Earl Newton.com » screenwriting

Test-Screening Your Screenplay

Earl Newton — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:01:05 +0000

I read a blog post from Bill Cunningham tonight about an Uma Thurman film that made less than $200 on opening weekend. Bill blamed the lack of an interesting story, I agree. Read his whole post for some hard truths about the movie business that indies can’t ignore.

The natural question arises: how do you tell if your story is interesting?

Shortest answer: if people are interested when you tell it.

Telling / Listening / Going Viral
Regular people are remarkably prepared to hear movie pitches; maybe more so than movie people are. It happens all the time for regular people.

“Hey, what’d you see last weekend?”
“You’re catching the Matrix? What’s it about?”
“I didn’t see the trailer for Hard Candy, is it any good?”

All of these (and countless more) are everyday invitations to a movie pitch.

That’s why the “high concept” movies (movies defined by an innovative idea or hook) became so appealing to studios. They are easily-digestible ideas that sound good when you tell them to others.

Matrix is a perfect example. No matter how you explain it, it sounds good.

“Its a meditation on the nature of reality, disguised as an action movie.”

“it’s a cyberpunk kung-fu movie with amazing effects sequences.”

“Keanu Reeves and some hot chick best the shit out of a bunch of evil government guys, and Laurence Fishburne is as cool as Samuel L. Jackson, but way classier.”

I don’t think anything “goes viral” because people believe in the innate quality of the work. I think it’s because everybody wants to be the person who found something cool. So your ideas have to be good enough to make people essentially co-opt them as their own.

And when somebody tells their friends later about your movie (doing your pitching for you), they tell the pieces that A) were good enough (or bad enough, beware) to remember and B) are likely to make them look good by telling it. If you don’t have anything like that in there for the audience – why do they want to tell anyone?

“Yeah, I saw that movie. I can’t really remember anything good about it…you should totally go see it!” File this under “never happens.”

The Parking Lot Pitch
So when I’m developing something new, I’ll sometimes tell people about it. This is the “parking lot” version of the story, where we’re all hanging out by my car right before they go inside the thester and decide what to see. And – in my imagination – someone says, “(Name of my movie)? What’s that about?”

“It’s great,” I say. ”It’s about a…” Or: “It opens with this amazing scene where…” And the story flows from there.

The great thing about this process is the instantaneous, unavoidably honest feedback. When somebody’s eyes go glassy and the Smile/Nod Syndrome sets in, you know you lost them. When they are hanging on your words (and asking real questions), you’re gold. Pay attention to when and where that happens, and you’ll get a sense of what needs work in your story, and where the keeper moments are.

The parking lot version is the most pure form your story will ever take. Unimpeded by budget, casting decisions, or even your own ability with the written word, it’s a flow of ideas, pacing, mood, and it conjures in the audience’s mind the best possible realization of your story.

And if – no matter how many times you tell it, restructuring it with different scenes or leads or ideas – your audience still goes glassy from the first sentence, drop the idea. You will have more ideas. You will have better ideas.

Remember, William Goldman isn’t a better writer than you because of how he COULD have made that bad idea work; he’s a better writer because he would have dropped that idea already and started writing something else.

Read This Instead of Screenwriting Books

Earl Newton — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 01:32:01 +0000

I have read a number of instructional screenwriting books, but I can’t really think of anything useful I’ve taken from them. Most of the sources that inform my screenwriting aren’t about it at all.

Here’s the advice I refer to whenever I’m writing:

Get in and out of the scene as fast as you can – William Goldman
In everything, consider its opposite – Judith Weston
Can I convey this information without dialogue?
Use an element once, or use it three times. Twice sets up false expectations
Don’t use excessive numbers of words Brevity is best.
Do you actually care about this moment, or are we just supposed to care?
It needs a rewrite. Again.

It’s a simple list, but it works for me. Leave your own advice in the comments and I’ll update the list with the most relevant ones.

The best advice on screenwriting you can get

Earl Newton — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:49:06 +0000

Today, Marc Scott Zicree related the description of story theory I’ve ever heard: “You start with a character with a problem. You continually throw shit at him in Act Two, until he is in the deepest shit possible.

“If it’s a tragedy, he doesn’t escape it.

“If it’s a happy ending, he or she figures out their problems and succeeds. That’s it.”

Were you looking for something more complicated?

The End of the Screenwriter

Earl Newton — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:49:31 +0000

Just read this post about Elizabeth Knox and her unhappy experience with the movie adaptation process. Here’s the article:

Author cried over film of Vintner’s Luck

I don’t want to address the merits of Ms. Knox’s story as I think it’s irrelevant to my point here. My point is: it’s time for the role of a screenwriter to come to an end.

I’m not sure if I have a resounding thesis statement to make, as much as an expression of anger. I’m very tired of the idea that the director’s vision trumps the screenplay. I’m saying this as a director myself. Having a great visual imagination doesn’t qualify you to weigh in on story. Yet it’s not uncommon for a script to be tossed out and completely reworked by a director, sometimes at the last minute, to support their “vision.” Is there any other industry where a leader can come in, completely shred years of work and research, and “follow his vision?”

Something has to change. We already know screenwriters have no power in the industry. It’s gone from a joke to a cliché to a fact of life. Leading with, “I’m a screenwriter” is like saying, “I’m not in charge. I just do the words.”

Screenwriters are so focused on “breaking in” to screenwriting. Dozens of questions about the right formatting, the best techniques, the right way to get an agent. Nobody is asking how to find a decent director for their work, and their career could hinge on that more than anything.

Unless they take responsibility for themselves, learn to direct, and actually create something consumable.

I think screenwriters have to stop being screenwriters. We have to become “people who also write.” We have to stop fighting battles from positions of weakness, and establish ourselves in territory where we have a greater advantage. If that means becoming writer/directors and writer/producers, then so be it.

Do what it takes. Learn the skills you need. Find people to help you. But don’t resign behind the laptop with a cappuccino while a questionably-competent interpreter “finds his vision” amidst the ruins of your life’s work.

John August: Breaking Storytelling Conventions

Earl Newton — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:42:10 +0000

MakingOf.com has an interview with John August about his screenwriting process. As always, John August demonstrates his knowledge of the craft by breaking down concepts into relatable terms, and sharing really original insight into the craft — no respun Syd Field here.

Normally I’d embed the video here, but MakingOf.com has some weird Iframe code going on, so I’m just providing the link.

John August on Breaking Storytelling Conventions

And, as a screenwriter, you should already be a regular visitor to JohnAugust.com.

Disconnect, Screenwriting, and Storytelling (Interview)

Earl Newton — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:38:05 +0000

A few weeks back, J.C. Hutchins invited me to come on his program “Hey Everybody!” to talk about our collaboration on Disconnect, the nature of storytelling, and the process of making a low-budget film.

It runs about 45 minutes long, and is one of the more in-depth discussions I’ve ever recorded about these topics. If you’re a filmmaker or know one, it’s worth a listen.

Click here for the interview.

While you’re at it, consider picking up a copy of J.C. Hutchins’ Personal Effects: Dark Art. This isn’t a paid endorsement, but I think as a storyteller it’s important to keep up with where the craft is going, and what J.C. is doing with Personal Effects is close to revolutionary. It’s worth your time, if only for a master class in storytelling.

Adapting Prose to the Screen (interview)

Earl Newton — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:41:00 +0000

Earlier this evening I was part of the Dead Robots’ Society roundtable discussion on adapting prose to the screen. Along with me were top-tier storytellers Matt Wallace and Patrick McLean.

Questions came both from the terrific hosts (PG Holyfield, Justin Macumber, Terry Mixon, and Ryan Stevenson) as well as the audience questions I had mentioned before.

The interview ranges from lessons learned in the world of commercials and advertising, the challenges in switching from prose to screenwriting, and what it takes to preserve a good story from the page to the screen.

You get a chance to get to know the hosts in the beginning, the actual interview begins around 15:20 in. You get to hear me at my most silly, so take it while you can get it.

For the original Dead Robot Society show notes, click here.

Pry Yourself from Preproduction

Earl Newton — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 02:50:34 +0000

Letters from fake people with real problems.

Dear Earl,
My biggest challenge is getting started. I know I have the talent, but

I just can’t start start this script OR

I just can’t finish this script OR

The script tries to bite me when I touch it.

Signed,
Almost Everyone In the World

There’s no shame here, Everyone. This is a completely natural part of the process. Here’s what you have to do.

Put away your script. Jump on the Internet. Tell everyone you know that you’re going to have a big premiere party for your new film in three months. Talk up the awesome. Cake and pie and balloon animals.

Now look at your script. You have approximately a week to get it in shape, because this thing won’t produce itself. Fix what you can, then start calling actors.

POINT: The fastest way to improve as a filmmaker is to see your movie walking and talking on-screen, with an audience. The fastest way to get your movie on-screen is to get the audience first; fear of public humiliation will do the rest.

(Hint: I’ll bet you can name ten filmmakers right now with decent careers who, in your opinion, haven’t ever found a great script. It didn’t stop them, why should it stop you?)

“P.S. BUT, BUT, BUT…”

Yes, Everyone, your first screenings might be embarrassing, but improvement is built into this process. I promise, no one will remember it ten films from now. You won’t even remember it ten films from now.

Making movies is about inertia. More movies die in gestation than ever died in front of an audience. Start your movie, keep it moving, and finish it. Everything else is the small stuff.

• • •

Dear Earl -

It’s us again. What we meant to say was, we WOULD get started, but we don’t have

the right location OR

the right cast member OR

the right size pile of money

So, things are really more difficult than you originally let on.

Sincerely -
A Slightly Smaller, More Experienced Subset of Almost Everyone in the World

This argument is basically logistics: you don’t have access to some element the script requires. Reasonable.

But who wrote the script? Get the writer on the phone! You don’t have a skyscraper to shoot in, set it in a sweat lodge. Or a garage.

This sounds like Roger Corman talking, right? Keep these two things in mind, Subset of Everyone:

First, being professional doesn’t mean having the perfect set of resources,

it means delivering a decent product with the tools available. Michelangelo didn’t use CAD, and Da Vinci never had access to Photoshop.

And second, it doesn’t have to look perfect, it has to look planned.

If you write a great movie about a yacht and you shoot it in a canoe, the audience will cry “suck!” If you write a great movie about a canoe and you use a canoe – that’s great production value!

The lesson to be learned here? The audience only judges you based on what you’ve told them to expect.

It’s about telling a great story. Your production elements don’t need to be out-of-this-world, they just have to believably fit.

Let’s put the idea in practice:

INT. HALL OF JUSTICE – MAGIC HOUR

EARL

I want to adapt Robinson Crusoe. Yay for public domain works!

Earl furiously works on a script for a month.

INT. HALL OF JUSTICE – ONE MONTH LATER – STILL MAGIC HOUR

EARL

Oh my God, I need an island paradise and an intricate set of cabins and a horde of cannibals and God knows how many monkeys, spears, and 18th-century trinkets.

Earl begins the process of ritualized suicide.

EARL

Wait! What is this story about? What is the core of this story?

Earl thinks. Behind him, buildings EXPLODE SPECTACULARLY, because audiences hate thinking scenes.

EARL

The thing I love about this story is the idea of someone learning to cope outside of civilization, and the toll that takes on their soul. So how do I explore that idea, with fewer production hoops to jump through?

So cut the shipwreck. Set it in modern day. Lose all the cannibals and the sprawling island paradise. What do we need to make this movie work? A beach, and some kind of shelter for him to sleep in.

That movie is called Cast Away. (I’m presuming a painted volleyball is not outside your budget) A brilliant movie, simply told, cheaply shot (Tom Hanks notwithstanding). Their chief set piece, the thing the movie couldn’t work without, was empty solitude. Zemeckis took nothingness and made it a prop. You can, too.

POINT: Your production elements are only there to serve the story, and story is the only thing you can control completely. Do more than just butcher your story to match your resources; take whatever you have and make it dramatically integral to the story.

• • •

More real problems from fake people to come.

Post Your Thoughts on I Look Forward To Remembering You

Earl Newton — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:21:57 +0000

As Episode 05: Disconnect circulates through the Internet and we wrap up Singularity 2009 (Did I say Balticon?), I’m setting my sights on the next episode for Stranger Things.

I did an impromptu Twitterpoll and the audience voted overwhelmingly for Mur Lafferty’s time-travel/mystery/romance piece “I Look Forward to Remembering You.”

I originally heard the story on episode 61 of Escape Pod, and knew even then that it was something I wanted to do.

This week I’m going to download Escape Pod #61, reacquaint myself with Mur’s story, and begin the adaptation process.

I’ll be posting updates here and on Twitter as I work through the script. Post your thoughts about the story and what it means to you. I’ll be referring back to these comments as I construct the screenplay, and eventually, the movie.

Follow me on Twitter.
Listen to Escape Pod #61: “I Look Forward To Remembering You.”
Post your thoughts on the story below.

Chalk It Up to 2008

Earl Newton — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 06:34:18 +0000

2008 was a good year for me, professionally and personally. It was a hard year, financially, though I had it easier than most.

For those who missed it (and sometimes I count myself among them), here’s the recap of 2008.

JANUARY: Spent the last month of my “day job” (producing sports radio) packing up my apartment and getting ready to move.
FEBRUARY: Day job ends on the first. Rather than search for another one, I set out to make my company pay for itself, through media production. Less than two weeks later, I was in Wilmington, North Carolina, directing a promotional trailer for Scott Sigler and Random House (Watch: Infected).
MARCH: After the shoot in February, I went back to Wilmington, and with the help and talent of Joe Stauffer and Shaun O’Rourke (amongst countless others), I produced/directed “Latchkeepers“, the fourth episode of Stranger Things, from a script by Matt Wallace.
APRIL: Began post-production on Latchkeepers. Was contacted by an English teacher in Brazil, who wanted to use “Sins of the Mother” to teach Brazilian students English. Developed the principle of Newton’s Razor: “All things being dramatically equal, the shortest cut is usually the best one.”
MAY: In a rush of post-production effects and sweat, David Kanter and I drove up to Balticon and staged Stranger Things: Singularity. Before an audience of 400, we announced to the world that Stranger Things would now be syndicated in 25 million homes across the U.S. on Illusion TV.
JUNE: After going live on Illusion TV, there followed a mad rush of publicity, including press on IO9.com and Warren Ellis’ blog. Lots of squeeeing in June. Also, starting June 1st, I gave up all junk food/soda/general edible evil.
JULY: After four months of irregular work, had to put down Stranger Things for a bit and take care of finances. Family issues also came into play, and left me with little time to do anything but side-jobs and look for better work.
AUGUST: In between side-gigs, I began writing the feature version of Pure Love. At the very end of the month, we came in strong by winning the 2008 Parsec Award for Best Video Podcast.
SEPTEMBER: Finished the first draft of Pure Love, and had to take a client to court. Finances got even tighter.
OCTOBER: My Macbook Pro was destroyed by a falling statue (long story). A new long-term production gig appeared on my horizon, and helped me pay for everything. In addition, longtime friends got married after a 7-year engagement, and I created this video of their courtship.
NOVEMBER: I completed another draft of Pure Love, and helped elect Barack Obama President. I also wrote this essay about that night.
DECEMBER: I paid bills, celebrated with friends and family, and had a generally laid-back time.

By and large, I accomplished the major goals I had for 2008. I built up the company, got us sound, promoted Stranger Things, and managed to remember birthdays along the way.

That said, the bar for 2009 has been set much higher. MUCH more activity with Stranger Things, many more side-projects that should be equally fun, and a lot of personal goals I want to hit.

I’m saving that post for tomorrow. As for now: Happy New Year, and as I like to say, I hope that 2009 brings you the wonders and the learning that 2008 did for me.

Because I like to be one year ahead.

Scrippets Now Installed

Earl Newton — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 03:29:39 +0000

INT. EARL NEWTON’S LUXURIOUS ONE-BEDROOM FLAT

The single light from a MacBook Pro casts noirish shadows along the wall, opposite an expansive view of the diamond-encrusted city.

EARL NEWTON, a large man, handsome, with sharp lines on his face and a high widow’s peak, clicks-and-drags on the Mac. His eyeline is solid, confident. Focused.

EARL NEWTON

(V.O.)

Technology. When my parents grew up, a calculator weighed ten pounds and cost a thousand dollars. Now you get one free with a box of Fruity Pebbles. Now I shuffle digital bits around the world like a Vegas dealer and bemoan the lag as ten times the information in the Library at Alexandria dribbles into my system in the form of a high-definition copy of “Zombie Strippers.”

Newton clicks again.

CUT TO:

THE SCREEN

as it displays “SCRIPPETS PLUG-IN ACTIVATED”. Newton SMILES, sharp shadows carved into a blue-lit face.

EARL NEWTON

(V.O.)

It’s good to be the king.

The WP-Scrippets plugin has now been installed. Now I (and you, in the comments section) can write pieces of script, in proper formatting, directly on the website. Read here for instructions on how to use it.

This plug-in is the result of a collaboration between John August and Nima Yousefi.

UPDATE:
This plug-in works, but isn’t quite perfect yet on the iPhone. I’ll fiddle with it later, when I don’t have scripts due. Like, in August.

Take The Nicholls Challenge

Earl Newton — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 23:30:19 +0000

This year, I’m taking the big swing at the Nicholls Fellowship, possibly the most heralded screenwriting competition in the world. More than one career has been jump-started just by placing in the semifinals.

So here’s the challenge:

Submissions are accepted for 120 days: January 1st to May 1st.

During that time, I’m going to submit three screenplays. A polished draft of Pure Love, and two other screenplays.

Here’s what I’m already aware of:

Submitting more scripts doesn’t increase your chances. If anything, spending 33% of the time on each is theoretically less effective than spending 100% of your time on one submission.
I am deadline-oriented. Having a deadline to hit means I will pound out work. So whether I win or not, I’ve put myself into the creative mindset I want to be in.

So I’m completely using the Nicholls for my own ends: to have three scripts to polish for the summer.

But I have a secret reason for entering: I think I will place. If not the quarterfinals, then the semifinals.

I’ve put the challenge to some of my screenwriting friends, and we’re all going in together on this.

120 days. Three scripts. $90 in submission fees.

I’ve been creating work on the outskirts of the Hollywood world for long enough. If you want to be a world champion, you have to compete against the world.

Will you take the challenge?

“Pure Love” complete

Earl Newton — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:51:20 +0000

Just finished the third draft of “Pure Love”, the feature film I’ve been working on for the last month.

It’s going out to the readers right now, but I’m confident we’re close to the final draft. Here’s what some people have been saying about it so far…

“Gutwrenching…”
“Intense, wicked, and twisted.”
“A killer tale of addiction, desperation, and need…”
“A mindf*ck of a movie…”

So, needless to say, I’m pretty pleased.

Will keep you up to date on its progress.

UPDATE:

This has to be my favorite comment so far: “It reminded me of a Tarantino flick, Blow, and a Twilight Zone episode having a threesome.”

Earl Newton.com » screenwriting

Test-Screening Your Screenplay

Read This Instead of Screenwriting Books

The best advice on screenwriting you can get

The End of the Screenwriter

John August: Breaking Storytelling Conventions

Disconnect, Screenwriting, and Storytelling (Interview)

Read More Screenplays (And How)

Adapting Prose to the Screen (interview)

Pry Yourself from Preproduction

Post Your Thoughts on I Look Forward To Remembering You

Chalk It Up to 2008

Scrippets Now Installed

Take The Nicholls Challenge

“Pure Love” complete