The comment that ran too long…

So yeah… I was working on my rewrite… In fact, I’m almost done and I’m pretty happy about it. Anyway, I was working for quite a few hours straight and decided to take a little break…

Yeah right. LOL.

I read a few more screenwriting articles and even modified the post below and added some links that I thought some of you aspiring television writers might want to check out…

After I’m done adding that information to the screenwriting article post, I notice in my WordPress Dashboard that there was a new link to my blog… So like any curious blogger, I click on the link and it took me here:

Dissecting the High Concept Logline

Which takes you to another screenwriting blog called: On The Scene

Cool.

First off, let me just say that we’ve all got opinions and I for one will go to my grave respecting anyone and everyone’s right to their opinion EVEN if I don’t necessarily agree with the opinion itself…

So I read the post and to be honest, I was confused. Not confused about what HIGH CONCEPT is because as far as I’m concerned, I know what it is. What you may not know however, is that those posts caused quite a bit of email that ran the gambit… Everything from “I totally agree with you, Unk” to “You’re a fucking asshole, Unk.”

Cool. I responded to them all when I should have been working on my rewrite… Good or bad, I responded. My responses to the hate email were not IN KIND by the way… LOL. I just kinda shine those on but I do reply with a nice, “I’ll keep that in mind…”

But I digress…

I read James’ post and thought he might have missed some points I had made with my post on the definition of high concept and I had intended to discuss loglines in the future but since this opportunity to do just that popped up, I thought, “Why not?”

So what I’ll do is go ahead and post the comment I attempted to make to James’ post on his blog… I’ll also go ahead and make a comment afterwards but instead of the actual comment, I will let him know that I turned the comment into the following post here on my blog… But I’m not gonna do that until I finish here.

One more thing…

I do not attempt to DISSECT A HIGH CONCEPT LOGLINE here… I just explain the way I do it. You may do it differently and if you do, may God bless you. LOL. In fact, this is not a post about the kind of logline they use to MARKET a film.

Nope.

They pay marketing geniuses to come up with THOSE loglines… LOL. I’m just a fuckin’ screenwriter.

What I do is create what I call a COMPASS LOGLINE. I call it a compass logline because it’s the logline I create before I ever ever start writing. It always leads the way for me. It keeps me on track when I get off track and I tend to get off track ALL THE FUCKIN’ TIME.

However, that’s NOT to say that you can’t turn right around and take a compass logline and recite it to someone so they know what your screenplay is about.

It can definitely serve that purpose…

With that said, here’s the comment that ran so long that I ended up turning it into a post right here. I mean hey… Why the hell not?

James,

Saw the link from your blog inside my WordPress dashboard and checked out your post…

Interesting reading… I’m probably being “a little” nitpicky here but in my definition of HIGH CONCEPT, the ONE SENTENCE doesn’t necessarily have to be the actual logline of the movie… In fact, that’s probably one of the reasons one can AND WILL search for loglines of particular films and end up finding more than one.

Why is that?

Glad you asked…

Because the screenplay and eventual film was in fact HIGH CONCEPT. Very few people will memorize the exact logline a screenwriter might develop for his or her script… In fact, if and when the script turns into the film, you can be sure that a marketing department somewhere will come up with what THEY THINK is the ultimate logline for that movie.

But let’s just take your A, B, C, & D high concept examples of LIAR LIAR. I’m assuming you searched and found those examples, correct? I’d be willing to bet that there’s even more loglines for LIAR LIAR out there and that’s basically my first point… i.e., that the basic understanding of the movie is easy enough for someone to explain to someone else in one sentence and, just like any story changes as it is passed on from person to person, a logline changes as well hence, the examples you found.

So… Back to your examples. To me, your examples aren’t really loglines but they are sentences that somebody somewhere made up in an attempt to explain the high concept of LIAR LIAR. Of course, we can argue that point and I am always the first to agree to disagree when it comes to opinions.

Now… While I am familiar with and the , I’m not familiar ENOUGH with it to know if you reiterated Chris’ exact elements of a but let’s assume you did (by that I mean I trust you but I didn’t go take a look — EDIT: I did later however, and added the links above):

  1. Who the story is about (protagonist)
  2. What he strives for (goal)
  3. What stands in his way (antagonistic force).

For me, the above definition of a logline is missing a few important elements… I do not mean to say that I think what you found at INSIDE PITCH is incorrect, I’m just saying that I do it differently… In fact, from the elements outlined in the above example, I think we’re talking more about a marketing logline… I intend to post about loglines in the coming weeks but for the purpose of this comment, I will go ahead and list the elements that I always include in any logline that I develop for a high concept screenplay:

  1. The Protagonist’s main character trait that begins his or her transformational arc.
  2. The Protagonist’s main function in the story.
  3. The main story conflict and the central question of the story.
  4. The Antagonist or forces of antagonism.
  5. The Protagonist’s goal and transformational arc.

Let’s take each one…

Before I start a screenplay, I want to absolutely know the transformational arc my Protagonist will possess by the end of the story… Once I know HOW or WHAT I want my Protagonist to become by the end of my screenplay, I can then develop the perfect character trait from which my Protagonist’s transformational arc can begin…

This way, we SENSE the transformational arc in the logline itself, which also performs double-duty for what I call the COMPASS LOGLINE that helps me stay on track when writing my screenplay.

This is pretty easy… What IS your Protagonist? What function does he or she play in the story? In your example, LIAR LIAR, the father is an attorney. So by combining “1” and “2” above, we could come up with the following…

You get the idea…

Self-explanatory. Again, in the LIAR LIAR example…

Okay… Main story conflict and central question of the story all rolled up in the one sentence… The birthday wish controlling his actions against his will and finding out that he can’t tell a lie… This defines the main story conflict and begs the central question, WILL HE LIE WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS?

Again, self-explanatory. In the case of LIAR LIAR, we’re dealing with the forces of antagonism, right? The son’s birthday wish IS the forces of antagonism. Cool. Let’s move on…

Here we can see that the forces of antagonism are keeping the attorney from telling a lie…

The end of the COMPASS LOGLINE i.e., the Protagonist’s transformational arc is now complete. For LIAR LIAR, we could come up with something like…

Forty words total. Not bad. With some spit, polish, and a tweak, I’m sure it could be tightened up but overall, it serves the purpose pretty well.

So for those of you requiring a FORMULA for creating loglines, I guess you could express it like this:

Protagonist’s main character trait + Protagonist’s main function + main story conflict + central question + Antagonist or forces of antagonism + Protagonist’s goal and arc = COMPASS LOGLINE

Reading further down your post, you say the following…

So you’re a writer. You can do the logline thing. Okay, then that leaves high concept.

“The story is unique.

Isn’t this sort of a given? I mean, the only way for it not to be unique is to violate copyright… Right?

That leaves us with only one possibility of what makes HIGH CONCEPT…

“The story idea appeals to a mass audience.

That’s it?

You make the statement in your post, “Isn’t this sort of a given?” LOL. To me, yeah and apparently, to YOU but what about the thousands of would-be screenwriters performing searches on Google for HIGH CONCEPT? LOL. In fact, you say in the beginning of your post, “I’ve been wondering what makes something high concept versus anything else.”

That statement actually causes me to think that you didn’t know it until you read it and then it BECAME obvious to you. So what’s wrong with that?

This other statement you make…

“The story is unique.

Isn’t this sort of a given? I mean, the only way for it not to be unique is to violate copyright… Right?

Are you SERIOUS? LOL. Uh… I think you missed the point completely. Just because a movie doesn’t violate copyright doesn’t make it unique. UNIQUE is a fucking story we’ve NOT SEEN BEFORE.

Are you SERIOUSLY telling us that all the movies that play and have played in theaters, are on video/DVD, are UNIQUE? None of them violate copyright do they? If so, I would assume we wouldn’t have been able to watch them. So how does NOT violating copyright in and of itself, make it unique?

Isn’t that pretty much the major complaint we have about movies today? That they are in fact, not UNIQUE? Or, at the very least, they are not unique enough. I submit to you that NO, it is not, as you say, A GIVEN but to give you the benefit of the doubt…

What if it is a given? Does that make it any less IMPORTANT?

Uh… No.

Last but not least, you say…

That leaves us with only one possibility of what makes HIGH CONCEPT…

“The story idea appeals to a mass audience.

That’s it?

Uh… No.

How you come up with that is beyond me… I read what you wrote… I followed what you said but I sure as hell do not agree with you. Or, are you confused? I’m not sure because first you say, “That leaves us with only one possibility of what makes HIGH CONCEPT…” –But then the very last sentence in your post is, “That’s it?”

So you tell me… LOL. Is high concept the ONE POSSIBILITY you say you are left with i.e., THE STORY APPEALS TO A MASS AUDIENCE?

Hmmm. PULP FICTION? Was that high concept? No… I don’t think the script was high concept at all but it did appeal to a mass audience.

Hmmm. SIDEWAYS. High concept? Nope. Mass audience appeal? Yup. But according to you, this would be high concept, right?

Or not?

I’m confused.

I’m not confused about what high concept is… I’m confused by your post. Are you saying that you still do not know what high concept is versus anything else? Or, are you saying that EVERYTHING is high concept? Or are you saying that everything that would appeal to a wide audience is high concept?

Or are you just being facetious?

Unk

EDIT: As it turns out, I just went back to James’ blog and you can only leave a comment if you have a Blogger account which I no longer have… So James, if you come back here and read this, I apologize for not making the comment to alert you to my post here.

But it’s just all in good fun, right?

And screenwriting.

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January 6, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized

12 Comments 

Screenwriting articles too good to pass up…

Just had to share some of my reading…

A Look Inside The Most Promising Writer Programs

*Note: Links to the above mentioned programs:

Write to the top

Screenwriter given go ahead for ‘Bourne Identity’ lawsuit

Screenwriter claims to have been duped

Has-Been Screenwriter Promotes On-set Thievery, Selling Stuff on The eBay

Mike Myers has high expectations and low profile

Critix Flix Pix for Oh-Six

Smokin’ Aces Screenplay!

Smokin’ Aces: The Comic

Raiders of the lost bark

Hear it from screenplay guru, Syd Field

Former resident pens Hollywood movie scripts

Amateur Film Makers Get Networking Site

Swipe recasts WWII history in ‘Jackboots’

Good reading!

Unk

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January 4, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized

4 Comments 

Give it a name…

Give It A Name...

First a quote:

Going to call him ‘William’? What kind of a name is that? Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is called William. Why not call him Bill? - Samuel Goldwyn

Naming characters is often a very personal thing with screenwriters… Some writers give it SO MUCH THOUGHT that you can immediately pick that up when you read the script. Others seem to open up a random page from the phone book and simply pick a name.

I’ve done both and guess what?

They both work.

I don’t think there’s necessarily a right way or a wrong way to name your characters… Do what your gut tells you is probably the best advice I would give someone but before asking your gut what your character’s name is, you just might want to ponder the following…

YOU’VE GOT TO KNOW YOUR CHARACTER(S).

I think too often, many of us jump right into a character name without really knowing the character. I know I’ve been guilty of that in the past. Sometimes we just KNOW the character’s name before we know anything about the character.

I’ll eventually end this rant on characters with a final post that includes all the demographics and questions I ask of my characters as well as what I refer to “backstory bits.” For now however, let’s assume that you do SOMETHING to get to know your characters. It could be creating an extensive (or not) bio or it could be that you just think about your characters all the time and while there is no right or wrong, I for one can testify that my characters became a hell of a lot more authentic almost OVERNIGHT — simply by creating an extensive bio on them.

No matter what you do to name your characters, I think the one thing we can all agree on is that your characters gotta have a name even if the name is something forgettable.

Ah… Forgettable. Hmmm. Do we really want to give our characters forgettable names? We’re writing spec scripts aren’t we? I would think that creating a forgettable name is exactly what you DO NOT want to do to your characters and yes… Not even your minor characters.

I always prefer to read a character name like FAT COP instead COP #2. Give me an image!

I’ve managed to STUMBLE on names when doing extensive research on the utilities of my plot. I’ve seen screenwriters create bios on their characters that come right out of their imagination which is fine but I’ve seen many MORE AUTHENTIC characters come out of research for the utilities of the story plot.

More authentic because the bio of the character includes the research of the utilities… By utilities, I mean the world that your story plot consists of. There may be several different kinds of WORLDS that you’re blending together in your story… So instead of creating a character out of thin air and your imagination, consider creating your character out of the research you do on the worlds that will ultimately be in your script.

I know it may seem obvious and to many it is and that’s great… You already know what you’re doing. Outstanding! For others, it’s one of the mistakes I’ve seen quite a bit i.e., they more or less have the premise of their script and based on that crumb of a premise, they start creating characters.

Again, I would say there is no right or wrong way and certainly, one could come up with some outstanding characters this way but consider creating an “open bio” on your characters… Keep it open while you do research on the different worlds that will end up in your script. The more you research, the more you’ll find those interesting backstory bits as well as style of clothing, type of car, address, habits, etc. of real-life characters already inhabiting those worlds.

Something else to ponder and keep abreast of is people in the news… Especially with all our new and upcoming celebrity “socialites” that are always in the news these days, you might want to think twice before naming one of your main characters Lindsay or Paris. LOL. By the same token, watch out for names that might help DATE your script and please please please… If your script is a period piece, make sure that any name you use was actually a name that was in existence within that time period.

MAKE IT EASY TO PRONOUNCE

Wow. This seems so obvious yet I can’t tell you how many scripts I’ve read with character names where I’ve wondered if I was pronouncing the name correctly. Talk about something that will take you right out of a story while you’re reading… Often, it might even be better to phonically spell out your character’s name instead of the usual spelling. I remember a script I wrote a few years back where one of the main character’s last name was MOTACEK – pronounced MO-TAH-CHECK.

I had a couple of meetings and more than a few telephone calls where 90% of the powers that be that I spoke with pronounced the name as: MOT-A-SECK.

What did I do?

I immediately went through the script and respelled the character’s name: MOTACHEK and then even had another character call the guy MOTORCHECK just to make sure there was no confusion.

BE CONSISTENT EVEN IF YOU’RE INCONSISTENT

I’m not gonna get into ethnic names other than to say be consistent… Do the research of the world(s) you’re going to show us and give us realistic, consistent names but be sure you’re not infringing on the names of EXISTING PEOPLE or you’re sure to get yourself in trouble later on.

Read the following article to see what I mean:

What’s in a name?

In case you’re too busy to read right now, I’ll go ahead and quote a sentence from the article:

“If you can be shown, by using a real-life name, to have injured a real-life reputation, then you will pay.”

It’s just that simple and it happens all too frequently if, for no other reason, than when you’re talking MOVIES, you’re talking MONEY and people like money so they sue.

On the other hand, there’s no reason you can’t use a name inconsistent with ethnic background but be ready to explain such usage somewhere within your screenplay and try not to be too expository.

Consistency should also ring more or less true with the generation your character was raised in unless there’s a specific reason you choose not to and once again, be prepared to discuss it somewhere in the script without too much exposition.

Also consider the use of nicknames OTHER CHARACTERS might use for your main character. A nickname often suggests how other characters see the character with the nickname i.e., something about their personality or their past. I’ve always been amazed when I’ve visited friends when their families are visiting THEM and the nicknames are revealed… LOL. Nicknames that I would not have known about otherwise.

Good stuff.

Keep in mind that most readers and audience do in fact subconsciously PROFILE your characters as they get to know them and that almost always starts with the name you give them. It really depends on the story you’re trying to tell as to whether or not you should go with a cliché name based on ethnicity or demographics.

You could in fact give a character a cliché name based on ethnicity or demographics and then turn right around and flip that cliché upside down and surprise the hell out of us. Or, it may better serve your story to go with the cliché… Again, there is no right or wrong — it depends on your story.

Is your character powerful? If yes, should you then use a powerful name? Depends on your story and maybe even your character’s ARC. All I’m saying is there may be a little more to consider.

I’m usually able to name my own characters pretty fast and quite easily WHILE I’M WRITING. Then, when the script is completed, I go back to the beginning and read all the way through to see if it would better serve my character and my screenplay to rename the character. In the same script above, I took a less than major – more than minor character and renamed him GIO after having used the name FLEECE through all the rewrites. Fleece simply popped into my head and gave me an immediate visual and the character started out as a mild mannered con man who eventually moved up to “made man.”

By the time I finished all the drafts, FLEECE just didn’t work anymore… It didn’t even work as a nickname. I also didn’t want to use the usual cliché wise guy names like Tony, Pauly, Jimmy, Sonny, etc. but I still wanted a slight ethnic edge… One day I was driving behind a tiny Geo Metro and as soon as I said Geo, I knew I had my name… I just changed the “e” to an “i.”

The interesting part of that story is that the ONLY thing I changed in that script while marketing it was the above name… As soon as I made that change, I started getting more calls about the script. I’ll never know if it was because of that one simple name change but it’s gotta make you wonder…

ONLY ONE TO A BOX

Another interesting way to go is to mix ethnic names… Multiple middle names. Doing this almost always makes US wonder a little more about the character but beware of using TOO MANY unusual, bizarre, exotic, colorful, names in the same script. One is usually plenty. Two or more can get confusing to the reader unless there’s a specific reason to do so.

VARY THE ALPHABET AND THE PHONICS

I’m pretty sure most of us know that we should be extremely careful when giving characters names that use the same first letter… Most of the books talk about this. In addition however, be wary of naming characters that have names that SOUND ALIKE unless you have a specific reason to do so. I once read a script that had two characters named ZACK and JACK. Jack and Zack not only sounded the same when you said the name but they fucking sounded the same ON THE PAGE. Neither had their own unique way of speaking so of course, at some point during my initial read, I was taken completely out of the story because I got confused. I had to go back and reread certain areas to get them straight in my head again but guess what happened…

The fucking screenwriter also got confused toward the end and mixed them up all on his own! Are you fucking kidding me?

Shitcanned.

The script I was working on prior to the screenplay I’m currently rewriting had two characters that had the same name with different spellings. The main character was named ALEX and a minor character that gets killed in the middle of the script was named ALIX. Alex is a guy while Alix is a girl. I did that not to confuse anyone but because the play on the name was used in the story as a plot point of misdirection. Later on, I qualified it by another character clarifying the girl as Alix with an “i.” The use was short and sweet and thoroughly explained in the action/description as well as the dialogue so there would be no confusion but still, it’s a pain in the ass to have to do that extra work to MAKE SURE NOBODY GETS CONFUSED. LOL. And, had it not been for my use of the device of overhearing the name ALEX when in fact, the name that was overheard was ALIX, I wouldn’t have used it at all.

A couple of years ago I read a script where all the characters (even minor ones) had first and last names that started with the same letter or had the same sound at the beginning of each name. Consonantal alliteration? Vocalic alliteration? It ain’t cute unless there’s a FUCKING REASON to do it. Seriously, this script used names like, Sandy Sanderson, Timothy Timmons, Jeremiah Jerowski. LOL. So I’m reading this thing and wondering when are these names going to make sense? Where’s the fucking punch line?

There wasn’t any so I once again called on Shirley Shitcan. She never lets me down and besides, she loves scripts like that.

JUST DON’T DO IT TO YOUR DOG

Sorry. I can’t fucking stand it when somebody gets a new dog or puppy that already had a name prior to their receiving it and THEN, turn right around and give the animal a brand new name. To me, that’s like scratching a blackboard multiplied by 1000. In fact, just about every dog I’ve seen this happen to is never quite right in the long run…

So give the dog a break but go ahead and consider renaming any and all your characters. I’ve had scripts where, for some reason, the Protagonist just wasn’t working for me… I could never quite put my finger on the reason so I just fucking changed their name and BAM! Problem solved.

Yeah, it was just that easy.

I learned a long time ago not to ever love anything that couldn’t love me back and even then you can get screwed… Trust me. LOL. Yeah, I used to love my characters and for a couple of years, I thought they loved me… They didn’t.

In many ways, character names are no different than other parts of your screenplay. The RULE? There are no rules. Choose character names carefully only if there’s a reason to do so; if doing so will make a difference to your story. If not, relax… Give it a name and keep going because you can always come back and give it another name. It’s definitely more important to create an authentic, compelling, and interesting character than it is an authentic, compelling, and interesting character name…

It wasn’t until I started kicking the shit out of them, abandoning them, renaming them, killing them, fucking them over, etc. that the powers that be started taking them seriously.

Funny how that works.

Unk

Resources:

20,000+ Names From Around the World!

Seventh Sanctum Quick Name Generator

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January 3, 2007 | Filed Under Uncategorized

17 Comments 

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