I would kill somebody to write Stars My Destination. I would take a knife and stab a pedophilic hobo in the throat and not look back.

The author also meanders through a few different – admittedly interrelated – topics. White autochotony is one. The standpoint of the writer is another. I am working on something that doesn’t have a single female character. I don’t see that as conservative OR left. It just is. I know a male who wrote an exquisite piece about a woman and gave her a breathtaking ‘voice’, but I KNEW the author was male as I entered reading. Who is going to know (as such) in watching a film? Many of these issues are matters we think of after the event. A couple of degrees of separation perhaps.

I wake up realizing I’ve had dreams of my script. What is on paper has become a movie in my head while sleeping.

“No one ever leaves a movie saying, I loved that character arc.”

I feel that statement in a nutshell explains why so many screenplays suck. The character arc is not to be taken lightly. Sometimes, the character shouldn’t change the thing that brought them so much trouble.

Clarice’s “Lambs” led her to be an FBI agent, it can be assumed. Matilda’s rebelliousness saved her from the bad cops. Tony Stark’s weapons experience enabled him to create Iron Man.

The statement also harps on the “sequence” and “set piece” nature of successful films. Identification with or sympathy for a character is secondary to the situations and resolutions.

When I write a story, I try to take myself out of the screenwriter’s position and into the audience. If I can see myself laughing or thinking or crying or cheering, I think I’ve done my job.

Of course, I like to maintain the flexible structure of sequences that allow for changes without deviation from the themes.

I’m in the home stretch on several requested scripts but my day job is killing my timing. But then I spend a lot of time studying. My latest thing is Deleuze, the great French neo-realist philosopher.

As to yur comments, I actually try to act out the scenes, body language and all – its rather embarrassing with female characters (LOL), but it does let me see how the scenes play out.
Admittedly, I would liek to direct, bt even for stories that are for spec, I like to do this. I mean, if a director can see your words, then you have the best ally you can get almost.

Anyway, enough rambling. I’m at a crucial “set piece” in my family comedy.

Oh yeah, and keep writing as writing is the revealing of the soul.

I’ve actually written about this… My advice to anyone writing a screenplay is to fall asleep while playing the movie that you’re writing in your head.

I do this every day… I also do it in the morning when I wake up. I’ve been doing it for so long that it’s become a habit for me.

The other thing I regularly do is explain my screenplay out loud using a digital recorder. I tell the entire story from beginning to end and I ALWAYS come up with a way to resolve a problem or new twist on something I’ve written.

On top of that, I read my screenplay out loud — once again — recording the entire read so I can sit back and listen to how it sounds. I take notes as I go along but just as important — during the reading, there’s always SOMETHING popping out at me — begging for change.

If I could set it up easily enough, I’d probably hire actors to read my final draft as I think having others interpret what you’ve written helps immensely.

I’ve done it a couple of times and was amazed at what came out of it.

Unk