Backstory

Every character has a backstory, right? Whether they are 6 years old or 67, they have had a life that preceded page 1 of your script. When I work with my writing partner, I refer to anything before page 1 as "page negative 10". You know - like algebra. What happened two weeks before the story started in my world would be page negative 10. What happened a couple of years before the story might be page negative 100. I won't belabor that point; it's just my weird way of articulating not only backstory but specific events in the backstory.

For newer writers especially - and I remember this frustration so keenly though it was years ago - it's confusing to add backstory to the current story. They think they need to show a whole flashback to let us know that in the past, say, the guy had an affair. Or that in the past, the character's brother drowned.

To flashback or not to flashback is an oft-argued point. Most would argue against using it unless what you're going to show is completely and totally pivotal to the story. In ORDINARY PEOPLE we do finally see a truncated flashback of Hutton's brother dying. It was the emotional crux of the entire movie.

But say you don't have one big event you're trying to decide how to present, say it's just regular backstory - a painful divorce, a humiliating experience as a teenager, something that happened that will come up in the present story. Sometimes writers just fill us in using exposition:

Dorothy: The gym is on fire and somebody has got to save those cheerleaders!

Gregory: But it brings back painful and humiliating memories. What should I do? I'm the main character in my big, climactic scene - the end of my character arc for chrissakes - but I can't decide what to do because I have a painful memory in my backstory!

Rather - you can infer information and dole it out slowly, over time. Let us get to know the character. If they have a fear of something or hatred of it because of what happened in the past, it's much more entertaining for audiences to put the puzzle pieces together than just be told what happened. Not to mention that it is more organic to do it this way. Most of us don't just say in plain English what's going on with us.

Dorothy: Gregory - the gym's on fire! You've got to save the cheerleaders!

Gregory: I - I can't!

Think of the complex social cues that we all learn and observe daily. You don't know everything about someone you're getting to know - and you may never. We all have secrets.

So when you're writing your script and you are concerned about how to weave backstory into the present story do just that - weave it in. Infer things. Allude to things. Be cautious before just plain spelling anything out. Remember - just effing entertain the audience. Being spoonfed is not entertaining. Movies, on a certain level, are interactive. The audience is making inferrences by what you emphasize - or leave out.

Backstory is very important in writing organic characters. How you weave it in to the story is too.

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Good Answers to Good Questions

Style Bard asked some great questions about Quik-E-Structure Check, a post about structure. And the Wave-inatrix is proud and happy to pass those questions along to my resident expert Margaux Outhred, who along with Andrew Zinnes is adding a level and a layer to the Script Whisperer that is pretty amazing. So without further adieu, heeerrrres Margaux!

*************
Dear Style Bard,
I’m a bit of a structure nut, so I'm the perfect person to answer some of your questions:

What's the length of script (page wise) is this based on? Could it be better gauged by a script percentage?

--Great question. Generally, a lot of structure points used to come from the 120 page, 3 Act script guideline. Pages, 30, 60, and 90 would have been your plot points to check out maybe 10 years ago.

However, 110 pages has really become the new standard in scripts, mostly because studios prefer movies to be shorter, especially 3rd Acts. It’s not uncommon to find scripts coming in at 105 pages these days. And family movies will come in as low as 90 pages. That is mainly to do with what studios perceive to be the attention span of their audience. However, regardless of page count, the 3 Act structure is still the primarily used structure in mainstream Hollywood, and even in most independent films.

The percentages don’t come into play as much for two reasons: One, is that page number really is a standard that people look to. What the Wave-inatrix said about studio execs and agents who will flip directly to specific page numbers to look for a significant moment is absolutely true. Even if there was a perfect formula for percentages, if you don’t have a big event on page 30 (although I would argue page 28 is the new page 30), that will tell the person reading that you haven’t nailed your 1st Act/ 2nd Act transition. Readers and executives will judge a script based on what happens in relation to certain page numbers. If they love the script and don’t even notice the page numbers along the way, then you’ve done a great job. However, these are people who read multiple scripts in a single day, so they often need the cheat of page numbers to help their judgment on the writer’s execution.

The other reason why percentages for a script wouldn’t be a good guide is that the 3 Act structure should be a bigger guiding force for you. At a very general level, you might find that the 2nd Act of your script with be twice the length of your 1st Act, but your 3rd Act would be not quite as long as your 1st Act. In the 120 page script model it works out nicely; the 1st Act was 30 pages, 2nd Act was 60 pages, and 3rd Act was also 30 pages. Now, with a 110 pg. script, people want to get into the Adventure quicker, thus the page 28 jump, and they want quicker 3rd Act also. That’s often where people trim the fat, but that goes along with having a slightly shorter 2nd Act also. Obviously, you can see, this is not an exact science. I actually don’t even want to attempt a bad percentage example because it really wouldn’t explain this any better.

The 3rd Act structure works so well because it encompasses a structure for both plot to occur and escalate, and even more importantly, a structure for your main character’s emotions to follow. Just as your plot should shift and grow at page 10, 30, 50, 75 (and even 90 if you include a battle scene), your main character’s emotional quirks should be challenged and evolving at each of these points too. I know it’s a tall order, but when this is done properly, that’s where you get scripts that are truly examples of why this system works so well.

And one other small reason why the percentages would throw you off: Page numbers equate to minutes on screen. That’s also why executives cling to the importance of page numbers. One page equals one minute on screen. If you watch movies like TOOTSIE, or even the recent 3:10 to YUMA, you can clock it with a stopwatch where the major emotional and plot points occur. While these two films follow the older timing and structure in terms of page numbers or minutes, what’s wonderful about these films is that the major emotional turns ARE the major plots points.

What can we do to make adjustments from here? I'm guessing if we have a 75th page to get to, it's a bit tricky to relocate major action segments.

-- If you have a simple outline (often a brief one-page outline will provide you a clean bird’s eye view of your whole movie), it should be easy to see where your holes are. It shouldn’t be that tricky to relocate major action segments because they should be building into a climax by the end of your script. You’re not going to put your best action setpieces up front in your film. And again, your main character should be driving this story, and learning an emotional lesson along the way. Your main character shouldn’t be capable of doing things early in your film that he/she may do later in the film. It is by going on this SPECIFIC 2nd Act adventure, that your Main Character learns his/her lessons and becomes better able to beat his/her opponent.
If you are stuck, track your character’s emotional arc first to make sure your character is learning the necessary lessons to beat his opponent. Often those small lessons help make up story beats where your outline might have been thin before.

Are action features what we're mostly looking for here, or are important dialogue expositions (not necessarily revelations) important as well?

-- Action and dialogue are one in the same here. At each of these structure points, something interesting needs to happen. If a helicopter explodes in the background, yes, that may be interesting, but is it relevant to your Main character’s journey, and does it propel your story forward? EVERY LINE, even EVERY WORD in your script must propel your story forward. These structure points will serve to reveal something about the character we didn’t know before (which still propels your story forward) and/or they may challenge your main character more. Your main character should always have a goal they want to accomplish and each of these structure points makes that goal both more important to accomplish, yet harder to achieve.

Should another approach be to write down what our major turning points and reversals are and then locate them and see how far off they are?

--Yes, that would be another way to do this. However, that can be the beginning of a frustrating, slippery slope. If you find, for example, that your first major structure point isn’t at page 10, but page 25, don’t let that discourage you. Use it as a helpful guide. At that point, it would be more helpful to play with your outline and go back to that bird eye’s view. That’s also sometimes where using index cards can be helpful. Don’t lose what you have on your pages, but, focus instead on your more general scene choices. Do you have index cards of each scene? Are there any scenes that could be combined with another, or some that can be erased completely? Sometimes if a writer tries to force structure after the fact, they can end up deleting and cutting and pasting their script into oblivion. Structure is a guide, not an absolute.

Looking at the major things that happen on these pages, I feel like I'm actually getting a different feel for where the focus of my script lies. This is not necessarily a bad thing, I'm thinking... just intimidating.

--Writing is nothing if it’s not a process. Be open to that fact that it might take writing an entire script to really learn what the script is about. (It’s happened to me.) You might stumble into a nugget of an idea, which is actually a more entertaining movie…great. At least you found it. I always advise against letting your script meander…but if it takes you somewhere, often that might be worth listening to. Yes, it’s always intimidating. I’ve heard Nora Ephron talk about being intimidated by a blank page. Just keep going and the gems will emerge.

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Wave-O-Gram

Hey Rouge Wavers just to let you know, the voting has begun over at My Visual Pitch for the best - wait for it - visual pitch. Go check it out!

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Lots in Store

Hello Rouge Wavers! Things have been extremely busy at the Script Whisperer and the Wave-inatrix hasn't had the time to devote to the Rouge Wave that I would like. But all that will be changing and soon. I have blog posts coming up about: visual juxtaposition, deus ex machina and backstory inference. And I have some blog posts coming up from my two new partners at the Script Whisperer, Margaux Outhred and Andrew Zinnes.

As a sidenote: The Script Whisperer and the Rouge Wave will have the coolest booth at the Creative Screenwriting Expo so if you're planning to attend, drop by and say hello!

There are all sorts of ideas for the Rouge Wave to make it a great screenwriting destination for all y'all. We will definitely have more competitions too. And never fear - the Wave-inatrix has an inexhaustible store of funny stories, embarrassing things I have done (and I mean inexhaustible!) and malaprops to give you a chuckle. Not to mention the motivation, success stories and fascinating guest blogs. So stay tuned!

p.s. a couple of saucy Rouge Wavers have posted some darn good questions regarding earlier posts. Your wish is my command. Answers are on the way and shall be posted for all to see.

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Licking Our Wounds

The Wave-inatrix has lately been enjoying a fun book, published way back in the 90's (remember those?) called Rotten Reviews and Rejections; a collection of - well - reviews and rejections from what are now famous and in some cases revered pieces of writing. The book is fun for anyone who is a writer and who knows the sting of rejection because it is a beacon of hope.

If one can say this about The Great Gatsby: A little slack, a little soft, more than a little artificial, The Great Gatsby falls into the class of negligible novels - then I think we can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that tastes are subjective and rejections doubly so.

Or how about this about Lolita: I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years.

But here's an editor who had a tremendous sense of humor. If you've ever read Gertrude Stein, this rejection is doubly funny, as it is clever mimicry, if you haven't well, it's still pretty fun:

I am only one, only one, only. Only one being, one at the same time. Not two, not three, only one. Only one life to live, only sixty minutes in one hour. Only one pair of eyes. Only one brain. Only one being. Being only one, having only one pair of eyes, having only one time, having only one life, I cannot read your [manuscript] three or four times. Not even one time. Only one look, only one look is enough. Hardly one copy would sell here. Hardly one. Hardly one.

And this one I love. A rejection of Remembrance of Things Past: My dear fellow, I may be dead from the neck up, but rack my brains as I may I can't see why a chap should need thirty pages to describe how he turns over in bed before going to sleep.

Just some humor for you out there in the trenches, Rouge Wavers, and some encouragement too. When you get rejections for your writing, whether it's prose, non-fiction or scripts, remember you're part of a time-honored tradition. Save your rejections. Someday you might just take them out of their dusty folder and have a good laugh.

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Guest Blog: Letter From Dubai

Script Whisperer client, Rouge Wave reader and my dear friend Libby entertains me daily with the trials and travails of living in Dubai. I asked her to share some of her experiences with Rouge Wavers:

You never know where life is going to lead you. If you had asked me where I would be in 20 years, I never would have dreamt it would be the Middle East.

Dubai, an Emirate that’s part of the United Arab Emirates, is a long way from Pontiac, Michigan! And if you asked what I would be doing, well, I could have probably come up with writing, in some form or another. But writing screenplays from Pontiac is a whole lot different than writing from Dubai. While the UAE is a Muslim country, it’s still very Western. Women don’t have to wear abayas and walk around freely in shorts and t-shirts without so much as a second glance. Pork and alcohol are readily available. Churches are many and thriving. I can’t say enough great things about this place. But (and there’s always a ‘but’) for a screenwriter, there’s a lot more than just sheer distance from Hollywood that makes it difficult to work on the craft.

The internet is censored here. Sites that are considered contrary to Islam are blocked. Quite some time ago, over at Done Deal, many posters were going to whorepresents.com for their info. They used to joke about getting presents from whores. Well, there were no presents for me, that’s for sure. Blocked. Although, when I went to check the balance of my student loan and typed in .com instead of .net, I got a full on Korean porn site that somehow escaped the censors!

And the movies available…that’s a whole different story. When I first got here, I went to the local video rental and picked up ‘2 Die 4’. Bear in mind this was a VHS and not DVD. Just as Nicole Kidman is seducing Joaquin Phoenix with a very suggestive dance, out of nowhere, the film is spliced with a boat chase, gun shots and a fiery explosion! Then it cut back to the movie and a totally different scene. Talk about coitus interruptus!

If you go to the theater to catch a film, you can be sure it’s censored. In fact, up until just a year or so ago, all films had to be no more than two hours long. You can imagine the ‘editing’ that went on. The powers that be seem to choose the blockbuster flicks only and allow them to run, on average, two weeks. The motto here is, “If you see something you like, jump on it because you never know when it will be gone.” That applies to everything from groceries to movies!

Everyone here has satellite tv and we do get our fair share of American shows: Entourage, CSI, The Sopranos, Desperate Housewives. We just happen to be a couple (or several) seasons behind. And while we do get some of the more popular shows, we also get a lot of crap, the stuff that lasted a single season and is played over and over again until they find another lame show to fill its spot. I shouldn’t complain, though because luckily, satellite tv is not censored.



Here’s a funny tv related story for you: Julie did coverage on one of my scripts and recommended that I watch ‘Great Expectations’, the one with DeNiro, Hawke and Paltrow. I could not find it anywhere in Dubai, neither for rental nor for sale. One night I happened to be flipping channels and what is one of the feature films to be played during the Holy Month of Ramadan: Great Expectations! But get this: I so wanted to see ‘Great Expectations’ that I turned to YouTube (thankfully not blocked!). I finally found and watched ‘Great Expectations’…in 14 one to five minute segments. Just when I would be getting into a scene, the clip would end and I’d have to search for the next. I can see why the film was not available here but, for the life of me, I do not understand how it can be a feature film during Islam’s most holy month!

Dubai knows that its future lies not in oil as the majority of reserves are found with their Gulf neighbors. It’s banking on trade and tourism. The city is one big construction site, building the biggest and the tallest you-name-it. It’s also the gateway between the Far East and Europe/Africa. But what does that have to do with screenwriting? Bollywood is just a stone’s throw away and there are already several Indian soaps filmed here. And let’s not forget ‘Syriana’ was filmed here. Only three years ago, we had the first annual Dubai International Film Festival which welcomed both Morgan Freeman and Bishop Desmond Tutu. Dubai is also building its very own Studio City to lure filmmakers into its tax-free economy. A branch of the Manhattan Film Academy opened its doors not too long ago, as well. And just two years ago Linda Seger was in town for a week-end seminar.

It’s not always easy to write from here but progress is on the horizon. I continue to grapple with the morality of buying DVDs from the Chinese lady who goes door to door selling pirated releases. As long as there’s YouTube, I suppose I can continue to hold out. But after having to watch ‘Great Expectations’ in 14 patchworked segments, it’s getting tougher to resist!

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Key Lime Pie

Once in awhile I read a script that is so terrific that when I’m done and I face the blank page where my notes are supposed to be, I just have no idea what to say. I had that experience yesterday (yeah, this is about you, Adam!) and it is delightful and as rare as a blue-footed booby.

A dear friend of mine just described a perfect little metaphor for scripts; that scripts are like being on a dessert cart. You’re the key lime pie and the producer, manager or agent might just be looking for cheesecake and for that reason alone – you’re not chosen. It’s not about what kind of dessert you are – sure you are luscious, alluring and mouth-watering - but the guy simply felt like cheesecake and that’s the end of that.

When I get really excited about a script, I warn my clients that while I think the material is out of this world, it may take awhile to find someone who agrees as passionately. It takes time. And that time is a good time to remind them of the dessert cart. And it’s good to remember that if you can write a script that somebody who should know finds poetic, moving, hysterical or supremely, deliciously horrifying – that means you have that talent in you and that you can do it again.

A few months ago, a friend and client had written a script that just blew my mind. He is currently getting attachments on the script after a fruitful meeting at Universal. But in the interim, he wrote another script and got it to my company for a three reader package. None of us reacted very well to the material and my client was momentarily deflated. He said – am I a one trick pony? Did I only have one good script in me? Nonsense, the Wave-iatrix says. If you write a great script once, of course you can do it again. Or if you haven’t written that great script yet – keep trying until you do. It takes time, there’s no logic to it and yes, perfectly good writers can write perfectly bad scripts. So don’t judge yourself too harshly but nor be too disappointed if someone loves your script but nobody else seems to. Yet.

BE the key lime pie, Wavers.

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Reminder: Documentary Film Maker's Course September 8th

Just reminding Rouge Wavers who live locally of Andrew Zinnes' class coming up this weekend. Don't forget, Rouge Wavers get a $50 discount!

The Documentary Film Makers Course Price: $299 ($249 for Rouge Wave readers with code DOCDISCOUNT)

When: September 8-9, 2007, 10AM-6PM & October 13-14th, 2007 10AM-6PM

Where: The Heart Touch Project, 3400 Airport Avenue, Suite, #42, Santa Monica, CA 90405.

Go to www.hearttouch.org for directions. Free parking on both sides of the building. For more info and to purchase the course go to Script-Tonic or call 310-941-2168.

Day One: Concept - how to organize your thoughts and make them exciting to funders. Finance - where and how to get those elusive $$$! Legal & Business - how to protect yourself and not get screwed too badly. Production - what to think about in the field .

Day Two: Post - what to think about in the edit suite from organization to music. Film Festivals - which ones are best and how to make the most out of them. Standard and Alternative Marketing - how to get your film noticed. Standard and Alternative Distribution - how to get your film sold and out there . Living the filmmaker lifestyle - how to survive! Workshop - pitch your project to get feedback or to help you work through specific problems.

Learn how to get your documentary MADE through practical advice in this intensive two day course by two working filmmakers, consultants and authors of The Documentary Film Makers Handbook, Genevieve Jolliffe and Andrew Zinnes! Andrew and Genevieve’s work has been seen on MTV, PBS, Channel 4 UK and the BBC.

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Perambulation

As always, Rouge Wavers, I save up interesting or comical mistakes I find in scripts for your entertainment and edification. That is to say, I hope you more than chuckle, you also take a lesson away from a given example.

Puzzled as if over the results of a random number generator, the Wave-inatrix often finds odd errors clustered not just in one script but in several scripts within one week. And recently, I found three scripts in one week that used the wrong synonym for "walk". Writers know that choosing descriptors with a finer point on them is important for writing interesting pages. In other words if every character simply "walks" across a room, that gets dull quickly. This is a truth fundamental to all writing, naturally. Writers are wordsmiths so our vocabulary knowledge is generally several points higher than the general public. Or at least - it should be. Here are three examples of synonyms for "walk" which were completely and totally, 100% contextually wrong:

His automatic weapon in hand, the secret serviceman waddled to the edge of the building to take aim.

WADDLED?? Like a baby with a dirty diaper? Or an obese old lady?

MARINE GUNNERY SERGEANT ROGERS picked up his baseball bat and angrily sauntered over to the fight.

This guy, who has a handlebar mustache, by the way, and now runs a rowdy bar with drunken patrons, is very upset in this scene. So he saunters?

DR. CARRIGAN scampers down the hall as he responds to the Code Blue.

Scampers? Like a kitten? This is an emergency room doctor in a hellish, low budget hospital. He's overworked, he's losing his mind a bit and he - scampers?

So Rouge Wavers, be aware that an excellent vocabulary is a requisite part of being a writer and if you aren't sure if you're using the right word, look it up.

Synonyms have shades of meaning; connotations and implications that shift the tone slightly in one direction or another. Use your words with precision. Because using an inappropriate synonym can inadvertently make the difference between a great description and a laugh at your expense. I don't know about you, but I don't want any waddling security guys protecting ME.

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The Semantics of Real Estate

As writers we use words to paint pictures. Words can evoke emotion, visuals and even sounds. We create entire worlds where once there was a blank page. And we can manipulate with them too.

To wit - the Wave-inatrix has been engaged in a long, grueling search for an apartment in Los Angeles over the past several weeks. We all know what that’s like – landlords asking too much money for too little apartment, decisions about drive time and deposits. Crumpled maps, spilled coffee and cramped, bumpy handwriting in notepads.

But there’s another aspect of apartment hunting; the strange, idiomatic, guiltless lanuage of it. The Wave-inatrix used Craig’s List as well as Westside Rentals (which Angelenos know has a stranglehold on the rental business) and as I perused ads daily then went to look at properties, I found a pronounced difference between the language used to describe said unit – and the unit itself. Semantics. It’s all in the words.

Cozy = Insanely small. Like, seriously, ixnay the ouchcay.

View = Of parking lot and top of palm tree. At night: orange glow of airport

Easy commute! = Next to a freeway onramp

Near Shops and Restaurants! = In retail strip, above a 24 hour Chinese restaurant and mani/pedi shop.

Convenient! = Across the street from gas station and Costco.

Super Convenient! = In the flight path of a major metropolitan airport.

Spacious! = 800 square feet of shag rug; mirrors on closet doors.

Extra bathroom! = A toilet in a room.

Laundry facilities on premises = Detergent-caked, coin-op washer in the basement; one for 12 units.

Parking = Carport in the alley.

Storage = Cupboard with broken door in carport in the alley

Patio = 4 square feet of cement with a dying plant on it.

Private = Huge, cobwebby wooden fence approximately 36 inches from the 4 square-foot patio with the dying plant on it.

Community pool = Deserted kidney-shaped pool which is a suspicious green color

Sunny! = Three dirty windows overlooking alley all tenants use as driveway.

Quiet Street = peppered with abandoned shopping carts and a homeless guy

Super Quiet! = Other tenants are senior citizens; odd smells in hall.

Pets considered = If it weighs less than 16 ounces and has been declawed and had vocal cords removed. Also does not poop. Ever. Also this means at least $500 more in deposit fees.

Laundry hookups = But you have to buy the washer/dryer – suckah!

AVAILABLE NOW = This unit, next to the offramp, over the Chinese restaurant, has been empty for three months running.

MOVE IN SPECIAL = For the love of god please rent this dump.

Happily, the Wave-inatrix finally found a charming new place to call home. And it isn't CONVENIENT, SPACIOUS, SUNNY or SUPER QUIET. It's juuuuust right.

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Welcome Back Everybody!

Hello, Rouge Wavers! Hope your Labor Day Holiday was a good one. And for those international Rouge Wavers (of which there is a shockingly heartening number) thanks for putting up with us Yanks and yet another of our 3-day holidays. Wavers living in Los Angeles are more Rouge than usual at the moment, being that we are under the mighty hand of quite a heat wave. Verily, it has been unbearable.

The Wave-inatrix was lucky enough to attend the nuptials of a dear friend and colleague in Santa Barbara over the holiday weekend and during the reception had a most delightful conversation with a New York-based Manager/Producer who is looking for fresh writing and new faces. We chatted about the risk-averse studios and how newer writers are squeezed out by the culture of fear and loathing. I was so cheered by this wonderful business woman's attitude of thinking outside the box both in terms of financing and in terms of story. Not to mention her passionate belief that there is a wealth of undiscovered material out there waiting to be found. We agreed that the Wave-inatrix will, when she can, be a source of promising writers and material. So high-five Wavers - the Wave-inatrix has got your back.

Important for Rouge Wavers is the knowledge that yes, there are executives, producers and managers who are aware the Hollywood system is not one in which new writers and new voices can thrive. They know you're out there - they just can't find you. So keep writing, Wavers, keep writing, keep believing, keep submitting and keep trying those competitions.

Here's to thinking outside the box!

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