Lovely Bones: The essence of your script

My writing partner and I work together just about every day and over time, we have developed a shorthand; our secret partner-language so to speak. We say things like “placeholdit”, “throw it in the scene bank” “throw it on the heap”, “Dench-it-up” and “Don’t make me go all KOZIES on you”. That one has a particularly funny genesis but I digress…

One of the terms we use a lot is DNA. In our usage, DNA is the very essence of the material we are working on. My consulting clients hear me say, repetitively, that they need to “find the thematic connectivity” between events in their story. DNA is taking that idea a step further. In our last psychological thriller, the DNA of the script was primal mother love. And so in every scene, at every opportunity, we imbued our script with that DNA. Mother love and every permutation of it, from loving nurturing to ferocious protectiveness.

I am not necessarily talking about the use of an image system but rather a subtextual emotional system. And this can be done from the ground up: character details, locations, even the very use of language in the action line. Everybody knows that poets choose each word they use with great precision to create an overall effect. All writers know that words literally create moods and color. What I am talking about here is rather subversive and sneaky; weaving the essence of the story over and through every single aspect of the script so that the cumulative affect on the executive or producer will evoke particular emotions and unconscious associations.

It’s easy for writers to name a character in their horror script something like Van Scaredigan. That is part of the DNA – sort of – but only in the loosest sense; names are actually fairly broad associations. Some writers like to choose names with mythological associations which frankly goes over the heads of everybody but the writer and other writers. DNA goes deeper than just names; if your script is about loss and grief, for example, how can you as the writer, take advantage of that over-arching feeling and throughout the script, make sure that the DNA of grief is on every page, somewhere, somehow.

DNA might seem elusive to discuss or even esoteric. Does DNA overlap into theme? Yes and no. Where theme is the unmistakable aroma of something cooking in the kitchen, DNA is the subtle whiff of perfume… it’s there but it’s very hard to put your finger on. When I talk to writers about theme they often take the easy way out and say that the theme of their script is “loss” or “finding true love” or “growing up” or “searching for your dreams”. Those are not themes. But those are lovely bones indeed.

If your script is about destiny, then make sure that on every page, from the mouth of every character, from the plot to the theme to the location, destiny is the ephemeral subtext. I’m making it sound quite academic; it’s really not. An example from the thriller my partner and I wrote – remember, the DNA is primal mother love (and loss) - a character says of her garden: My roses are my babies. She could have said I love my roses or I’m proud of my roses but we chose the word “babies”. Now, in the same way that dousing yourself with an entire bottle of perfume is a bad idea, so is going overboard with obvious thematic and DNA references. Just a dab’ll do ya.

Here’s a great exercise: take a highlighter and go through every page of your script, highlighting every line of dialogue or phrase in an action line that speaks to your DNA. Your script should wind up with quite a lot of highlights.

DNA is one of the subtle differences between a well written script and an outstanding script. It’s important not because someone is going to read your script and say: Well done there, Hank! I see you’ve used the phrase “inky night” in your script about a giant squid! No, actually, DNA should be stealthy and invisible to a reader. Really, the use of DNA as a concept is a tool for you, the writer. It helps bring you closer to your material. It answers the question: What am I really writing about? And that would be the DNA of your story. Completely emphemeral and yet totally central. An omnipresent, indispensable building block. That which traces your script back to its very roots around the fire a thousand years ago.

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