On Screenwriting
I found a great blog recently, The Unknown Screenwriter. It’s some anonymous screenwriter talking about, well, screenwriting, and he has some amazing insight into the story-telling process for the visual medium. Everything I’ve read so far has told me things I’ve needed to hear, and I look forward to following this guy.
Two posts I just read now, one on Concept and Execution and a two-parter on Theme (pt1 pt2), REALLY spoke to me. I’ve been writing a screenplay over the past 7 months based on my senior project script from college, which was based on a two week period two summers ago where I worked as an ice cream man. Originally, it was very hokey, cheesy, and slapstick, all on purpose. This second time around, I’m really trying to write a film. There are great elements in it: goals, ambition, adulthood, responsibility. Getting off your ass and doing something with your life, not taking the easy way through existence. I was having some trouble (1) getting these themes across without blatantly stating them or being too preachy, and (2) creating a unique story without relying on common stereotypes- the loser who could acheive greatness if he would just get inspired enough (see: Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen), the girl he meets who inspires him to greatness (see: the female lead in most Adam Sandler and Seth Rogen movies), etc.
What makes it difficult to write this kind of story is that those stereotypes exist because they are true to life- many times, the easy way through life seems best when you aren’t sharing your life with someone else, and these stereotypes are simple methods of expressing that. The easy way seems better until you find yourself presenting your life to someone else, in the hopes that they would want to get involved with it. Suddenly, your life doesn’t seem like a very attractive package, and you are inspired to make it more interesting. Hence, you are “inspired to greatness”.
The two posts I linked to above discuss this. How do you communicate these ideas without preaching? The writer nails it very concisely, in my opinion. The difference is writing a theme versus writing a moral-of-the-story. With a moral, you are making a statement- “You need to stop being lazy and make something out of your life”. Viewers are forced to agree or disagree with that- there is no discussion, no thoughts provoked. People are presented with a message, say yes or no, and go home. But with a theme, you present a topic for discussion- “You’ve got one life. There might be better ways to spend it than watching tv and eating Cheez-Its”. People can decide for themselves whether or not this is bullshit, or a valid statement.
The trick is finding the difference between telling your viewers the way it is, or presenting them with an opinion, and letting them decide what they think. Read the posts I linked to. They tell it far better than me.
