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Issue Thirty Seven

 HOLLYWOODSCRIPT.COM NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the latest edition of the Hollywoodscript.com Newsletter, which is published by script consultants Craig Kellem, Judy Kellem
(http://www.hollywoodscript.com)

THIS NEWSLETTER IS NEVER SPAM.

You are receiving this newsletter because you expressed an interest in screenwriting by subscribing to this newsletter OR requested a read or a free query letter evaluation from Hollywoodscript.Com(s) Craig Kellem or Judy Kellem.

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The purpose of this newsletter is to share information, ideas etc. concerning the fascinating (and elusive) world of screenwriting.

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IMPORTANT THINGS TO KNOW AND REMEMBER

" THE PURPOSE OF TECHNIQUE IS TO FREE THE TALENT.”

“ PUT YOUR CHARACTER UP A TREE, HAVE THEM TRY TO GET DOWN BUT KEEP THROWING THINGS AT THEM.”

“ The criterion for “being more creative” is not the one I thought it would be --namely someone else's acknowledgment; the town's acknowledgment; the Academy's acknowledgment etc. It was simply about what I was actually doing and how I felt about myself. I HAD BECOME THE THING THAT I WANTED TO BECOME SIMPLY BECAUSE I WAS DOING IT!”

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STRIPPING DOWN THE ESSENTIALS: ART OF THE QUERY
BY JUDY KELLEM

Why are query letters so hard to write?

There you are, confident you have a great script – the story’s spot on, the plot’s firmly in place and you’re madly in love with the characters you’ve created. Now is the moment of pay off where you’ve graduated – a full script in hand - and stand before those terrifying, golden gates to the kingdom of MARKETING. First step is just one brief letter, the hook that you must bait with a perfect “pitch” to get those first bites. How hard can writing a paragraph description of your masterpiece be? Heck, you just cranked out 120 pages of plot and dialogue!

Now five drafts into the query you’re ready to be committed.

For those of you who’s buttons are popping, don’t fret – there is a
solution. The keys to writing a great query are the same ones you used to write a great script: FOCUS, VISION and COMPRESSION.

In a query, you have a tiny space to convey an entire world. In those one or two paragraphs you must communicate to your reader a sense of what your main story is, what drives the plot, who your main characters are and what genre you are writing in. Underlying your summary of the story, you must also transmit the mood, tone and spirit of your script so that the reader instantaneously feels brought into your fiction and knows what they’re in for in reading your screenplay. Just like writing a great dramatic scene, EVERY WORD COUNTS. Making every sentence rich with exposition, drama and urgency is imperative.

How do you do this?

First thing is where to start from. When you sit down to write your query, get crystal clear on what the absolute heart of the story is so that it can work as your compass. You can jot down phrases to help yourself wade through the mire, sifting through all the extraneous arcs, themes etc that are in the material to zero in on the bottom line. For example, what is “STAR WARS” really about? A lot of things – good versus evil, imperialism and despots, fathers and sons, first love, to name a few. But at the very core of this movie, one could argue, is LUKE SKYWALKER’S COMING OF AGE. It is his growth from being a boy to being a man that unites all the other story arcs. This is the FOCUS. Hence, in pitching the script one could begin with this umbrella trajectory:

“ Born on the planet of Tatooine, young, inexperienced farmer LUKE SKYWALKER has only dreamt of traveling outside his hemisphere. Until now. For when he discovers two foreign robots on his land, which contain the destructive plans for a ‘Death Star’ weapon capable of destroying entire worlds within seconds, Luke is catapulted out of his boyhood and into an intergalactic struggle between the forces of good and evil.”

Now, get crystal clear on what your central plot is. Again, you can make a list so that you really separate out the subplots, secondary storylines etc to home in on what MAIN CONFLICT drives the pages. In “Star Wars”, an example of how to COMPRESS this would be:

“ Plans in hand, Luke soon discovers that ‘Death Star’ is the invention of a psychopathic emperor and his faithful servant, DARTH VADAR, who rule the universe through fear and are unchallenged save for a fledgling Rebel Alliance. Now lead by an ancient warrior and helped by the two robots, plus a pilot and his alien companion, Luke must get the Death Star plans to Rebel leaders on planet Alderaan.”

You’ve pinned down the plot. Is it now possible to go back and sneak in your primary subplot or a great plot twist?

RE “STAR WARS”, one starting try would be: “But when Luke and his comrades reach the coordinates for Alderaan they find it’s been obliterated. Now caught in the Death Star’s tractor beam, they are sucked into the deadly ship, where they are narrowly able to rescue a beautiful rebel leader, PRINCESS LEIA but now must escape and destroy the Death Star before Darth Vadar destroys them, annihilating the universe’s only hope for salvation.”

Last step: If possible, tighten what you have and massage into the story summary some moody language to relate the underlying tone and feel of the script. Push the expositional terms of the summary into a description that gives us your VISION – i.e. that EVEN BETTER WAY OF SAYING IT that will truly transmit the original passion that got you writing this particular story in the first place. Why THIS story? What is so fascinating about it? Get in touch with this and further tweak your description if you can, so that your artistic flare can shine through each word. (This is the hardest part. This is why “writing is rewriting” and why it’s so crucial to making a good pitch GREAT.)

You should now be able to sit back after all of this, look at what you’ve
written and unequivocally announce that you have:

*GIVEN US THE HEART OF/MAIN STORY OF YOUR MOVIE ONLY

*GIVEN US THE MAIN PLOT ONLY

*GIVEN US THE OVERALL FEEL OF YOUR MOVIE – THE TONE OF YOUR PITCH SHOULD REFLECT THAT OF YOUR SCRIPT

*GIVEN US A REASON TO LOVE AND FOLLOW YOUR HERO

*GIVEN US A SERIOUS CLIFFHANGER TO PEER OUT FROM

Sandwich your completed pitch between a quick introduction and farewell to the reader, and you are set to burst through those golden gates, go on your merry way along the road to selling your screenplay!

And remember, like anything, query writing will probably get easier as you get used to doing it. Like that old editing hat, a query hat will appear on your writing coat tree, at the ready to be plopped on your head when that time comes round again to grace your script du jour with a worthy summary.
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L.A. WRITER (and friend) MARK MILLER SHARES HIS PRIVATE FILE OF WRITER GOODIES

http://bksp.org/ - Fantastic private message board for authors and aspiring authors. Goldmine of publishing info. Name literary agents and editors are also members.

http://www.writerswrite.net/websrch3.cfm?search=agent - List of writers' resources

http://www.literaryagent.com/

http://www.tailwinds.org/org/urls.html - List of writers' resources

http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/peali.htm

A guide to publishers and publishing services for serious writers

http://agentquery.com/

For researching literary agents

www.publishersmarketplace.com

for the Publisher's Lunch!

http://www.writecraftweb.com/wclinks.html

American Title III Contest, patterned on American Idol, co-sponsored by Romantic Times Bookclub magazine and Dorchester Publishing. Every month the two contestants with the fewest votes will be eliminated until one author is left to collect the prize of a publishing contract with Dorchester.

To learn more about the contest: http://www.romantictimes.com/news_amtitle.php

Backspace: bksp.org - private message board for novelists and aspiring novelists - many very reputable agents and editors are members. $30 to join

Murder Must Advertise - a Yahoo listserve of novelists and aspiring novelists on how to promote books, especially in the mystery genre. (Go to Yahoo Groups and search for Murder Must Advertise to join). Free, open to all.

MWA Breakout list - a Yahoo listserve for published Mystery Writers of America members. Novelists discuss publicity and promotion. Free, restricted to MWA members.

Best book on publicity and promotion: Jacqueline Deval: PUBLICIZE YOUR BOOK.

WritersDigest.com's 101 Best Websites for Writers:

http://www.writersdigest.com/101site...p?goto=closead


THANX MUCHO MARK

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OUR POPULAR LIST OF COMMANDMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE SCREENWRITING NEEDED AN UPDATING AND HERE IT IS, OUR TOP 40!!

1. If the story doesn't work, then the script won't work. If at any given time, your reader is not wondering, "What's going to happen next?"--you've got a problem.

2. Author Julia Cameron says, "The singular image is what haunts us and becomes art." Think about that! At last "a place" to put all of your little insights, moments of truth, fascinations and unique experiences that previously lacked a "file." If you access that "file" while preparing your script and use these hot little tidbits as springboards for scenes, your script is going to be buzzing with honesty and life. This is what audiences crave.

3. There is no such thing as a throwaway or a transitional scene. Scenes should not only add value to the overall story but should also have intrinsic entertainment value as well.

4. Writing a script is relatively easy. The real work is in preparing, building and "arc-ing" out the story and defining the characters. Once the "blueprint" is in place, the writing itself is usually a welcome enterprise. Many writers have trouble being patient enough with this process and it can cost them dearly in the long run.

5. There are many "techniques" for creating and developing characters some of which are effective. However, the single most important thing you can do is to have a strong emotional connection with your character. Intellectual platitudes and techniques are OK, but audiences want characters who are alive. Find your most visceral emotional connections. Don't settle on a character until you do.

6. The difference between good and great material? SOUL. There are some fabulous technicians out there and some great storytellers too, but the bottom line is the emotional impact of a writer's work. When a screenwriter's vision is razor clear and deeply, exactingly rendered, it can have such impact that you the reader feel changed, personally shifted having experienced their art. GREATNESS HAUNTS.

7 "Who is your hero? What is his/her goal? Who or what is preventing her/him from reaching that goal?" (Intense pressure on your hero in an atmosphere of conflict will help keep your story mobile and entertaining).

8. When I've written screenplays, it always STARTED WITH WHAT I THOUGHT WAS A GREAT IDEA. Something that gnawed and nagged at me and that I felt needed to be expressed. I was savvy enough after a while to realize that sometimes you can have a great idea that has no business being developed as a screenplay, so I knew it was important to take a good long breath before investing myself in an idea that might take me the better part of the year to fully execute. After determining that it was a go, my approach would be to start collecting "hot" ideas for scenes, character elements, moments, character arcs etc. and just put them "on the board" without giving them continuity and form...yet. This process involves the collection of assets without the pressure of having to do anything else than collect them. Inevitably, these ideas would spawn more ideas, which would then spawn a sense of trajectory and order. At some point when the quiver felt full, I would get into more advanced stages of identifying placement over the acts and giving it all a sense of storytelling. I would avoid writing at all costs, letting the passion to do so percolate while I did my critical spade work. Once I had a fully developed game plan; full stories, a real sense of a beginning, middle, end and scenes that could "write themselves, "I'd happily get into the writing process as if it were my wedding night.

9. Surrender to this fact: writing is rewriting.

10. EXPERIMENT: take a couple of pages out of your script. Are your characters distinctive enough that, if you REMOVED THEIR NAMES from the pages, you could tell who they are JUST FROM the dialogue? If not, you need to do more work.

11. Rule of thumb: get into scenes as late as you can and get out early. Forget about the "glad to meet you's" and the "what would you like for dinner's." "How can I start a scene as close to the end as possible?"

12. Before writing anything, you should be able to tell someone the story (and have it worked out so smoothly) that it's practically ready to “write itself.”

13. Planning a script is an act of simplifying rather than the opposite. And above all it's a blueprint for a practical, doable approach to getting something down on paper.

14. When it comes to dialogue, less is better. Pick up the most successful screenplays and you'll notice great economies when it comes to words.

15. WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW or about what truly fascinates you. Recognize and take advantage of those areas of experience and interest for which you are the sole proprietor! This will give you an automatic leg up in your writing. However you may inevitably need to shape and dramatize the material in order to make it entertaining for the rest of us. (It doesn't have to be based on 100% of the truth. It's enough that the truth is your inspiration and catalyst). Remember there are certain things that you've been “researching” for your whole life.

16. As you bubble and percolate, AVOID the temptation to write at all costs! Instead, let the DESIRE to write build up as you dabble. Let your energy be expressed in the proliferation of creative nuggets randomly thrown on a page or on index cards. Collect them and give them form but don’t start your script until you’re truly ready.

17. ACCEPT THE FACT that the only writers who get the chance to write without grueling preparation are those who are not getting paid. The typical Hollywood writer has to jump through preparatory hoops before she/he will get the chance to initiate the actual writing of the script. Many pros spend about 70% of their time prepping and 30% writing. Many newcomers do the exact opposite. This is a big mistake. Prep thoroughly.

18. STRUCTURE: Screenplays are big and unruly. You can get lost in their breadth. Three (or four acts, (ie: an act 2 break) help to ground it, make it more bite sized. Additionally, it also gives you at least three moments in the script that are going to be extra climatic (ie: the end of act one; the end of act two (part one); the end of act two (part two) etc. Finally, it gives you something to go for. (For this reason TV movies can be much easier to write than features because they require seven acts (that's six act breaks - plot twisting, climatic, breathless moments to look forward to). Think of each of them as an oasis).

19. STAGE DIRECTIONS ARE OKAY. Someone spread a FALSE rumor that you shouldn't tell directors and actors what to do. Physical actions/gestures/attitudes/reactions etc. described in narrative or parentheses that enhance subtext and cinematic action are called stage directions. Don't hesitate to use the very tool that can help make or break your script.(IE stage directions)

20. The predicate of all successful films, plays and TV episodes is CONFLICT! JEOPARDY, OBSTACLES, AND ANGST will also bode well for you.

21. STORY ARCS (ie: meaning the plot points in any given main story or subplot): Checking them out before writing or revising can produce handsome rewards. Once story arcs are completed, look them over. Look at each story on a microscopic level. Does it have a beginning, middle and end? Is it fat or skinny or just right? Is it balanced? Does it have a surprise or two? Does it have a payoff? Has it fulfilled whatever thematic idea you're going for? Can you tell the story to someone clearly, confidently and without their eyes glazing over? Do the scenes work? Is it ready?

22. RESIST the temptation to start marketing your idea to Hollywood before it's ready. C'mon, you don't need an agent yet. Nor do you even need a query letter. The impulse that Hollywood must be alerted must be muted. You must remain in the role of the mad scientist mixing his/her elixir and letting it brew.

23. SELLING a script is a magical experience but the route to success can be unpredictable, mercurial, often maddening and it usually doesn't happen on your timetable. Thus in this effort, ATTITUDE is paramount. Writers are often made or broken in how they handle this effort! If your expectations are too high and your timetable is too ambitious, you're probably going to derail yourself. Agents and producers are important only AFTER the material is READY.

24. SOME MAY THINK, "c'mon, If my script isn't perfect, surely the industry bigwigs will see the potential. Whatever's wrong can be fixed in the rewrite AFTER the big sale." Wrong! The notion that if your material is "almost" there, surely smart professionals will recognize the potential just doesn't happen. Material must be HOT and READY or you're wasting your time!

25. Spend a percentage of your time pushing the material and the majority of the time working on your NEXT SCRIPT. Taking all that wanting and energy and projecting it into the next project is a lot healthier than agonizing over the inevitable frustration of wanting and waiting. Under these conditions, time is on your side. You're dug in for the long haul, the battle will be on your terms.

26. REMEMBER, the business of screenwriting is not a lottery. It's a process. You get better. You develop an inventory of material and ideas. If lucky, you begin to get compliments. You start to experience breakthrus that, at first, only you notice. People start to genuinely like your stuff. You get turned down but someone asks what else you might have. The stakes are raised--you get romanced by the wrong people but it's proof that someone's interested. You almost get a deal. Finally, you may get lucky. The point of critical mass has been reached. It's happening now. This takes time. It can be a circuitous process.

27. APPRECIATE and covet any sign of life (re your writing).

28. KNOW that it's hard for everyone.

29. BE AWARE that people do sell scripts.

30. WITHIN REASON, continue to write from the heart and not for the
marketplace.

31. In life and art we RELY ON ANCHORS, predictable and reliable structures we can hold onto that permit us to relax into an often chaotic and nonsensical reality. Screenplays demand that no matter how avant-garde, experimental or conventional your writing, there be some basic elements that hold us inside of your fantasy.

32. The mind is a funny thing. Sometimes what we perceive to be true is not true. This happens often with screenwriting when writers think that there’s something on the page that isn’t on the page. We must closely examine our manuscripts making sure WHAT’S IN OUR MINDS AND HEARTS HAS ACTUALLY BEEN WRITTEN.

33. There is hardly a situation in any movie, dysfunctional or otherwise, that can’t be justified by some movie somewhere that got away with it. But consider the other 2000 MOVIES IN WHICH IT DIDN’T WORK!

34. Developing ideas is an interesting activity. Two things happen when you do it on a regular basis. One is that your relationship with your subconscious and your “creative guide” gets keener and ideas begin to flow. If you’re lucky, you begin to flow to such an extent that you begin to “WRITE ON THE WALLS.” The other is that as you grow ideas, some take flight as if on their own. This is powerful stuff.

35. If you have to stretch reality, do it judiciously and surround it with a bedrock of credibility and truth in other issues.

36. Succeeding as a screenwriter is a PROCESS. It's less about hitting a home run with the big script and more about doing the next right thing that propels you and your material a step further up the ladder.

37. Although it's natural for writers to do what they do best, it's necessary to also use other methods to accomplish our creative tasks. The humorist may need to access real drama in order to steady his screenplay and give it a realistic foundation. The sci-fi aficionado might be Einsteinian in her imagery but still has to find a way to tell a story with a beginning, middle and end. And so forth. The point of this is simple. It’s imperative that you sometimes turn your back on your “A” weaponry and take care of business in areas of craft that may not be your first love. For many writers, particularly those who are not working under the lash of producer or studio, this kind of discipline can be elusive.

38. Have another (nice) way of making a living while you're trying to make it as a writer. This will give you space to grow and create without going nuts. Waiting by the telephone is a prescription for despair.

39. The funniest writers on God’s earth still need a keen sense of reality, relatability, normalcy and even poignancy and drama in their scripts. Is this “rule” ever broken? Sure. But most of the time, the result of these digressions is failure, and often just on a developmental level, since material that’s gratuitously funny and lacks the other needed elements usually ends up on the dust pile. The trick is to create multidimensional situations and amply utilize the honest tragic-comedic human condition as the predicate of things to come. In other words, reality is very much the comedy writer’s friend.

A FINAL NOTE--MIRACLES DO HAPPEN

40. I have witnessed and personally experienced miracles in this business, namely when good things happened for long shot projects and people. I remembered that these good tidings ALWAYS came as a result of a “patron’s” (ie agents and producers etc) pure and infectious belief. And how winning a combination it could be; the supportive individual paired with projects which with a little TLC, seemed to take on lives of their own. Observing otherwise “tough as nails” movers and shakers softening and supporting when their hearts were touched, was always a sight to behold. Passion, the magical ingredient in all of these cases, is surely the decisive factor. And it’s nice to know that it’s still alive and well and making things happen. Stars-to-be, scripts that will find a home, and other worthy product can find warmth in the prospect that after all is said and done, it still can be about deserving talent and material getting caught in the throat and the heart of folks, finding ways to break through. My own personal experience has borne out this truth. Perhaps it has something to do with deep energy which transforms into something tangible. If you believe, like many do, that all things are ultimately created from one’s most passionate beliefs and desires, then maybe “being on fire” has inevitable physical consequences, even in a seemingly impenetrable world.

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THE SEVEN CIRCLES OF MY SHOW BUSINESSS HELL: A PAINFULLY TRUE STORY

MARK MILLER

Within the Hollywood community, there is a term used primarily by writers and producers, called Development Hell, as in "my script is stuck in Development Hell." This generally refers to the process a movie script often undergoes with studio executives, involving extensive, endless, and often seemingly senseless sessions of "notes" to be addressed in future rewrites of the script. These "notes" for requested revisions may come from any one or a combination of the following: the executives themselves, their bosses, their wives or children, the stars, directors, or even their psychics. Countless other issues can contribute to a script's being stuck in Development Hell, including casting problems, stars' commitments to other projects, or changes in studio executives. Whatever the case, Development Hell damns the project to never going into production.

While I empathize with any of the parties who must undergo Development Hell, the Seven Circles of one of my own Show Business Hells make Development Hell seem, in comparison, like a Sunday picnic with Jen and Vince in Malibu. Come journey with me, won't you? Wear something light, though. It's going to get hotter as we descend to each subterranean show biz level.

Level One - Back-story: The increasing popularity of TV reality shows takes up the on-air time-slots formerly occupied by sit-coms. This, combined with producers' increasing desire to hire writers directly out of the womb, makes it substantially more challenging for someone who'd been earning his living for years as a writer/producer on sit-com staffs - to find a job. Someone like, say, me.

Level Two - One of the painful realities of being an adult is that just because there are no available jobs in your field, or that you're not working in one of the few that remain, doesn't mean there are no more monthly expenses. Unfortunately, although work opportunities often slow down or stop, you can pretty much count on monthly bills like clockwork. Hence - pressure, tension, and stress. Got house payments, a wife, and kids? Double, triple, and quadruple the stress. Feeling a tad warm yet? Just wait.

Level Three - Flash-forward a few years. After exhausting all efforts to find script-writing work, exhausting all saved income, exhausting myself and everyone I know, I register for copywriting work at several employment agencies. At least I'll be using my writing skills, it's fairly steady work, and it'll give me something more productive to do than calling every working writer I know, to hear them say there's nothing for me now, but feel free to call back in four months. And the salary for copywriting work compared to what I'd been making on sit-com staffs? Don't ask.

Level Four - Day one of my first job in the business world. At a video production company. Well, that's sort of show business, I tell myself. And I answer myself right back, "Hey, blow me." I'm asked to sit at the front desk, in the front lobby, of a small business and answer phones to replace the receptionist who'd had a sudden emergency. Gee, I tell myself, you've come such a long way. From producing a network sit-com to being entrusted with this highly-revered receptionist position. The high-point of my humiliation for the day? Not even close. An hour into the job, I get a call from the boss saying a videotape is going to be delivered. When It arrives, I'm to pop it into the VCR on the desk to my right, turn on the TV, and call him. Then, I'm to describe what's on the video, as he needs the information for an important meeting later that morning. Okay, I've got a B.A. degree in English literature; I should be able to handle that.

Level Five - The video arrives. I pop it in, call the boss, and start describing what's on it. In the video, I tell the boss, an attractive young woman is reading a book. The doorbell rings and she goes to answer it. It's an attractive man delivering a package. Flirting ensues. Kissing ensues. Nudity ensues. Lovemaking ensues. Extensive lovemaking with appropriate sound-effects. I'm beet-red, describing all this on the phone to the boss, who's asking detailed follow-up questions. Meanwhile, other co-workers are coming and going, giving me and the TV set strange looks.

Level Six - Finally, just as the on-screen couple climaxes, and of course they're both screamers, I say I can't do this anymore. And just as I'm about to walk out on my first day on the job, a hidden camera crew appears. Turns out I've been had. By a reality show. Yes, one of the same reality shows occupying a time-slot formerly occupied by my beloved sit-coms. And the legitimate employment agency that sent me to work here? Why, naturally, they'd been hired by the reality show to, apparently, find the most gullible man in California to be humiliated on national television. Humiliation over yet? Not by a long shot.

Level Seven - One of this reality show's producers who comes out to greet me looks familiar. As well he should, because, coincidentally, as it turns out, we had been fellow story editors and friends for two seasons on one of my sit-com staffs. I think he sensed my discomfort because he was as nice and as apologetic as possible. In fact, as I was slinking out the door to find the nearest hole to crawl into, I distinctly heard him shout out after me, "Give me a call in four months. We may have something for you."

Copyright 2006 MARK MILLER, all rights reserved.


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