Democratic Freedom in Action

So - really, Rouge Wavers? Of the hundreds of you that visit daily only 21 people have voted for the top three finalists in the Pitch, Bitch, Stitch competition? You know, in other countries, voting for something like this be a privilege - no, an honor! Do your fellow Wavers who put so much effort into this competition a solid and take a moment to vote. I'm asking nicely :)

Read the top three finalists HERE.

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People Helping People

Thank you to the Rouge Waver who stepped up to my request to mentor a young writer from Romania. This is unbelievably good karma; there are so many aspiring writers out there who just don't have the resources to get where they need to go. The Wave-inatrix is a big believer in encouragement - as you all know by now. Sometimes it just takes that ONE person to help someone realize their dreams with their belief and elbow grease. What an incredible opportunity to be that person who makes a difference. I have had many mentors in my life and continue to benefit from their support and wisdom. So many have believed in the Wave-inatrix, through thick and thin and thin and thin. It's something I'll never forget.

Many of us in the US are a bit spoiled; we all have computers and internet access and relationships and money to spend on screenwriting publications and competitions. But this is not true for everybody. What goes around comes around; if there is someone you know who needs a mentor - offer up your services. It goes a long way toward building a better world. Even in something as seemingly esoteric as writing. Without art, who are we, really? It's what makes us human.

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Top Ten Things Readers LOVE

The Wave-inatrix read three scripts this last weekend. Usually I try not to work on weekends but the last time that worked out was...let me see...oh that's right, there was a weekend in March that time. As it turns out, this weekend, all three scripts I read were delightful reads. So that led me to come up with a positive list of what readers (okay or maybe just me) love when we read a script. These are somewhat obvious, no-brainers and yet you'd be surprised how difficult these are to achieve:

1. Originality
2. Voice
3. Fresh, complex characters
4. Tight structure/page count
5. Pithy, effective action lines
6. A compelling narrative; pages that flow
7. Organic conflict, building tension
8. Resonant, universal theme
9. A provocative beginning
10. An emotionally satisfying ending

For more information on each numbered item, simply search The Rouge Wave for:

premise
voice
character
structure
action lines
narrative
conflict
theme
the first ten pages

And now, a topic within a topic, and I'll call this Hands Across the Sea:

The Script Department is all about intentionality and honoring what is possible for writers and for entertainment. I received an email from a young writer in Romania who is feeling quite isolated when it comes to creative community, feedback and resources. Slight detour, bear with me: At the Great American Pitch Fest, The Script Department, as is our tradition, gave away one free basic coverage to the winner of the guess-the-number-of-brads-in-the-bowl competition. The winner just notified me that he can't have his script done on time to take advantage of this free coverage and wants to offer it to someone else who'd like to use it. This is a no-brainer for me: the young gal in Romania. I wondered if, in addition, there is a Rouge Waver who might be interested in being connected to this ambitious and creative young woman as a mentor/pen pal to provide guidance and encouragement in addition to the free notes she is about to receive? If you are interested in this we-are-all-one-good-karma mentorship, please email me HERE and I will put you in touch with Marina.

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Short Scene Comp: TOP THREE

All righty, Wavers - it's the moment we've all been waiting for. The top three finalists of the Pitch, Bitch, Stitch short scene competition.

VOTING GUIDELINES
*Did the writer make clever, contextual use of the three keywords?
*Are the characters unique and organic?
*Does the scene have a beginning, middle and end?

RULES:
Please, no ballot stuffing. We work on the honor system here. That means we want Wavers voting, not Waver's aunts, cousins, pals and co-workers.

PRIZE
A $25 gift certificate to Amazon, Starbucks or the retail outlet of the winner's choice.

And now - without further adieu:

Three Day Trip - by Iain Urquhart

EXT. RALPH'S MOTOR LODGE - DAY
BARB (50), nightgown, bursts from a cabin, SLAMMING the door.
HERB (50), singlet and comb-over, piles out behind.

HERB
Five's no good! It ain't even
even. Five is an odd! You got odd,
you got one left over. That's the
whole goddamned point!

BARB
How many tires you got, Professor?
FIVE! Two pair, one spare. But
you don't never bitch about tires!

HERB
SOCKS AIN'T TIRES!

BARB
Don't do no harm to carry a spare.

HERB
Holy shit! Sock blows out, you
just pitch up on the sidewalk,
pull on the spare. Is that it?

BARB
Honey, half your socks got blowouts
already. And don't count on
me to stitch them up neither!

HERB
I got a three day trip, here, and
two days socks! WHAT ABOUT MONDAY?

BARB
Wear one of them twice!

HERB
Two red, two black and only one
yellow! That ain't going to work!

BARB
Ever think about washing them?

HERB
I got a better plan. We're going
home Sunday!

BARB
The funeral is Monday!

HERB
Ma was a saint! She'd understand!

George Carlin in Hell by Tavis Sarmento

EXT. HEAVEN - DAY

The classic comedian, GEORGE CARLIN, paces a cloud bank in front of an audience made up of winged and haloed ANGELS. He wears his usual black ensemble and speaks into a microphone.

GEORGE CARLIN
They say when you die you need to go into the light. Well, I didn’t see any light...it was pitch black. Next thing I know I’m pulling bits of cloud from my beard and staring up at the Pearly Gates.

Polite chuckles from the audience.

GEORGE CARLIN
And what is that, “Pearly Gates”? Sounds like something your grandmother would say to her friends as they stitch doilies. “Oh my heavens, have you seen the Pearly Gates?”

Laughter from the crowd.

GEORGE CARLIN
Call it what it is: the Celestial Cage. You get wings and a perch. And there’s no need to change the paper at the bottom because we’ve got the Earth below us. We didn’t shit on the planet enough while we were down there, might as well let another load drop.

He squats and makes a loud farting sound. The audience stares in stunned silence.

GEORGE CARLIN
(deeply into microphone)
Let me tell ya, the afterlife’s a bitch.

He steps down from the cloud bank and an angel walks over with a wide smile.

ANGEL
George, why so glum? You’re in Heaven now.

GEORGE CARLIN
Yeah, speak for yourself.

The Payoff Pitch by Scott Marengo

EXT. BALLPARK - AFTERNOON

Bases loaded, two outs. Lowell High at bat.

MIGGY, the Mission High closer, peers in for the sign-

TAUNT (O.S.)
Li’l bitch got nothin’!

Miggy glances over -- a familiar face. CHUCO, 19, hangs on the chainlink. He flashes four -- Norteños.

CHUCO
Por siempre, muthafucka!

The UMPIRE calls time and pulls off his mask.

UMPIRE
Can somebody call the cops?

CHUCO
Go ahead, you fat fuck.

The COACH grabs a bat and waddles over-

COACH
Leave your brother alone, Chuco.

CHUCO
Cut him here to here -- won’t nobody stitch him up!

The bat slams the fence. Chuco scurries beyond the dugout.

UMPIRE
Let’s go, Pitch. We got a full count.

Miggy takes a deep breath, peers in for the sign...
The RUNNER on third breaks. Miggy rocks back and fires-

UMPIRE
Ball four!

The Runner crosses home and is mobbed by his teammates. Miggy hangs his head in defeat. Chuco thumps his chest, yells from the distance-

CHUCO
You heard me, muthafucka. My shadow’s long!

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Writers to Watch: Joshua Zetumer

by Margaux Froley Outhred

I was recently able to pin down screenwriter, and someone I am proud to call a friend, Joshua Zetumer, to ask a few questions about his screenwriting career. In technical terms, it's safe to say that Josh's career has "blown up" in the last two years.

We met three years ago, both as struggling screenwriters, and it's been awe-inspiring to watch Josh's quick ascent into the Hollywood echelons of "working screenwriter". He's been a favorite of the Development insider list, THE BLACK LIST for three years running. His script, "Villian" is in development with 2929 Productions. He has another script, "The Infiltrator", also in development with Leonard DiCaprio's company, Appian Way. His spec script, "Man of Cloth", has Hugh Jackman attached to star. Josh recently completed the production polish on the current James Bond film, and now Josh is adapting "Dune" for director, Peter Berg. Whew......

Josh was good enough to answer a few questions exclusively here on the Rouge Wave:

What was the script that launched your career?

I wrote a thriller called 'Villain' that got me an agent at UTA. It took about six years of writing obsessively—shitty script after shitty script—before anything happened. 'Villain' started off as an exercise. I'd written some bigger, unfocused scripts, and I wanted to see how much mileage I could get out of two characters and one setting. I found I liked the characters so much, I decided to make the whole thing revolve around the slow reveal of their backstory rather than the plot.

Have you stayed working within that genre?

Definitely not. It's much more creatively satisfying to treat writing as an exploration of your own abilities. Also—and I'm sure this isn't news to anyone—it's easy for studios and executives to put you in a box if you stay in one genre. 'Villain' is a thriller about a guy stuck in a claustrophobic fire-watcher cabin. After people read it, the projects they threw me were not only thrillers, they were 'guy-trapped-in-X' movies. "Would you do a movie about a guy trapped in an elevator?" "What about a woman trapped in an attic?" I wanted to do something totally different, so instead I took a job for Warners writing about British spies in the IRA.

How do you think your writing style/voice has changed by working on assignment rather than spec-ing a script?

I'd like to think it doesn't matter whether your writing a spec or an assignment. A studio is hiring you for your voice, they probably don't want you to change it too much. I feel like your voice should be changing naturally over time as you keep exploring, keep getting better (hopefully). I play the drums in my spare time, and a teacher once told me, "If you ever make a recording that you're 100% happy with, quit". That's a little dark, but I think it's similar with writing. If you don't feel like you're growing, stop.

How much work do you have to do, ie, research, taking meetings, coming up with "takes" on projects, before you get the job?

In my limited experience, the projects worth doing are usually pretty competitive. Unless you're J.J. Abrams, you're going to be doing a lot of free work. It's silly, but I get kind of like Daniel Plainview from 'There Will Be Blood'. If I want the job and I hear they're talking to another writer, I instantly go to a place of (insert crazy theatrical accent) "Why don't I own this?" If you really love a project though, coming up with the take is equal parts fun and frustration. It's shittily exciting, I guess.

What is your current job? And what's the coolest thing about it?

I just got hired to adapt 'Dune' for Pete Berg. I think I just really love sandworms.

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My Life as a Comedy

by PJ McIlvaine

People say to me that I’m funny. Honestly, I don’t know where they get that idea. I don’t think I’m funny. Not really. Yes, it’s true that I have a sense of humor that borders on the absurd (love FAWLTY TOWERS, Monty Python, Mr. Bean). I can come up with a biting quip, a snappy comeback, a sarcastic retort faster than Kim Cattrall can shuck her clothes. However, people who know me, and who know what I’ve gone through the past couple of years, well, they know that I haven’t had much to laugh about.

But writing comedy… whoa! See, the most amusing thing about this is that I don’t see myself as a comedy writer, per se. I’m a writer, period. If the things I write make people laugh, great. But it’s not like I wake up in the morning, jump in the shower, turn the hot water on and all of a sudden I’m overtaken with side splitting, slap stick scenes or gut busting dialog. I just write them as I see them and if they amuse, who am I to say otherwise? I didn’t mean to rob that bank, Judge, but the teller was so nice and it seemed like she had enough money to spare…
My first foray into screenwriting was a post Vietnam family in crisis drama; it had some funny bits, but overall, not a laugh riot. Uh-uh. Next was a family rom-com ; again, some light touches, but no big set pieces revolving around inanimate objects, Colostomy bags or sex with groundhogs. After that came another rom-com with some broader comedic touches; still no smash in your face pie moments. Clearly I was feeling my way around this screenwriting thing like teens fumbling in the back seat of a Dodge. One more family coming of age a la TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (a classic which still gets to me every time, didn’t we all want Gregory Peck to our Dad?), then back to the lighter side with a (dare I say it, yeah) a fun family adventure in the GOONIES vein.

And then out of nowhere came MY HORRIBLE YEAR, and it was like the Hoover Dam breaking. I just went for broke, incorporating my kids and their small petty travails which to them were not small or petty. In the first few pages I had the Queen of England, Princess Di, dancing poodles, vintage airplanes crashing, fertility triplets, a guy in a kilt with needles in his eyebrows, and people running around in tights beating the crap out of each other (wrestling). It took me shy of a month to write it, and when I finished it, I put it away, too embarrassed to show it to anyone. Months later, I hooked up with a manager, she asked me what I had, I told her, she read the script, and suddenly the script that I was loathe to show anyone, well, Mimi Rogers didn’t think it was so bad. So maybe I do have a comedic funny bone. Somewhat.

Still, that always doesn’t translate into guffaws. Sometimes I’ll come up with something that I think is totally off the wall, flat out funny, and no one else gets it. Sometimes I write something that I don’t think is particularly amusing, but others think is hilarious. Other times, I’m not trying to be funny, not consciously, but it comes out funny anyway.

I grew up on the Three Stooges (pokes in eyes and tossing cream pies as high art), Laugh-In (the devil made me do it), The Smothers Brothers (variety shows, a lost breed), All In The Family (great comedic sitcoms, the kind they don’t make anymore). Much of that comedy was more subtle, ironic, political, and sardonic. What passes for comedy nowadays are pee pee jokes, a never ending supply of Depends, and slipping unsuspecting folks laxatives. Hey, don’t get me wrong, I like a good (I mean GOOD) gross out joke as much as the next bozo, but a little of this goes a long way. Like Ex-Lax.

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How'd You Like to Meet An A-lister?

Well, Wavers - this is exciting. The Silver Screenwriting Competition has just added something, or rather, someone to the grand prize. An Academy Award nominated screenwriter of one of the most critically acclaimed feature films of the past three years will be having lunch with our winner. Due to contractual obligations I cannot reveal his name at this moment in time. We have to respect his wishes but believe me, I am in 7th heaven, I can't believe this writer is making himself available. I will chaperone the luncheon and I'm completely awe-struck at the thought.

Our deadline is July 3rd so get those scripts in ASAP. Because we are a baby competition, the odds are quite good this year.

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The Doctor is IN:

First of all, thank you Dr. Jeff for answering these questions on The Rouge Wave and thank you to Julie for arranging it.

My question is regarding character flaws and arc, etc. We know that a great character has a flaw/challenge that they are trying to overcome, and some character arcs involve the character rising to the challenge and some reject it.

What are some believable ways that a character overcomes their flaw/challenge? What makes a character finally choose to overcome or set aside their flaw? Someone can have an opponent, ally, or opponent/ally pressing them to overcome that flaw for years, so what might make them finally take that step?

Thanks!
Trina Koning MacDonald

Dear Trina,

While lots of spiritually evolved people had relatively easy childhoods, the majority didn’t. They came from harsh, abusive pasts which put them on the quest to go through Hell to get to Heaven. These painful childhoods became the compost by which either their lives remained piles of shit or became the fertilizer for growing the flowers, (i.e., the roots of the transformation.)

What finally makes “real life” or “reel life” heroes and heroines take the big step? Generally, something happens or keeps happening that put them up against it. Thus, it becomes intolerable to not do… not strive… not battle. Clint Eastwood in “The Outlaw Josey Wales” says, (and I near quote) “When you’re backed in a corner, surrounded by enemies, outnumbered, out-manned, out-gunned… THAT’S WHEN YOU GET PLUMB DOG MEAN!” Something huge is at stake and the protagonist goes down swinging rather than just goes down.

The way a transformation becomes believable is either, or both;

A) the deck gets gradually (or quickly) stacked against the protagonist. It finally reaches a crescendo/breaking point where the next act against them becomes the ‘straw that breaks the camel’s back’ --- and our own frustration, as the viewing audience, (watching them suffer these indignities) becomes so heightened that we’re right with them when they won’t take it anymore.

Or

B) The small steps made throughout by the protagonist support (in believability) the ‘Big Step” i.e., the new internal stance or external behavior.

The thing about film, according to Robert McKee in his award winning ‘Story’ is that at the end of a movie we want a “permanent, irreversible change in the protagonist.’ This ‘reel life’ nuttiness is not ‘real life’. Breakthroughs in life generally don’t last. They are so far from where a person normally lives that it is nearly impossible to anchor it in a new elevated place without major slippage. So, if a movie is to ring true, the incremental process, the baby steps leading to the big step (transformation) must hold true.

Take care,
Doctor Jeff

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Sending Comments to the Rouge Wave

Good afternoon, Wavers! I get a lot of comments sent into the RW; some that encourage dialogue and ask questions and have differing views - which I am happy to print and respond to. And some that are crazy, Red Bull-induced screeds and rants. Those you don't see because they are not productive. Someone sent a screed about readers being useless and that I don't like violent movies. Untrue on both counts. My top ten things readers hate list included gratuitous sex and violence - for those who might infer that means I personally don't like violence or action movies, I would encourage you to use your dictionary and look up gratuitous. So here's how you can get your comments published on the Rouge Wave:

Be polite and respectful
DO NOT SEND COMMENTS IN ALL CAPS LIKE YOU'RE YELLING
Do not use foul language or ask inappropriate personal questions or favors
If you have a differing opinion or experience, politely state your case and back it up

I am all about encouraging discussion and opinions. You don't have to agree with the Wave-inatrix, you don't have to send me cupcakes (though it helps; I did receive a dozen by messenger today, funnily enough) but you do have to make sense and be polite. That's just the Rouge Way.

Thank you. End transmission. Now get back to work.

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Top Ten Things Readers HATE

Good morning, Wavers. I trust many of you, as usual, are busily thinking of a clever one page scene for the latest competition. There's nothing to lose and a $25 gift certificate to gain. Plus we like to have fun at the Rouge Wave, so, you know, you really gotta give it a whirl. Click HERE for the guidelines and click HERE to submit.

Also: just FYI, I have recently had requests from two production companies and a lit manager for some GREAT scripts. I have already submitted a few this week, from my client base but am definitely looking for great material to get out there. Obviously, I have to read the script first and yeah, that obviously means do some notes on the material, but the reputation of the Script Department has grown to the point where I am getting hit up for good scripts. So. Just put that in your pipe and smoke it. I am looking for anything well written, but also family, tentpole, action, horror and thriller.

So the happy, happy class who took Ten Things Readers HATE over the weekend requested that I repost that list here on the Rouge Wave. Now - you really had to to be there and I can't reprint everything that we discussed in a 90 minute class. But I will reprint the list itself just for fun. This list could have been much longer but this is what we discussed at the Great American Pitch Fest. And remember - because it's the Wave-inatrix - my list actually goes to 11.

Bear in mind that readers are often overworked and underpaid and your script may be the third script they read that day. So they're a little cranky, a little jaded and they really want to go to bed. But no. Your script is staring at them and they gotta get through it quickly so they can turn in the coverage that night so tomorrow they can go pick up six more scripts from another production company a long, smoggy drive away. So I've set the scene, right?

Top Ten Things Readers HATE:

#11 A script over 120 pages.

Reader thinks: Please kill me now. The writer doesn't have a good grasp of structure and tight story telling. Great. Just great.

#10 The writer sent weird shit in the mail with the script.

Reader thinks: Oh god. A rank amateur. Some kind of nut. What is this map/sketch/doll/polaroid/music and how fast can I toss it to the floor so I can just read the script already?

#9 Boring, derivative scripts in which nothing happens.

Reader thinks: Wtf? Where's the conflict? What is the bloody point here? I hate this writer! Why can't he or she just tell me a story already! I'm hungry. Maybe there's something in the fridge. Maybe I should throw some laundry in. But I have to get this script done and - I hate this writer!

#8 Wonky Tone or Genre

Reader thinks: Wait - I cannot draw a bead on this. It's funny, it's graphic, it's scary, it's got characters with more personalities than Sybil. I can't sum this up, I can't follow where it's going. There's no cohesion. I'm gonna PASS this writer so fast his head's gonna spin. Gd it.

#7 Bad, Confusing Sluglines

Reader thinks: My eyes! The humanity! These pages are cluttered and overslugged. Too many details in the slugs! Or - completely generic slugs - ext. house - day - oh come ON!

#6 Gratuitous, Shocking Sex or Violence

Reader thinks: Really? Am I supposed to be impressed or shaken by this? You're dealing with the wrong reader, pal. If it's not in keeping with the tone and narrative, if it's just there to pop wheelies and tell me way more than I ever wanted to know about your sexual fantasies or urge to scoop out eyeballs with a melon baller, then color me NOT impressed.

#5 On the Nose Dialogue

Reader thinks: Talk about an urge for violence - what do you think I am, stupid? This dialogue is patronizing, dull and amateur. But hey - this is going to be a fast read and an easy PASS. Bring it.

#4 Dense Action Lines

Reader thinks: Like I'm going to wade through this crap. I'm just trying to synopsize this quickly and efficiently. And this is killing my eyes, slowing down the read and adding exponentially to my already cranky mood.

#3 No Structure: the BOSH script

Reader thinks: Nothing is moving this story forward, it just goes and goes and goes. It's a BOSH script! (bunch of shit happens).

#2 Lame Characters

Reader thinks: These characters sound, act and look like robots. If there was one thing that might have gotten me into this story, it would have been characters I give a damn about. But no. Is this writer serious? Does he or she read this dialogue outloud? People don't act this way. These are types! Oh! I'm so cranky!!

#1 Typos and malaprops

Reader thinks: Oh come ON. Seriously? One or three is one thing but now I'm beginning to feel personally insulted. Proofread! Is it that hard? Do you want to be taken seriously??

Now, Wavers know that there is a remedy to every single one of these items. And if you are new to the Rouge Wave, look at the Browse by Topic and click on corresponding subject labels to read up on how to do a better job and improve your craft. Mostly, just do the opposite of each point made here. But of course, there's a lot more to it than that.

The larger point of the class is that you have to imagine yourself in the reader's shoes. And during the class, cruelly, that's just what I did, by passing out the first ten pages of a script that somehow managed to accomplish everything on this list save number 10 and that's just because I didn't bother to bring the map of the castle to the class. I gave everyone four minutes to read the pages (about how long a reader would spend, give or take) and asked that they circle those things that are slowing down the read for them. It was painful to watch, and I'm sorry, but it was effective, no?

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Short Scene Competition: Pitch, Bitch, Stitch

All righty, Wavers - we haven't had a short scene competition in a couple of weeks. We'll go with tradition and make the words within the scene something mildly related to current events. We've had quite a number of new Rouge Wavers in recent weeks, so if this is new to you, click on Competitions in the right sidebar under Browse Topics.

So here's the deal:

Guidelines:
Write a one page scene which contains the words, pitch, bitch and stitch. Words can only appear in action lines or dialogue. The genre doesn't matter. Make it clever; contextualizing the words will earn you bonus points. Entry fee, as always, is nonexistent. Writers who send cupcakes of course do get preferential treatment.

Deadline: Friday, June 27th, 12pm PST

Format: please send your one page scene in either .fd or pdf. Word documents are grudgingly accepted.

Judging:
As always, I will do the first round of judging. The top three finalists will be displayed on the Rouge Wave for voting on Saturday June 28th.

Prize: A $25 gift certificate to Amazon, AMC Theaters or an appropriately fun coffee shop or bookstore near you.

Submit your short scene HERE.

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Pitch Fest Post Game

One word, Wavers. Wow. What a satisfying, fun, efficient event the Great American Pitch Fest was. Bob and Signe know how to deliver. I couldn't even say what the best part for me was because I had so much fun but okay probably my class because it was so fun. I attended all three days and yesterday went through the pitching process with my dear friend and Script Department business manager who had a great script to pitch. So the Wave-inatrix experienced, first hand, the brilliant, innovative pitching system totally unique to the GAPF.

It's really such a gas. Everybody gets an alphabetical, numbered booklet of who will be there to hear the pitches. You choose which companies you want to pitch to and then you stand in a line with the corresponding number. No more than five or six people are in each line. Inside the ballroom, the pitchees sat at numbered tables which corresponded to the number of the line and their number in the book. Everybody gets five minutes to pitch. A bell goes off and you move up in your line and file into the ballroom. Then you wait about two minutes. Another bell goes off and the pitchers already inside have to wrap up and you find your numbered table. I never had to wait more than 30 seconds to sit down.

Another bell rings and you start your pitch. Four minutes in someone comes on the PA and says ONE MINUTE LEFT and you have to wrap it the heck up. The pitchees listened attentively, took notes and then quickly gave a thumbs up or down on sending them the script. Of the 15 pitches Jeff and I made, we got 13 read requests. So we had a very high rate of return. When you're done pitching, you shuffle on out, get back into the next numbered line and so on. I have attended another (unnamed) major pitching opportunity that happens in LA each fall as part of a larger screenwriting trade show and let me tell you - there is absolutely no comparison. Whereas the other pitch opportunity led to huge lines, frustration and confusion, the GAPF was smooth, fun, short lines, lots of laughter and camaraderie and a lot of very happy faces. Afterward, the managers, agents and producers hung around for a cocktail reception and pitchers were able to grab another hour of chit-chat and casual pitching.

I can't say enough about how fun and effective this event is. I'm on board in a huge way. I wish the GAPF were more than an annual event, in fact. I chatted with Syd Field, Karl Iglesias, Pilar Alessandra, Blake Snyder and Linda Seger. Bill True and I became fast friends and you will soon see a guest blog/interview with Bill on the Rouge Wave about his new film Runaway, which screened at the GAPF on Saturday evening.

It looks to me as if the GAPF is poised to become the preeminent must-attend screenwriting event in Los Angeles. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say they have arrived at the top spot as of last weekend. Actually, it's no limb, I can compare from my own experience attending other events. If you attend one screenwriting conference in the Los Angeles area, this is the one to attend. Hands down.

Last year, at the other large screenwriting event in Los Angeles, I heard nothing but complaints about disorganization. Attendees were frustrated and pissed off. Over this last weekend, I heard nothing but glowing reviews. Even one guy (hi Doug) who arrived irritated because there was a mix up in what he'd registered for, was later spotted grinning exuberantly and flushed with excitement as he lapped up the free classes and killed during the pitching. One of my volunteers (thanks to the three of them!) called me last night and said it was the best, most productive weekend he's ever had. And that's splitting his duties for the Script Department with the classes and events he attended.

So - enough gushing - the Wave-inatrix is a gusher, what can I say - and let's move on to the good part. The highlights.

*the woman pitching in a tiara and a glittery, sequined princess outfit

*the adrenaline rush ONE MORE MINUTE induces

*the momentary power outage during which the pitchers paused for 1 nanosecond and then kept right on going because any second it's ONE MORE MINUTE

*the REO Speedwagon sound of the bell that indicates it's time to move on

*sideways glances revealing pitchers opening up binders with illustrations, photos and sketches

*the woman pulling a carry-on size suitcase to each pitch (what was she pitching, Barton Fink? Was there a human head in that thing?)

*I HEART Jesse Douma and Dana Hahn of The Writer's Store. Man it's hard not to shop til you drop at their booth. Geez.

*the woman pitching in a tiara - seriously, seriously - wow.

My class, Top Ten Things Readers HATE was very well attended and all in the class asked if I could possibly recap that top ten list here on the Rouge Wave. Actually, my list went to eleven (ha). I will be posting a recap of my class tomorrow and the top ten list will be appearing incrementally in the Writer's Store ezine on an ongoing basis. I will also be teaching the same class at the Writer's Store, sponsored by the GAPF, in upcoming weeks. I'm not boasting, I'm just saying that all of my feedback cards had giant smiley faces on them. It was a laugh riot, my class. In a good way.

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Rouge Wave: In the First Person

Rouge Waver Maria Clara Mattos submitted this lovely, descriptive first person essay and I thought it was really great:

When I sometimes get tired of myself

By Maria Clara Mattos

Today is one of those where I am so tired of being me, so terribly dog-tired of my thoughts, the only thing I can imagine giving me a break, a vacation, a breeze would be… brain switch! Aren’t there people you admire just because they’re so different from you? You see them as practical, go-getters, doers. Me? No. Sometimes I think I think too much. See? I think I think. Isn’t it hyperbolic? I think I wanted to be a person who thinks of something and simply does it. Who doesn’t think of something, then think of the ifs and whys and hows and whens and gets lost with all this thinking and can’t go ahead with the plan of having a script rewrite finally done, or can’t decide what to write about today or even what to eat for lunch. It’s not that I don’t like myself or my thoughts and all. I kind of like them. What bothers me is the thinking. I mean, if I could create a schedule for my thinking, maybe it would already be fine. Something that went like “today I’ll think about this” and do whatever it is that’s related to that thought. Tomorrow is another day; it’s the day of new thinking. And so on. I have friends who do that. If they were fine with it I’d trade brains with them. Not forever. No. Just for a few days, weeks or months. Just to get a different perspective on my own thoughts. Yes, I’d still be me, I’d still have my thought files preserved, but, when approaching them, I’d be using someone else’s experiences, life records, words, analogies, humor - or the lack of it… no, I’d never trade brains with a humorless person, I’m sorry, that’s a primary condition. But when it comes to thinking about that, well, isn’t that exactly what writers do? Switch brains with a character? Don’t we have to open a new file in our brain to be able to speak as somebody else, to live a life we invented? To fall in love with somebody we’ve never seen or met or talked to? Maybe this is what all this thinking is about. The many characters screaming to come out, to be given a chance to choose my lunch, my steps, the books I read, the parties I go, the places I visit, the lines I deliver. Be it in real life, be it in fiction. Be it a screenplay, a first person essay, a novel, a note to a friend, a message on someone’s answering machine, blog, cellphone. Today we can live different lives even when we’re not writers, actors, or just crazies. There are avatars, dating sites, websites, virtual places where you can be whatever you want. Choose the color of your hair. Your name. The nature of your speech. Your diet. The way you approach life. Only we, writers, have done it forever. Over blank pages.

I guess I’m not tired anymore.

***

If you too are a "thinker junkie" check out Eckhard Tolle's The Power of Now. It's helped the Wave-inatrix a ton.

If you would like to submit a 500-word first person essay to the Rouge Wave, just email me HERE and if you've written a pithy, evocative, entertaining piece you will definitely see it on the Wave.

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Pitching

Good morning, Wavers! It's yet another super hot day in Los Angeles. I dread my electric bill, with my tiny little air conditioner buzzing away all night. Today is the opening day of the Great American Pitch Fest in Burbank, Ca. The Wave-inatrix will shortly decamp and greet my friends and colleagues. Sunday is the big day though - the main event - pitching day. So if there are any Wavers attending on Saturday come find me and meet wonderful Margaux at the The Script Department booth and if you are pitching on Sunday - here are a few tips:

1) Research who you are pitching to; know their mandate and their slate

2) Bring your script; have it tucked somewhere discreetly, like in a satchel or tote bag.

3) Make eye contact. Relax. Smile.

4) S-l-o-w down your speech just slightly. Not a weird, Matrix slow-down, just take a deep breath and leave room for the pitchee to soak in the information and ask questions.

5) If you time between now and Sunday, role play with a friend. You be the executive and just check out how it feels when someone prattles on at 180mph and flecks spit in your face. It's quite instructive.

6) Don't be freaky and sweaty and talk too fast.*

*Hollywood translation: you live in the basement and drink too much Jolt.

7) Do not be overly impressed. These are just jr. execs who have taken the day off to possibly hear some good ideas. They're people just like you.

8) Focus on the main concept of your script - don't rattle on and on with details and more details. Their eyes will glaze over.

9) Hit them with a good logline and then sketch out the rest of the story in short bursts leaving them time to ask questions. Make it a guided conversation not a one-sided bombast.

10) Refer to the 1st act break, midpoint and 2nd act break when you describe the pivotal moments in the script. Speak their language; they will be impressed and can follow along more easily.

11) Do not tell them all about yourself and your pet iguana. Do not say you've been working on this script for years*

*Hollywood translation: you live in the basement and drink too much Jolt.

12) Watch the pitchee's body language. Are they leaning forward? Making eye contact? Engaged in you and your story? Or are they leaning back, looking around the room, sipping water or unwrapping candy. Watch for social signals and when you feel you've lost them - ask if they have questions. Figure out how to get them back. If you just can't - wrap it up and be on your way, dignity intact.

13) If they ask to read the script, even if you want to jump up and down and freak out - don't. Just smile and get the pertinent information and be on your way.

For any pitchers who want a last minute brush-up, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Stephanie Palmer's Good in a Room. She is really an extraordinary person and the book will give you a great sense of pitching do's and don'ts.

Mostly - have fun. Smile. Breathe. Know your story like the back of your hand.

All right, Wavers who are pitching - I'll see you there. Don't forget, Saturday at 9am I am teaching a class entitled: Top Ten Things Readers HATE. Upbeat. I know. But if you know me, you know it will be funny, informative and elucidating.

For the rest of you Wavers who won't be there - I want to see some writing get done this weekend! I will find out if you don't - I have my little cupcake spies everywhere!

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That's Entertainment

Sometimes it's very clear to the Wave-iantrix exactly what I'm going to post on the Rouge Wave and other times I stare at the flotsam and jetsam on my desk until inspiration strikes. But you don't want to hear about the coffee rings, highlighters, books and scripts lying all over my desk. Oh but wait, what's this?

This week the Wave-inatrix had to cover a book for an A-list actor and his production company for whom I read. And the book is a ridiculous bodice-ripper. Which is, incidentally, one of the, if not THE highest selling paperback genre in human history. So I'm thinking - oh god, kill me now - I'm a Dorothy Parker adoring, F. Scott Fitzgerald worshipping, John Irving, Michael Chabon, Alice Sebold, David Sedaris, Joan Didion loving literary fan girl. A bodice ripper? Really? Why me, god? Why?

So two days later, as I'm reviewing this book for potential movie adaptation, I find myself reading the pages. I mean reading the pages. I'm not supposed to do that. I can't - it takes too long. Usually when you cover a book, you skimmy mcskimmerson as fast as you can, only noting the major plot points and general vibe so you can summarize it quickly and make a decision about whether it's cinematic, commercial and appropriate for the actor or production company in question.

But this Dorothy Parker adoring, F. Scott Fitzgerald worshipping, John Irving, Michael Chabon, Alice Sebold, David Sedaris, Joan Didion loving literary fan girl finds herself - the shame - responding to the romantic through-line like nobody's business. Oh, don't get me wrong, this is a big fat PASS for a lot of reasons (repeated beats, archaic, outdated themes, thin subplots) but I once again find myself in awe of the power of the primal, archetypal emotion to sway even the snarkiest of us. In this case - romance.

He loves her! He will not ever leave her! He's so strong - oh, his rippling muscles and sad blue eyes - I mean, this is treacle. But I'm responding to it like a freaking Jungian experiment. Sure, I could be embarrassed. But if you know the Wave-inatrix, you know I can find a lesson in just about everything.

When writing a screenplay, recognize the power of the primal core of your story. Which is to be found in your...wait for it...THEME. Love, death, fear, lust, revenge, redemption, triumph, tragedy - these are some of the most deeply rooted human emotions which are literally encoded into our genes. It's hardwiring, people. We're stuck with it. Emotional response to primal archetypes and fears.

Shakespeare knew it. So did Milton. And Tolstoy. And James Joyce. And Euripides. Every truly great writer knows that we must tap into that deep well of primal human emotions to really hook the reader. It's why JAWS - a silly (but great) movie about a giant shark scared us out of the water for decades. It's why we cried so hard watching ORDINARY PEOPLE or TERMS OF ENDEARMENT. Or why we laughed so hard at most any Monty Python movie and our hearts broke for the two cowboys in BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. It's why we rooted so passionately for Christian Bale in 3:10 to YUMA and Viggo Mortensen in A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE. Because we are deeply drawn to the themes of dignity and redemption. We're not ranchers or crazy mob killer guys - we never have been, we live in a three floor walkup in Brooklyn - but that hardwired instinct is alive and well in all of us.

So ask yourself - what is the primal emotion that is the foundation of your script? Your reader, even the snarkiest, most jaded Hollywood reader is a human being susceptible to having that hard wiring light up like a switchboard. Push the reader's (and ultimately viewer's) buttons, Wavers. Push them hard but not obviously. Sneak in and leave them secretly lusting after the revenge the antagonist deserves. Or the cojoining of the two leads in your romcom. Leave them wanting resolution and satisfaction on a level so deep they can't quite articulate it.

Push those buttons, Wavers. Push them wantonly. Readers love it.

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Table Read REMINDER

I always love meeting Rouge Wavers, so if anyone is inclined, please come on out this evening to support the writer and actors who will be reading the first act of The Recruiter at 7:30pm tonight at the Attic Theater.

The reading will be held upstairs and the theater is located at: 5429 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, 90016. Bring me a cupcake and you are a friend for life. In a weird, stalky, Glen Close way. No. I'm kidding. Of course I'm kidding.

I did send my Shark Swarm boys four humongous cupcakes from Crumbs the other day by the way. In the flavors they requested. Hi boys!

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The First Ten Pages

They say that just as the sun sets over the ocean, a brilliant but brief green flash appears.

They say that a person will tell you everything you ever need to know about them in the first five minutes you meet them.

They say that readers can tell, within the first ten pages of your script, whether the script is working.

They say that if your first ten pages don't rock, an executive will simply toss the script on the PASS heap.

I don't know about the green flash, never having seen it, but I do know that all the major signifiers of your skillset as a writer are contained within the first ten pages of your script.

This Saturday, I will be leading a class at the Great American Pitch Fest punchily titled: Ten Things Readers HATE. The class is going to be a hoot and one thing I will be doing is passing out samples of good, bad and ugly first ten pages (yes, they will be anonymous samples and yes, I have permission from the good-natured writers to use pages from their very early scripts).

My aim is for the members of the class to see, first hand, what works and what doesn't work.

But let's get down to brass tacks: what are the signifiers of your skillset as a writer that are so evident in those first pages? Well - what should be happening in the first ten pages in general, Wavers?

The main character(s) are introduced and described
The world is established (relative to the genre and tone)
The main idea of the story is established
The genre and tone are established

So what are the skillsets we are then looking for? What turns us on and what turns us OFF?

Action lines:
Are they dense and talky? Do they tell and not show? Are they descriptive yet brief? Are they wordy with typos? Are they lifeless? Or are they like chiffon - colorful and textured but very light. Are they clunky or are they cinematic and evocative? Does the writer have not only a grasp of language but a way with it?

Bad example:
She stares at him. He leaves. It starts raining outside.

Good example:
Her look withers him and he skulks out of the room. A clap of thunder and the bruised sky lets loose with a deluge.

Character descriptions:
Did the writer describe your characters in a blow-by-blow, wordy and yet ultimately empty way, noting everything from their shoes to their hair color? Or did the writer take it a up a notch and manage to capture the character's essence in a clever shorthand?

Bad example:
SHIRLEY (in her mid thirties), in a denim skirt and with bleach blonde hair is a waitress. She has an English accent and she hates her job.

Good example:
SHIRLEY (30s) is a life-long waitress and it shows. She shifts the gum to the other side of her mouth. Shirley: Take your order, innit?

It is in your action lines and dialogue that you will paint a picture of the world you are establishing. Within the first ten pages, I want you to paint a vivid picture of what it looks and feels like where the story is set. Is it bleak? Is it rich and colorful? So often writers just leave that part out. It's set in some generic city. Sometimes the city isn't even named. Wavers - think about it, if you're writing a thriller are you maximizing the space around the characters to add an air of creepiness? If it's a romcom are you using the world it's set in to create a sense of loneliness or romance or whatever you're going for? Are you GOING for anything in your setting and location? You should be and never moreso that in those first ten pages.

All the signposts should be in place to indicate the genre. If it's a romcom or comedy of any kind- the first ten pages should have...wait for it....funny dialogue and moments. If it's a horror...give me the creeps right away. Drama...show me where the conflict is going to come from. Sci-fi/apocalyptic, period piece - set up your genre with the signposts of that genre.

In the first ten pages, the reader should have major hints about where the story is going.

Readers are weird; we've read so many hundreds if not thousands of scripts that our minds are geared toward seeing patterns. Probably better than anybody, readers are great at grasping what lies ahead in your script. If we can't get a sense, by page ten, of the main idea or, annoyingly, "Big Idea" of your script - something is not working.

To refresh Wavers, the main idea or concept of your script is that short sentence I might reiterate to an exec: It's about a guy who robs a bank but the bank manager is his long lost brother. So that's the main concept of your script. So in the first ten pages, you need to establish so much: the characters, the place, the tone and the genre - and that the main character is desperate enough to rob a bank. Notice I am not saying that if the main concept, that a guy is going to rob a bank needs to be spelled out - but it needs to be heading in that direction by page ten, yes. In tone and otherwise. So what does that mean? That in the first ten pages, I am seeing desperation, bleakness, maybe loneliness, anger...Unless it's a bank heist comedy in which case - well, you get it already.

Set up your story efficiently and do it quick.

To head off the inevitable question: Yes, sometimes I read scripts in which the first ten pages didn't completely tell me where the script was going but the writing is so good, the voice is there, the writer's grasp of the pages is so strong that I am so on board with it - it's a delight to find out where it's going.

But for newer writers, that grasp of language, that confidence that voice is often not there. So even if some pretty cool stuff happens in your story later - it's like going on a bad date. Once you've gotten spinach in your teeth over salad - I'm not feeling it anymore. Even if dessert is great.

The first ten pages - of any genre - is like a seduction. Foreplay. A strip tease, if you will. You want the reader to sit up and take notice. And by page 108, you want the reader to stuff a hundred dollar bill marked CONSIDER right in your glittery g-string.

So come on, Wavers - it's all in the hip action. And a boom chicka boom chicka boom boom boom. Shake your booty in the first ten pages and you just got yourself a reader interested in the next 98.

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Announcements

You thought the Wave-inatrix was done posting for the day, didn't you?! Well. I don't lie down that easily. Plus I have some fun announcements.

Table Read Wednesday, June 18th 7:30pm

Tomorrow evening I am hosting a Script Department table read at the Attic Theater here in LA. Click HERE for directions. It's free, it's fun and after grueling auditions, I get to be the narrator. Come on out and support your fellow writers and the actors good enough to read through the first act of this script for a free paper cup of diet coke.

The Silver Screenwriting Competition

We're in the home stretch, Wavers. The deadline is July 3rd, so put those final touches on your script and be sure to make the deadline. Who wouldn't want a chance to win $2500 in cash, a flight to LA, free accommodations, a free pitch-coaching session with Stephanie Palmer of Good in a Room, a day of three meetings with three managers, lunch with recent six-figure spec sale writer Ryan Condal and cocktails with Blake Snyder at the Chateau Marmont?

Plus, if you submit before midnight, PST on Monday June 23rd, you will be eligible to win a seat in Jim Mercurio's Killer Screenwriting Class in NYC in July.

Screening, Monday, July 7th, 8:30pm

Come on out and catch a free screening of my dear friend and fellow Writer's Boot Camp alum Bubba Murray's television pilot - Lost Angels. Bubba took matters into his own hands and wrote, directed and shot his own pilot. The screening will be held at 7174 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, 90046.

Papa Joe's Family Recipes

You can find some great, really authentic Italian recipes from the kitchen of Jim Mercurio's dad, Joe in his new book of recipes, Papa Joe's Family Recipes. I had something to do with this project, Wavers - I tested and edited many of the recipes last winter and I don't think any of my friends will forget the evening we tested the recipes and ate like kings. This is good stuff. The proceeds from the sale of the book go to fund Joe Mercurio's first ever trip to his homeland - Italy.

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An Ocean of Creativity

Or - also, a salinated pool also works. I suppose chlorine can be tolerated. But you know - it's all a metaphor anyway so what the heck. Like you, the Wave-inatrix is first and foremost a writer. I know, I know, with the Rouge Wave appearing daily and of course my script coverage business, you're thinking - but Wave-inatrix, when do you find the time? It's tough for me. Just like it is for you, Wavers. Often times, I am in story analyst mode here on the Rouge Wave, and we talk about do's and don'ts, how to slug your script, why malaprops make me crazy, whether you should use three brads or two (TWO please) but right now I am doing what most of you are doing - I am knee deep in the process of writing a script. Not rewriting, not tweaking - creating the story itself.

The other day, I mentioned how the siren call of laundry, dishes or whittling a tiny grizzly bear suddenly seems quite urgent when you are staring at a blank page. But the writer's mind is always working, it really is.

The Wave-inatrix is a lap swimmer and I have been for many years. Just yesterday I swam a mile in the amazing pool at the downtown YMCA here in Los Angeles, with stunning views of the glistening skyscrapers that tower over downtown LA. And as I swam, I thought - wait - does this make 15 laps or 16? I should really do a backstroke or three now - god I hate it when I get water straight up my nose - that guy in the other lane is HOT - then it hit me - Aha! A small but brilliant twist for my new thriller. It was perfect! And it came to me completely out of the blue pool water.

Sometimes the harder you stare at that blank page the more your creativity recedes like a sullen child. No! I don't wanna play! I won't! I won't! I won't! And there you are. The frustrated steward if a tiny little brat.

Exercise is a great time to let go and let your creative mind come out to play. When you are in that strange zone, somewhere between relaxed and very focused. Besides, let's face it, we writers spend inordinate hours on our cute little behinds - we need to move those muscles and let that blood circulate. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

So make sure that you give your creative mind time to percolate all on its own and you might just get a good workout in while you're doing that. Multi-tasking. It's the new black.

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Prize Fight: Inertia v. Momentum

Screenwriting is a peculiar thing to do. I think we can all admit that. We plan, we obsess, we outline on cocktail napkins. We launch into pitches with our friends, we have sudden flashes of brilliance in the middle of the night. And we have that terrified feeling when we stare at a blank page. We flip back to our outline. What is supposed to happen here? Uh - right. But what does that opening scene actually look like? So we go check the fridge in case there's anything good to eat and oh wow, the dishwasher needs to be emptied. Oop - gotta put some laundry in.

45 minutes later that blank page keeps staring at us balefully.

But once we crack that first page - that first slugline even, it begins to flow. In fact, for the Wave-inatrix, it began to flow to the tune of 17 pages yesterday alone. Not perfect pages, not brilliant pages (it's too early to ask that of myself) but pretty okay pages. And now I can't wait to steal a few minutes and finish the scene I was working on. And I had an idea for the scene after that. And I can't wait to go back to page three and tweak a moment there to make it scarier. And - the ball is rolling.

But what a Sisyphean task getting that ball rolling is. You know - the guy who had to keep rolling a boulder uphill only to watch it roll back down again - forever.

Have Wavers shared that feeling: EXT...... exterior what? Where? Uh - the guy's apartment building AGAIN? A park? The outline didn't really indicate where or how x beat would play out, only that it does. An outline is a comforting blankie but it doesn't meet all of your needs. We still need to imagine the cinematic shape, weave and weft of the scene itself. And our characters surprise us by blurting out things that we hadn't foreseen. Why, my antagonist said some very nasty things on page two and I was taken aback. Whoa - that's an R rating, for sure.

So for any Wavers out there about to embark on a new project, or who might have rolled back down the hill and are stuck in inertia, just open the script and stare. Stare right into your fear. It will come - eventually. Something will come to you while you're folding laundry or unloading the dishwasher.

And when it finally does come, instead of rolling the boulder up a hill, you might just wind up like Indiana Jones - running for dear life in front of it.

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Curiosity Makes the Writer

Are you like me, Wavers - do you have a deep, abiding curiosity about life? If you see a word but can't define it - do you look it up right away? What if you are having a conversation with someone and they bring up John Muir? What do you know about the man and his place in California History? How about the Spanish Civil War? When was it and what it was it all about? Who was Robert Capa? What do you know about Steinbeck aside from the obvious (Grapes of Wrath - please tell me you knew that!) Three Mile Island? Canterbury Tales? Can you hold your own in a world brimming with facts and history? But most importantly - does it matter?

Yes, it matters. Especially if you are a writer. You should be informed and in the process of being informed all the time.

When I was just a mini-Wave-inatrix, I lived in a very rural area. We got three tv channels and my parents were hippies who'd graduated from UC Berkeley in the 60s, moved to the country where they could build their own home and raise their own food and they never looked back. They became school teachers and my father had a formidable library full of the classics.

Owing to the limited tv viewing that was allowed by my parents: The Wonderful World of Disney, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Mary Tyler Moore and Carol Burnett, we kids were stuck either going outside for our adventures (we owned a slew of horses and ponies) or going through my dad's library and reading stuff like The Last of the Mohicans, Treasure Island, D.H. Lawrence, Dickens and most of all - Steinbeck. My dad loved John Steinbeck.

But my favorite reading was the encyclopedia. My dad had the entire Encyclopedia Britannica, from A to Z. At night, I would choose a letter, take the encyclopedia to bed and read about everything from Djibouti to the Dutchess of Windsor to Denmark, Drought and Dickens. Yes, I was a little freak. I loved learning about the world, one alpha character at a time. And it has served me very well in my life.

Nobody has actual, updated encyclopedia sets anymore. Nobody that I know, anyway. So I wiki things I am curious about. And my dear friend Keith and I regularly play a game we call "Stupid American" - I know, it's not very politically correct but we quiz each other about random things like:

The Reformation
The Renaissance
The Restoration

When and what was each? What time period? What happened? We get as far as we can and then we look it up. When did Napoleon live? What was his deal? What does it mean when somebody refers to their "Waterloo"? What about Ivan the Terrible? Who was Emmett Till? How do you pronounce Scheherazade* and what in the heck is that, anyway? What is the oldest epic poem?* Did you know that the last Empress of Russia, Alexandra, was one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters? And she met a very nasty end, in 1918.

Let me tell you - these things come in handy. It came in handy to know how to pronounce Scheherazade when I called Scheherazade Productions last week. It came in handy when I got a great job working on a script about John Muir. Because I know something about Mr. Muir and that meant a lot to the producer. It comes in handy to be able to correctly identify that an occurrence in a script set in the Middle Ages was not yet possible technologically.

More and more, people bandy about terms but they really don't know what they're talking about. And it's embarrassing. Rather than allowing ourselves to be dumbed down by our current tsetse fly culture, use the vast resource called the Internet to both satisfy your curiosity and learn more about Beowulf than the movie would have you know. What about 300? Is that true? Real? Accurate? Well, of course it's not accurate, so to speak - it was an interpretation of a real event - but it's way more fun and interesting if you know what the facts really were so you have a grasp of the jumping off point for the movie.

You can't know everything and of course you don't want to be an annoying, walking game of Trivial Pursuit - but this is not trivia, guys - this is our world. And having a knowledge and a curiosity about it will add depth to you as a writer and as a person. Take the time to bone up on some history and of course current events. Get informed, stay informed and never let that curious side of yourself go hungry. It will pay off in your writing, in your meetings and in your personal life.

*Sha-hair-ah-zod
*Gilgamesh

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Table Read June 18th

Hello Wavers - and happy Friday to you. The next Script Department Table Read will be held this next Wednesday, June 18th at 7:30pm at the Attic Theater here in LA. If you can, please come on down and check it out. Table reads are a powerful way to see what is working and what is not so treat yourself to the experience, vicariously. The script that will be read is the first act of a coming-of-age drama entitled The Recruiter. The writer is coming in all the way from Tennessee.

Email me HERE if you are interested in a table read - they are free and fun.

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The Rouge Wave Mailbag

Dear Wave-inatrix:
I have a question about writing partnerships. How do you structure the writing process? I've heard of several different ways: each person writes a version of a scene and you either combine or pick the better version or you alternate scenes, you sit in a room together and dictate/write together. How do you manage this process especially long distance?
-Partnered in Pennsylvania

Dear Partnered:

While I can only speak specifically about my own experience, which is long distance, I do know partners who literally work elbow-to-elbow as they beat out the outline and write scenes. Personally, I would find that a bit claustrophobic. Whether you are writing in partnership or alone, I think we writers do need that quiet time to really get into the zone. But maybe that's me.

My partner and I work thusly: We spend the outlining process on the phone - a lot. During that initial process, we brainstorm our new idea together and then begin emailing each other rough outlines. Who's at bat depends on who has the time that day or week. In our case the time difference is a huge benefit - I can get pages to my partner by end of day my time and he'll be up and working on it long before I'm up the next day. We LOVE it.

So we write using a sequential narrative outline and as above, phone and email our contributions and ideas until we have an outline we like. Then it's time for pages. Because we use the sequential, someone starts off by writing the first sequence. All ten pages or until he or I get stuck. We send that sequence, the other person reads over it, makes small tweaks and here's the best part - we leave script notes for each other within the text. So you click on the little box and you might find: I thought we agreed this isn't believable? Or - So do you like this? Sometimes, depending on where we are with the draft, we might pass the script to whoever's turn it is and say simply: Can you cut three pages out of this sequence? We also leave each other notes within dialogue, which is, I'll go ahead and take the liberty of saying, one of our funniest, funnest ways of communicating. So you might have:

Christine: What have you done with my son?
Joan: I don't know, but it's pretty bad, I'm guessing. Killed him?
Christine: Well that really sucks. Whatever you did. We need to figure this out.

We simply pass the baton back and forth - like running a marathon, we spell each other. The notes within the pages plus more emails and phone calls help in the process as well. The thing about our partnership that is just so amazing is that we love each other's work so if I got the pages back, for example, and my partner had changed something I'd written, I either didn't really notice or just loved it anyway. In the end result, in our case, when I read our pages now, I really can't tell who wrote what - such does our writing blend.

So whether you can work in each other's presence, literally, or if you pass the pages back and forth leaving script notes within the pages - you have to find the rhythm that works for you. And most importantly, you have to suspend your own ego in favor of the story in general. For me, it was always a delight to get the pages back, go over them and see the improvements and progress my partner had made. Because we had agreed on our outline in the first place, we never just plain add a scene or beat that was not discussed. If one of us thinks of a scene or a new beat or development that would really shift things - we call each other first. I think there's a bit of a gentleman's agreement - you don't just throw something in that wasn't discussed.

Now bear in mind, we write psychological thrillers - comedy writers really find it helpful to work in the same room when writing comedic scenes. That way the energy bounces off each other and the comedy reaches greater heights.

There are other friends/colleagues that I work with but not as an equal partner - more as a supportive creative source. I'm spending time with a dear friend who has a ROCKIN script this weekend, in fact. I don't do any page work, just review scenes and sequences and be there as a brainstorm partner, taskmaster and cheerleader. If you have someone you know whose story you really love, that's a great way to exercise your creativity while giving back to the creative abundance pool.

I hope that answers your question, Partnered!

Keep those questions coming, Wavers - we love it!

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Young at Heart

So the Wave-inatrix just happens to live one city block from a theater that shows great movies for three bucks. I go in my slippers. It's amazing. So yesterday I toodled over (in actual shoes) to finally see Young at Heart, a documentary about a senior citizen choral group from Northampton, Mass.

If you aren't familiar with the doc or the Young at Heart Chorus, this group of (very) senior citizens performs contemporary rock music - on the road. In the documentary, for example, they learn and perform songs by Sonic Youth, Coldplay and The Talking Heads. And they perform with heart. No, it is not an exploitation doc, in which viewers laugh at old folks warbling through songs by the Clash - this is a documentary about the range of expression and interpretation that a group of dedicated older folks bring to the music. It is a documentary about what is possible.

Bill Cilman, the musical director is both exacting and patient. And he loves music. The Young at Heart Chorus' version of Coldplay's Fix You is absolutely heart-wrenching. It reminded me a little bit of Johnny Cash's cover of The Nine Inch Nails "Hurt".

The scene in which the chorus peforms for a county jail was particularly moving. The group of tattooed, rough-looking convicts sits on the grass sort of smirking a little until the music begins. By the end of the set, they are grinning from ear to ear and some wipe away tears. Such is the power of music - and the life force of these elders - to move people. Bill Cilman is now officially one of my heroes.

I was struck not only by the joy in the music, the belief of Bill Cilman, the heart of the chorus but also by the sheer power of documentary to show us a little corner of life that we may not have otherwise known about. Most of us think of documentary film as one of those dry, dull bits we might flip past on a public television special, filled with the sound of droning planes from World War II or blurry footage of civil rights protesters. But documentary film can be so much more than that.

A (very) short list of some of my favorites:

The Thin Blue Line
The Times of Harvey Milk
Regret to Inform
Brother's Keeper
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till

And of course, I also very much enjoyed Michael Moore's work although I would categorize that as docu-opinion-tainment:

Farenheit 9/11
Bowling for Columbine

Yes, yes, we also have Sicko and Roger and Me. There's only so much looking up and linking the Wave-inatrix is apt to do on a Thursday morning before that third cup of coffee. A truly great documentary, while always manipulated to an extent (the power of music and editing to manipulate emotion is HUGE), allows the material and the situation speak for itself. Moore is, in my opinion, a gifted and generally entertaining polemicist while Errol Morris is a true documentarian.

Documentary film is one of my passions. A doc made well is a tremendously moving experience. Documentary ignites passion, curiosity and emotion because this is real life and there's something about staying on that side of the divide that shows us, spectacularly, how compelling the nitty gritty of real life is. And it shows us the depth, complexity and endless supply of story happening all around us.

How does any of this apply to screenwriting? (Somebody, usually the little voice in my head, usually asks that eventually.) In particular, Young at Heart is a movie about what is possible. And sometimes writing scripts, much less selling one feels impossible. And as you watch Young at Heart you think - it's impossible. These people are too old and out-of-touch. They can't pull off a song by Sonic Youth. They can't travel and perform. They can't understand the lyrics to the Talking Heads the way we young hipsters do. Oh - but they can. And they do.

So when you feel overwhelmed by screenwriting and life - you remember these old folks (whom we are all turning into, before our mirrors, little by little daily) and what they know is possible for themselves. They love to sing and they love to entertain. And again, Bill Cilman, the man behind the organization, doesn't give these folks dignity but rather allows their dignity, passion and joy to be up on stage - that is a man to aspire to.

Don't let the odds, your age or your location deter you if you love to write. What is possible for you to achieve?

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Announcements

For those Wavers not on the Script Department email list, you missed some great announcements today. We have a lot of good news and so much to be grateful for.

Here are the highlights:

*Margaux Froley Outhred, Script Department business partner and a dear friend has had some amazing news. She has just gotten a staff job as a writer for the new show Filthy Rich Girls, premiering this fall on the CW. And she also just signed with CAA. So good times for Margaux and here's a healthy Rouge Wave congratulations to her!

*Dr. Jeff, our resident psychologist is now officially available through The Script Department. He will be answering a question a week here on the Rouge Wave but you can book a private phone consultation for an extended conversation with him through our site. Send questions for Dr. Jeff HERE.

*The Silver Screenwriting Competition has extended our deadline to July 3rd and we've added some bonuses. Enter your script before June 16th and you will be eligible to win a free pass to the Great American Pitch Fest on June 22nd. That's a $350 ticket, folks.

*Script Department client Ryan Condal has been added to the Grand Prize for the Silver Screenwriting Competition. Well - not Ryan's body or soul (though he is quite a looker) but rather, Ryan will be enjoying lunch at the Ivy with the Grand Prize winner to discuss his recent six-figure spec script sale - GALAHAD. You can learn, straight from the horses's mouth what it took to make that sale and what Ryan is working on now.

*The next Rouge Wave Writing Salon is scheduled for Saturday, July 19th. The fee is $100 and the topic will be Writing Your Character From the Inside Out. The last salon was sold out almost immediately, so if you'd like to participate, contact me HERE.

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Writing Partnerships

If we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as though our hard work ain't been in vain for nothin'.
--Adolph Green and Betty Comden as Lina Lamont in Singin' in the Rain

Wavers know that the Wave-inatrix is unapologetic about my love for Singin' in the Rain. It's not just the singing. Or the dancing. Or Gene Kelly. Or Donald O'Connor - although, in my opinion, Make 'Em Laugh is among the best moments on film ever - no, it's the DIALOGUE.

Written by the legendary partnership of Betty Comden and Adolf Green, Singin' in the Rain is so rich with great dialogue, it makes my teeth hurt. Don't get me started on great dialogue from other movies - the list is just too long, but Green and Comden were the longest creative writing partnership in Hollywood. And they weren't married. Then of course there was Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond, who together wrote The Apartment, Love in the Afternoon, Kiss Me, Stupid, Some Like it Hot and more.

Today Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio are a powerful writing partnership and of course there are more - many more - that the Wave-inatrix could list if I weren't too lazy and sunburnt from Palm Springs to research. But you get the point, Wavers - there are writing partnerships in Hollywood that have been extraordinarily successful and productive.

But being in a writing partnership isn't all sunshine and roses. It can be the most powerful, fun, dynamic way to write a script - and it can also make you want to claw each other's eyes out. I had a writing partner who wrote two thrillers with me and I'd do it again in a hot LA second. In our case, my partner and I shared a great deal of mutual respect, a similar creative process and completely complimentary skill sets. But even we had our moments.

Being partnered with another writer is a lot like trying to make a marriage work. You have to communicate well, respect each other, be patient and accept each other's frailties and strengths without too much ego-involvement. Easy, huh?

My partner and I were (are) lucky; we have monumental respect for one another and perhaps because we are both older (and by that, I mean being past 40, having been through divorces and bullshit and the general humility that age brings) it isn't that difficult for us to set aside ego and put the story first. When we write together, we are a dream team: a man, a woman, an East Coast novelist, a West Coast d-girl - we got it all. And we like to laugh. Maybe it's an age thing, but we don't take our writing that seriously. Seriously enough - don't get me wrong, but not so seriously that we can't find the process a little bit funny sometimes.

But again, we are lucky. I know writing partnerships who have had to go to couple's therapy. I know, I know, you probably smirked a little when you read that. But I've seen it and I've seen it work.

Some writing partnerships are here and there, by project. Others are (in intention, anyway) career-long pursuits. I do think, Wavers, that it is important to have written a fair number of scripts on your own before partnering. It helps you develop YOUR voice and YOUR strengths. Also, do you want to be joined at the hip with your writing partner forever? Don't you want to be able to do your own thing sometimes? What if your partnership breaks up? What if you want to write a script your partner isn't as into? If you get repped as a partnership, you are now a package. You must have your own material to bring to the table as well. That is, if you would like to have the latitude of working together and independently as writers. And that's not a door you want to close in terms of rep, rewrite gigs, etc. Why box yourself into a corner?

When thinking about choosing a writing partner, ask yourself a few questions:

*Does your potential partner have writing chops that are at least equal to your own?
*Are you ready, willing and able to suspend your ego and acquiesce on certain points?
*Do you trust your partner's creative judgment and abilities?
*Can your partner represent you and your project well in a room?
*Is your writing partner as available as you are to write?
*Can the two of you spend more time writing than analyzing your differences and arguing?
*Is your creative process similar to or at least complimentary to your partner's?

Writing partnerships can be powerful, enthusiastic and highly effective. Or they can be an exercise in frustration. Make sure you have your own chops first; don't write with a partner so that someone can save you or make it easier. Write with a partner if together, you produce writing that is greater than the sum of its parts. Don't be afraid to write alone - don't be afraid to write together. Just write.

It's all in service to the story - not your ego or your insecurities. Many a good partnership has fallen apart over creative differences and different work styles. You need to agree with your partner that ideas you've developed together belong to you both and that if you do split up, nobody is going to take the jointly dreamt-up ideas and run with them. My partner and I have a partnership agreement and an entertainment attorney who works with us on our various projects.

I am currently writing a thriller on my own. Because I have to do it. I know I could do it faster and probably better with my partner, but I need to make sure my thriller chops are everything my partner taught me about the genre. We may write together again. In fact, I'm fairly sure we will. We're taking a creative hiatus and writing individually at the moment.

For many, a writing partnership sounds like a special kind of hell, for others it is a volcanically productive creative endeavor. But like everything in life - everything is a trade-off.

Don't write with a partner because you're coming from a place of fear; that you can't do it on your own. Write with a partner because you both just have so much fun writing together that you can't resist. Wavers should know by now that the Wave-inatrix is all about living life joyfully. If you aren't having fun writing - something is wrong. You need to stop, assess and find the joy and the pleasure in the process itself.

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The Show Must Go On

Ever thought about writing a play? We are lucky to have noted playwright Bill Ballantyne with us at The Script Department. Bill took a few moments to share some of his thoughts about screenwriting versus play writing.

***

After my first two plays were produced, I decided it was time to write a screenplay. I had always loved movies, I was a dramatist, and I was lured by the opportunity to make some big bucks. The project took me four weeks. I was proud of it and sent a copy to a major agent. A month later, it was returned. Three-quarters of it had been obliterated by red ink. One hundred and twenty pages had been reduced to thirty- two. It was accompanied by a single comment: “ And it stinks.” Needless to say, this gave me pause for thought. Perhaps I should transcend my hubris and learn.

A screenplay requires a strong story. You should map this out carefully, every step of the way. It is comprised of incidents, which change rapidly and inter-connect. The hero must go through a series of ups and downs, to keep us involved. A counter story adds friction and suspense. The arc and denouement must be thrilling and satisfying. In the theatre, the story is secondary; it will evolve of its own accord. The plot of “Waiting For Godot” is, basically, two guys killing time; hardly big box office!

A play is an event, performed in the living present, and shared by audience and actors alike. The writing must be, essentially un-planned. How else does one capture spontaneity and surprise? “Plot” isn’t very important. What happens on that stage is all that counts. The experience might be elusive, even cryptic. A movie must be straightforward and show everything. There is a distinction in time. A movie comes from the past, it is immutable. Instead of actively participating in an event, we are passively being told a story. In the theatre we are being communally held. At a movie we kick back with popcorn in our own, private world. This is not to say one form is better than the other; simply different.

After we playwrights have hammered out a strong story we encounter the Big Lesson: the medium of film is not words, it is pictures – moving pictures. As a screenwriter you describe those pictures. Dialogue is merely a part of this process. Great movies contain a minimum of words. When Steve McQueen was handed the script of “Bullitt”, he scratched out half his dialogue and wrote in Extreme Close Up. He was not vain. He knew that his face could communicate more than a raft of words, and he was right. Think of the “Spaghetti “ westerns. The ideal movie would have no words at all.

Now comes the painful part. As playwrights we have complete control. As screen writers, we are part of a team. The producer, the director, the star actor, the cinematographer, all have their say. Our perfect script is changed, re-arranged, and re-written, often by strangers. Control, ultimately, is out of our hands. Can our egos take this? The answer better be “yes” – we are making a movie.

The noted playwright Clifford Odets described Hollywood as “A Babylon of easy money and artistic demise” He died while writing an episode of “Have Gun Will Travel” for Richard Boone. Do not despair. The landscape is changing. Producers are becoming more sophisticated and television is finally attempting to be literate. Playwrights are starting to feel comfortable and welcomed in Los Angeles. Marsha Norman , John Guare, Tom Stoppard, even David Mamet have found meaning “on the coast.”

The moral: One of the hallmarks of a good play is how disappointing it is when transcribed directly to film. Do not write a play. Study photographs, study books on the craft, read as many screenplays as you can. Absorb the shock and understand that you are describing a story in pictures. Then, if you are willing to re-adjust your imagination, plunge in.

William Ballantyne graduated from the Yale School Of Drama where he studied with such giants as Stella Adler, Bobby Lewis and Robert Brustein. He wrote his first play The Al Cornell Story in 1982 which won a Dora Mavor Moore Award. His second play, Bat Masterson's Last Regular Job, was performed in Toronto and in New York simultaneously. He has written sixteen plays, to date, receiving international praise. Bill is also the chief film consultant at Warrington International, where he writes and edits documentaries, features and shorts. He maintains a small coterie of promising students whom he coaches privately, both for stage and screen. He has recently sold his film, Cooking For Two.

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Obsequious - or polite?

21.) Try not to come off as obsequious and don't thank me for reading your email.

That was on the list that an anonymous producer posted on his list of query don'ts. And more than one Rouge Waver took exception to such a statement. Isn't it polite to be, well - polite? Of course it is.

But what I think the producer was saying, was that often writers check their self-confidence at the door and feel as if we must prostrate ourselves to get a read and then be ever so thankful when we do. It's part of our collective "pain body" (ha) as writers - we aren't worthy!

But Wavers - we are worthy. It's business. And guess who supplies the coal for the behemoth monster train which is Hollywood? Us. Robert Evans himself wouldn't live the life he does without the raw material that somebody wrote, alone, filled with neuroses and procrastination and doubt before he produced it. The kid stays in the picture indeed.

When communicating with a producer, executive, manager or agent remember this: Dignity. Always dignity. (As always, cupcake for the Waver that can name the 1950s musical that great dialogue comes from).

Obsequious:
marked by or exhibiting a fawning attentiveness

Professional:
following a line of conduct as though it were a profession

So remember, Wavers - it's business. Be polite. Be professional. Don't be an ass-kisser. You don't need to. You got the goods.

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