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Screenwriter’s Manualof how-to advice, tips, tricks ofthe trade, and business sense

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contentsSECTION ONEHOW-TO ARTICLES

KNOW YOUR SHOW A two-part insider’s guide to picking the best televisionshows to spec for staffing season.BY SHELLEY GABERT

Part 1This section brings you showrunners of popular shows

as they tell you what they’re looking for – and whichsamples they’ve seen more than enough of. 5Part 2This section brings you the inside scoop on the“rules,” plus format and character guides for bothDexter and House, two of the smartest TV showsyou can spec right now. 8

FROM WRITER TO HYPHENATECreative Screenwriting took the opportunity toexperience some courses for writers who want tomake their own films. Here is a firsthand account ofwhat they have to offer.BY NANCY HENDRICKSON

Part 1 A comprehensive overview of five courses that willset you on the path to helming your first feature. 11Part 2This time we focus on practical skills like camera,lighting, editing and working with actors. 14

CHEMISTRY LAB: WRITINGTHE ROMANTIC COMEDYThe writers of Leatherheads, Smart People, ForgettingSarah Marshall, The Accidental Husband, and Run, FatBoy, Run tutor us in how to take an inspired pairing fromspark to screen.BY ANDREA MEYER 17

ROMANTIC COMEDY MARKETPLACEWhat’s working and what’s not working in today’srom-com marketplace?BY BILLY MERNIT 21

PHONES, COFFEE, SPEC SCRIPTS: THEASSISTANT TRACK IN HOLLYWOODStarting as an assistant can lead to bigger things for aspiringtelevision writers with patience and people skills.BY SHELLEY GABERT 23

BOOK SMART: ACQUIRING LITERARY RIGHTS A novice’s guide to acquiring literary material to adapt.With pluck and luck, even novices have a shot atoptioning a literary property – sometimes for aslittle as a few hundred dollars.BY JACK EGAN 26

PILOT LESSIONS: WRITING ANORIGINAL TV SCRIPT‘Tis the season for selling original series. Despite adowntown in production, an original pilot is now an essentialpart of a TV writer’s portfolio. Our roundtable weighsin on what to write and where things are headed.BY SHELLEY GABERT 28

SECTION TWOOUR CRAFT COLUMNSBY KARL IGLESIAS

The Screenwriter’s 7 Deadly Sins Avoid these perennial vices to achieve ahappier writing life. 31The Seamless ThemeFive effective ways to avoid preachingyour message. 32Your Concept’s Extreme Makeover

Five tricks of the trade to energize any idea. 34The Effective VoiceoverFive effective ways to overcome readers’prejudice. 35Nuggets of WisdomThe best advice I’ve ever heard. 37The Emotionally Satisfying Ending

A good ending can linger with an audiencelong after leaving the theater. 38


4/424 | creativescreenwriting Screenwriters Manual

creativescreenwritiPUBLISHERBill Donovan

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CREATIVE SCREENWRITING is published bimontJanuary, March, May, July, September and November bCreative Screenwriting, 6404 Hollywood Blvd., Suite 4Los Angeles, CA, 90028-6241. Basic U.S. subscriptiprices are: 1 year $24.95 (6 issues); 2 years $44.95 (1issues); 3 years $65.95 (18 issues). For Canada/Mexicoand other international subscription rates, see the wepage http://creativescreenwriting.com/subscribe.htmPrices are subject to change; notice will be posted on thapage. We accept U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. Singl

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JACK EGAN ([email protected]) has been writing about the entertainment industry and Hollywood for threedecades. His work has appeared inThe Washington Post, New York Magazine, Variety, Below the Lineand Rolling

Stone. He recently returned to live in Hollywood, wherehe grew up.

SHELLEY GABERT ([email protected]) haswritten articles on film and television forVariety, Emmy, American Cinematographer, Written By and the DGA Magazine. She writes a television column for FilmStew.com, and she has also written several television specs, including a drama pilot.

NANCY HENDRICKSON is a frequent contributor toCreativeScreenwritingand MovieMaker magazines and teachesscreenwriting at Los Angeles Film School. She took home the Best Short Film award at the Moondance Film Festival in2007 and is a past winner of the Austin Film Festivalscreenwriting competition. She currently has two screen-plays in pre-production.

KARL IGLESIAS ([email protected]) is ascreenwriter and a lecturer in the UCLA Extension Writer’sProgram. He is the best-selling author of “The 101 Habitsof Highly Successful Screenwriters.” His latest book is“Writing for Emotional Impact.” Find out more at hiswebsite, www.karliglesias.com.

BILLY MERNIT (www.billymernit.com), a WGA screenwriter,novelist, studio story analyst and private script consultant,is the author of the screenwriting textbook “Writing the Ro-mantic Comedy” (Harper/Collins) and pens the popular blog, Living the Romantic Comedy.His novel “Imagine Meand You” will be published this spring by RandomHouse/Shaye Areheart.

ANDREA MEYER’S novel “Room for Love,” based on anarticle she wrote for the New York Post , is about a journal-ist’s adventures looking for love in the real estate ads. Itwas published by St. Martin’s Press in September 2007.Meyer also covers film and social trends forVariety, Interview and Glamour magazines, and she is writing apsychological thriller screenplay for MGM.

Co ntribut o rsp



Without a crystal ball or magic mirror,it’s a high-stakes gamble, given the timeyou’ll invest. That’s why we’ve picked thebrains of writers and showrunners pastand present to get their perspectivesalong with key information that mayhelp increase your odds.

Whether aspiring to break in, or look-ing to get staffed again in the spring,savvy writers know that now’s the timeto start watching a few well-chosen showswith a professional eye. Come January,when it’s time to sit down and write thatnew spec for staffing season, you’ll havethe edge if you know your show back-ward and forward.

“It’s a really tough time out there forwriting specs,” says Angel Dean Lopez(Sleeper Cell, Judging Amy ) who teaches anintroductory television spec writing classin the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program.“The Sopranos is over, The Shield is wrap-ping up its last season, and a lot of thesolid dramas are a bit long in the tooth.I’ve always told my students to look forcomedies or dramas with critical acclaim,popularity, longevity and insider pene-tration, which means (shows that are)watched by agents, showrunners andexecutives. But finding shows that fit thatmatrix is a bit harder now.”

In a highly fragmented television-

viewing universe, it’s hard to know howmany people in the business watch thathot new cable show or whether such anarrowcast choice can be a viable speccompared with a mainstream networkdrama. But it is a sure bet that there arestacks of 30 Rock and Entourage specs sit-ting on desks at CAA. And specs of Des-

perate Housewives , various versions of CSand other dramas that remain popularwith audiences have glutted the readingmarket.

“I’ll shoot myself if I read anotherGrey’s Anatomy spec,” says Dee Johnson,an executive producer on Lifetime’s ArmyWives , who previously served as co-exec-

Mirror, mirror on the wall, what’s the show to spec this fall? If only it were that easy, but thetelevision landscape is less like a fairy tale these days and more like a minefield. Writingjobs are fewer. Signature shows that were once sound spec choices are gone or aging, whilenewer ones can quickly become obsolete, cancelled by fearful, trigger-happy executives.

KNOWYOURSHOW…LEARN HOW TO PICK THE BEST SPECTO WRITE

FOR THE SPRING STAFFING SEASON PART ONEBY SHELLEY GABERT



utive producer on ER and executive pro-ducer on Commander in Chief . “And if aCSI, Law & Order or Without a Tracecomes across my desk, those scripts willnot be the first thing I read because aprocedural doesn’t tell you much, otherthan someone can handle structure andget the voices down.

In Johnson’s opinion, “Specs of shows that are a mix of comedy anddrama and handle a range of emotionsallow for greater depth in storytelling.”

“ Rescue Me is a good show to specbecause it proves someone can writecomedy, pathos and drama,” says TimKring, creator and executive producer of

Heroes and Crossing Jordan . “ Big Love(HBO) and Dex ter (Showtime) are culthits that are popular with other writers,and Mad Men on AMC is another inter-esting show, but I’m not sure if it has ahuge following internally in Holly-

wood,” he adds.Kring still finds CSI and Law & Order

and their sister shows worthy, and hesays any show with strong central voic-es makes for a good spec. “There’s alwaysbeen a wave where everyone will writethe same show. It used to be NYPD Blue,The Sopranos or The Shield , and that wassmart because people were really watch-ing those shows,” Kring says, “but that’salways changing. There will be newshows that come along this year.”

Among the newcomers, early money

is on Pushing Daisies , created by BryanFuller ( Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls ), a for-mer writer on Heroes . “He wrote it as aspec pilot and it’s terrific. It has tremen-dous heart and humor, and it’s quirky,”Kring says.

The cardinal rule, according to theshowrunners we surveyed, is to neverspec a show until it has at least one sea-son under its belt. Even then, it can berisky. Just ask people who wrote specs of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip or John FromCincinnati . Both lasted one season anddefinitely didn’t live up to their hype.Some of the new shows seem promising,but it’s too soon to know if they’ll havestaying power. The NBC sci-fi dramedyChuck is another high-concept show like

Pushing Dai sie s that has lots of buzz. Dirty Sexy Money and Cane are essential-ly soap operas in the vein of Dal las or

Dynasty but with contemporary spins.The crime drama Life has received criti-cal acclaim and is being described as a

much edgier version of Monk .“All new shows suffer from ‘new-

show-itus.’ It often takes six or eightepisodes to get them on their feet, soyou never know where the show isgoing,” says Tom Blomquist, an execu-tive producer on Walker, Texas R anger ,who got his start working on The A-Teamand Riptide . He also teaches spec work-shops at AFI and a spec pilot class atUCLA Extension.

Still, some of the new offerings thatrocket to rating highs may be spec-wor-thy and bear keeping an eye on. Back toYou, from the creative team behind Frasi-er , could well become the new comedyspec. There’s not a lot of newcomer com-petition — only six half-hour comedieswere included among the 28 new showspremiering on network TV this fall.

For comedy writers trying to breakinto drama, Johnson says the hybrids

(comedy and drama) are a safer bet. Theymay even be the strongest choices on theair because they allow a writer to show-case character and storytelling whileemphasizing the genre he or she wouldideally like to write one day.

“ House remains a very effective specbecause it’s a character-driven show witha bit of mystery and procedural,” saysGreer Shephard, a partner in Shep-hard/Robin Co., which produces TNT’sThe Closer and FX’s Nip/Tuck .

Both a ratings and critical hit, House

features a lead character who’s an anti-hero with bite. The skills you might dis-play in executing its procedural elementswould cross over to a crime drama, whileits medical milieu works for Grey’s Anato-my execs. Both The Closer and Saving Grace , which is coming back for at least15 episodes next season, provide anopportunity to write for strong femalecharacters, played by Kyra Sedgwick andHolly Hunter, respectively. Each of thesedramas mixes the personal with the pro-cedural. Medium also offers a strongfemale lead, but in a different genre.

If it’s a teen series that would show theworld what you can do, perhaps a Super-natural would work to demonstrate bothcharacter and procedural skills. And forthose with an aptitude for racy material,Nip/Tuck has been a very popular spec.

“ Dexter is my favorite show on the airright now because it has an unconven-tional hero and (takes) a totally differentslant on the stories they tell,” Blomquist

says. “(And) while Weeds and Big Lovmay not have worked a year ago, noweveryone is talking about them.” Mean-while, he adds, “Once-hot shows like Des-

perate Housewives may have reached theirtipping point.”

To make the game even more chal-lenging, the truth is that gatekeepershave very little time to watch television.An agent may catch an episode or two of one of his clients’ shows, while showrun-ners typically have time to watch only afew shows for their own enjoyment.

Says Bill Grundfest, who wrote for fiveseasons on Mad About You , “You have tobe very inner-driven in this game, fromwhen you’re breaking in to when theythrow you out. If you listen too much toother people, you lose yourself, and that’sthe only thing you have to sell.”

If he were looking to make an impres-sion right now, he says he might write a

Dexter or something that allowed him to“color outside the lines” and alternatethat with a more mainstream choice.“I’m a character-driven guy, so I want towrite about humans and their pain,whether it’s for a drama or a comedy,” hesays.

Success storiesWhen Sheldon Bull, a producer on

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Coach andauthor of Elephant Bucks: An Insider’sGuide to Writing TV Sitcoms , was breaking

into the business, he tried to write a Lav-erne & Shirley , one of the hottest showson the air at the time. “I just didn’t hearit in my head, so I decided to write a

M*A*S*H spec instead, and I ended upwriting two episodes of that show,” hesays.

As David Chase’s assistant on I’ll Fly Away , Johnson was so into that show thatshe decided to write a spec of it, violat-ing a “no-no” in the business, whichholds that you never write a spec of theshow you want to write for. But Chaseread Johnson’s spec and assigned her anepisode to write.

“I do see a calculated effort by writersto pick the show they think is hot, but Ithink that’s a mistake,” Johnson says. “It’smuch more important to write a showyou’re invested in, since that will comethrough.”

After landing a job on Fast lane fromtheir spec screenplay, former advertisingcopywriters John Coveny and Hunt Bald-


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win had to start over when the show wascancelled after its first season. They choseto write a Without a Trace because theyliked the actors on the show and thecharacter-based moments. They alsowrote a Six Feet Under .

“Before we started writing, we wentback to school,” Coveny says. “We spentmonths watching those shows and read-ing the scripts. Our goal was to replicatethe show, to demonstrate we knew itsrules and the voices of the characters. Butit was also to stand out and be noticed,to put our own personal stamp on theshows.”

In both cases, they opened with amajor twist and introduced new charac-ters into their specs. The results led tothem landing an agent and to jobs on TheCloser , on which they’ve just finishedtheir third season as co-executive pro-ducers. A pilot they co-wrote, The Truth

in Advertising , began shooting in October.“The big gamble you’re always taking

is that you’ll choose a show that some-one has never seen or write the best scriptof a show they don’t know well,” Covenysays.

Coveny remembers when he and Bald-win were the low men on the totem pollin the writer’s room. “James (Duff) andGreer made it clear that we were to speakup. ‘There’s no fear here,’ they said. Andthat’s what I repeat to myself and wouldsay to other writers because once you

start qualifying things you can talk your-self into a box. Just find what you like,write that and try to find a new way in.”

From the hiring desksKring, the Heroes showrunner, says he

often focuses more on execution in thespecs he reads. “We have a big writer’sroom and we figure our stories outtogether,” he says, so he looks at whetherwriters can construct a scene properly.“Can they start and stop it at the rightplace? Do they have a button that drivesthe story forward and draws a reader’s eyedown the page?”

He prefers to read original material toget a sense of the writer’s voice. “But Ialso want to see what kind of forgery aperson can do. Can they come onto anexisting show and copy what the show isand blend in and be a good copy artist,”he says.

After going through the hiring processto fill the writer’s room on Army Wives ,

Johnson said she’d rate most of the specsread as “competent but not memorable.”

“You run across a lot of young writerswho seem to want to take a shortcut, butthere’s hardly any substitute for learningthe craft,” she says. “That’s the beauty of the spec. It helps you learn the form, butyou also have some wiggle room to turnit on its ear and stretch, and that’s a goodthing.”

Lopez spends half of his class time dis-secting dramas — charting the subplotsand scenes to help students understanda show’s template. (See sidebar on page51 for more on this.)

Serialized dramas like Heroes, 24, Lost and Prison Break can seem like intimidat-ing specs to write, so Lopez encourageshis students to ignore ongoing plots andfocus more on character issues. In tack-ling shows like these, it’s best to write astand-alone episode, he advises, “or take

a Shakespeare play or Greek tragedy andrecast it in your show.”

“No matter what the show is, it’simportant to tell something personallyresonant rather than filling in the num-bers and writing a generic beat sheet,”he says. “One of the biggest pitfalls I seeis no connection between writers andtheir material. They forget that they’rewriters, first.”

The old adage that writers write istrue. Bull says he’s somewhat mystifiedby writers who complete two specs, sit

back and wait, and then give up if noth-ing happens. “Writers [should] always[be] moving on and writing new mate-rial,” he says.

Adds Grundfest: “The more writingsamples you have, the more shots youhave. But no matter what show you spec,make sure you’re willing to dig deep.Those who write cookie-cutter specs willfind that their scripts sit in a pile some-where. I always say, ‘Either go big or gohome.’”

…AND WATCHIT LIKE A PROThey all say ,“Write what you know.While we can’t help you to knowyourself, here are some tips on how

to know your show and watch it likea pro.

■ Tape, TiVo or take good notes whilyou watch several episodes of yourchosen show. Get scripts and readthem. Break an episode down into actsand scenes. Beside each scene, writedown the beat, a brief description ofwhat happens. Generally, an hour-longdrama will have 13 to 15 beats.

■ Break the show down into the A, Band C story lines. Then take note ofthe plot and subplots. Eventually apattern will emerge. This will becomeyour template for the show.

■ Think about which characters standout for you. Consider the tone of theshow. Does it have a strong centralvoice, and if so, what is it and how is iexpressed?

■ Are the story lines resolved in

each episode or is it serialized? If it’sserialized, decide how you plan tohandle that.

■ Take note of the set pieces the showmight include in its format week afterweek, as well as any other repeatingelements. Does the show usually openwith a teaser? How long is it? Don’tforget to include those elements.

■ Now that you’ve been watching foa while, look at the big picture. Decidefor yourself what the show is about.What’s the premise? What problem isthe show set up to solve or explore?How can you interpret this on a levelthat resonates for you personally andexcites you as a writer? Now you’reready to come up with your spring-board, the premise that will set yourspec episode apart.



KNOWYOURSHOW…

PART TWOof our exclusive guide to nailing a televisionspec script that will stand out during staffing season

BY SHELLEY GABERT

and Write It Like a Pro

We all believe the television business willget back to some semblance of normalafter the WGA strike, but when? The newyear is here — traditionally the time fortelevision writers to turn in pilot scriptsand select a show to spec for staffing sea-son. But at press time, none of the agentswe polled could predict how the strike(which has upset the predictable rhythmsof the television calendar for the first timein 20 years) would affect the May/Junehiring season. Their off-the-record an-swer? “Nobody knows yet.” What isknown is that the strike will eventuallyend and business will go on. In a positivesign, NBC/Universal gave two freshmanseries, Chuck and Life, full-season orders(from 13 to 22 episodes), and just beforethe strike bell rang, Pushing Daisies got its“back nine” order from ABC.

Dexter show runner Clyde Phillips

would normally be reading spec pilotsand dramas before starting work in Feb-ruary on the third season of the Show-time hit. Thanks to the strike, he’s hadmore time to spend with family andwatch television. A big fan of House , healso tunes in to Heroes , The Wire and

Brotherhood. When it comes to readingspecs written by possible new hires,Phillips said he isn’t concerned aboutwhether he knows or watches the showshe’s reading because a good spec guideshim through all its nuances. “I want toread a spec where the writer’s voicescreams loudly and appropriately enoughto be heard,” Phillips says.

To help you channel more energy intoshowcasing your unique voice, we’ve cov-ered the basics in our exclusive guide toformat, tone, voice and characters fortwo highly recommended shows. Both

are ensemble dramas that were repeat-edly mentioned by show runners asstrong spec choices when we interviewedthem for part one of this article (if youmissed it, you can order the Novem-ber/December 2007 issue at www.cre-ativescreenwriting.com.) Each is apopular, critically acclaimed showwatched by insiders. Better yet, eachcombines medical and crime proceduralelements with character-driven story-lines. Nail a strong episode of either andyou can showcase your dramatic rangewith a sample you can send to othermedical or crime dramas — perpetual sta-ples of the television landscape.

So tune out the chaos and uncer-tainty, and focus on writing the strongestspec you can of the show you’ve chosen,or one of the following recommenda-tions. That’s a move that will get you no-



ticed — no matter what happens next,and when.

DEXTER Dexter finished its sophomore season inDecember as Showtime’s number oneshow. The drama’s dark anti-hero andmoral ambiguity continue to generatebuzz. Television veteran Phillips, whowas a consulting producer on Boomtownand created Suddenly Susan and Parker

Lewis Can’t Lose , oversees a show thatjust keeps getting better and better.

PREMISE

Based on the novel “Darkly DreamingDexter” by Jeff Lindsay, Dexter is a seri-alized drama about a blood-spatter ana-lyst for the Miami Metro ForensicDepartment who moonlights as a vigi-lante serial killer. The drama mines fa-

miliar crime show terrain, as Dexter’sforensic co-workers and homicide detec-tives solve cases, but the action is seenthrough the point of view of a deeplydisturbed individual who must keep hissecret from being discovered by his sis-ter and his boss.

Dexter is an astute observer, with hisperceptive, witty and droll thoughts re-vealed through narration. Phillips hassaid that in his own way, Dexter oper-ates from a noble purpose — he’s essen-tially acting out what’s already

sanctioned in our society, the prosecu-tion and sometimes the execution of killers. Dexter operates from a moralcode instilled in him by his foster father,Harry (seen in flashbacks), by onlykilling people who’ve eluded the justicesystem. Constantly searching for an-swers about his father, a former cop, he’salso trying to figure out how he, him-self, evolved into a serial killer.

PRIMARY LOCATIONS

Police stationDexter’s labDexter’s apartmentRita’s houseDexter’s killing place

THE STORY THUS FAR

The second season began 38 days afterDexter killed his long-lost brother, Rudy,who was also the Ice Truck Killer, theMiami Metro Homicide’s nemesisthroughout the first season. Debra’s nar-

row escape from death at Rudy’s handsunnerves Dexter, pushing his personaland professional life further out of con-trol. Debra, on shaky ground emotion-ally, has moved in with Dexter.

Dexter’s secret life is threatened whenscuba divers find trash bags on the bot-tom of the ocean filled with his handi-work. Soon his squad is tracking anotherserial killer they dub the Bay HarborButcher. FBI Agent Frank Lundy, broughtin to find the killer, creates a task forceincluding Batista and Debra, who soondiscover that the Bay Harbor Butcher ismost likely one of them. This revealamps up the pressure for the squad andfor Dexter, who must stay one step aheadof their investigation.

Meanwhile, Rita, mistaking Dexter’sstrange behavior for a drug addiction, de-mands that he seek help. He goes to AAmeetings and meets Lila, a beautiful,

mysterious woman who seems to be hissoulmate, only to later learn that she’smentally unbalanced. Debra begins a sex-ual relationship with Lundy, and Lt. La-Guerta sleeps with her boss’s finance.

Sgt. Doakes continues to tail Dexteruntil he gets a break — he finds Dexter’shidden box of his victims’ blood sam-ples. But when Lundy’s team finds theevidence in Doakes’ trunk, the sergeantbecomes the prime suspect.

CHEAT SHEET

This Showtime original series has nocommercials and therefore no obviousact breaks. To break down the show,identify the beats that move a givenepisode forward. In the first season, thescripts averaged 53 scenes and a lengthof 57-60 pages. This season, according toPhillips, Dexter scripts time out in thelow 50s. “We think in terms of story-telling, and we’re more interested thatour scripts follow the rhythm of a smallmovie rather than episodic television,”he says.

Dexter appears somewhere in almostevery scene. The question of whether hewill or won’t be found out is always pres-ent. His problems and inner conflict,which drive every episode, also reflectthe challenges and struggles of the othercharacters. “The phrase in the writingroom is that the show must be ‘Dexter-centric,’ where almost everything is seenthrough his eyes. But there are othercharacters and story lines addressed in

each episode,” Phillips notes.Dexter pursues a victim in almost

every episode. Sometimes it’s very per-sonal, such as when he finds and kills hismother’s murderer. Other times, he’sstalking a stranger.

RULES

Every episode begins with Dexter’snarration, which continues throughoutthe story. Part confession, part observa-tion and sometimes brief exposition, thenarration is always wry, smart and funny,demonstrating Dexter’s skewed take onhis job, life and relationships.

“Finding Dexter’s voice is one of thehardest things we’ve been faced with onthis show,” Phillips says. “It needs truthand humor, which is a delicate danceand makes it a very tricky show to write.There are plenty of shows out thereabout catching bad guys, but here it’s

spending an hour with Dexter, so wehave to get behind his mask and makehim authentic and likeable.”

Almost every episode of the show alsofeatures flashbacks of a young Dexterwith his foster father. “The rule on flash-backs is that they have to be motivatedby whatever is going on in the scene.They tell a story unto themselves andgenerally have two to three beats,”Phillips says. “They also are alwaysthrough Dexter’s eyes — either he’s look-ing at something or we’re looking at him,

but he has to be in the frame.”Dexter begins each kill with a ritual:

He slices the victim’s cheek and collectshis blood on a slide, but the rest of vio-lence is left to the audience’s imagina-tion.

TONE

Dark, but leavened with a wickedsense of humor, originating from Dex-ter’s observations on the absurdity of life.

OPPORTUNITY

There’s freedom here to move be-yond formulaic approaches and pushthe envelope to explore the gray areasof our justice system and human rela-tionships. Among the provocative issuesraised: How well do we know the peoplewe love?

HOUSENot only is it Fox’s number one

scripted show, House, now in its fourth



season , is one of the most highly ratedshows on television, averaging 18.9 mil-lion viewers per episode. David Shore,the show’s creator, who wrote on NYPD

Blue and executive produced Hack , wonan Emmy in 2005 for outstanding writ-ing on the series. And star Hugh Lauriehas won two Golden Globes for his per-formance.

PREMISE

Part medical procedural, part mystery, House is a character-driven drama builtaround Gregory House, a brilliant med-ical Sherlock Holmes who has a knack fordiagnosing rare diseases but is totallylacking in bedside manner. House leadsthe Department of Diagnostic Medicineat Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospi-tal. Each week he and his team of doctorsrush to solve a medical emergency usingthe patient’s symptoms as clues. House’s

passion for solving puzzles drives himmuch more than the psychological andemotional needs of his patients.

Dr. House teaches his team using theSocratic method, and like an experiencedand cynical homicide detective, he be-lieves that people lie but symptomsdon’t. He can be shockingly candid andplays guinea pig if necessary to solve acase, but his “coldness” or lack of empa-thy causes tension and conflicts amonghis team of doctors as well as the hospi-tal administrative staff, including his

boss, Dr. Lisa Cuddy. He’s not a greatteam player, either, but despite his can-tankerous nature he’s a close friend of Dr.

James Wilson, head of the oncology de-partment.

Shore says House is a big believer inrationality and truth over emotion, arebel who tells it like it is, while execu-tive producer Katie Jacobs describes himas “a rock star who’s in your face and sayswhat we wish we could say.”

PRIMARY LOCATIONS

Plainsboro Teaching Hospital(Laboratory, OR, ICU)

House’s officeCuddy’s officeHouse’s apartment

THE STORY THUS FAR

After a “house” cleaning, House isalone at the beginning of season four.Cuddy urges House to replace his teamand he agrees, but devises a competition

a la Survivor, where he’ll make his selec-tion out of 40 doctors who apply as fel-lows. During this process, Dr. Cameron,who quit, returns to work in the hospi-tal’s ER, and Dr. Chase, who House fired,joins the surgery department. Dr. Cuddyalso rehires Dr. Foreman after he’s firedas head of diagnostic medicine at NewYork Mercy for his House-like diagnosticefforts. He supervises the new fellowshipapplicants, whom House challenges withsilly, competitive games, such as who canget Cuddy’s underwear. When Cuddyasks House to make his final decision, hechooses three: Dr. Lawrence, Dr. Hadleyand Dr. Taub.

CHEAT SHEET

Each episode begins with a three- orfour-page teaser, usually focused on theperson who will become House’s patient,including the incident that leads them to

the hospital. In “You Don’t Want toKnow,” a magician suffers a heart attackonstage while one of the new fellowshipapplicants is in the audience.

House appears in six to eight scenes of each act in every script. Scripts are usu-ally 60-61 pages with 53 scenes, brokendown as follows:

Teaser: 3-4 pagesAct One: Usually 8-10 scenes,

ending on page 18Act Two: 12-13 scenes,

ending on page 32Act Three: 12-13 scenes,

ending on page 45-47Act Four: 12-13 scenes,

ending on page 60-61

RULES

Episodes revolve around a mysteriousand/or rare disease, often life-threaten-ing, usually based on real-life case studiesculled from newspapers or medical jour-nals and researched by members of the

House writing staff. Each episode usuallyincludes a scene in which House writesthe patient’s symptoms on a whiteboard.

In the past, cases have included awoman who hasn’t slept in 10 days, onewho’s diagnosed with a plague transmit-ted by the fleas on her new dog and a pa-tient with Von Hippel-Lindau disease. Inseason three, Dr. Wilson’s patient is a boywith leukemia who’s awaiting a bonemarrow transplant from his youngerbrother. The sibling develops an infec-tion, and House must cure him before his

bone marrow can no longer be used.These diseases of the week are married

with the ongoing storylines of each char-acter. Sometimes personal stories collide.Foreman’s gut-wrenching decision aboutwhether to save the life of a mother orher baby is interwoven with the crisis in-volving the ailing boy and his donorbrother. Foreman’s subsequent soulsearching is an arc that plays throughmany episodes, ending in his decision toresign when he concludes that he’s be-coming too much like House.

TONE

“The show ambitiously mixes broadcomedy, gut-wrenching tragedy, philo-sophical musings and bizarre literary ref-erences all in the space of five seconds.The speed with which it jumps from toneto tone is amazing,” Laurie says.

OPPORTUNITY

There’s still loads of room to explorewhat makes House tick. Says Laurie: “I stilldon’t know him that well, and he stillfascinates me.”



Got scripts? Why wait for someoneelse to make them into movieswhen you could do it yourself rightnow? Creative Screenwriting ’sNancy Hendrickson attended eachof the following classes to bringyou an exclusive, firsthand report.

Only about a decade ago, writers wrote,directors directed and hyphenates were arare breed. But all that changed with the dig-ital explosion that put filmmaking withinreach of whoever wanted to try it — includ-ing those whose previous involvement inthe film business had been limited to buyinga ticket and a bag of popcorn. A major turn-ing point came in 1998 when Thomas Vin-terberg’s film The Celebration (shot with apro-sumer camera he described as being“the size of a cup”) won a host of awards,including the Cannes Film Festival Jury Prizeand the New York Critics Award for Best For-eign Film.

Then, in 2000, Sundance became the firstmajor film festival to show films on digitalprojectors. Other festivals soon followedsuit. Without the expense of “blowing up”digital movies to 35mm format, the num-ber of film submissions increased dramati-cally.

Of course, the number of filmmakers in-creased too. And screenwriters have morereason than anyone to want to hop on thebandwagon. The do-it-yourself route offers asolution for writers frustrated by their deal-ings with agencies, studio readers and otherHollywood gatekeepers. Becoming a film-maker cuts out the middleman. It’s also atempting alternative to spec sales for thosewho want to retain control of their work.

But along with the increased opportuni-ties comes increased competition. So what’s

going to separate you from the rest of thefilmmaking herd? Knowing what you’redoing might be a good start. Last spring, Cre-ative Screenwriting published an overview of courses and programs available to writerswho want to produce and direct their ownfilms. One year later, we’ve had the oppor-tunity to experience some of these classesand give a firsthand account of what’s instore for you if you take one.

In this issue and the next, we’ll report ona sampling of courses that address a widerange of areas — from learning the languageof film to hands-on camera operation, fromraising the money to rehearsing with the ac-tors. The following courses offer some goodplaces to start.

The Director as Storyteller: A Practical PreparationUCLA Extension CourseInstructor: Daniele J. Suissa

This veteran teacher’s method comeswith its own vocabulary (“thrust,” “story ac-tion verb,” “director action verb”) and is de-signed to focus and refine your thoughtsabout a script; define and organize yourideas for directing it; and help you success-fully communicate your desires to actorsand other collaborators. Once you analyzea script according to Daniele Suissa’s guide-lines, any holes in the structure will becomereadily apparent — an added benefit to writ-ers.

Born in Morocco, Suissa studied in Parisand spent 30 years directing and producingtheater and film in that city, as well as inMontreal and Los Angeles. During thecourse of her long professional career, she

developed a unique approach to directing,which she has since passed on to students

at UCLA Extension, USC, AFI and the LosAngeles Film School, where she was dean in2001 and 2002.

Her course spans nine meetings, includ-ing three evenings and six day-long Satur-day sessions. Lectures focus on Suissa’s owntechnique, as well as general directing prin-cipals (screen direction, shot size, how toadd dimension to the frame, how to avoidjump cuts, where to place the camera, etc.)Each lecture is accompanied by projected il-lustrations. The remaining sessions are de-voted to working one-on-one with eachstudent while others observe.

Intensive practical work begins the firstnight with an assignment to find a script,read it (with specific instructions as to how)and pick a scene to work on by class timethe following morning.

Student-directors cast the scenes they’vechosen to work on from among their class-mates. There is a lot of written preparationto do and a preliminary meeting with theactors to arrange outside of class. You’ll needto break down the script and make notes onevery line of dialogue according to Suissa’sguidelines, then draw out your floor planand create overlays with blocking and cam-era moves.

You then have to commit what you’vedone on paper to memory. When your turncomes up to direct in front of the class, youwon’t be allowed to have your nose in anotebook. A camera will be set up and you’lldirect your scene, from the first read-through to blocking to camera setups, withSuissa coaching you through it.

Suissa can be demanding. You don’twant to fall asleep in her class or show up

From Writer toHYPHENATEPA RT I ■ BY NANCY HENDRICKSON

What Every Writer Should Know About Directing



late. On the other hand, she rewardsprogress and diligence with lavish praise,and her approval seems worth trying toearn. You get the feeling that Suissa is moredemanding of herself than of her studentsand that she cares intensely about them.

You also come away with the comfortingfeeling that artistry can be learned. You’llnever again have to wait for inspiration tostrike or worry if it doesn’t because you’llhave a technique you can rely on that willalways hold you in good stead. As Suissaherself puts it, she wants her students — thenext generation of filmmakers — “to freethemselves of all the doubts and anxietiesthat do not belong to the legitimate anguishof the artist.”

The Director as Storyteller can be takenby itself or as part of UCLA Extension’s cer-tificate program in directing (www.uclaex-tension.edu). It’ll set you back $645 and it’sworth every penny.

The Directors StudioInstructor: Daniele J. SuissaIf you liked Suissa’s UCLA class and want

to continue studying with her, you maywant to join The Directors Studio, which isnot so much a class as what Suissa calls “asalon for professionals.” Actors and directors— sometimes joined by producers or cine-matographers — meet on Saturdays from 2p.m. to 5 p.m. Some bring in scenes fromscreenplays they’re planning to direct. Oth-ers hone their craft on play or film scriptsthey like. Still others let Suissa suggest some-

thing.“Everyone practices their craft except di-rectors,” Suissa says. “Musicians practice, ac-tors take classes, writers write.” Directorsmore than anyone, she feels, need a way topractice their craft between jobs becauseeven the most successful among them prob-ably only directs about once every 18months.

The Studio setting is informal, and thegroup (unlike the UCLA class) is composedentirely of initiates who understand Suissa’sworking methods and expectations. The re-sult is an atmosphere that’s relaxed, safe andmutually supportive. Directors take turnsworking with actors while Suissa monitors.“Cut!” she’ll say when she hears an actorrush something or strike a false note. Thenshe’ll turn to the director and ask, “Why didI call, ‘Cut?’” and help him or her figure outwhat went wrong and how to fix it.

Studio members pay $200 a month toparticipate but may choose to come onemonth and skip the next. Enrollment eachmonth is capped at 12 students. There is noinitial fee for anyone who has taken a class

with a Suissa previously. For all others thereis a $250 initiation fee that covers a one-dayseminar on the basics.

Jim Pasternak DirectingSeminarsThe Screenwriting ExpoInstructor: Jim Pasternak

The annual Screenwriting Expo in LosAngeles offers a rare opportunity to experi-

ence Jim Pasternak’s directing seminarswithout having to be a full-time student atLos Angeles Film School or hiring him asyour personal directing coach.

Pasternak gives lecture classes accompa-nied by film clips and other visual aids, andthey’re jam-packed with practical informa-tion that will give you a well-roundedoverview of the director’s work. Just makesure to bring plenty of paper and pens totake notes. You’ll want to take down every-thing, and the popular instructor movesthrough the material at lightning speed.

Pasternak, who is often hired by studiosand producers to prepare new directors,wrote the final, uncredited draft for the 1989film Cousins (directed by Joel Schumacherand starring Ted Danson) and directed Cer-tifiably Jonathan , which starred JonathanWinters and Robin Williams. Two of the di-rectors he’s mentored have won Oscars —Christine Lahti for Lieberman in Love andRay McKinnon for The Accountant.

Pasternak’s two-day course is organizedinto six hour-and-a-half seminars. Each ad-dresses a specific area of the directors’ realmand talks about how the director functionsin it. The first is “Directing: Preparing theDramatic Workbook.” Pasternak starts withthe vocabulary directors use to communi-cate with actors. Words like “objective,”“beat,” “adjustment,” “action” and “im-ages” are introduced and then put to use.Pasternak uses the screenplay from Bonnieand Clyde to show how he breaks down ascript in preparation for rehearsals. By theend of the class, he’s scribbling furiously,going line by line through the script, fillingin the blanks on a large chart, while youstruggle to keep pace with him on your cor-responding printed handout.

Next comes “Directing: Visualization &Staging the Deep Focus Master.” This seg-ment introduces a different vocabulary forcommunicating with the director of pho-tography. Pasternak starts by defining “miseen scene” and then moves on to an expla-nation of aspect ratios, shot size, F stops,depth of field, screen direction, the 180-de-gree line, jump cuts and more. In just 90minutes, Pasternak manages to lay a fairlysolid foundation for shooting a scene. He

even squeezes in a quick lesson in drawingstoryboards.

Part three is “Directing: Collaboratingwith an Editor.” In that, Pasternak explainshow to shoot footage that cuts together(from master shots to coverage) and thenmoves on to more complex ideas like whyreaction shots are important, why you don’twant to shoot at eye level and “how to putthe audience inside the character’s head.”There’s also a fairly involved discussion of camera lenses.

On Day Two the lectures get more so-phisticated. The morning begins with “Di-recting: Lenses, Moving Camera &Subjective Point of View.” The focus is onwhen to move the camera, how to move it,how to motivate camera moves and how tomask them so they seem “invisible.” Paster-nak illustrates his points with clips fromclassic films.

“Directing: Collaboration & Rehearsal” isnext up. There’s a bit of carryover from the

last class — a discussion of German Expres-sionist style and its uses in modern Ameri-can cinema, as well as the “movingsubjective POV.” Then, as promised, Paster-nak addresses the rehearsal process. Amongthe subjects covered are casting, rehearsaltechniques, including those used by famousdirectors like Elia Kazan and Sydney Pollack,as well as what to do with the actors oncethe shooting starts.

The last session, “Directing: Light &Metaphor,” is not about the mechanics of lighting, but rather the aesthetics. Pasternak

talks about source, intensity and quality of light, using great paintings and film clips toexemplify different lighting effects and tech-niques.

A full weekend’s admission to Expo 7cost only $75. Each of Jim’s 90-minute sem-inars is an additional $5. For information onfuture seminars and private coaching, e-mailPasternak at [email protected].

The Language of FilmmakingUCLA ExtensionInstructor: Alessandro Pirolini, PhD.

Where does a class in film theory fit intoan article about becoming a director? Well,let’s say you’ve taken a few beginning di-recting courses. You understand mastershots and coverage; you know how to findthe 180-degree line. But you still have unan-swered questions like, “What makes thegreat directors great?” This class is the nextbest thing to taking lessons from the mas-ters themselves.

Pirolini dissects the signature styles of di-rectors like Kubrick, Welles, Hitchcock andBergman. And his lectures are full of juicy



tidbits you can steal and put to use in yourown films. Kubrick, we learn, often kept hismain characters centered on the screen andmoved the camera with them, creating thefeeling that they are always moving but get-ting nowhere. Who knew?

Pirolini is prepared, knowledgeable andthorough. He’s not a terribly dynamic pres-ence in the classroom — in fact, you mighthave a hard time even finding him. Herarely stands, preferring to sit off to the sidein a darkened theater and letting hiskeynote presentation take center stage. Thatpresentation, which Pirolini designed and isconstantly working to improve, is nothingshort of amazing and bears a closer resem-blance to a Ken Burns documentary than tothe ordinary classroom audio-visual aid. Keyphrases and quotes flash on the screen anddissolve away. Framed film clips and inter-views begin, as if by magic, at exactly theright moment.

You’ll be supplied with a half-inch-thick

booklet, prepared by Pirolini, full of photo-copied articles, photos and diagrams. In ad-dition, he has created a website (currentstudents are given a username and pass-word) with additional reading material per-taining to each lecture.

There is assigned reading between eachclass. Sometimes Pirolini will ask you toponder a visual storytelling problem duringthe week and then show you how one of thegreat filmmakers chose to solve it.

Be forewarned: If you’re thinking of tak-ing this class for credit, the final exam is dif-

ficult, and Pirolini has strict rules abouttardiness.The Language of Filmmaking, a four-

credit course for $535, meets for 12 three-hour evening sessions. Out-of-towners takenote: An online version of the course is of-fered some quarters. It doesn’t include quiteas many film clips as the classroom versionbut is the next best thing. Get more infor-mation at www.uclaextension.edu.

Dov S-S Simens’ 2-Day FilmSchoolInstructor: Dov Simens

Although Dov Simens purports to teachyou everything you need to know aboutfilmmaking in two days, his strong suit isclearly producing. If you’re making yourown film, though, there’s a good chanceyou’ll be wearing a producer’s hat as well asa director’s, and no one can tell you moreabout the producer’s job than Dov Simens.Not in two days, anyway.

As one might expect of someone whostarted out as a producer for Roger Corman,Simens is most familiar with the low-budget

end of the feature industry, and his course isfull of strategies for making a small budgetlook like a big one. Simens’ deadpan styleand the curmudgeon persona he cultivatesare also drawing cards of the seminar. Herants and yells and keeps you awake andlaughing throughout what could be thedullest of material in someone else’s hands.(When is the last time you were enthralledby the details of a budget?) He tells you withfrankness that only a tiny percentage of youwill ever actually use the information he’sgiving you. Yet, at the same time, he de-mystifies the process of producing moviesand makes it seem like something anyonecan do.

Seated on a stool beside an overhead pro-jector, Simens lectures in high gear for twodays straight, covering topics such as whichunions you need to deal with and whichones you don’t, how to make an impressivepresentation to investors even if you’venever done a film before, how to get an af-

fordable name actor to star in your low-bud-get production, which film festivals areworth pursuing and how to approach a pro-ducer’s rep. There are tips about where to getfilm and equipment at discount prices.There’s a lesson on how to navigate theAmerican Film Market, as well as one onhow to sell foreign distribution rights. Heexplains above- and below-the-line costsand tells you what you can and can’t ac-complish with a variety of budgets.

As he speaks, he fills one transparencyafter another while the class scribbles notes

trying to keep up. Fortunately, some of theinformation is included in a booklet you cantake home. It also includes useful examplesof release forms, option agreements, cameraand sound reports, and budgets.

While most of Simens’ material can beapplied to both film and video, be awarethat when it comes to the practical aspectsof production, Simens talks mostly aboutfilm.

Simens has taught at UCLA, NYU andUSC, and his alumni roster includes film-makers Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie.his 2-Day Film School is offered regularly inLos Angeles and New York and often inother major cities. Tuition is $395. Or, forthe same price, plus shipping and handling,you may order the course on DVD fromwww.dovsimensfilmschool.com.

No-Budget Film SchoolInstructor: Mark Stolaroff

If making your own film seems like somuch pie in the sky, Mark Stolaroff’s No-Budget Film School may be just what youneed. Stolaroff’s philosophy is simple: You

can make a film with whatever you have.His background is suited perfectly to whathe teaches. Stolaroff started as a productionassistant for Roger Corman and then movedon to Next Wave Films, where his job wasto assess unfinished indie productions anddetermine which ones merited an invest-ment from the company. He then went onto produce indie films of his own.

His two day-long lectures can be takenseparately or in the same weekend. The di-recting course comes first. “The Art of No-Budget Filmmaking,” discusses qualities thatare rewarded in an indie film and how theydiffer from what’s desirable in the commer-cial marketplace. You’ll learn why consis-tency of visual style may be more importantthan a big-budget look. You’ll see examplesof how limitations can spark creativity. Thenthere are the nuts and bolts — ways to savemoney on stock and lighting, the pros andcons of editing on Avid vs. Final Cut Pro,and the use of tape versus P2 cards, the lat-

est digital storage system.The second lecture, “The Science of No-

Budget Filmmaking,” is a producing coursethat focuses on getting around the mostcommon obstacle to making a film: lack of money. Stolaroff talks about finding free lo-cations, free help and free props; feeding acrew on the cheap; and the perils and re-wards of shooting without permits.

Day two bears some resemblance to theDov Simens course, but there are some cru-cial differences. Whereas Simens talks al-most exclusively about film, Stolaroff talks

almost exclusively about digital technology.Whereas Simens describes filmmaking inthe $100,000 to several-million-dollar range,the budgets Stolaroff deals with tend to be$5,000 to $50,000 — sometimes less. Simensfocuses on commercial films; Stolaroff fo-cuses on the artistic indie film that mightplay at Sundance. Much of the informationcan also be applied to low-budget genrefilms intended for the direct-to-video mar-ket

Stolaroff’s lectures are punctuated withfilm clips and bullet points displayed on alarge screen. He also brings in guest speakers— post-production experts and no-budgetfilmmakers who can testify to the plausibil-ity of making a film for next to nothing.

In keeping with the “no budget” theme,this seminar is one of the more reasonableones. The $225 price tag for both days in-cludes lunch, coffee and snacks at morningand afternoon breaks, as well as free AxiumBudgeting and Axium Scheduling softwarepackages. Upcoming class schedules areposted on Stolaroff’s website: www.nobud-getfilmschool.com.



Becoming a filmmaker can onlymake you a better screenwriter. Ifnothing else, you’ll think twicebefore writing another script thatdemands unmitigated sunnyweather, hoards of costumed ex-tras or trained animals. (Why dothey always perform perfectly inrehearsal and never when thecamera’s rolling?)

In the last issue, we recommended sixclasses that prepare you with a theoreticalapproach to directing and producing, but if

you’re really serious about making a movie,you’ll need practical skills as well.

Perhaps, like Robert Rodriquez whenhe made El Mariachi , you plan to savemoney by wearing all the production hatsyourself. In that case, it would be wise toget some experience with a camera andlighting equipment before you yell, “Ac-tion!” Even if you’re in a position to turnthe more technical parts of the processover to pros, you’ll need to know enoughabout what your cinematographer andeditor do to communicate with them.

Then there’s the little problem of howto get performances from actors. You canhire people to shoot and cut the film foryou, but you can’t hire someone else totalk to the actors. That’s strictly a do-it-yourself kind of job and, unfortunately,actors don’t come with manuals or techsupport.

Help is at hand, though. Starting withhands-on classes for first-time filmmak-ers, and moving on to those that focus on

a particular subset of skills, we’ve put to-gether a list of classes that cover almost

all the bases. One of them is bound to beright for you.

Hollywood Digital Film School2-DAY SHORT MOVIE CLASS

Hollywood Digital Film School is thebrainchild of Josh Sands. Sands was dis-appointed with the education he’d gottenat a larger, better-known film schoolwhere the tuition was high, the classescrowded and equipment in short supply.Sands thought he could do better and setout to create a place where students could

learn what they need to know about film-making without having to spend the restof their lives paying off student loans. Healso wanted small classes. Consequently,like TV’s Cheers , HWDFS is a place whereeverybody knows your name.

HWDFS is housed in a warehouse-turned-movie-studio in downtown LosAngeles. The facility is compact but haseverything it needs, including a screeningroom, a sound stage, an editing roomwith computers for each student and adubbing booth.

The two-day workshop goes from 9a.m. Saturday to 5:45 p.m. Sunday andincludes hands-on lessons in digital film-making; lectures on the fundamentals of directing, three-point lighting, producingand digital cinematography; and a lessonin Final Cut Pro. On Sunday, students ac-tually make a short film together, rotat-ing through crew positions so that eachgets a turn at lighting, shooting and di-recting the actors.

Although one cannot expect to learnfilmmaking in a weekend, the HWDFS

teachers (Aaron Pope [directing], MartinPitts [lighting and producing] and RandyRedroad [editing]) do an admirable job of packing a wealth of information into anarrow time frame. One of the school’sunique features, and perhaps its mostvaluable, is its philosophy that you don’thave to spend a lot of money to make afilm. You’ll be shown how to use practicallights (the kind you have at home) andlights you can buy at Home Depot to re-place costlier film lights with surprisinglygood results.

For students with more time to spend,HWDFS has a four-week production pro-gram, in which students get to make theirown short films. There’s also a 12-weekfeature-length movie program. Tuitionfor the two-day workshop is $295. Moreinformation on all the programs can befound at www.hwdfs.com.

New York Film Academy’s 12-WeekEvening Filmmaking ProgramDirector of Education: John SammonProgram Coordinator: John Nodillo

Although New York Film Academy is amuch larger operation than HWDFS, withbranches in Los Angeles, New York, Lon-don and numerous other cities, it was cre-ated for very similar reasons: Its foundersthought they could offer something bet-ter than the film education they’d re-ceived. Therefore class size is limited.NYFA’s four-week, eight-week, 12-weekand one-year programs are designed toallow you to launch your career faster and

From Writer toHYPHENATEPA RT I I ■ BY NANCY HENDRICKSON

Learning the Practical Magic of Movie-Making



less expensively than with traditionalfour-year film schools. Furthermore, un-like at AFI and most universities, studentsare the sole owners of their films.

The 12-week evening course has thesame curriculum as the four-week coursebut is designed to accommodate theschedules of working adults. The basictime commitment is three nights a week,but your best bet is to just clear all yourevenings and weekends for the entirethree-month period. Weekends you’ll beshooting group projects, your own indi-vidual projects or your classmates’ proj-ects. Then you’ll need some extraevenings for editing what you’ve shot.

The course offers two technologicaloptions — film and digital. Students of both groups take all their classes togetherexcept cinematography. The price of thecourse is the same either way ($3500), butwhat you’ll spend on materials is vastly

different. A roll of mini-DV tape is $3-$4,and you can shoot for 60 minutes with it.Two rolls of tape will see you through theentire course. On the other hand, one100-foot roll of film, processed andtelecined (converted to tape for editing)is going to run $52, and that’s only two-and-a-half minutes of screen time. Youcan count on using at least 15 rolls beforecompleting the course.

Nevertheless, we chose the film optionfor two reasons: 1) The look of film is stillthe industry ideal. Commercial theaters

still project only on 35mm, and digitalcinematography is often judged on howclose it resembles film. 2) New York FilmAcademy may well be the only place of-fering the opportunity to shoot on filmin a short-term program. In fact, it’s prob-ably the closest you can get to the four-year film-school experience withoutgoing to film school for four years.

It’s an extremely comprehensive pro-gram, with classes in directing, filmmak-ing, producing, cinematography, writingand editing, taught by highly qualifiedteachers. Two of them, Todd Walker (di-recting/filmmaking) and Mike Connors(writing) hold MFAs from Columbia Uni-versity’s prestigious graduate film pro-gram. Mark Mockett (Final Cut Pro) is aformer editor for the BBC, and HarlanBosmajian (cinematography) has a longand impressive list of feature credits.

The three-hour evening sessions are acombination of lecture and lab, and thereare two all-day supervised Saturday

shoots on Universal’s back lot. Film ortape stock, processing, costumes and evenactors are provided. Getting to film yourown mini version of High Noon on Uni-versal’s Western set while tourists gawk inwonder from passing trams is one of theunique perks of being a NYFA student.

As a student, you’ll also have access toa library of scripts and DVDs; editing fa-cilities with Final Cut Pro at your disposalday and night; rooms you can book freeof charge to use for casting, rehearsing orshooting; and camera and lighting equip-ment you can check out for projects.You’ll get a 50 percent student discountat Universal Studios’ expansive costumeand prop rental houses, and your studentstatus will also allow you to shoot mostplaces in the city of Los Angeles for a per-mit costing $25 or less (hundreds lessthan you would have to pay on yourown).

At the end of 12 weeks, you’ll comeaway with four black-and-white, non-sync-sound film projects that reflect yourincreasing knowledge and skill. For moreinfo about all the NYFA programs and lo-cations go to www.nyfa.com.

Directing Workshop I:Composition and Movement( formerly called Developing Your

Aesthetic Signature)UCLA ExtensionInstructor: Matthew Harrison

It’s impossible not to like Matt Harrison.He’s always upbeat, enthusiastic and grin-ning. “You get an A-plus!” he’ll holler to en-courage your fledgling filmmaking efforts.His classes seem to have a party atmos-phere. So you may be lulled into thinkingthere isn’t serious learning taking placeuntil you realize, at the end of 12 weeks,that you’ve made four short films, taken amidterm and a final exam, and read a thicktome on film theory in addition to the au-tobiography of Luis Bunuel.

Harrison lectures for part of each class,writing on a chalkboard while he goesover what he deems “the basic buildingblocks of narrative filmmaking” — theshot, mise-en-scène, concept, the actor,environment, sound and montage. Eachof his film assignments comes with a fewrigid guidelines, within which the stu-dent is free to get as creative as he or shelikes. Like NYFA’s, Harrison’s projects areloosely formed around a traditional film-school model, moving from black-and-

white, silent compositions to the use of color, non-sync sound and editing.They’re designed to explore aspects of vi-sual expression through the use of com-position, rhythm and point of view.

Students need to supply their ownequipment for this class, but a one-chipdigital camera (the kind you use to takehome movies) is fine, and any kind of ed-iting software will do, although Final CutPro or Adobe Premiere is preferable toiMovie. Students’ completed work isscreened and critiqued by Harrison andthe class. Harrison’s comments are calcu-lated to encourage students to developtheir own unique voice, while gentlysteering them away from what is clichédor overindulgent.

Harrison’s own impressive list of di-recting credits include the feature RhythmThief (winner of a Jury Prize at Sundance)and two episodes of the hit TV show Sex

and the City. Directing Workshop I costs$535 and can be taken alone or as part of UCLA Extension’s Certificate Program inEntertainment Studies. See www.uclaex-tension.edu for details.

Travis-Bettman Directing SeminarInstructors: Mark Travis, Gil Bettman

Mark Travis and Gil Bettman haveeach directed TV episodes and featurefilms. Each has taught the art of direct-ing. Each has written a book on the sub-ject, but there their similarity seems to

end.Travis’ classes and books have varied

over the years, but almost always focus onworking with actors. In Bettman’s bookand lectures, it’s camera work that takescenter stage. Together, Travis andBettman balance each other out and offerstudents the best of both worlds.

Travis and Bettman teach their classesseparately on consecutive days. Bettman,a professor at Chapman University andauthor of “First Time Director” sets thestage for the first day by putting modernvisual style in an historical perspective. Inthe mid-’70s, Bettman tells us, StevenSpielberg’s style became the gold standardin film directing. If producers couldn’thave Spielberg, they at least wantedsomeone who could direct like him, andthat meant being able to shoot a goodmoving master and knowing how to forceperspective.

Bettman goes over some camera basics— such as the difference between a long



lens and a wide-angle lens — just to bringeveryone up to speed, but quickly moves onto more sophisticated topics, such as thefive tasks a moving master must accom-plish, illustrating each point he makes withfilm clips. It’s heady stuff. And if you can’tactually direct like Spielberg by the end of the day, you’ll at least have some grasp of the work that’s ahead of you.

On day two, Mark Travis, author of “TheDirector’s Journey,” brings his Yale DramaSchool background to bear as he takes youthrough the process of script analysis andcharacter creation and gives you tools youcan use for working with actors.

The highlight of the day comes afterlunch when Travis demonstrates his re-hearsal process with two professional ac-tors. For the next couple of hours you getto watch the master at work — guidinghis actors from the initial reading of ascene through a variety of exercises and

improvisations, and finally, to an emo-tionally rich rendition of the script that’sclose to performance level.

The price is $395 for both days. Upcom-ing seminars are posted at www.markw-travis.com. You can also contact MarkTravis at [email protected] and GilBettman at [email protected].

One On One Film TrainingInstructor: Jeff Seckendorf

Anyone who would opt for a personaltrainer instead of a basic gym membership

might also want to invest in personalizeddirector training, and, if cinematography isyour main concern, you might want tothink seriously about investing in a few ses-sions with Jeff Seckendorf.

Seckendorf admits he’s not an experton working with actors (for that he di-rects his students to friend and formercolleague Judith Weston), but his creden-tials as a cinematographer are hard tobeat, and include an Independent SpiritAward nomination for the feature film

Judy Berlin , starring Edie Falco.Seckendorf is especially good at de-

mystifying the technical aspects of di-recting. If you can’t tell one lens from theother, don’t know an F-stop from a doorstop and have no clue how to go aboutfiguring out where to put the camera,Seckendorf is ready and waiting for youwith photos, handouts and PowerPointpresentations that will make it all seemclear and simple.

Seckendorf’s technical expertise is not

limited to the camera, however. He’s alsogreat at explaining post-production work-flow — once a simple process, now anamazingly complex one, with the rapidadvances in digital technology creating avariety of new options.

The two real advantages of one-on-onefilm training are: 1) It’s private. You don’thave to be embarrassed about asking a“dumb” question or worry that you’re theonly one in the group not catching on.Seckendorf is there to answer your ques-tions for as long as you need him. 2) Seck-endorf will focus specifically on what youwant to work on. You can even bring inthe script you plan to direct and work onthe camera blocking with him, unbe-knownst to your actors or crew who willthink you’re the genius behind it all.

Seckendorf will do a free consultationwith you and then design a programsuited to your individual needs. His rate is

$195 per hour with a two-hour minimumper session.

Although he prefers one-on-one work,Seckendorf occasionally offers a class indirecting called The Art of Visual Sto-rytelling. It takes place over two week-ends, with one evening class in between.The first week you’ll get still photographyhomework, which will be viewed in classand critiqued by Seckendorf. You’ll learnhow to use a director’s viewfinder so youcan tell your director of photographyhow you want your shots framed and

what lens you’d like to use. You’ll also beasked to bring in a few pages of the scriptyou’d like to film, which you’ll use topractice camera blocking, drawing over-head diagrams and making shot lists.

Go to www.oneononefilmtraining.comto check for upcoming classes or to getmore information on private film training.

Acting for DirectorsJudith Weston Acting StudioInstructor: Judith Weston

Judith Weston has more than a résumé;she has a pedigree. Though she’s never di-rected a film herself, her former students in-clude Oscar, Emmy and Sundance winnersand a raft of A-list producers and directors.She has endorsements from the likes of David Chase, Billy Ray and Alejandro Gon-zales Inarritu, and her workshops for actorsand directors are so popular that Weston isfrequently booked in major cities aroundthe world in addition to her regular offer-ings in Los Angeles and New York.

Weston is the author of two books: “Di-recting Actors: Creating Memorable Per-formances for Film and Television” and“The Film Director’s Intuition: Script Analy-sis and Rehearsal Techniques.” Reading oneor the other is a prerequisite for taking herActing for Directors class, and that class is aprerequisite for those in which you actuallyget to direct actors. Weston’s theory is di-rectors should walk in an actor’s shoes —should learn what it is they do before theytry to direct them. It’s such sound reasoningyou might expect there to be many moresuch courses, but Weston seems to have cor-nered the market.

Of course, directors can and often dotake classes intended primarily for actors,but consider how much safer and less in-timidating it is to try acting for the firsttime in an environment where everyoneis a non-actor and is there for the samereason: to get an idea of what life is like

on the other side of the camera.Acting for Directors takes place over

three consecutive days, during which We-ston takes you and the rest of the classthrough a series of exercises — the samekind actors do. You’ll be assigned a mono-logue and a two-person scene to memo-rize, but the words are really just ajumping-off point. The real work is aboutgetting at what’s underneath the words.

The exercises are varied. Sometimes thewhole class will sit on the stage forming acircle around Judith. Other times she’ll

work with one pair of actors while the oth-ers watch. Weston draws from all the greatteachers who shaped modern acting tech-nique — Meisner, Clurman, Adler, Strasberg— taking the best each had to offer andpassing it on to her own students.

Students are asked to focus on theprocess — not to anticipate or force a cer-tain result. In giving yourself over to thework, you’ll soon discover you are losingyour initial self-consciousness, and as youwatch your fellow directors start to morphinto actors, you begin to understand thedifference between talent and “craft” anddevelop a real appreciation for the latter.

Students who complete the Acting forDirectors class are eligible to take We-ston’s session on script analysis and re-hearsal techniques, as well as heractor-director laboratory.

The tuition for Acting for Directors is$675 ($750 in New York). See www.ju-dithweston.com for a schedule of up-coming classes.



Writers of five current romantic comeditake an inspired pairing from spark to scBY ANDREA MEYERLABChemist

What keeps an audience guessing —and laughing — are the myriad ways writ-ers contrive to keep the genre unex-pected, spicing up the formula withimaginative settings, unfamiliar plottwists or narrative tricks that subvert ourexpectations. Films as diverse as En-

chanted, Shrek, Shakespeare in Love, There’sSomething About Mary and Knocked Up arekeeping the genre fresh and generatingbig box-office returns, while old-fash-ioned romantic comedies like 27 Dressesnever seem to go away. But hitting thetarget with a spec script is tougher thanit may seem. The odds are long, about asdaunting as finding a real-life love match.To feel out the climate of today’s roman-tic-comedy market, we talked to writers

who are doing something right — they’vecome up with five films hitting theatersthis spring. Herewith are Forgetting Sarah

Marshall ’s Jason Segel; Leatherheads’ Dun-can Brantley and Rick Reilly; The Acciden-tal Husband ’s Mimi Hare, Clare Naylorand Bonnie Sikowitz; Run, Fat Boy, Run ’s

Michael Ian Black and Simon Pegg; andSmart People ’s Mark Poirier.

What attracted you to writing this genre?Black: Run, Fat Boy, Run for me was an

exercise to see if I could write a mainstreamromantic comedy that I would find appeal-ing myself. My writing [up] to that pointhad been pretty left of center and contin-ues to be. I was trying to marry my sensi-bility with a more traditional structure.

Reilly ( Leatherheads ): We both lovethis era of movies — Billy Wilder, Preston

Sturges, Frank Capra, Howard Hawks.Plus, we just love to laugh and, I don’tknow, we both like girls.

Sikowitz: I love romantic comedies.It’s my genre. I had worked with the pro-ducers, Suzanne and Jennifer Todd, onanother film. When they invited me tocome in and pitch for The Accidental Hus-band , I was just thrilled.

Segel ( Forgetting Sarah Marshall ): JuddApatow asked me if I had any ideas. I hadbeen mulling this around in my mind,and I pitched it to him at a Lakers game.

On Friday I sent him an outline, and byMonday contracts arrived from Universal.I just tried to imagine the worst thingthat could happen after your girlfrienddumps you. I liked the idea of not beingable to escape the misery, ’cause that’s thehardest part when all you can think aboutis this person and how terrible the rest of your life is going to be. So I wanted to setit in an environment where there was lit-erally no escape.

Spring seems to have become the season for studios to release romantic

comedies — those smart or silly, clever or predictable pleasures in whichboy and girl meet, make out, break up, make up, dodge obstacles and

debate whether they should spend the rest of their lives together.



Poirier (Smart People ): The story was inmy head as a novel for a few years. I knewwhat Lawrence’s emotional state was atthe beginning of the story, and I thought,how is the world gonna break through tothis guy? Romance was part of that break-through.

How did you go about learning how todo it?

Naylor ( Husband ): I was a novelist,and (co-writer) Mimi (Hare) was a directorof development, so we had very differentareas of expertise. I had never seen ascreenplay before. My first step was tolearn the craft, which I did by reading allthe screenplays Mimi could lay her handson, as well as studying the screenwriter’scanon, from Syd Field to ChristopherVogler. Mimi, being very well-versed inthe structure of screenplays, focused onpracticing writing — developing a style

and finding a voice.Black ( Fat Boy ): My first screenplay

was also a romantic comedy, but it verydeliberately tried to subvert conventions.In this one I wanted to embrace conven-tions. The question wasn’t really, “Will heget the girl?” I knew the audience wouldknow that going in, so my challenge washow do I make that journey as interest-ing as possible?

Sikowitz ( Husband ): I took a WritersBoot Camp class and wrote a spec for Fe-licity and Sex and the City , both romantic

comedies, and got a job writing on Daw-son’s Creek , but I really learned on the job.

Segel: ( Forget ting ) During Freaks and Geeks (in which he starred), Judd came tome one day and said, “Listen, Jason,you’re kind of a weird dude, and the onlyway you’re going to make it is if you startwriting your own material.” He literallytook me to his house and sat me downand taught me how to do an outline anda beat sheet and then a script. It’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done forme.

Poirier (Smart People ): I got a Chester-field Screenwriting Fellowship and waspaired up with Don Roos ( The Opposite of Sex, Boys on the Side) as my mentor. Hesort of held my hand through theprocess. Before that, I lived with LarryMcMurtry and Diana Ossana in Texas. Iworked at Larry’s bookstore. This wasafter graduate school. I finished my firsttwo books out there. One of my jobs wasto look for things for them to adapt. I

found Brokeback Mountain for them —they thanked me at the Oscars. I got towatch them write the script, and I learneda lot from them.

Reilly ( Leatherheads ): We watched a lotof movies; we read a lot of scripts. (Co-writer) Duncan (Brantley) really knewhow to write it. I had no clue. I would justsend him pages. I’m sure they were just amess and he would put them in the rightformat. He would do those shot sugges-tions: “Dissolve to the watch,” “Pull outon a training session clock.” StevenSoderbergh also really helped us.

Brantley ( Leatherheads ): Steven Soder-bergh read the script and thought it wasterrific. We went and spent three dayswith him at his house. That’s the answerto the question: Steven Soderberghtaught us how to write a script.

Was there an archetypal romantic com-edy or a recent model that inspired youin the writing of your film?

Sikowitz ( Husband ): I spent a lot of time with (director) Griffin Dunne andUma Thurman during the outliningstage. They both had a fast-talkingKatharine Hepburn in mind. I went backand looked at some of those great moviesshe did, like The Philadelphia Story andWoman of the Year , and that gave me a lotof inspiration for Uma’s character.

Black ( Fat Boy ): I really like Notting Hilland, coincidentally, About a Boy . Ironically,

this became a British romantic comedy.Poirier (Smart People ): The romantic

comedies I like are character-driven sto-ries like Punch Drunk Love, Terms of En-dearment, As Good as It Gets , in which therelationship or romance is an unlikelyone. I wanted the relationships to be asrealistically complicated as possible. I loveSideways and the beautifully complicatedrelationships in that movie. In order forPaul Giamatti to get out of the funk he’sin, he has to meet up again with his oldroommate and go on this road trip; hehas to meet up with Virginia Madsen. Allthe stuff [the writers]make happen to himon that trip are little steps in bringinghim out of his stupor.

Segel ( Forgetting ): Broadcast News is by farone of my favorite movies. I always admiredthat love triangle. I wanted to have a littlebit of that in this, where the Sarah Marshallcharacter doesn’t quite know who sheshould be with. Two very different guys areboth fighting for her affection.

Can you tell me about your writingprocess? Did you start with a premise,a character, a scene?

Naylor ( Husband ): We started with ourcharacters, Emma and Patrick, and thedynamic between them. Then we added(the character of) Richard to the mix. Wealways had a very strong sense of whothese people were. These characters

weathered many drafts and changes toplot, always remaining themselves. Hav-ing characters that live and breathe foryou before you’ve even put pen to paperis a godsend and a failsafe foundation forany story.

Sikowitz (Husband ): I was fortunate tocome into this project where Mimi Hareand Clare Naylor had already written ascript. They conceived the love triangle,the three characters and the fantasticpremise. I spent about a week with Griffinand Uma and talked about what wasmissing, what they needed more of, andI brought in my bag of tricks. My familycomes from Queens and my best friendsgrowing up were Indian, so I brought thatwhole element of Queens as this meltingpot. We had a really intense work week,and then I came home and wrote the[new draft] in four weeks.

Poirier (Smart People ): I have to thinkabout the character before I can write asingle word. It makes it so much easier; if they’re in a situation you know how

they’re going to react. I learned so muchfrom Don Roos. He wasn’t afraid to ask“what if” questions. “What if Lawrencewasn’t mugged? What if something elsebrings him to the hospital?” It’s better if characters do stuff rather than have stuff done to them, if they’re active ratherthan passive. What can Lawrence do thatwould bring him to the hospital?

Black ( Fat Boy ): I started with thepremise, which was literally, “Fat guyruns marathon.” I generally sit down andgo from page one. I’ve tried outlining and

doing treatments, which I know you’resupposed to do, but I get bored stupidand I abandon screenplays. The only wayI’ve been able to finish is if I write thescreenplay as I’m thinking of the story.

Segel ( Forget ting ): It started with thepremise. I knew [the main character] wasgoing to go to Hawaii and run into [hisex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend].From there, writing the first draft waspretty easy. Then we did what we do withall the Judd stuff — we started working it



and reading it out loud. As we cast peo-ple, their parts get entirely rewritten. Ba-sically, when someone gets onboard, webring them in and do a two- or three-hour improv session

screenwriters.manual

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