Screenplay: Writing the Picture

by Russin, Robin U.; Downs, William Missouri

• ISBN13: 9781935247067
• ISBN10: 1935247069
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-01
• Publisher: Silman-James Pr

Summary

Screenplay is a complete screenwriting course-from initial idea through final script sale-providing in-depth discussions of theme development; story research; script plotting and structuring; character development; dialogue; writing arid rewriting methods; formatting; the ins and outs of marketing and pitching scripts; writing for TV, the Web and video games... and much more.

Author Biography

Robin U. Russin is a Professor of Screenwriting at the University of California, Riverside, where he serves as director of the MFA program in Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts. He has written, produced and directed film, TV, theater and transmedia projects. Russin is coauthor of Naked Play writing. A Rhodes Scholar, he holds degrees from Harvard, Oxford, Rhode Island School of Design and UCLA, where he earned an MFA in screenwriting. William Missouri Downs is an award-winning playwright who has written for film and several NBC sitcoms. His plays have been produced throughout the world and published by Samuel French and Playscripts. He is coauthor of The Art of Theatre and Naked Playwriting. Downs holds an MFA in screenwriting from UCLA.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. x
Fade In	p. xi
Preface	p. xiii
The Basics	p. 1
How to Impress a Reader	p. 3
Who Are Those Guys?	p. 4
What Are They Looking For?	p. 5
Writing in Style	p. 14
Final Thoughts	p. 15
Exercises	p. 15
Format	p. 16
Formatting and Formatting Software	p. 17
Setting Up Your Script	p. 17
Exercises	p. 36
Theme, Meaning and Emotion	p. 37
Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing (Yet)	p. 37
Themes All Right to Me	p. 39
Write from the Heart	p. 41
Papa, Don't Preach	p. 41
How to Reveal the Theme	p. 42
Some Consequence Yet Hanging in the Stars	p. 43
Final Thoughts	p. 44
Exercises	p. 44
The World of the Story	p. 45
Through the Looking Glass (Story and World)	p. 46
The Right (Wo)man at the Right Time in the Right Place (Character and World)	p. 47
Laughing past the Graveyard (Contrast and Irony)	p. 49
Show and Tell (World and Exposition)	p. 55
Been There, Done That (Research and Consistency)	p. 58
Final Thoughts	p. 59
Exercises	p. 59
Character	p. 60
Which Came First, the Honey or the Bee?	p. 60
Geez, You Act like You're in a Movie	p. 61
What on Earth Is He Doing Here? (Character Functions)	p. 62
What's the Situation? (Character and Context)	p. 68
Turn On the Spotlight (Character Elements)	p. 72
The Arc or the Covenant (Character Arc vs. Catalytic Character)	p. 81
Write You Are (Building Characters)	p. 83
A Piece of Sugar (The Shorthand of Dogs, Cats, Children and Tucking in Blankets)	p. 88
Final Thoughts	p. 89
Exercise	p. 90
Story Structure	p. 91
Historical Approaches to Structure	p. 93
Structure Strictures	p. 93
Aristotle and Poetics	p. 94
Plotto and Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations	p. 97
Lajos Egri and The Art of Dramatic Writing	p. 97
Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Journey	p. 98
The Three-Act Structure	p. 100
Automated Story Development	p. 108
Final Thoughts	p. 109
Exercises	p. 110
Power and Conflict	p. 111
May the Force Be With You (Power and Conflict)	p. 112
The Orchestration of Power and Conflict	p. 117
Types of Story Conflict	p. 119
Final Thoughts	p. 134
Exercises	p. 134
Beats, Scenes and Sequences	p. 135
Follow the Beat	p. 135
Making a Scene	p. 138
Sequences	p. 149
That's Another Story (Subplot Sequences)	p. 156
Final Thoughts	p. 157
Exercises	p. 158
Scene Cards	p. 163
It's in the Cards	p. 164
Final Thoughts	p. 182
Exercises	p. 182
Entering the Story	p. 183
The Terminator: Man vs. Machine	p. 184
Big Night: Soul vs. Success	p. 187
Exercises	p. 192
The Structure of Genres	p. 194
A Moving (Picture) Experience	p. 195
Courage	p. 197
Fear and Loathing	p. 206
The Need to Know	p. 214
Laughter	p. 220
Love and Longing	p. 229
Final Thoughts	p. 234
Exercises	p. 234
Writing	p. 235
Narrative	p. 237
Keep It Moving!	p. 237
Write Only What We Can See or Hear	p. 242
Describing Characters	p. 243
Describing Locations	p. 244
Final Thoughts	p. 250
Exercises	p. 251
Dialogue	p. 253
The Role of Dialogue	p. 254
How Can I Say This? (Dialogue Techniques)	p. 260
I Was Born in a Log Cabin I Built with My Own Hands… (Exposition)	p. 276
Technical Do's and Don't's	p. 280
For Crying Out Loud!	p. 283
Final Thoughts	p. 284
Exercises	p. 284
Rewriting	p. 291
It's Great! Now Let Me Fix It	p. 292
Taking It Apart and Putting It Back Together	p. 297
Final Thoughts	p. 301
Exercises	p. 302
Marketing	p. 303
Marketing the Script	p. 305
The Writers Guild of America	p. 305
Representation	p. 311
Production Companies	p. 320
Networking	p. 323
Film Schools	p. 326
Final Thoughts	p. 327
Exercise	p. 327
The Pitch	p. 328
To Pitch or Not to Pitch	p. 328
Getting in the Door	p. 331
Final Thoughts	p. 342
Exercises	p. 342
Alternatives	p. 343
Writing for Television	p. 345
Writing a Spec	p. 346
Sitcom Format Guide	p. 352
Writing Comedy	p. 354
You Need an Agent	p. 357
L.A. Is Where You Want to Be	p. 358
Pitching for Television	p. 359
A Life in Television	p. 361
Final Thoughts	p. 362
Writing Webisodes	p. 363
Webi-Premise	p. 364
Webi-Structure	p. 365
Webi-Characters	p. 367
Webi-Pilot	p. 368
Webi-Cheap	p. 370
Webi-Format	p. 370
Webi-Talent	p. 371
Webi-Scripts	p. 371
Writing for Video Gaines	p. 380
You Are There	p. 380
First Things First	p. 381
The Real World: Breaking and Entering	p. 386
Final Thoughts	p. 386
Fade Out	p. 389
Final Thoughts on Becominga Screenwriter	p. 391
Templates	p. 393
Suggested Reading	p. 400
A Few Clichés to Avoid like the Plague	p. 402
Graduate (MFA) Screenwriting Programs	p. 404
Glossary	p. 405
Index	p. 409
About the Authors	p. 424
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