 8 Casting!
All 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 !
BRAND NEW!
*** THE BOURNE MOVIES
NEW: Updates on TREADSTONE TV show!
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.
Only $3.99 - and no postage!
Over 240 pages!
*** THE TERMINATOR MOVIES *** - For Kindle!
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.
ONLY $3.99 - and no postage!
NO KINDLE REQUIRED! Get the *free* app (any device, except your Mr. Coffee) on the order page on Amazon!
HITCHCOCK FOR WRITERS!
Strange Structures!
*** HITCHCOCK: EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR! *** - For Kindle!
***
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 - and no postage!
LEARN SUSPENSE FROM THE MASTER!
*** HITCHCOCK: MASTERING SUSPENSE *** - For Kindle!
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
ADVICE FROM 1920!
*** VINTAGE #1: HOW TO WRITE PHOTOPLAYS *** - For Kindle!
***
Screenwriting books have been around as long as films have. This series reprints vintage screenwriting books with a new introduction and history, plus new articles which look at how these lessons from almost 100 years ago apply to today’s screenplays. Anita Loos book is filled with information which still applies.
In addition to the full text of the original book, you get the full screenplay to Miss Loos' hit THE LOVE EXPERT, plus several new articles on the time period and women in Hollywood.
ONLY $2.99 - and no postage!
Movie Magic Screenwriter is the best selling screenplay formatting software and the choice of Hollywood professionals. Screenwriter automatically formats while you write so you can focus on what you're writing, not where it goes on the page. It also formats for television, stage, novels and comic book scripts so you've got an all in one package for any story you want to write. Academy Award Tech Winner!
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