36 Responses to “Blog Talk 2: Unk Responds to Mystery Man on Film”

1. Joshua James on Saturday: 19 January 2008|1510

   It was fun, I hope you guys “do” do it again, for real.

   And I love the blog scene, I’ve learned so much from it, and from y’all, it cannot be described.

   And Unk, if you do get an urge to write a book, I hope it’s that motorcross book – you know what I’m talking about, right?

   Heh-heh. I’d be the first in line to buy it, for real.

2. Unk on Saturday: 19 January 2008|1610

   Josh,

   Thanks for being a “discussion oriented” visitor.

   Now let’s get down to brass tacks…

   You’ve committed the cardinal sin of calling the sport of Motocross — Motorcross.

   What are we gonna do with you, Dude? LOL.

   Steve is rolling over in his grave right now…

   Unk

3. Joshua James on Saturday: 19 January 2008|1652

   Damn it!

   I have no excuse other than to admit my sin up front and take whatever penance given.

   I will say I caught it after I posted, but there ain’t much I can do about it then.

   I gotta lot of spelling tics like that, I do it in email all the time, drives me crazy.

   Oh Steve, how I have failed ye . . .

   In Iowa, where I’m from, my stepdad builds and repairs cycles . . . he told me that in a museum in Davenport or thereabouts is a motorcycle of Steve’s, one of this favorites (Norton, perhaps, cannot remember right now) – I’m planning an Iowa trip this fall, I will go there and offer up my apologies to the great man’s personal favorite motorcycle.

   I will do so, I pledge.

4. Tom on Saturday: 19 January 2008|1729

   “The 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s spawned some great films. Movies were special.”

   Just got back from There Will Be Blood… it definitely has a 70s feel… but FUCK, it’s great.

   It’s one of the movies where it’s good, it’s good, it’s good, but you know it needs a big payoff to be great… then, bam. It’s great.

5. Mike J on Saturday: 19 January 2008|1739

   I’ll share a story.

   Originally, I was into making music as was most of my friends. We got the 10 dollar best buy microphone, had the Cool Edit 2.0 software and had beats from random people off of Hip-Hop sites…cause well we were trying to be rap artists. Now we were set, so we thought. The Lyrics were there (Dialogue) but the delivery was all over the place (Story)…the production was god awful (Structure) but you could not tell us we were not the hottest thing out since microwaves. Then we got the rude awakening…we completed a wide variety of songs (Screenplay(s))…and tryed to sell it to kids in the local High-School we went to. Well they heard it, and they basically told us we were trash…of course we were on the defensive side…but we ended up giving away the cd’s and one of them eventually got sold for 3 skittles.

   At That point we were devastated, to say the least (not because of the lack of skittles consumed either). But we kept with it and got better, we started learning because of the harsh criticisms that we received. Got a great response on our second CD… But of course the lazy spell set in and we became VH1’s “WHERE ARE THEY NOW” Material.

   Well…Now that I think about it, it really didn’t end well for us.

   But Fail not…we rediscovered the passion that we once had in music are now into movies. But what Im Trying to say is, when we hear something bad in the music now, as far as amateurs are concerend, we try to help them… but they of course are stubborn and do not listen, so we just tend to let them take their course and learn on their own and when they come back you can simply just say…

   “Can’t Say I Didn’t tell you so…but, I told you so.”

   Mike J.

   PS…They were those Damn SOUR SKITTLES, I ended up eating them, thinking they were the regular kind, but within the second, I quickly turned into a Chinese lady.

   Alright maybe that PS was not necessary, nor funny…Now I Am Shamed Face.

6. Elver on Saturday: 19 January 2008|1851

   “Yet when I ask a simple question like, “What’s it about?” — they’re all over the map. Sometimes what I’m told and what I’ve read are two totally different stories.

   What’s up with that?”

   I’ve been trying to distill the screenplay I’m working on into a simple “three sentences or less” kinda thing, but what I’ve found is that I try to convey theme, not the story.

   The answer to “what’s it about?” should be a short summary of the story, not a short summary of the theme. I couldn’t come up with a proper synopsis until I completely dropped all attempts to squeeze the theme into it and just focused on the story.

   Perhaps a better question would be “what happens?”

   “So many of us are so fucking quick to show that first draft to someone because we “think” it’s a masterpiece.”

   The first draft always sucks. I’ve yet to see a first draft scene in any of my own writing that couldn’t be improved by simply sitting down for 30 minutes and rewriting the sucker.

   I think it was David Shore who said that if you want to teach a writer a lesson, shoot the first draft.

7. Vince DC on Saturday: 19 January 2008|2154

   I will reserve my comments to a quote I just put up in my blog. That pretty well sums up my existence and experiences in this industry and the craft.

   The blog was dead for a while, but you can come visit for a taste of what compelled me to post again.

   UNK, I’ve been reading your blog faithfully since almost the beginning and for what it’s worth, it’s the best education in screenwriting a grease-ball like me ever got. Thanks for being out there, dude.

8. Pete on Sunday: 20 January 2008|0027

   I have never posted here before but felt compelled to do so tonight. In fact, I just “discovered” this blog about a week ago. I have read a good portion of your past posts throughout the past week and wanted to simply state my appreciation. I’m not trying to patronize you but some of your blog posts have really made me think about things differently.

   I am so new to this but it is something I am passionate about. Reading your blog has already made me sit back and think hard about what I want to accomplish with my work, which is pretty minimal right now. Anyways, just wanted to say thanks for the stuff you put on here.

9. Scott on Sunday: 20 January 2008|0209

   Unk and everyone,

   I read a screenplay by a guy in my “writing” group. He said he had been writing for a few years, and this was his first screenplay, written over the last couple of years. He asked if I would read it, since I had written several scripts and had gotten some recognition (AKA pat’s on the back) for a few. So I read it…

   I was so frustrated by page fifteen I had to put it down and take a walk. Seriously. It was so jumbled and so confusing and so shitty that it blew the mind. But… I could see the story, I could see a hook and a setup and a way to make this into a screenplay, but it was put together so sloppily and so mish-mashed that I knew it had no chance. So I spoke to him and I asked him, “How many drafts has this been through?”

   His response… “Oh, this is my first draft.”

   I almost rolled my eyes. What the HELL are you doing giving ANYONE your first draft? I then proceeded to give him my honest feedback and I swear he was gonna punch me in the face. This was his first draft of his first screenplay, and when I told him my thoughts on what he could potentially do to amp it up and make it work in the first ten pages, he calmy said, “Well I have had many friends read it and they think the opening sequence works, so I think I’ll leave it.”

   Yeah, seriously, that’s what he said. And I thought dude, you gotta get some real friends. This guy will be one of those hobbyist screenwriters who will be toting his first draft forever, and that is the writer that makes the rest of us other screenwriters look bad. Get you ass disciplined, care about what you’re doing, or don’t come and waste my time asking me to read something, especially if it’s a first draft and you aren’t going to listen to a single word I say!

   I’m sure everyone here can share the same type of experience. And it really is a shame.

   Unk is right when he says you need to ask yourself if there is anything you can do to make your script better. You need to ask that very question of yourself on every script, on every page. IS THIS AS GREAT AS IT CAN BE?

   If not, you have no business writing screenplays and you should be forced sit and watch reruns of DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER until your eyes bleed, which would happen quickly, I guarantee.

   Just my two cents.

   Scottie screenwriter

10. $1000 on Sunday: 20 January 2008|0340

    For the past few years, I’ve been touting round the idea that 98% of the ills in the creative world are caused by an ignorant belief that artist and iconoclast are synonyms. (Hey, I was using words like iconoclast in the 9th grade! LOL… which as you can imagine made me uber popular)

    If all you have to do to create a masterpiece, is show up and impose your natural, god given talents on a piece of paper, then of course you’ll send off your first draft… and, you’ll never need to study technique, because all you need is your unique visions.

    Anyway technique = formula and formula is the mortal enemy of the iconoclast.

    But, the bottom line is… acquiring technique and rewriting involve work, and nobody wanting to get into the movie industry want to WORK for a living. In fact, it seems, the primary motivation for becoming a screenwriter is as a way of avoiding having to work for a living.

    OK. With that said, there is one piece of received wisdom that I disagree with… that’s the idea that all first drafts are a pile of crap…

    In all honesty, I’d put my first drafts (these days) up against many writer’s fourth or fifth… simply because, if you approach the writing in a structured manner… and you’ve acquired some skills and experience, then it’s not necessary to write a bad first draft.

    This doesn’t mean to say my stuff can’t be improved with re-writes… it pretty much always can be. But, I figure the goal of all this study is to become better at what we do… and therefore improvement is inevitable.

11. Ryan R on Sunday: 20 January 2008|0934

    “Somewhere along the line, we lost our way.”

    My favorite movie – the one movie I’d save from nuclear annihilation, if I could save only one – is Seven Samurai. When I first watched this movie, my brain lit up like the final level of the 80s classic gizmo game, Simon Says. I discovered that beating was not my heart’s only purpose.

    Today, it appears, with all of the choices, our products have been reduced to becoming pricey beggars of consumer attention.

    I have an old laptop, like all the way back from three years ago, came with a NiMh battery which meant that I could basically turn it on and open Word before the low battery warning would pop up. She also came with 256 mb ram and was upgradable to 500. So I had to choose a new lappy. As I began to search, I remembered my first writing instrument, beyond the crayon and pencil. I stumbled upon a garage sale and there was this Underwood sitting there, perfect condition. The elderly woman manning the garage wanted five bucks. I had three. She read my disappointment, told me that it belonged to her husband, that he had recently passed, and that he loved the thing – despite word processors and computers. She didn’t even want the three I had. Rather than pass the thing off as junk, she realized that someone valued it, maybe as her husband had, and THAT was more valuable to her than my lousy three. I don’t know. She found it funny that I wanted it. Fast forward to my new lappy. Lenovo T61. Solid build, great mobility (9 cell lithium ion), 15.4 widescreen, BEST keyboard EVER. I realized that it was very much the Underwood of today.

    I totally relate to your sentiment, Unk. Craftsmanship has yet to catch up with all this new eye-candy but don’t fret, Quality craftsmen are die-hards. The novelties will wear off, maybe even just fall off, like a cheap made in Thai Kong, and when the suits realize how much money they wasted, the tide will come in.

    “There’s a reason that over 98% of the screenplays out there are unreadable… And, unfortunately, it always seems to come down to one thing – Product knowledge.”

    This is why you ALWAYS look for the pastiest dorkiest social recluse with a nametag. They not only tell you way more than you wanted to know, they’ll even tell you where to shop elsewhere for better and for less, because their bosses and co-workers don’t respect them.

    “But what Im Trying to say is, when we hear something bad in the music now, as far as amateurs are concerend, we try to help them… but they of course are stubborn and do not listen…”

    Here, again, is the same problem. I think. There are so many teachers, books, gurus, film makers, fellow screenwriters. I honestly believe that many newborns try to listen but they’re crossing wires and getting zapped b/c they’re assembling the product according to fifty manuals written in twenty languages while a crowd of professors lecture, and their best friend who attempted to build one shouts out pointers.

12. Elver on Sunday: 20 January 2008|1112

    “There are so many teachers, books, gurus, film makers, fellow screenwriters. I honestly believe that many newborns try to listen but they’re crossing wires and getting zapped b/c they’re assembling the product according to fifty manuals written in twenty languages while a crowd of professors lecture, and their best friend who attempted to build one shouts out pointers.”

    You gotta learn to distinguish opinions and informed opinions. There’s not a whole lot of the latter going around.

    Whatever you may think of Robert McKee, he makes a good case for subtext in his book “Story” where he breaks down a scene from Chinatown and shows the story beats, the subtext, and how the dialog is a product of the two. I remember reading that and thinking “whoa!” Like a little light bulb went on in my head.

    But there’s also a whole lot of “gurus” out there who either base all their theories on a single film or who develop a theory and try to fit films into it.

    If someone has a theory that explains the success of several rather different films and the theory is specific enough that you can use it to improve your screenplay, then it’s probably a good theory. It’s something you can work with.

    Not a lot of such good stuff going around.

    Syd Field’s idea of three acts with “points of no return” in between is such a theory.

    Lajos Egri’s different types of conflict is such a theory.

    Robert McKee’s insistence on “writing the story from the inside out” is such a theory.

    Michael Tierno’s/Aristotle’s idea that the protagonist’s problems must arise from a bad choice that the protagonist made in the first act is such a theory.

    This is stuff that explains a lot and is useful when writing a screenplay. These are informed, well-reasoned opinions.

    But there aren’t a whole lot of such theories going around. They’re bloody rare.

    Most other stuff is opinion land. Opinions could be right, could be wrong, could be more right than wrong, but without some good reasoning to back them up and some good understanding, using them could get you in trouble.

    There’s a whole lot of blogs out there in the scribosphere, but only a handful where I know I’ll consistently get well-reasoned and informed opinions. This here is certainly one of them. But what you gotta do is learn to distinguish between a well-reasoned opinion and a regular opinion. There’s a lot of information out there, but once you build yourself a proper filter to separate good info from bad info, you should be on your way to success.

13. Ryan on Sunday: 20 January 2008|1242

    Scott, I could’ve sworen you were talkin about me….then I realized you didn’t read my script.

    I understand you wanted to rip his head off. But just keep in mind, it’s people like you and Unk who are making the screenwriting craft a better one.

    When you take the time and tutor someone, that’s when they begin to learn. Of course they also have to be willing to learn and take “many punches”.

    Rumor has it Unk throws way too many. lol

    I’m not good at screenwriting. I’m new and suck! I’ve noticed that screenwriting can’t be perfected. That’s why Unk’s here and others who help the cause.

    So…..thanks everyone who contributes to the cause.

    Unk, thanks!

14. Ryan R on Sunday: 20 January 2008|1343

    Agree Elver,

    Perhaps that is the essence of the problem, an abundance of inadequate filters or a lack of propers.

    It’s one thing to be able to receive info, and another to be able to assimilate the info into something that the writer can output.

    Swell point.

    “I’ve been trying to distill the screenplay I’m working on into a simple “three sentences or less” kinda thing, but what I’ve found is that I try to convey theme, not the story.”

    I totally changed the way I work. Few months ago I came across Unks version of Polti’s 36 Chambers, I mean, scenarios.

    I also went ahead and read Writing a Great Movie, and made a mod of the theories(still in prototype) based on my observations.

    I now build the entire screenplay and put Herculean effort into concept construction. I actually spend most of my time on the actual construction of the concept as opposed to the actual screenplay outline.

    Concept influences, more than any other factor, the construction of a screenplay. I won’t go into all the details but I had to define for myself what a high concept was.

    HIGH CONCEPT — A juxtaposition of simple story elements that suggests immediate breadth of dynamic possibility.

    A lawyer that can not lie, is the most popular example.

    I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t come up with a high concept by just changing the job title and finding a suitable ironic opposition to juxtapose it with (in other words I couldn’t output). A garbageman must clean up, doesn’t work. Why?

    I then realized that lawyer is character and character is action. So, the way we read it and the way it works it totally different.

    The action most commonly associated with a Lawyer is – TO LIE. They’re synonymous, no?

    Sounds simple but it didn’t quite connect with me until I saw that every concept has three parts, the third being invisible. The very first part is action. The second part is an action that, when juxtaposed with the first part, creates an idea that transforms your original perception of part one. The third part is the idea that magically poofs into your bean with the two parts join. It’s the thunder of the negative charged cloud charging into the positive charged cloud.

    To lie could be anything, so long as it has a cap (capable of being done, not some emotional action like, to be understood, or something – makes it too complicated).

    So to distill your protag down to it’s essence, look at it like an action. What does it do? That’s where Unks polti post woke me up. I’d read polti’s before but obviously wasn’t aware enough to make it work.

    Anyway, came up with a huge list of generic concept place-holders. Here’s but a few…

    1. The Sufferer must uplift
    2. The Destroyer must preserve
    3. The Saver must abandon
    4. The Lawman must rob
    5. The Thief must break out
    6. The Instructor must disorient
    7. The Protector must attack
    8. The Follower must lead
    9. The Hider must seek
    10. The Hunter must escape
    11. The Builder must deconstruct
    12. The Taker must return
    13. The Participator must involve
    14. The Discoverer must hide
    15. The Abductor must return
    16. The Apprehender must free
    17. The Submissive must dominate
    18. The Loved must (become) hated
    19. The Ostracized must return
    20. The Masker must reveal

    Now, for each generic concept I came up with like two sometime four different specific concepts that fit the mold. Sometimes the ideas would vary greatly in genre and scope. You’ll also notice that some of the words aren’t actual words. I just made the action word a character(ish) word so it was easier for my mind to grasp and OUTPUT. Also, words like thief actually started out as “breaker in-er” type of dealies b/c I didn’t want to limit my imagination to merely a Thief. You’ll also notice that the generic place-holder doesn’t dictate character type or genre.

    For, the sufferer must uplift

    I came up with all these ideas, one being – When an executioner is appointed court jester, he has one month to cure the King’s bout with depression or be hanged.

    I found that I had to add a ticking clock into some of concepts b/c it didn’t punch hard enough. I could have just gone with an executioner is appointed court jester must cure the King or be hanged, but my spidey senses told me that there was too much potential for dramatic slack. So, the clock was necessary.

    It’s so much easier to see the potholes and much easier to plot out when you’ve got that concept nailed.

    Anyway, I noticed your post about being impelled to talk about the theme as opposed to the actual story elements so thought I’d throw this out there.

    Also, you can do this with nearly if not all movies if you want. Just look at the character as action and find the other two parts and if they could be cited as high concept definition examples – should work.

    Oh, it also helps to put TO in front of whatever action (verb) your messing with when your thinking about the second part. Like, TO uplift. And then work backwards to create the worst candidate for such a task. TO uplift. A sufferer. Who suffers people or is a sufferer? Perhaps a politician, or a task-master of some sort, like in an office etc. The executioner must uplift. Hm. Why? What happens if he doesn’t? Oh, okay. Makes sense.

    You can probably do it with the screenplay you’re working on now.

    — this is the problem with great blogs. I totally forget about time and before I know it I’ve rambled on way too long.

    Sorry about that. Will try to shorten these suckers by 75%, Unk.

    Hope your hosting service doesn’t charge you by the character.

15. Elver on Sunday: 20 January 2008|1357

    Ryan, that concept thing is pretty breathtakingly awesome. I’m afraid I’m gonna have to steal it for my own screenplay :P

16. Christian Howell on Sunday: 20 January 2008|1400

    Wow, the discussions here are going through the roof. I love it. My opinion has been and will remain that discourses such as these are what make writers push the creative envelope.

    Too many people DO think that this is a way to not work, but any job you approach that way will end in failure. The most common theme I’ve heard from luminaries, gurus, etc is that this is the highest form of art as it requires a mixture of several PROFESSIONAL DISCIPLINES but stems from the seemingly innate ability to be intersting for a few minutes at a time.

    The biggest mistake I’ve seen is too many character introductions without showing the characters in their “element.”

    Also, many writers don’t know how to write “with the camera in mind,” so scenes just turn into a bunch of disparate views of the same place\situation. When I write a scene I picture everything in the immediate vicinity with the intent of determining what can be used to visually describe tone.

    I’m working on a ost right now called “Non-Acting Characters” which borrows from many views of the Cinematic Experience.

    Things like writing characters to theme music as a way of revealing personality or using a prop to associate with the character.

    Another huge mistake is trying to set stories in odd places, when the most familiar places are the most “attractive.” I mean, if you have to be on a different planet, make it a human colony – unless it’s some kid’s adventure of course, since it’s hard enough to place an American in France because of the language barrier.

    I think the biggest problem with opinions in screenwriting\filmmaking is that most people don’t develop one. You don’t have to be Hitchcock or Scorsese or Lumet or Tarentino, you just have to have an approach that forces you to think about the images and not the words.

    That’s what a lot of writers use drafts for; to have a dialog draft, a scene draft, and a plot draft.

    I also think it’s possible to write a “good” first draft, since it’s all subjective. In my mind, a good first draft comes from careful sequencing and research into characters and story specifics BEFORE writing.

    It takes exploring the story from the hero’s POV and the hero from the story’s POV. It takes finding the range of the character – which is mostly just defining scenes that show actions and reactions – and creating allies and enemies that delve into that range.

    And mainly it takes understanding how the end of your story complements the beginning and middle. This will of course require creating more than one ending and more than one Act 2 climax and relating them to what your “message” is.

    Sometimes the more exciting climax may dilute your message. Sometimes a less exciting climax will dilute it.

    Also, even with a “derivative” story, the idea is to define a character or plot line that makes your story “unique” which is really code for interesting without being reminiscent. It kind of means that a kid can’t really take down crooks with Rube Goldberg devices anymore without a new way of introducing how and why he uses them.

    I definitely agree that I don’t like talking about myself, though I’ve had a very interesting life and could probably make stories of it without much exaggeration. But I’ve already seen those.

    Anyway, a lot of this stuff could make the Word Player Hall of Fame. Keep up the good work, guys.

    Oh and,

    Keep Writing as Writing is the Revealing of the Soul.

17. Ryan R on Sunday: 20 January 2008|1720

    Can’t steal what’s free, Elver. It also purty much creates the logline for you which is cool if you hate loglines as much as I do.

18. Mystery Man on Monday: 21 January 2008|0011

    Unk, I just want to say again how much I enjoyed our talk and appreciate your time and thoughts.

    On Diablo Cody: You mentioned in the comments section of the last article that you didn’t believe for a minute she didn’t study before she wrote her script, and I completely agree. She’s pulling the wool over people’s eyes, because she once admitted that that kind of talk has always been part of her strategy: “But there’s one bit of advice I have that is going to make me sound like a douche bag. And that is, when you’re in a competitive environment, always give out the impression that you don’t care. It makes people want you more. If you act desperate, it’s over. I think a passive attitude is helpful…”

    On the screenwriting community: I just posted another screenwriting news article. I discovered an article in an Iranian newspeople teaching Iranians about screenwriting! And I think this underscores much of what we were talking about. I wrote, “Ya know, this is a great example of what Unk and I were discussing in our Blog Talk. We live in an age where people should no longer have to pay to learn about screenwriting. Take the knowledge and the art into places that can’t afford Robert McKee seminars and help them create art for themselves to better their lives.”

    And finally, I don’t even remotely talk the way I write.

    Hehehe…

    Thanks again,
    -MM

19. Scott on Monday: 21 January 2008|0120

    $1000,

    I agree that when a screenwriter is at a certain level of skill and experience, a first draft can be a nice piece of work. I was meaning more for the new writer, someone thinking they can break in and get that big sale with their first draft… thinking they don’t need to be discliplined and practice practice practice. And then they bitch and complain that nobody really gets their script or the person reading it was a dumbass, and they don’t take any words of advice from anyone because they don’t want to do the work. Well, not many a writer can write their first script with only little screenwriting education (from books or school or blogs) and write SCARFACE.

    Personally, when my first draft is complete, I have been polishing it and rewriting it the entire time I have been creating it until that final FADE OUT. So my first draft is more like a fourth or fifth by that time. Of course, there will be dozens of rewrites, many words of advice, and pages ripped out and shredded before I get to the point where I think it’s perfect.

    The point I was trying to make is that a screenplay is not something just anyone can do. It takes a person who is truly passionate about the art, craft and hard work it takes to create something truly great, and to not just give up if it seems like it’s going to be too much work… and then still call themselves a screenwriter. I mean, Tom Brady doesn’t just show up on Sunday’s and do his thing. He goes to practice day in and day out, works his ass off practicing every aspect of his game until he thinks it’s as good as it can be, and then he probably does it all over again to make sure it is as good as it can be. The other guy who doesn’t put that effort in most likely ends up in the CFL quarterbacking the Saskatchewan Roughriders, LOL.

    Just wanted to clarify, but maybe I sound more like an idiot than I did before :P

    And Ryan R, love it, love it, love it. It is screenwriters like you that put in the work to develop something greater and then pass it onto fellow writers in order to make us greater, that is quite an amazing thing. And I thank you for it.

    Scottie screenwriter.

20. Ryan R on Monday: 21 January 2008|0626

    I don’t think it’s ethical to keep aces up his/her sleeve when they play on Unk’s site. His level playing field idea is what makes the blog rock. Thank The Unknown.

21. $1000 on Monday: 21 January 2008|0755

    Scott,

    I know exactly what you mean… and I agree there are too many newbies out there whose confidence way outstrips their actual ability. Actually, right up until my first feature film bankrupted me, I was one of those guys! LOL

    Christian

    I’m interesting that you’re writing about “non-acting characters” because I’m currently writing about “writing for the actor” because it’s my primary belief that many of the common faults in contemporary screen writing come from writing for the visual, writing for the audience, instead of writing for the actor.

    My guess is we’re coming at the same thing from different angles… because I see the metaphorical use of objects to reveal truths about the character’s inner life as part of the job of writing for the actor. It’s about embedding the inner life in actions, and not just expecting the dialogue to do all the work. Which I guess is why it’s called “ACTing” and not “SPEAKting”

    Ryan
    I think we all keep one or two aces up our sleeves

    Unk
    Er, sorry… looks like I hi-jacked this comments thread … whose blog is this? LOL

22. MaryAn on Monday: 21 January 2008|1851

    Some day, a writer will stand on a podium accepting a screenwriting award and say, “I’d like to thank one particular person responsible for helping me become a better writer but I don’t know who he is.”

23. Ryan on Monday: 21 January 2008|1929

    He’s that one dude on that website. Unfortunately I can’t tell ya who he is….cause I don’t know who he is.

24. Scott on Monday: 21 January 2008|1955

    Don’t you know who he is yet? I figured it out.

    UNK backwards is… KNU – which would be pronounced Keanu.

    He is Keanu reeves my friends, and that is why he left himself anonymous, because if anyone knew it was Keanu spouting of screenwriting advice, nobody would listen to him, LOL.

    No, just joking, and Keanu, if you’re reading, don’t be mad, I have a script you may want to read with a part that is perfect for you.

    LOL

    Scotti screenwriter

25. $1000 on Tuesday: 22 January 2008|0510

    How many times do I have to tell you guys…

    Unk is a four-hundred pound, ex-stripper called Trixie, who has twelve children and lives in a double wide trailer in Orlando, with her drunken Truck Driver husband… to whom she is mostly faithful.

26. Ryan R on Tuesday: 22 January 2008|0721

    My first inclination, when I first stumbled upon Unknown, was that the Unknown was a dood by the name, Gary Whitta.

    I realized that this was highly improbable.

    Later, I had this tripped out dream where I was approaching this guy in a mask who was holding his gun. I remember running my hand across a brick wall and thought to myself, why does this seem familiar? Suddenly I had a supreme pizza that I’d picked up from Kmart? and felt impelled to give it to the masked gunman. When I told him the total, he lifted his mask and pulled out a rubber chicken. I took the chicken, said thanks and he took a bite of the pizza.

    Then this horrible feeling came over me. He realized that I saw his face, he shot through the chicken nine times, hitting me in the chest.

    I woke up, checked for holes, sighed relief. And it dawned on me that this masked man was Unknown.

    I still remember his face.

    Now I am a firm believer that the Unknown screenwriter is none other than…

    Hold on, flak jacket.

    Steve DeBenedittis!!!!

    Most of you will be all wtf over this anti-climatic name but whatever. This is the true identity of Unknown.

    My dreams don’t lie to me.

27. Vince DC on Tuesday: 22 January 2008|0846

    Love the comment by MaryAn. Bravo, MaryAn, you nailed it with the UNK mystery. Personally, I think he’s the screenwriter’s Jesus. Would love to have a little St.Christophers-like statuette of him with a paper bag over his head stuck to the top of my computer screen. How about it, UNK? Nice idea for a little merchandising revenue, no? I’ll be first in line!

    Looks like I’m blogging again. Gee, wonder why? Life is just too interesting in my neck of the wasteland these days.

    And UNK? That freaking song playing over the movie montage near killed me last weekend after I listened to it like 100 times dealing with some personal shit.

    Fuck man, what are you, tuned in to all of us through some magical crystal ball or what? Or maybe you are this merciful angel I keep imagining you to be…

    Ok, ok. I’m vulnerable here. I’m vulnerable here… You talking to me? I don’t see nobody else… Think it’s time for a little visit to my Dr. Melfi.

28. Moviequill on Wednesday: 23 January 2008|1721

    I know who UNK really is… no, really, I do… but if I tell you, I’ll have to kill myself

29. Elver on Wednesday: 23 January 2008|2050

    I’m sure we can all live with that :P

    Unk’s dropped enough hints here that if any of us really wanted to find out who the bloke is, it would take, at most, a day’s worth of googling and phone calls. But, seriously, does it matter? He prefers to be anonymous, so let him be that way.

30. Scott on Thursday: 24 January 2008|0117

    Seriously, it doesn’t really matter who Unk is, except that he is who he is:

    A truly passionate individual with a generous soul and knowledge of screenwriting, which he is capable of bestowing to anyone who wants to hear it, in a way that makes perfect sense to even the most novice or writers.

    It is something we very rarely see in this world, someone who is willing to pass on the years of knowledge and opinions and expertise they have learned over their years… being someone who has managed to push through the struggle to break into the business with a damn good script, and willing to pass on what he knows works.

    For Unk to pass on these words of wisdom that resonate so well with so many of us, and to not expect anything in return — except “a fucking great script” that rises to the top 2% of the 2% of scripts that are actually good. So many times I come across so-called script editors/coaches/teachers/experts that charge an arm and a leg for lesser information with the single goal of making money off of other people who are just too green or desperate to see the good information from the bad.

    But Unk just tells it like it is, shoots from the hip, and isn’t up on this blog charging membership fees. He just pours out the amazingly rich information from his experienced mind and lets us take it for what he is. Some may think it’s crap, some may think it’s genius, but for the writers that take it and put it to task to create something better and more worthwhile, then that is a man I tip my hat to.

    Ans so Unk, I tip my hat to you, to say thank you. Thank you for being the person you are, thank you for putting the good information into the scribosphere and letting us run with it, and thank you for doing all you can to help us all become better writers. You didn’t have to, but you did.

    Personally, after reading your blogs and putting what I have picked up on to the test, I have to say that my writing has improved at least a few hundred percent.

    So I don’t care what your name is, you’ll always be Unk to me, and that is something I respect and hold high.

    Regards,

    Scottie screenwriter

31. Elver on Thursday: 24 January 2008|0147

    Unk is usually very active in the commentarium, but not here for some reason and he hasn’t blogged in quite a while. I wonder if he’s alright and I hope his real name isn’t Heath Ledger…

32. RML on Thursday: 24 January 2008|0902

    Wooden Ships —
    “We are leaving… you don’t need us…”

    There is a theme to the “writers’” strike… an elusive internal plot that has yet to surface. Hollywood (the producers, the money, the distributors) are telling the writers to fook off. They have the helm, it’s their ship, it’s their course. So swab the decks swabbies all — or think about a position, say, polishing the interior of Davy Jones locker!!

    Because — as you so well express, UNK — us dumb-downed deck-hands think we have no choice. No options but to grumble under our breath as we yowsa-boss whatever order barked. We forget the marvels of Mutiny on the Bounty, the Caine Mutiny, or even the modern Crimson Tide. The Hollywood dons tell us we are powerless, and we can’t wait to take any assignment, follow any order, simply to keep us from some dreaded outcome.

    Meanwhile, in Europe, there is an island — you could say the antithesis of the Hollywood ship (to keep the metaphor going) that awaits any stalwart writer. It’s the reverse of the USA system. There are millions of Euros available for pre-production. Millions to develop ideas. Millions to develop your script. Here, we have to pay someone to tell us what we already know is wrong with our scripts. There, the governments regard script writing, cinema development as “art”, and PAY the writers to get good at scriptwriting.

    Hollywood is taking-on water, ready to sink. The dons think that their wealth-building/masters of the universe jive is all that’s needed to bail the sucker out. It won’t. If scriptwriting is about story-telling, about attracting the Muse into your fantasies, then what does this magical process have to do with debentures, bottom-lines and wealth concentration?

    I don’t like saying this but I think our problem is that — as protagonists — we suck. We are weak, go-along-to-get-along, and, yes, boring. We’re not heroic or principled. We’re more than happy to eat cake. We’re McFly. If we actually had the juice that we want our protags to exhibit, there would be REAL strikes — not against ourselves but against the system.

    What’s wrong with everyone who has ever registered a script with WGA to go on strike? Why isn’t there a movement to BOYCOTT Hollywood movies? Why don’t we do something that we would have our protags do? Why don’t we all move to the South of France? Hmmm.

    … we are leaving … you don’t need us …

33. Elver on Thursday: 24 January 2008|1231

    Europe is no cakewalk. The whole film industry here (in Europe — as I’m from Europe myself) survives only because of government grants. Language and cultural barriers between European countries mean that a film made in European country X is likely to only be viewed in European country X. Very rarely do films break even.

    The auteur theory has also made directors go nuts. I’d say you’re more likely to have your script raped in Europe than in Hollywood. Only recently did the German TV industry start doing script development in the same style as in USA where it’s a bunch of writers and a head writer who oversees everything. Before this and still today in most of Europe it’s a bunch of writers and the director who obviously doesn’t know much about writing and has a habit of rewriting most of the script. (The UK is a bit of an exception.)

    I remember reading somewhere that until a few years back, there wasn’t even a single film school in all of Europe that would teach screenwriting. Screenwriting isn’t seen as something that needs to be learned.

    So, yes, if you want:

    * Less pay.
    * Less respect.
    * More script raping by studios/directors.
    * Less people seeing the films you write.
    * Almost zero residuals.
    * No union protection.
    * Smaller budgets.

    Then come and write films in Europe.

    Also, because of the government-dependent funding model and the usual corruption in the public sector, it’s much harder to break in. There’s no open door policy. It’s much harder to find studios who would be interested in receiving spec scripts.

34. $1000 on Friday: 25 January 2008|0621

    “Meanwhile, in Europe, there is an island — you could say the antithesis of the Hollywood ship (to keep the metaphor going) that awaits any stalwart writer. It’s the reverse of the USA system. There are millions of Euros available for pre-production. Millions to develop ideas. Millions to develop your script. Here, we have to pay someone to tell us what we already know is wrong with our scripts. There, the governments regard script writing, cinema development as “art”, and PAY the writers to get good at scriptwriting.”

    And there in lies the problem.

    The problem with grant funded film making is instead of getting your script taken or rejected by a witless Hollywood businessman, whose only objective is how big a return they can make on your script… instead you get censorship by committee.

    In the region where I used to apply for funding, I knew that any script or treatment I submitted was being judged for funding by a person whose only experience in the business was being deputy manager of a cinema. Which would be OK, if he understood his limitations… but the problem is once you give someone the power to make decisions like that, they generally assume they have the ability.

    The effect on the British Film industry of grant funding for film development, is we’ve developed a generation of producers and writers who understand how to write a project that will attach funding… and to write a script that will appeal to the funders… but who absolutely do not have the script development or business skills to take a project to the market and get a return on the money invested.

    Plus, if I option a script in the UK, even with a large reputable production company I’m unlikely to see more than £5K-£10K for the option, with another £20K on first day of principle photography. And, what’s more likely is the producer will want to take the script on a deferred payment, because they won’t want to hand over any money until they’ve secured funding (which will then be earmarked for “production”… and they’ll trot out the usual, “well I could pay you, but not without effecting the production values, which means you’ll lose out in the long run”)

    At least in the US, when you actually option your script to a legitimate producer, you get paid an amount that is commensurate with the time you put in.

    But, my main problem with script writing in the UK, is even when you speak to people who claim to be experts… and who train other script writers, they are about twenty years behind the times in terms of technique.

    I recently had a run in with an organisation who claimed to be the Renaissance of British script writing… they’d managed to get a pilot project running where new script writers were trained in “technique” but also worked alongside producers… so the writers spent a year writing the kind of script these producers wanted.

    The only problem was, their version of technique was applying Syd Field’s structural approaches dogmatically, even in circumstances when it made absolutely no sense.

    However, with that said the French, German and Italian film industries have produced some fine work… mainly because they protected distribution in the 1950’s, when Hollywood bought up all the European cinema chains.

    I don’t Hollywood is ideal by any means… but at least there is some experience of creating a product you can take to market.

35. Sterling Silver on Monday: 28 January 2008|2110

    Is it possible to write a good 1st draft? Yes, just like it is possible to shoot a good 1st round of golf on a new course. Assuming you’ve golfed before. A lot.

    And screenwriting is a lot golf, where you’re competing against yourself. Each time to play the course (or do a re-write) you improve shots, avoids bunkers, stay out of hazards, hit more greens, make more putts, and most importantly–come up with clever ways to score!

    You learn to see the course in new ways each time you play it. Same goes each time you read and re-write your script. Dialogue gets crisper, scenes get shorter or go away, subtle layers of complexity grow that give all your characters life, etc. Plus in a script you have the advantage of playing the holes in a different order!

    In other words, lose the ego and don’t golf with a better player until you’ve smacked the ball around the course a few times–or a few courses. By then you’ll hopefully know enough to keep your mouth shut and absorb the free advice. Nod, take notes, and say thank you–and maybe they’ll read your next one.

    Just like in golf, in screenwriting you can never achieve perfection, but you can always improve your game!

    Finally, everyone’s 1st script sucks–and mine even won some awards. I think the “average” sell is for one’s 8th script with having the 10th financed by a studio and not a stack of credit cards.

36. propaganda part 1 - nicolle c jones.com on Tuesday: 17 March 2009|0806

    [...] of the big things in the back and forth that caught my attention was Unk hitting on this Period-of-film concept and the dumbness: We’re ripping movies off left and right. The 40s, [...]

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