All of us are in the gutter

Tis the season when the Wave-inatrix catches up on all things movie. I look forward to it every year. I decamp to my narco-couch and local theaters and take in every movie I have been hankering to see all year. I find that one cannot be disgruntled and elated properly while watching the Golden Globes or Academy Awards if one has not viewed the fare in question.

Today I saw THE SAVAGES, with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney. One word: WOW. It was sad and funny and meandering and complex. Just like life. But what a satisfying movie. And of course (as most things do) it led the Wave-inatrix to think about the way this nasty old industry works. THE SAVAGES (and its precursor, THE SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS) is the kind of movie that most deeply satisfies my movie-going urges. Yes, I take in the big action pictures and yes I do enjoy them - but they don't stick in my brain and they don't inspire me as a writer.



Most often, when I write about the art and craft of screenwriting in the Rouge Wave, I am referring to the rules and expectations that most mainstream production companies and agents would have of your average spec script. Scripts like JUNO, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL and THE SAVAGES - three of my favorite movies of 2007 - would not pass the litmus test that is applied to spec scripts floating around on the market. And yet they were all fantastic, complicated, entertaining movies which collectively have made less at the box office than NATIONAL TREASURE made in its opening weekend.

So what is an aspiring writer to do? Write based upon the template of selling scripts, or write from the heart and hope for the best? It's a cliche but still good advice to say just write a good story. Write the kind of movie you'd love to see; write from the heart and damn the torpedoes. And if you never find "success", i.e., a sale, you can still know that you wrote for the only reason to do so - because you had something to say.

In the same breath, it is important for aspiring writers to have a sense of what goes on in the corridors of production companies in Hollywood, where the deals are made. Mostly, what transpires is a bit heartbreaking and depressing - but what do we become as writers if we don't reach for the stars and write outside of the box? We have to be able to straddle reality and our aspirations as writers. What if Van Gogh had only painted what was popular at the time? What if Hemmingway wrote what he thought would sell? Make no mistake, writers need to eat and of course, every successful writer has taken paying the bills into consideration. It's pie-in-the-sky to think otherwise. But we can't be unbalanced in the way that we approach our writing; it's bread and circus and paying the bills, it's zeitgeist and heartfelt and everything in-between.

Yes, there a lot of terrible movies made and yes, scripts like JUNO outstrip the quality of writing in many box office giants. Know thine enemy and keep your eyes on the prize. The ability to write is a gift. Use it to support yourself, use it to express yourself and never forget the writers who came before you who took risks, money be damned.

All of us are in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars...
Oscar Wilde

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Does Size Matter?

Just earlier this evening, the Wave-inatrix dined with a dear, old friend. We discussed the Philip Seymour Hoffman movie BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD. I told my friend I didn't particularly enjoy the movie. Oh, she said, it must be because you saw it on dvd, not on the big screen. And the Wave-inatrix thought - no, I just didn't care for it. I thought the writing was superlative (almost too good) but the movie just didn't pick up any emotional traction for me. I didn't care, in other words. Rather, I went on, I loved EASTERN PROMISES, and thought it was a far superior movie.

But it got the Wave-inatrix to thinking - how much more (or less) impact does a movie make if you see it on the big screen? Can or does it affect the experience to the point of liking or disliking the material? The Wave-inatrix has been lucky enough to view a large number of screeners of current (and upcoming) movies, sparing the time, trouble and expense of the movie theater. Is that a bad thing? Of the dozen movies I have seen in the comfort of my own home lately, DEVIL has been the only one that didn't stick, per se.

So the Wave-inatrix throws it out there to Wavers to ponder: does size matter?

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New Year Reflections - in Haiku

Cold windy night out
Christmas tree a skeleton
Uncertainty reigns

Any Rouge Wavers want to give it a whirl?

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Clothes Make the (Wo)man

Tom Hanks in EW Magazine, discussing CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR: “Charlie walks in, and he’s wearing cowboy boots, a brown pair of slacks, a purple shirt, and mismatching suspenders with little Spitfire airplanes on them that he’s run under the epaulets of his shirt. Half my work was done right there.”

We’ve discussed describing what your character wears on the Rouge Wave before. The Wave-inatrix weighed in, essentially, warning writers not to be too detailed UNLESS the way your character dresses is crucial to understanding the character. Even then, if your character dresses in Sergeant Pepper get up on a daily basis – it’s not really necessary to describe each outfit in each scene. Readers are smart – we get it, he’s a crazy dresser.

Many new writers make the mistake of going into too much detail.

Example one - the right way:

Dressed to the nines, EVELYN’s scarlet dress rustled as she walked . Expensive jewelry hung around her neck and wrists and she smelled of seduction.

Example two - the wrong way:

EVELYN wore a red Vera Wang evening gown, with a sequined bodice, taupe hose and black shoes on which silver buckles shaped like flowers glinted. Her necklace, 24-karats of Bolivian emeralds, accented her emerald drop earrings and emerald ring. For perfume, she wore Magdelena by Profusio.

Now, Wavers know I make up these examples on the spot so they’re pretty goofy but I literally do see example number two quite often. No, I'm not kidding. I really wish I were but I'm not.

In essence, you want to paint a picture of your character as quickly as possible. Four little words – dressed to the nines - say more than a thousand additional words. And I don’t care if the designer is Vera Wang – if you’re lucky enough to get your movie produced – let the costume designer discuss what kind of red dress with the actor and director. But on the page – I get it – she’s classy, elegant and wearing red. Done.

Economy is the word, here – economy and capturing a character’s essence very quickly. More important than what color your character is wearing is how they are dressed. Sexily, neatly, staidly, sloppily, dirtily….now those are traits that carry over from the clothes to the human wearing them, aren’t they?

Of course, as you build your character, you should imagine what they wear on a day-to-day basis and how they look when they go out. Do they dress to impress? Or do they not care about their appearance? If so, is it in a free spirit, Woody Harrelson way or is it due to depression, self-loathing or even mental illness? Why does your character choose to wear what they wear?

But on the pages of your script, keep descriptions relatively minimal; resist the urge to catalogue garments ad infinitum. Use words that describe intention, social class and over-all demeanor – not just details.

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Viggo Cut to the Chase - Can You?

Cut to the chase. You’ve heard that phrase before, it’s definitely a movie-term but now it’s used colloquially to mean, in general – GET TO THE POINT ALREADY.

At the Creative Screenwriting Expo last November, I took a break and walked the exhibition hall with my friend and mentor, Lee Zahavi at Script Shark. As we marveled at all the gee-gaws available for writers, Lee looked at me and laughed - just write a good script, right?

With the strike going on, conjecture is going crazy - what will the market be like after the strike? What is like during the strike? Will the climate be harder or easier for writers looking to break in? The answer is simple. Just write a good script. And a huge determining factor of a good script is how fast you cut to the chase.

Sometimes I find myself reading a script with that growing feeling – what already?? What is this script about? Just the other day I read a script about a mother/daughter relationship and I was on page fifteen thinking, okay, enough set up already! Where is this story going? Now – if I were an executive in charge of reading or tossing that script, I would have tossed it for sure.

I have been watching a lot of movies lately - I mean A LOT - and I've noticed that in general, regardless of whether or not I liked the movie as a whole (okay, full disclaimer, I hated THE BUCKET LIST), the story does giddy-up within the first ten minutes or so.

Why, just this evening, I watched EASTERN PROMISES - oh Viggo - and sure enough the movie starts off with a murder and switches straight to a pregnant teen dying in childbirth. Boom. Giddyup. And so the story begins. In 3:10 to YUMA, Christian Bale's problems are apparent and writ large almost immediately.

Maybe we all have ADD these days - certainly our lives are busier and contain more stimulation than they used to, I think that's a given. And so current movies reflect that. Screenwriters have less time for set up - audiences like you to cut to the chase.

Make sure that the Big Idea of your script is introduced as quickly as possible. Remember, set up and backstory can happen simultaneously with moving the story forward. Prelude and backstory do not interesting script pages make. Scripts are terrific reading if you have ADD – but if your script can’t deliver on that and be more or less instantly compelling – you’re in trouble.

How do you know if you’re got too much prelude? Pull the first six (full) scenes from your opening pages and answer these questions:

Does this scene movie the story forward in a distinct way, i.e., does it have a BEAT?

Can this scene be combined with another scene?

Does this scene contain the DNA of the premise?

Another thing you might do is give your script the page ten test. Read over the first ten pages and then ask yourself:

Where is this story going?
What is the Big Idea of this story?
Have I met the main character yet?
Could I articulate what the main conflict is probably going to be?

Readers who read several scripts a week can answer those questions easily when a script is really working. Yeah sure, some genres and some scripts might need another few pages to really rev up…but it’s better to err on the side of revving up pretty quickly and elaborating and filling in along the way than to have too much prelude.

Not only audiences, but Hollywood has a serious case of ADD – reading, execs, agents – everybody. So take off your tweed jacket with leather elbow patches and set down that pipe. This is not a novel. This is blueprint for a movie. And this is an industry that can be quite brutally competitive. So – cut to the chase – why am I reading your script?

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Voting Guidelines

Happy almost Christmas, Rouge Wavers! A number of readers have emailed me about the great number of votes that one Holiday Short Scene is receiving compared to the others. It is unusual, I must admit. In order to ensure the integrity of our short scene competitions here on the Rouge Wave, the Wave-inatrix must ask that voters please use the following criteria:

Which entry has the most "voice" and individuality?
Does the entry you want to vote for have a beginning, middle and end?
Does it surprise you?
How masterfully and organically did it incorporate the key words?
(eggnog, latke and blizzard)
Does the writer write seamlessly and professionally?
Is the dialogue organic?
Do characters reveal who they are in the way they speak, move and dress?
Does the short scene have a message, theme and tone that is universal and timely?

These considerations are very important when ranking or judging script pages. If we all log on and vote for our friends, then we aren't really rewarding good screenwriting.

I like each submission but I of course have my own professional opinion as to which is the strongest based on the criteria above. Rouge Wave scene competitions are for fun but they are also to teach us all a little something about the craft. So vote carefully and have a Merry Christmas.

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Speechless Montage

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Holiday Scene FINALISTS

Well Wavers, forgive the Wave-inatrix for posting these finalists a little late. The Script Department has been massively overloaded with reading lately - what's with these holiday writers getting a jump start on the strike resolution??

But I digress. Choosing the top three was very tough. Entries for this competition were to a one quite good. The Wave-inatrix carefully read over forty submissions (!) and carefully chose these three scenes as those that rose to the top as far as story and execution. Remember the rules - one to two page scene, had to include the words blizzard, egg nog and latke.

Please vote on the poll in the right hand sidebar.

And so, for your consideration:

ZAIDE by Mae Blumenthal

FADE IN:

EXT. AN 18TH CENTURY ENGLISH VILLAGE - DAY

A blizzard obscures this quaint village; snow drifts over thatched roofs and chimneys. It swirls violently then grows smaller, blurred and distorted until we pull back and -

-the image is replaced by a distorted view of miles of hot desert and dusty palm trees.

We pull back into -

INT. A HOTEL ROOM - JERUSALEM - SIMULTANEOUS

FLOYD CRAMER (70) puts the snow globe down and gazes out at the desert landscape.

FLOYD
(to no one in particular)
Who’s idea was this again?

HELEN CRAMER (68), grey hair in a stylish cut, pours herself another glass of egg nog.

HELEN
You know they fly this in from England?

Floyd levels his eyes at the egg nog with disgust.

HELEN
It’s kosher, too.

FLOYD
Helluva time of year. Grandkids are gonna miss my latkes back in Jersey. And we’re never gonna pay this off.

HELEN
Floyd, Chaim paid for this, remember? It’s his gratitude.

FLOYD
Gratitude? Chaim brings his two old Jewish parents to the Middle East as gratitude? He wants us dead.

Helen laughs and swats at her husband.

HELEN
We’re going to be late. A first birthday party is a very big deal in their culture.

FLOYD
Their culture. Saleh doesn’t want us here.

Helen puts down her egg nog and sits on the bed next to her husband. She runs her fingers through his wiry white hair lovingly.

HELEN
Chaim loves her.

Floyd gazes out at the desert for a long beat.

FLOYD
Well. Let’s go then.

Helen picks up a gift, wrapped in blue and white wrapping paper. Floyd puts on a yarmulke and turns to Helen. The yarmulke has “welcome to Israel” embroidered on it.

FLOYD
How do I look?

HELEN
Like a Zaide.

Helen hands Floyd the gift and opens the door to leave.


NO PLACE LIKE HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS by Dane Lowrie

INT. NURSING HOME RECREATION ROOM - DAY

It’s Christmas Day and a group of elderly residents (80’s &
90’s) are sitting in a festively decorated recreation room.
An orderly enters the room.

ORDERLY
We’re snowed in by this blizzard.
I’m sorry, but none of you will
have Christmas visitors today.

MACK
That blows.

Orderly leaves room and Irving excitedly enters, feverishly
spinning the wheels on his wheelchair.

IRVING
There’s latkes in the dining room!

MABEL
Latkes?

MACK
It’s a Jew thing.

ELEANOR
I like vodka.

MACK
Not vodka, latkes.

ELEANOR
If it wasn’t for vodka, my first
son would never have been
conceived. It was right after the
war...

MACK
(Exasperated)
Ay yi yi yi.

MABEL
I guess the carolers won’t be
showing up either.

MACK
I won’t miss ‘em. Except that
blonde with the nice jugs.

MABEL
That’s the pastor.

MACK
I don’t care what she does for a
living... she’s got huge titties.

Mabel gets up from her chair and looks down the hallway.

MABEL
Looks like they’ve got eggnog.

BOB
I’m lactose intolerant.

MACK
I’m idiot intolerant.

BOB
You want a piece of me?

MACK
What’re you gonna do? Ram me with
your wheelchair?

MABEL
Boys, we’re family here... let’s
have a nice Christmas.

IRVING
I don’t celebrate Christmas. I’m
Jewish.

MACK
Jesus was a Jew.

BOB
I thought he was Catholic. What’s
Santa Claus?

MABEL
Would anyone like to join me for
some eggnog?

ELEANOR
I’d like some vodka. If it wasn’t
for vodka, my first son would never
have been conceived. It was...

Mack shakes his head.

HOLIDAY SCENE by Ann Thurber

INT. BOOK STORE - NIGHT
The book store is a three-story giant, complete with coffee
shop. The upbeat Christmas music is a sharp contrast to the
cranky last-minute shoppers.

ALEX (31) stands in front of LUCY (27) who mans her station
at the customer service desk. He wears a wool coat and a
frazzled expression. She’s cheerful and her book store apron
is adorned with jeweled Christmas pins.

LUCY
Did you try our complimentary
eggnog and latke?

ALEX
What? I just need to exchange this
book for one I have on reserve.

He pulls a piece of paper from his pocket and hands it to
her. She looks at it, then picks up the book.

LUCY
‘The Architecture of London,’ huh?
This thing is huge. Who did you buy
it for?

ALEX
My girlfriend, but it looks as if
she already has it, so I need to
buy the one on French architecture,
instead.

Lucy turns around and matches the piece of paper to a book on
the “reserved” shelf. She turns back to Alex and places the
new book on the counter.

LUCY
Why’d you buy your girlfriend a
book on architecture?

ALEX
Because she’s an architect.
Lucy laughs to herself. Alex looks indignant.

ALEX
Why is that funny?

LUCY
No reason...I mean it’s kind of
unromantic, though. That would be
like buying me a book about book
stores.

ALEX
Thankfully I don’t need to buy you
a present.

LUCY
You might need to for some reason,
next year, if I get to know you
before then, and I’m just saying
that I don’t want a book on book
stores.

Alex opens his mouth to say something, then closes it. He
impatiently taps his index finger on the counter as Lucy
finishes the exchange.

LUCY
You owe $7.40.

Alex’s eyes widen.

ALEX
What? It was an even exchange at
the last store. They sent me here
because it was out of stock!

LUCY
All of our stores are different.

ALEX
I don’t care! I shouldn’t--

LUCY
Your girlfriend isn’t worth the
extra money?

Alex sighs and plunks his credit card on the counter. Lucy
slowly wraps the book in tissue paper, places it in a
decorative bag and hands it to him.

LUCY
Be careful out there, I heard a
blizzard might be coming.

Alex begrudgingly takes the bag and walks away.

LUCY
Merry Christmas...

She looks at the piece of paper used to reserve his book and
pockets it, smiling.

LUCY
Alex Taylor.

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Do We NEED to Own Movies?

When I was a kid growing up - age hint spoiler alert - once a year, THE WIZARD OF OZ was on television, once a year at school, there was a gymnasium showing of OLIVER!, and at Halloween we gathered around our three-channel set and watched IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN. Of course, Christmas would absolutely not have been the same without the much-anticipated Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. To this day, Burl Ives is the voice of Christmas. Oh, oh and - you're a mean one, Mr. Grinch. I loved the Grinch's dog with the antlers strapped on his head.

This is not to mention of course, the Saturday evening family tradition of gathering round the set to watch Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart. Of course, Sundays was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. My life was grounded in the routine of this kind of entertainment. I have not seen OLIVER! the number of times I have seen some of the dvds I own today but that movie is indelibly etched in my mind. I have memories of watching it in a stuffy gym full of giggling, snuffling grade-schoolers. And in the end? When Nancy gets killed? You could have heard a pin drop.

These movies and television shows were special because they weren't available all the time. You had to wait. You had to be sat down with your kool aid and popcorn right on time. The whole family would watch. Nowadays, people make jokes about Marlon Perkin's assistant Jim and some charging rhino. At the time though - we were transfixed! And Rhoda. And Sanford and Son. Later, the Love Boat and Fantasy Island - and that's right around the time television changed and our family no longer gathered around the tv at the same time. And of course these days, dvds of entire seasons of television shows are easily available.

In the time before TiVo, a few refrains from the opening credits of Star Trek caused a stampede at my house. And of course Mary Tyler Moore - you couldn't miss those opening credits because you had to see her throw that beret up in the air. You're gonna make it after all!

I know many screenwriters and movie-lovers who collect dvds of their favorite movies. But honestly - do they watch them all? Repeatedly? When I mean collect, I mean I know people who own hundreds of movies. They buy them on dvd, they buy them on VHS in the discount bin - they devote entire rooms to these movies. In the same way that people used to collect records - made from vinyl - stay with me kids, those were those round, black things that music used to come on? Before iTunes and iPods? Anyone? Anyone get a visual on that?

But movies? Why collect movies? Is it a compulsion? An addiction? Do we need a 12-step program? So I got to thinking about it...

I own about 25 dvds - and I can honestly say, of that collection, there are about six that I watch from time to time, as a comfort food kind of thing. The others I own because I illogically feel one ought to own them. Here's an example: MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON. I own that. And I love it. And I've seen it a number of times. But - do I watch it more than once a year? No way. Every two years? No. It's sitting in my dvd drawer like that bottle of fish oil derived omega 12 that we all have because we bought it on a health-kick four years ago. I also own DONNIE DARKO. Why? I dunno. Because it's cool?

So - why do so many of us almost compulsively buy dvds? My theory is this - it's grasping. It's Kilroy was here. It's laying claim to a moment in time on our tiny planet hurtling through space. It's trying to recreate and reclaim that magical feeling the first time you saw a movie that you loved. And I'll cop to all of those things. I'm Irish - we're born with sentimental genes. It's been scientifically documented.

When I hear Jimmy Stewart's soft, ever-so-distinct voice in say, HARVEY (which I also own) I feel comforted. I feel as if life is okay with Jimmy Stewart in it. When I watch Gene Kelly dance in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (yup, own it) to "I've Got Rhythm" I smile because you know what - old man trouble? He doesn't mind him. You won't find him. Round his door.

And that is the legacy of the movies and that is what Americans are grasping at when they buy them, hand-over-fist. It's comfort. It means we're alive. Because movies give shape and meaning to the rough and tumble of reality. Because at my house? Jimmy Stewart is still very much around. And so is Ratso Rizzo. And Gene Kelly and Doris Day. Come around anytime if you'd like to spend time with Jack Lemmon. Or Marilyn Monroe. Billy Wilder has a lot to say at my house. And so does Preston Sturges and Vincent Minelli.

Because when I watch Georges Guetary dance up steps that light up one at a time in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS....I'll build a stairway to paradise, with a new step everyday... I know that everything is going to be okay and that life, so often a challenge, so difficult and painful is fundamentally good because entertainment is salve for the soul.

And to give Wavers a hint of how wonderful that song is...here's Rufus Wainright covering it in THE AVIATOR:

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Is This a Comedy?

Recently, I heard on NPR, the tail end of a brief story about two adult men whose father went missing while canoeing five years ago. The boys no doubt went through a great deal of grief but recently found out that their father is quite alive and in Panama. And, it turns out, their mother knew it the whole time. Can you say a-w-k-w-a-r-d Christmas?

Instantly I thought – wow, that’s a story! But what kind of story? Ten writers would have ten different answers. What if William Goldman wrote it? Akiva Goldsman? P.T Anderson? And that's not even wondering what a director might do. Imagine this brief premise made into a movie by the Coen Brothers. Or Frank Darabont. Or Martin Scorsese.

The questions that immediately arise are – is this a comedy? Tragedy? What era is it set in? Who is the main character – the father? Or the sons? Which son? Is it a revenge story? Is it ineluctably sad like ORDINARY PEOPLE or is it CASTAWAY meets DUDE WHERE’S MY CAR with a canoe?

These types of decisions need to be predicated largely on three things: what turns you on most as a writer about the newsclipping, what your strengths are as a writer, and – most importantly, sorry to say – the market.

How do you know what kind of box office your idea would do? Well, we know that message movies and dramas are Oscar bait. We know that quirky comedies are lower budget and will attract cool, on-the-cusp actors like Ellen Page or Jason Schwartzman, we know that middle America loves a feel-good tearjerker with a universal message about the enduring power of love and family – but what movie do YOU want to write? What will keep you up late at night?

What is the first thing you felt, Wavers, when you read that first sentence about this particular event? Did you cringe? Laugh? Feel sad? What makes you curious about this story? Do you immediately wonder what kind of father would do this? Do you feel for him - is he a hero to you, is he like Harrison Ford in THE MOSQUITO COAST? Or is he a cold deadbeat? Do you picture a story set in Panama or do you picture the boys back in England, growing up without their dad and fantasizing, like TOTO THE HERO, that dad is a dashing adventurer?

So many movie ideas are out there waiting to make it into your writing mind. But once that snippet grabs your attention, then you get to take that wonderful literary license and craft a story out of it - predicated on what turns you on as a writer. What is your initial reaction to what you just read or heard? And how will that translate to the big screen?

Is this the next Reese Witherspoon movie? Is she the duplicitous mother telling her boys she has no idea where dad is? Nah. She's too young for that role. Is it bankable to center on the mother? Or is this a vehicle for Tom Cruise to play a father who lets down his boys? Can he play age 30 to 40? What if you make that father Bill Murray? Or Tommy Lee Jones? See how the story idea morphs slightly when you insert different actors into the role? Wait until you find exactly the right road in to the story and then start outlining.

It's all right if you find something about this story funny - comedy is just coping with tragedy. And maybe that's the less obvious way in. Or not. Isn't it fun being a writer?

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Lost in Translation Whisper REVEALED

SPOILER ALERT

Wavers - if you want to know what Bill Murray said to Scarlett Johansson at the end of LOST IN TRANSLATION - do NOT play this video.

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