The Creative Process

SCRIPTWRITING – Seymour B. Sanchez

The Scriptwriter

• The scriptwriter writes the script that provides the foundation for the film

Why Write?

• No script, no film

• Good directors are once/also good writers.

• A very accessible discipline

• Very fulfilling

• Some circles consider it as equally important as the Director

• Yes, it can make you rich.

Film and Television

• Both are VISUAL media.

• Each has a story to tell (whether logical or illogical).

• Every film and TV program falls under a specific GENRE (comedy, action, drama or horror, etc.).

• Genres sell the tickets. Producers buy genres and the approach at each genre.

Producers Buy Genres

• Current trends in film:

- Horror

- Romance

- Comedy

- Fantasy

Stereotypical Genres

Romance

Mystery

Disaster

Thriller/ Psychological Thriller

Fantasy/ Adventure

Horror

Sci-fi

Melodrama/

Drama

Action

Comedy

Sample Sub-Genres

• Boy Meets Girl

• Rite of Passage

• Coming of Age

• Unrequited Love

• Dysfunctional Family

• Gay and Lesbian

• Road Trip

• Swashbuckling hero

Genre Elements

• Romance – Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy Gets Girl, Misunderstanding alienates Boy and Girl, Rival for Girl throws out Misinformation, Last Minute Reveal of the Truth leading to Joyful Reunion

• Horror Story – Series of Grizzly and Inventive Murders, The Evil Gradually Closes in on the Heroes, Scary Isolated Location, Massive Rainstorm with Lightning and Thunder

Plot-driven or Character-driven

• Each progresses via the story (plot-driven, 2012) or the characters (character-driven, The Queen, Hannibal)

• Everything starts with a script; every script starts with a concept

Big Story/Concept

• What is a concept? A concept is an idea for a movie. Period.

Sample Concepts

• A superhero creature who has all the strengths of a vampire and none of its weaknesses, except for the thirst for blood

• What if a boy wishes that for a whole day, his father wouldn’t tell a lie

• A bride rises from coma and embarks on a roaring rampage of revenge

• Husband and wife. Man is an assassin, and so is the wife. But they do not know each other’s secret identity

Where do concepts come from?

Concepts come from:

• Another movie

• News item/court case

• Someone’s story/real life

• Memoir/diary

• Comics/graphic novel

• Book/novel

• Neighbor’s problems

• A dream

• An experience/MRT ride to Cubao

• From one’s own creative impulses

Scriptwriter as Creative Animal

Ergo, a scriptwriter is a creative animal.

He conceives, he creates, he re-creates, he alters what is already created.

Creativity

• Can it be taught? Yes.

• Can it be acquired? Yes, why not?

• Creativity, like a third eye, is present in all living, rational beings.

Creativity

• In scriptwriting, it is simply telling a story that is previously non-existent. He starts from a germ of an idea, and ends up with a larger than life story.

A detective. A pet detective

An alien. An alien for a stepmother.

A robot. A robot with scissors instead of hands

Creative Exercise: What if?

• Create a cinematic character from a common person/ object/ other worldly things

• A nun. A nun with hidden tattoos.

• A postman. A postman who can’t read nor write

• An angel.

• A neighbor.

• A stewardess.

Creativity

• In scriptwriting, it is when you rationalize/justify something that is previously unheard of, unacceptable or objectionable

Translating the Big Story Idea into a Workable Story

What Makes a Good Story?

What makes a good story?

• Stories with characters that you are passionate about, whether heroes (love them) or villains (hate them)

What makes a good story?

There is something at stake

• Something someone wants (the car in Dude, Where’s my Car?)

• Something someone wants for the good of mankind (nuke, the asteroid in Armageddon)

• Something desired by many characters (the One Ring in the Lord of the Rings)

What makes a good story?

There are always obstacles:

CONFLICT – the heart of drama

Someone wants something and people and things keep getting in the way. It can be physical or emotional

Premise

• The “What If?” of a story

• The beginning, the building block

Plot

• A scheme, plan, or method to execute the premise

• The execution of the story

• It is how we get from the beginning, through the middle, and on to the end

Sample Plot Patterns

• Rags to Riches/Cinderella Story

• Journey movie

• Revenge/Vengeance Story

• Road movie

• Rites of passage

• Ugly duckling

• Triangle Story

• Boy meets boy/girl, boy gets boy/girl, or vice versa

• Romeo and Juliet

• Ship of fools

• Whodunit

Storyline/Sentence Outline

Storyline/Sentence Outline

• A sequence by sequence account of the entire story/script

Why Write the Outline

• It provides you with an overview of the script

• It gives you a good grasp on the structure

• It enables you to develop and improve the story

Take these into consideration:

• Number of scenes/locations

• The running time

• The number of characters and size of each character

• Commercials (for TV)

• Film structure (three-act or four-act)