Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

....but it's not going to sell your script.

Last week, I read a really good script. It was so well executed. Compelling, masterful, entertaining. But completely unoriginal. Because it was a carbon copy of a movie which has already been made.

So this tells me the writer is a quick study, a fan of the genre, and a competent writer. But it also tells me this writer has not done his or her homework thoroughly enough when it comes to understanding the marketplace.

How do you know whether what you've written is truly original or whether it is a carbon copy of something else? Well - what movie would you compare your script to? Have you written DISTURBIA which bears a close resemblance to REAR WINDOW (Ah, a little too close, according to the news of the day.) and yet turned some key points inside out? Is this a riff on another movie or a rip off of another movie?

Now - each genre has expectations. Take a sub-genre that for some reason has shown up in several movies and scripts within my world lately - the crazy-person-stalker-movie. LAKEVIEW TERRACE is related to FATAL ATTRACTION which is related to SWIM FAN which is related to SINGLE WHITE FEMALE. All good movies - well, mea culpa, haven't seen LAKEVIEW quite yet but it's Sam Jackson so my hopes are high. But here we have the seemingly friendly person that you get mixed up with who turns out to be someone you cannot get rid of. It's a great sub-genre because it has an everyman-resonance. We can all relate to it, either because it's happened to us or because we fear that it could. We build our lives so carefully and hold so many things to be so dear and then someone can come along and destroy our lives from the inside out. That's a nightmare we can all relate to.

You'll notice that in each of the movies I mentioned above, the basic story type is the same while the specifics are different. Different enough to make each movie unique. And yet familiar enough to make each movie appealing to audiences.

In each genre there are conventions and expectations. Some of the expectations of psychological thriller are that the main character has made an error in judgment and now must pay for it. But it gets out of control and the antagonist is generally insane. There will be blood in a psychological thriller - meaning there is often an escalation of the conflict until the antagonist must die a spectacular, deserved death. The main character should go to the police but cannot because of that initial error in judgment - the battle must be fought alone. Another genre expectation of the antagonist in this sub-genre of crazy-person-stalker is that the antagonist inextricably insinuates him or herself into the intimate life of the main character by way of that initial judgment error. And they make this initial incursion by identifying the weakness of that main character. Which is a great jumping off point for identifying the flaw of your main character.

Each genre has expectations - a template, if you will. Would a truly great horror movie entertain you quite as much if there weren't at least ONE good pop-out moment? In THE ORPHANAGE, as one great example, there is certainly the good ol' pop-out moment but done with such originality and with a stamp of uniqueness on it, that it satisfies over and above the expectation. If you haven't seen THE ORPHANAGE, by the way, you should treat yourself. Here is the trailer.

So here's how you can check in with yourself to see if you've written an imitation of a movie you loved or whether you've taken it to a new level of uniqueness:

*Ask yourself: do you truly understand the conventions and expectations of the genre? I mean - do you TRULY understand them? Watch this genre over and over until you can identify the conventions. This is a great way to take a break while writing, if you feel stuck. Go to the video store and rent 2 or 3 movies that are in any way similar to your own. This is probably one of the healthiest, most productive ways you can procrastinate. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

*List the ways in which your script has met the conventions of the genre. Go ahead. List 'em. As one example: If you're writing a romcom have you got the "cute meet"? Have you got the "bellamy"?

*Now: having identified that you have indeed included the expected conventions and beats, ask yourself, yes, but how have I taken that convention and gone one step beyond it? Is it a run-of-the-mill horror pop-out moment or have I made this pop-out something that has not been done in this particular way before? This is where YOUR particular voice and point of view comes into play. There are cute meets and there are CUTE MEETS which we have not yet seen before. Hint: a cute meet in which the two romantic leads bump into each other and stoop to pick up their books? Not original.

Writing a script which is a carbon copy of a previously made movie save for the location and the names of the characters is a good exercise. I suppose. But it is also a waste of your time. But do not fear if this is what you have done. Go back and look at your script and look for those conventional moments - now think outside the box. How can you take this whole script a giant step beyond what has already been done?

You might ask how your script speaks to the zeitgeist two years from now. Ghosts have been and will always be good, scary stuff for viewers. Ghosts of little orphaned children? Good, stock stuff. But THE ORPHANAGE took that a step beyond and if you've seen it, you'll know that there is a particularly powerful call-back moment - a game that the children play - that is one of the several things that makes this movie stand out.

In fact, THE ORPHANAGE could be grouped together with THE OTHERS. This would be a good homework viewing double-feature, in fact, which would handily sum up my point here. They are the same - but quite different.

And that's what you want to shoot for - familiarity but uniqueness. A seemingly difficult combination. The best piece of advice I can give Rouge Wavers who are aspiring writers is:
Know your genre inside out. Then do it differently. The same. But different.

Remember - when your audience member goes out to the movies, they like to have some idea of what they're getting. They paid the sitter, parked the car, went out to dinner and are now shelling out upwards of $12 to see your movie. And they happened to have felt like seeing a romantic comedy this Friday evening. So you damn well better give them a romantic comedy. But not one they've seen before.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

The Latin American Explosion

It began for me in 1992, with Robert Rodriguez's shoestring EL MARIACHI. Here was this tall, sexy, brash Mexican-American director from Texas, young and gifted as hell. And it was obvious that Rodriguez wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Then, in 1998, CENTRAL STATION, directed by Walter Salles blew my mind. Then the big three showed up: Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Alfonso Cuaron and Guillermo del Toro, and I knew for sure that the floodgates were open for Latin American directors and writers. Will this trend continue? Can we look forward to more Latin American talent hitting theaters in the US or has this been a blip? One thing is for sure, the directors mentioned above aren't going anywhere; they've already crossed over into directing fare that is not necessarily "Latin" in it's focus and yet a unique sensibility shines through. Has the Latino population in the US finally established a political, social and economic foothold that will support more Latino writers, and directors in Hollywood?

The other day I met with my friend and colleague, the phenomenal Bernadette Rivero, co-owner of Los Angeles based production company, The Cortez Brothers, to discuss the world of screenwriting and film making relative to the Latin American explosion.

***

You told me something so fascinating the other day – that some of my favorite Latin directors like Walter Salles, came up through directing commercials in Latin America. Other directors like Fernando Meirelles and Alejandro González Iñárritu have too. Why is that path so common in Latin America?

You’ll find that commercial and film production in Latin America are deeply intertwined; someone like Walter Salles (Central Station) is known for his filmmaking, but the advertising world also knows that he helms VideoFilmes, a successful production company in Brazil. Meirelles (City of Men, The Contant Gardener) had a long, long career directing commercials before he made a name for himself as a film director. The production communities in Latin America seem much smaller and tighter than they are in the United States, and I think that’s why it’s easier for those directors to launch their careers. They’re already working with the best and brightest actors, crew and producers when they’re shooting commercials, so the transition into films is a natural one.

What do you think of Robert Rodriguez, Salma Hayek and other Latin producers and directors who live and work in the US? Have they opened doors for the Latin American creative community?

I feel that there are a lot of directors and talent originally based outside the U.S. that opened doors for the Latin creative community. González Iñárritu’s Amores Perros and Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu Mamá También threw the doors open wide, creatively speaking,for quality Latin projects. For me, they created this watershed moment when Hollywood finally paused and thought, “Wow. Maybe there are some great Latin stories to be told…”

What do you see as the greatest challenge for Spanish-language projects in the US?

Funding. Hispanics are an enormous demographic within the U.S., but distributors don’t seem to see us as a viable marketplace yet. I think it’s going to follow the same pattern that Hispanic advertising did, though… Up until recently, advertisers never paid much attention to the U.S. Hispanic market. Then all of a sudden you realize we have nearly a billion dollars in buying power and are incredibly brand-loyal and suddenly people take note. When it comes to admissions-per-moviegoer, we buy almost 11 tickets for every 8 or so that the general market does. I think that eventually it will be easier to get funding and distribution for both Spanish- and English-language Latin projects when Hollywood learns how to specialize and target those markets like Hispanic advertising has done.

Do Latin American audiences in Latin America have different tastes and cultural touch points than Latin Americans living here in the US?

Slapstick comedy and action seems to do really well internationally. Personally, I think a lot of that has to do with subtitling. I’ve sat through a lot of subtitled movies in Latin American theaters. You’ll see those same movies on television much later dubbed into Spanish, but when you go out on a Friday night to your local cinema you have a lot of text to read. Physical comedy and action are easier to follow on a big screen than really, really wordy dramatic translations or culturally-specific, only-if-you-live-in-America-will-you-get it humor. I know my friends in Mexico City would pick Iron Man over fratpack humor if they were going out to the movies tomorrow night. They’d also put chili pepper and lime juice on their popcorn and eat it with a spoon though, so even the movie-going experience is different from country to country.

What producers and exhibitors operating in the US deliver really great, quality material for Latin audiences?

Overture has John Leguizamo in Nothing Like the Holidays coming up, an ensemble Latin family film that’s more about the horrors of holiday get-togethers than it is about Latinos per se, which I think is a great way of approaching things. I’m exceptionally biased because I really like the director, Alfredo de Villa, and have worked with him in the past, though. Lionsgate has Cheech Marin in The Perfect Game, inspired by a true story about a ragtag Mexican Little League team. But when it comes to finding quality Latin films, I generally make a beeline to Netflix. I know I’m not necessarily going to find great Latin films in the theater every weekend, but I can get some really great films (Crónicas, The Devil’s Backbone, Sex and Lucía are a few oldies but goodies I love)at home.

Where is the cross-over for Americans? In other words, can Latin produced material speak to Americans who are not Latin American?

Good stories are universal, as Y tu Mamá También and Amores Perros proved. And I think there’s something unique about the Latin worldview that makes its way into the works of our most well known directors. I see an awful lot of dark, rich tones and themes in Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men and even Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban that make me think of Mexico – even though neither of those films are particularly Mexican. I laughed out loud when I spotted a sugar Day of the Dead skull inside the Hogsmeade candy shop in Harry Potter. There are little touchstones, little ways of seeing things like that, that strike me as very Latin.

Does the Mexican community living here in the US, primarily in California, Arizona and Texas, have a different set of expectations or tastes from other Latin Americans or is it similar?

It seems like urban stories resonate a little more in parts of the U.S. that have Caribbean populations, but that’s not always the case. Across the board, all segments of the Hispanic population seemed to tune into “American Idol,” regardless of their country of origin – even though, traditionally, reggaeton plays better on the East Coast and norteño music on the West. It’s true that there are certain differences in the populations,but seeing ourselves on screen (TV or film) in genuine ways seems to cut through the divisions.

Telenovelas are quite popular in Mexico but your average American might not find them as entertaining – are telenovelas a cultural touch-point which do not translate? Or can they?

Telenovelas run much, much shorter than American soap operas. They wrap up after a few months instead of airing for decades. So when one fairytale storyline wraps up, you’re ready for the next one to begin from scratch. You can mix and match stars, locations, eras, storylines – it’s really quite fun, like the ultimate Rubik’s Cube of bodice-ripping fiction. I think modern Americans are increasingly disinterested in daytime soaps, because after several decades of the same stories you’re beating a dead horse past the point of exhaustion, so we’re either going to see more talk shows or short-run soaps on American TV in the future. I can’t directly attribute that to the success of Latin American filmmaking, but in the wake of “Ugly Betty” at least a few creative minds are open to the concept of telenovelas.

Has Ugly Betty had a positive impact on the Latin American community or perceptions thereof? Has it opened doors for Latin American writers, directors or producers?

It has definitely turned eyes southward. I find a lot of producers looking abroad and asking me what’s popular on television in Latin America lately. It seems to be a two-way street, too. I’ve bumped into producers and crew on Latin American versions of “Desperate Housewives,” for instance, that were meant to be shot and aired in South America. Multiple versions. So Latin television and audiences are now seen as a potential resource and not as inconsequential gnats on the wall, which is a huge difference from five or six years ago.

What advice would you give to Spanish-language writers trying to break into Hollywood?

Write good – or better yet, great – stories in Spanish. It’s much easier to find a phenomenal Spanish‐to‐English translator after you’ve knocked out a killer script than it is to write in OK‐but‐only‐passably‐so English. I can’t tell you the number of Latin scripts written in mangled English I’ve reviewed or covered in the last few years, and 100% of them get a “pass” from the production companies and directors they’ve been sent to because they’re wrong in every way imaginable. Wrong format, wrong grammar, wrong everything. Yet there are really phenomenal Spanish language scripts floating around that could reach a huge number of readers in Hollywood if they just came in with a brilliant English translation attached. If you write a good story, and write it well, it will eventually find its mark.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

If you have questions for Bernadette, email her HERE and tell her the Rouge Wave sentcha. Learn more about Bernadette and her translation services at The Script Department.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

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.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

Genre Bending Part Two

By Margaux Froley Outhred

For a writer to succeed in the entertainment industry, they need to have a voice that can show off their brand of writing. After “Juno” came out, all agents wanted to read was something with “voice”. High concept specs started going out the window in favor of off-kilter and quirky scripts. No one seemed to care if there was a page 60 complication in a script as long as the writer had “voice” and created new characters. I can see from an agent perspective why this push for “voice” is so popular in finding new talent. However, “voice” doesn’t always equate to good or interesting, or more important, to a lasting career and profitable movies.

And this is the funny thing, “voice” on the page creates cute quirky movies like “Juno” and “Little Miss Sunshine”, but, what kind of voice does that writer have long-term? What do these writers say about themselves and their take on the world? Not a whole lot. Yes, there is probably some underlying message in both movies, but one you’d have to dig for. Diablo Cody already has her next few projects written and ready to go. They vary in genre, but her voice is there, loud and clear. Time will tell, but I’d be willing to make the case that the voice that created her will also sink her in the long run unless she figures out what she’s really saying with that voice.

But, back to being a normal working writer trying to get lift-off in this industry. This is where being consistent with genre can come into play and help you. Getting good at nailing a genre can become your voice, your trademark in town. When a manager or agent sends your high-concept thriller spec wide around the town, there are a lot of people who will see you as a thriller person. Especially if that thriller sells for lots of money, or makes it into theaters and becomes #1. Everyone will want your secret in their hands; they’ll want to harness your voice, your skill, for their own company. So what happens when that successful writer turns around and says they feel like writing a family comedy instead? Everyone becomes very polite, and quiet, and secretly whispers at drinks meetings how much they wish that writer would stay in his/her wheelhouse and go back to writing thrillers. The new script could be twice as brilliant, but, your brand just shifted and now you’ve become harder to identify. When a company hires you they don’t know if they are hiring the thriller you, or the family comedy you. While production companies have a sea of writers to pull from, agencies want you to be an easy sell. If they can’t pin you down for a style or voice, or can’t guarantee what you will deliver, they will move onto the next writer on their list that can and pitch that writer to the production companies. There is always an exception to this, there is always that one agent who will fight for you no matter what, but, they are few and far between, and even that agent has overhead. (and if you know that agent, can you send me his number?)

As a writer, or even actor or director, you need to find your voice, and thus, your brand to sell. Madonna, Oprah, Martha Stewart, Donald Trump, these are brands. Quentin Tarantino, Diablo Cody, The Cohen Brothers, these are brands where you know what you’re going to get. They might tell widely different stories, but you still can count on a certain voice or take to come from their stories. (Well, the jury is still out on Diablo’s take besides quick quips, but I do give her a lot of credit for bringing a different type of female to the big screen.) The best thing you can do as a writer is find your own brand. It not only helps you become easier to track around town, but it makes selling your work easier on your reps, it probably even guarantees your pitches sell better because people know what they’re going to get. There are a lot of valid reasons for creative freedom, but, if you really want to make a career and buy that vacation house on the beach, it’s all about branding yourself.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

Genre Bending

Another great question from the mailbag deftly answered by our own Margaux Froley Outhred in this first of a two-part answer:

Dear Wave-inatrix:
You once mentioned that moving from RomComs to Thrillers was a really smart move for you... why is that? What are the pros and cons of "getting married" to a genre? I have noticed that my scripts vary a lot genre wise. For example, I have a gritty drama in the vein of Amores Perros, but also a family drama in the vein of Ordinary People, a road-movie/comedy like Little Miss Sunshine and a dark, gothic thriller that could be comparable to Sweeney Todd. Do you always do thrillers? Is it because they are easier to sell for you or because you're "mastering" the genre? What do you think of varying a lot genre wise? I know there are no hard rules about this, but just wanted to hear your opinion.
-Signed, Fruitful in Florida

Margaux deftly answers:

Dear Fruitful:

This is a great question, especially coming from a writing craft perspective.

A lot of writers go through this genre dance as they are getting their feet wet in screenwriting and really discovering their own voice. And, by the way, this dance sometimes takes years. Really mastering a craft does not happen in a year or two, so writers shouldn’t get discouraged if their work might not all mesh together into a cohesive genre and voice right off the bat.

As a general rule, as writers solidify their voice, they will start to gravitate towards writing certain types or kinds of stories. Potentially these stories could cover a variety of genres, but they are essentially about the same story. As creative people, writers see and process the world with their own distinct shade of glasses, and it’s that individual interpretation that writers bring to the page. In my case, my first handful of feature films covered a wide variety of genres: from an urban drama, an action movie, a family adventure film, to a romantic comedy. However, despite large differences on the surface, these movies were all essentially about the same thing, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. As a creative person, this is more or less my own issue or “take” that I put out into the world. As a paradigm, I love inventing crazy worlds that can happen to someone underneath the normal façade they project into society. I’m brainstorming a new thriller feature idea that uncovers a dark secret underneath a “normal” apartment complex. But for me, it took writing at least three features to notice that common theme running through them all.

Steven Spielberg’s projects are often underdog stories. He highlights heroes in many worlds, from Schlinder’s List to Indiana Jones. J.J. Abrams is focused on mysteries. In most of his projects there is always an elusive mystery keeping the audience in their chair. A lot of the real creators out there do have this consistency in their work, and this separates true storytellers from mere moviemakers. Can anyone tell me what Brett Ratner’s movies say about his take on the world? They’re actually consistent from what I can surmise of his personality, someone who gravitates towards the tits and ass of the world. Good explosions, fight sequences, a rotating casting couch of beautiful and well-endowed women. These elements are actually consistent with Ratner owning a fancy, historic Hollywood house, his friendship with Robert Evans; this is a glamour man, through and through, and his movies are just that. Vapid glamour in all its glory. And that’s not a judgment, well, maybe a little, but, while Brett’s material might not say very much, it still projects his worldview.

The original question asked about the Wavintarix’s transition from rom com to thrillers? I saw it happen and it was a true shift worth sharing (hope you don’t mind, Miss Rouge Wave). When I was the Director of Development at Writers Boot Camp, Julie gave me a script she had finished. With a few scripts already under her belt, this script was the one Julie was most proud of, and should have been her best work to date. It was a supernatural rom com with quite a cute premise. But that was also the problem, there was something not connecting in it. It was almost too cute, the jokes were good but not laugh-out-loud; all of this, however, hinged on an intriguing story. My theory is that Julie often writes about a character’s breaking point; how far can someone be pushed before they crack. (Again, Julie, correct me if I’m wrong, but this might be a good working theory). So, even though what Julie’s script was about was intriguing, it’s a tough story to execute with a romantic comedy tone. I dutifully gave Julie some notes on how to improve the script, but really, I wasn’t sure it could be salvaged. When Julie put her head down and cranked out a 2nd draft of this rom com, it became a good script, but still not a great one. At this point even Julie was frustrated. My notes were similar the second time around. Technically everything was solid and working, but, something still kept the reader at a distance, and for one of the first times with my script reading, I was stumped on how to help her any more.

Two months later Julie slammed a script down on my desk. Well, she probably didn’t slam it on my desk, but her energy was dramatically different. Instead of a friendly writer looking for encouragement sitting in my office, this commanding woman walked in and told me to read this script because she nailed it. I read the script that night, and yes, she did nail it. I called her first thing the next day. This new thriller with a very different story than her rom com, yet still told the story of a character pushed over the edge, was a terrific psychological thriller. Her voice finally aligned with the material and Julie’s talent was able to shine through. While Julie is both funny and romantic, my guess is that her take on the world tends to explore the dark side of personalities, which gravitates towards thriller films. That could always change for Julie, but for now, she has found a great home in the thriller genre.

So, yes, while writers can tell their story through various genres, some voices are best utilized by certain genre conventions and tones. And again, this is from a pure craft perspective of just a writer discovering and solidifying his or her own voice. However, for many of us, writing is also a business, or the hope of a business. And this is where this consistent voice also comes into play.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

Love Stinks. Doesn't It?

Romance paperback novels are the highest selling genre in the publishing world, hands down. Now, some of you Rouge Wavers may be fans of romance novels, so I’m going to check my snobbery and keep moving. Others may scoff at such trifle. Whatever. My point is that everybody loves a good love story – whether you’ll admit it or not.

Look, everybody knows that having babies is grueling, worrisome, expensive and generally a bad idea for your health – but we keep doing it, don’t we? And we keep falling in love or wishing we were. It’s built in. That’s why writers of romantic dramas or romantic comedies are smart. It’s a genre that simply will never, ever go away.

The important thing to remember about your narrative when writing romance – even if it’s the secondary narrative – is that the fuel which keeps romance burning is yearning. In THE PAINTED VEIL, we watch, we wait, we pine for the moment when Edward Norton will finally forgive Naomi Watts and just make sweet love to her already! Even in silly, funny JUNO, we wonder – will Juno get together with Paulie Bleeker? Does she love him? And in the end, as she...

***
SPOILER
***

...lies next to him, we know they’re 16 and it can’t last – but it is satisfying in a deeply primal way that there’s love in the room.

It’s like a song, you know? We have lyrics, melody, the bridge, the build up, the repeat, THE CHORUS – and man, when we get there, it’s just so beautiful. Humans are built to expect completion. We wait for the other shoe to drop. That’s why horror movies get us so damn wound up – she’s creeping, she’s creeping, she’s creeping – what is going to happen? Something has to! Pay off has to happen! That’s why some of us, myself included, felt a bit ripped off by the ending of NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN. I need closure, folks. I just do.

The fundamental formula of a good romance is that this couple really should be together – but they can’t. Circumstances, class, fate – something always stands in the way. And the question is – can this couple become a couple anyway? Even for a moment? The search for love, companionship and sex is hard-wired into each and every one of us and it drives us to procreate, to cheat, to murder, to travel great distances in our socks – anything for love.

So for you Rouge Wavers in the midst of writing a romantic script, whether that is central or just a subplot, don’t forget the magic ingredient – yearning. Play your reader and ultimately your audience like a violin. You know they want it.

Now go be nice to somebody today. Make St. Valentine proud.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

Steam Punk

As a huge fan of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy, the Wave-inatrix was quite partial to THE GOLDEN COMPASS. And to the art direction of the movie. When I read the books I did not as much envision the steampunkatmosphere, but the movie brought that to the fore beautifully. Who can forget the zeppelin that Lyra and Mrs. Coulter (Kidman) took to the North?

It got me to thinking about steampunk - a look, feel, style and narrative choice that has always enthralled me, from Jules Verne to Mark Twain to Terry Gilliam. I even bothered to do a little research. Steampunk is a sort of "retrofuturism" - the way the future was imagined a hundred years ago, when steam power was the main source of power and cogs, wheels, watches and springs were the primary mechanisms in a world that was rapidly industrializing. A sort of grimy, Victorian, soot-covered but very mechanical futuristic look, the influence of steampunk can be seen in movies like BRAZIL and BLADE RUNNER. As with any sub-subculture, steampunk has afficionados, addicts and anime. And so naturally, the Wave-inatrix wondered - are there any steampunk fans who read the Rouge Wave?

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

The Season of Fear

The season is upon us, fellow Wavers. The Wave-inatrix was just talking about film genre conventions, and her timing was perfect because what does October always bring movie fans? A variety of horror and thriller movies to kick off the creepy season.
The question is, which one will get us into those seats with flashy trailers that give away the whole movie, and which ones will deliver the goods to keep you entertained?

It’s a great time to watch studios competing for those coveted 18-34 adult dollars, and they’re all competing with the promise of a scare and a thrill. Similar to writing that eye-catching, totally original script, what does each Halloween fright flick do differently? If your script was put into a sea of other thriller films, or into happy waters filled with other romantic comedies, how does your script stand out from the pack?

The Wave-inatrix pointed out tried and true conventions of different genres, but this is a great time to see how different conventions can be twisted and exploited to give their genre another layer. After all, it’s how your movie differs from the pack that gets it noticed. While some of this might tie into how different movies are marketed, at the end of the day, the film itself needs to hold up to the scrutiny. Some do, and some definitely don’t.

BLAIR WITCH PROJECT did. Terrific, and really a great example of early internet marketing, the film itself told a story (a classic horror story) with a documentary style and perspective.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD, a brilliant twist on the classic zombie pic. (Seriously, this is a must see for all of you looking to subvert a genre.)

SAW: Maybe the first one did it. I personally have never found that any of these films bring something new to the genre. But, consecutive box office success proves I might not know what I’m talking about.

SKINWALKERS came and went. Did anyone see it? Wonder what they did wrong that it needed to be released mid-August? That's like the studio trying to dump the Christmas flop SURVIVING CHRISTMAS in late October. It's a sure sign that something isn't good enough to stand up to the seasonal competition.

Any way you slice ‘em and dice ‘em, these October fright pics are always a great time to see which films will rise to the occasion. Will yours?

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

Conventions

What are movie conventions? Well, another way of saying that is expectations of a genre. For example - and this is inspired by a funny conversation on a message board recently about horror films – it is a convention of horror films that a group of teenagers arrive at the haunted road/farm/castle/house for some kind of trip and it is they who get picked off one by one. In other words, we have not seen a busload of senior citizens go through this –no, it’s always teens or college kids. It’s a convention. Audiences expect it.

Well, let me waffle a little bit on that one: that a group of strangers (innocents, tourists, somebody random) stumbles into a heretofore cursed or haunted place is a convention. That they are teenagers is a cliche. Do Wavers see the not so subtle difference?

Moving forward with another example, is a convention of horror movies that the cabin is located by a lake. Or that the motel is empty and the guy behind the counter is either creepy or preternaturally cheerful.

It is a convention of romantic comedies that boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. It is a convention of westerns that a bad guy blows into town and the good guy has to take him out and protect the town. It is a convention of action movies that the hero is some kind of outsider or underdog who just happens to be really good at fighting crazy terrorists. Yippy ki yay mother bleepers.

You see the trends here. Now, here’s the tricky thing about conventions. You need to know what they are – and you do, even if subconsciously – but you also need to subvert them so that your script stands out from other scripts.

In other words – think of the Rubik’s Cube. If you have, say, a horror convention like the “pop-out” moment – well, the convention goes like this:

Character hears weird sound or sees something out of corner of their eye.
Character investigates – big, long, scary silence – and – nothing is there.
Audience breathes sigh of relief.
Character turns around and – HOLY BLEEP! THERE IT IS!!

That’s a good old fashioned pop-out moment. Now, if you write a horror script devoid of the pop-out, well, it’s not going to go over very well. Because that is a convention of the genre. People expect it, in other words. But, how about writing a pop-out that honors the convention and then takes it to another level? Making the audience wait through not one but two false alarms isn’t that original. Been there done that. But in the Japanese horror movie JUON (THE GRUDGE was the American remake) there were plenty of pop-out moments but what was fun and unconventional is that some of them were memorably in broad daylight in a public place. Now THAT turned the convention on its head. It met the expectation but then changed it up just enough to be familiar AND different at the same time. And, that, Wavers is the bottom line of what you need to know about convention.

THE RING had some pop-out moments and they weren’t that unconventional but the movie also had a completely unconventional evil creature because she crawled OUT of the television!! I mean, that is one memorable horror monster, right? Nobody had done that before. So THE RING satisfied convention and expectation but it took it to another level completely.

A convention that is a lot of fun to think about is the “cute meet” in romcom. You can gather what cute meet means – it’s right there in the words – but clearly there are thousands of permutations of what constitutes a cute meet. There are thousands of permutations of what a rebellious, down-and-out action picture hero might be like.

You have your movie conventions down cold right now – because you see movies all the time. You consciously and unconsciously know right when the music is going to swell, when the sweeping vista of the family ranch is going to appear, when the bad guy is going to kick the door open and when the madly in love couple is going to have an ugly fight. You know it because you’ve seen these conventions millions of times. We need conventions in movies; they give us the milestones of the story. But as writers, we need to both know them and then use them as jumping off points. Because if you a good enough writer to take convention to the next level – you are a good enough writer to get noticed.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

Pull My Finger: Comedy so Funny it Hurts

By Margaux Froley Outhred

Sounds like the ad for CBS’ Monday night line-up, doesn’t it? What is it about comedy that is intrinsically painful? And, the more painful, often the funnier it is. But, how do you know where to draw that line between tragically funny, to just plain tragic? I’ve been working on writing funnier jokes and creating funny characters, and it almost seems unfair that I am mining my own and my friends’ personal sob stories in order to give these characters comedic dilemmas. Unfair, or maybe just good research?

America’s Funniest Home Videos,… the amount of babies taking a baseball bat to their father’s crotches has never stopped making audiences guffaw. Or someone slipping on a banana peel; that will always be hilarious. No one stops to watch the home movies when Dad is rushed to the hospital and will never pee standing up again. Or when the banana man fractures a vertebra on his pratfall down. We don’t want reality, we need to laugh at reality. Look it right in the face and throw a big creamy pie right at the real world.

A friend of mine got some bad news this morning, and I tried to comfort her by saying in 5 years she will find this situation funny. Maybe not now, but with a little perspective the emotional sting will wear down and you’ll see how futile all this stressing is. Maybe it’s the inner Buddhist in me, or just pure escapism, but if we can’t laugh at the things that don’t work out in our life, then we’ve got to find a way to. But, my own personal philosophy aside, why is the tragic so funny?

Lately, it seems that comedy in general is having a tough life. Stand-up comedians can’t tell jokes without being picked apart or called traitors to their country. 2 and a Half Men is one of the most watched comedies on television. When did Charlie Sheen really become funny? I don’t buy it.

Feature comedies are tough sells these days too. While Judd Apatow’s raw humor made KNOCKED UP and SUPERBAD the hilarious pics they were, a comic god like Steve Carrell drowned in EVAN ALMIGHTY, the most expensive comedy ever made (and probably one of the biggest flops of 2007). And in the development world? No one is really sure what is funny anymore. Kevin James seems to be the Development world’s answer to funny for now. The new TV comedies didn’t make me laugh once (Sorry, CARPOOLERS). Thankfully 30 ROCK and THE OFFICE can reclaim their comedy thrones for another year. But, sadly, no one wants to buy comedy because they just don’t know if they can guarantee it will be funny. I guess development execs feel the fear of their corporate bosses more than they can laugh at a good joke.

While there is always the Monty Python school of random acts as comedy, it seems that audiences enjoy the tragically funny. Why? Because they can relate to it. All the bad dates from SEX AND THE CITY? Those came from someone’s terrible first date, or awkward sexual experiences. SUPERBAD and KNOCKED UP did a great job with making those jokes relatable, although at times somewhat harsh. So, Wavers, if you are looking for a funny joke here, or a comedic setpiece there, the question is, do you buy it? (Granted tone and style of your piece should weigh heavily in this decision.) But, do you believe that this event could happen, and is just horrible enough that it could possibly be funny? The tragedy of things might become great inspiration for the comedy they could become.

Mel Brooks once said: Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.

The two masks of theater are made up of one portraying tragedy and one portraying comedy. What if the two are more closely linked than you may think? Maybe those Greeks were onto something.

More wisdom from Mel Brooks

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

The Fear Factor

I have read horror scripts that were executed so well that the world disappeared around me and I was so engrossed and scared that when an unexpected sound like the doorbell interrupted me I jumped out of my SKIN. I love that experience. I'm actually kind of a baby; I don't really enjoy scary movies. I don't like the feeling of a racing pulse, and hairs on the back of my neck sticking up. I don't like sweaty palms and the feeling of dread waiting for the bad guy/monster/ghost to leap out and do something horrible. I am such a baby that to me, WHAT LIES BENEATH was like the scariest movie ever. Go ahead, Wavers - laugh. I can take it.

But I love reading scary scripts. Because I enjoy all those feelings knowing that it's on the page not in Dolby Surround Sound and in the dark. I can get as scared as all get out but then look up from the page for a minute if I need to and exit the experience. I need that out.

But it doesn't happen very often that I read a horror script that really scares the heck out of me. Not very often at all. I see a lot of writers who write horror scripts that are gross-out or predictable and my pulse goes nowhere. My theory is that writers think that the fx and/or execution of the moment when it's on film - the creepy music, the dry ice stage fog - all of that will make it nice and scary so it doesn't have to be scary on the page. While it may be true that the execution is going to really nail the scary moment - it should be scary on the page too.

One of the scariest things about THE RING was the jerky, stop frame way the little girl moved. That scared me to death. The original GRUDGE - entitled JUON - scared me so thoroughly that for weeks on end I couldn't go upstairs in my house because the unnatural way that creature moved down the stairs lodged in my unconcious. But if on the page, it simply says:

The CREATURE moves down the stairs jerkily, like a crab.

Do you get a visual? Sure. Kind of. Does that scare you? Not really. Recently I read a script in which this horrendous creature shreds people to pieces. But that's all it said in the action line:

LOUISA reaches her long arms and shreds him to pieces.

Uh - okay. So. I guess that would hurt. But can you really picture that? Did that raise your pulse one iota?

If you are writing a horror script, which has so many conventions and abberations that you could write a master's thesis on the topic - make sure to have fun with it, get gross, get scary, really deliver the horror of the experience with your words. Don't rely on special fx, soundtracks or other post-production devices. Those will absolutely enhance the moment but use the words at your disposal to really write something frightening and disgusting.

Have your monster/ghost/killer look up with blood dripping from their chin. Let mucus ooze from their skin. Give them bad breath and weird eyes and crackly movements. Remember when you were little and you used to put the flashlight under your chin and tell scary stories on sleep-overs? Bloody Mary. Bloooooody Mary. Blooooooody MARY!! That stuff was scary and theatrical. And your script should be too.

Instead of "shredding" someone, how about we hear bones crunch, tendons snap and blood gurgle? Really make it a visceral experience for the reader. But be careful - too much gross-out description and the reader becomes numb. Save it up. Build up the tension in the narrative. Make us wait for it. And then surprise us. Remember to exploit primal fears.

In WHAT LIES BENEATH, the scene that probably scared me the most was the scene in which Michelle Pfieffer is blow drying her hair and in the mirror, behind her, the bluish-green, decayed face of the drowned girl appears. Something behind you in the mirror - that's primal, guys. Something outside the darkened window. Something outside the car. The crunch of bones, the splash of blood - that taps into some pretty intense fears. You can't rely on fx for that fear factor in your horror script. Get it on the page.

The market for unproven writers and their spec scripts is dismal right now. But it's always dismal. There is a brick wall we have to get over. So make your script the absolute best it can humanly be. If you're writing horror - go big and write it so that the reader will be so engrossed and so jumpy that you give them nightmares. Go for it.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

Horror is Dead

Wait – I mean, romcom is dead. No, no, the historical epic is dead. Every so often, prophets stand by the wayside shouting messages of doom for this or that genre. In reality though, what the public wants as reflected in box office trends is extremely difficult to predict. Impossible, really.

Is the horror genre literally dead? Horror is one of the most interesting genres to watch, as it cycles from supernatural to serial killer to tongue-in-cheek slasher to foreign film remakes and right back to supernatural. Add a few more subcategories, leave in a dark, warm place and…so on.

Eli Roth, writer of Hostel I and II just posted a lengthy letter on his MySpace blaming piracy for the fact that Hostel II tanked and is being summarily yanked from theaters in the next couple of weeks. Others posit that Roth is whining and that in reality, the short ride he enjoyed on the gore-nography train is over. The public has had enough. Is that true? It might be true of this particular type of horror - for now. But as a genre, horror will never, ever die. You can't kill it with a wooden stake. In a world numbed by internet pedophile raids, campus shootings and the ongoing carnage in Iraq, horror movies of late have taken the blood-letting to a whole new level. Horror is a barometer of our collective social anxiety. It can’t be dead. It will never die. We need horror; it defines our fears.

What is a new writer to make of predictions and proclamations about budgets and trends?

Trends:

If one takes the bird’s eye view, indeed trends can definitely be spotted at the box office. The popularity of the Japanese horror film remake had a short-lived but healthy run. Remember the profitable teen-angst run John Hughs had, starting with THE BREAKFAST CLUB? And certainly, gore-nography has had a run, with titles like SAW, SAW II, HOSTEL, HOSTEL II and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS. Zombies are back, they say, and we should be seeing a number of zombie movies in the next year or two. KNOCKED UP and THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN are tapping into a boomer, reality-based comedic vein that is obviously mopping up at the box office. So should you toss your totally ridiculous, slapstick about Poseidon? Not just yet.

Where do these trends come from? Does the public get what they want or do they get what they think they want because we write it? WGA writers who are actually in the thick of it, pitching, selling and seeing their work produced are naturally very tied to trends. But newer writers hoping to break in are ill-advised to write trend-driven material. Why? Because by the time you get rep, much less try to actually shop a spec, the trend is long over. Your script might make a great sample but why settle for a great sample when you can have a good original piece of material that is saleable because it isn’t tied to the flavor of the month?

Another thing new writers really do need to pay attention to:

Budget:

As online and New Media entertainment starts to take off, less viewers are heading to the box office. This makes risk averse studios even more nervous. We know that at least two major motion pictures were scuttled last year when the studio refused to pay the star the usual multi-million dollar paycheck – it jacked the whole budget up to an unacceptably risky level.

I would not counsel a new writer trying to find a toehold to write a high budget science-fiction, fantasy or historical epic script as their entrée. Those types of movies are indeed going to be fewer and farther between in the medium-term future. Not non-existent, just not a profusion of them. Those are crowd-pleasing movies, which can mean big box office, but they are also prohibitively expensive to make, which can mean financial ruin. A spec in the low-to-midrange budget is the smart thing to write. Aim right for the middle.

A writer trying to break in needs to have as much stacked in his or her favor as possible. You want a spec that can be made without breaking the bank. You want a spec that is universally resonant and executed flawlessly.

Because here’s the not-so-secret secret: Regardless of genre, a unique, compelling story with universally resonant themes is what Hollywood is looking for. Sounds simple enough, right? Until you get about ten different opinions as to what that means. The truth is that as a writer, all you can do is continue to hone your craft; write relentlessly, promote yourself constantly and get Zen with the fact that Hollywood isn’t fair and it doesn’t make sense.

It is the Wave-inatrixe's opinion that writers are visionaries. We are the zeitgeist. Because we live it. We reflect and refract the collective attitudes, hopes and fears about love, fear, politics, aging, culture and so much more. So stay informed about the industry that you hope will feed and clothe you but write from your heart, Wavers.

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.

Know your Genre

Drum roll, please…This is the moment you’ve been waiting for…the number one thing that annoys this reader:

A writer who has no idea what he or she is doing. By that I mean, a writer who thinks they understand a genre (or even the craft in general) but is woefully, horribly mistaken. I worked with a writer recently who had written a “comedy”. That actually translated to over one hundred pages of what I can only assume were highlights of a drunken evening back in college. From what I read, I can only thank the Goddess I was not there. I asked the writer – what are you satirizing, exactly? And she said: What do you mean? What bothered me about that is the cavalier attitude that writing comedy is easy. As if Judd Apatow just sits down and writes this stuff and therefore so can you. As if that were true of Larry Gelbart, Nora Ephron, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and too many others to name. It is a lack of respect for the craft that I must admit gets me very, very cranky.

Each genre has a history with high and low points, with expectations, transmutations and sub-genres. But let’s back up. Each genre has expectations. The thing is, you already know this. Because when we see movies, a primal part of us takes over. We await the romance to come to fruition just as much as we pleasantly dread the dissembling of the same romance – because it must be. We expect it. When we sit in the dark with our malted milk balls watching a horror movie, we cringe pleasurably as we wait for the…..JUMP OUT. But it can’t just be a jump out. It has to happen like this: Huh, what was that sound in the basement? Should I go look in the basement? I go down the stairs. I WHIRL AROUND. It’s just the cat. Phew, now I’m safe. I head back up the stairs. A HAND GRABS MY LEG.

In comedy, we expect to see set pieces highlighting the kind of comedy we’re watching. I could write a whole column about the kinds of comedy: satire, farce, slapstick, romantic verbal, black, political, parody and gross-out to name only a few. When you are writing a comedy, firstly it is critical that you know what kind of comedy and then from that decision, do your homework both in watching other movies in the genre and also studying up a little on comedy. Mel Brooks once said: Tragedy is when I get a hangnail. Comedy is when you fall down the staircase. Understand what “the topper” is in comedy. Understand the number of comic beats necessary to deliver the comedy most hilariously. Understand comedy from different eras. Watch the greats. And just as importantly – what makes you laugh? If you aren’t laughing when you write comedy, something is wrong.

Something newer writers don’t understand is that funny isn’t funny without the quiet moments in-between. And scary isn’t scary without the quiet bits either. A constant stream of action, horror or comedy disallows us from relating to the character these things are happening to.

In thriller the expectations will be centered around building dread, suspense, scares, thrills, chills and a helluva mind-bending, exciting showdown in the end. Here again, it depends on what kind of thriller you are writing: action-thriller, political-thriller, supernatural-thriller, horror-thriller and so forth.

Drama naturally has a million subsets because the word “drama’ in and of itself isn’t all that descriptive from the point of view of an executive. To name only a few subsets we might have sports-drama, historical-drama, political-drama or coming-of-age drama. If I’m going to the movies to see WE ARE MARSHALL, a sports-drama (and true story) you better believe I will expect to see moments of triumph, heartbreak, setbacks and victories. If I see a historical epic, I know I am going to see some really huge battle sequences. And in those sequences I will probably see that soldier who has a pregnant wife back home get killed. But he’ll die a martyr, he won’t be forgotten!

In each genre, set pieces highlighting and embodying the expectations of that genre should be plentiful and satisfying.

The first thing you need to do after you’ve come up with an idea is to ask yourself which genre you are in. It shouldn’t be difficult to figure it out. Once you’ve done that, go rent several movies in that genre and particularly movies that bear any resemblance to your idea whatsoever. Go see a movie in current release that is in your genre as well. Take notes and pay special attention. What beats are present, regardless of differences in story, in each movie? And very importantly, what pattern are the beats in?

I am not suggesting that writers attempt to cookie-cutter their writing to be completely derivative of pre-existing movies. Why was JUON so much better than THE GRUDGE? Because THE GRUDGE got put through the cookie-cutter and wound up limp and average. Derivative or imitative is not what I am suggesting here but rather an awareness of what makes certain genres work on that ancient, universal level. Lajos Egri’s book The Art of Dramatic Writing is a great resource for getting down to the fundamentals of drama. Harold Bloom’s Shakespeare: the Invention of the Human is not only a great reference book for the work of Shakespeare but a tremendous lesson for any and all writers who wish to understand what moves audiences. Donald Spoto’s book The Art of Alfred Hitchcock is a fascinating read. I’m sure others can name many more great references.

Whether you read scripts professionally, or for a friend you will notice the genre expectations – or lack of them – in your bones. You will find yourself losing interest because you haven’t had a nice, scary set piece in a few pages. Or because the romantic relationship has hit a plateau with no misunderstandings or fights. Or because no bad guy has entered, stage left, to challenge the sheriff of the town. As he should. As we expect.

Movies have been around as popular entertainment for less than a century. Yet collectively, Americans have consumed countless movies over our lifetimes. Part of the pleasure of seeing a movie is having a primal itch scratched. I feel like seeing a horror movie tonight. Not me, I want to see a romcom. No way, give me an action picture. I’m in the mood for a war movie. While audiences enjoy a good twist, a surprise ending or an unexpected development, they also look forward to, and in fact expect, certain notes to be hit.

The truth is that audiences are moved by very elemental emotions: being heartbroken, being chased, being lonely, laughter, joy, birth, death, mothers, fathers, growing up and too many others to name. And audiences pay for the privilege of being taken on a journey of both pleasurable familiarity and thrilling surprises.

Get to know your genre and the expectations of that genre so that while the story will be totally unique, the underlying, universally resonant moments are there for the reader. And ultimately, the viewer. And bear in mind, no matter which genre, this story is happening to and about a character. If we can’t relate to the character, the funny won’t be funny, the scary won’t be scary and the horror might even be funny.

Give the people what they want. Be it thriller, drama, comedy, western or romantic comedy. As Donald O’Connor sang so memorably: Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em laugh, make ‘em laugh!

If you enjoyed this post, follow me on Twitter or subscribe via RSS.