Writing a feature

http://www.indietalk.com/blog.php?b=109

I'm not a pro or anything, but maybe you can get some ideas. I was going through the same thing.

I agree with mr.Bigchin...its diffucult keeping all those thoughts in your head - for a FEATURE that is .. But practice makes perfect!

I read you short blog Murdock. I like the idea of Outlining your characters and plot points. That could organize your thought a bit more.

write an outline, a treatment, and for really long epics with a lot of plot twists I try to write back stories for all of my characters. Sort of a character bio I guess. Sometimes the stuff in the bio doesn't make it into the script but it helps me remember the characters motivation.

mrbigchin said:

But now that I want to write a feature length script I realize that it would be too difficult to organize all of my thoughts in my head.

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That's why writers use tools like outlines and act structure, which give them organizing principles for building a narrative.

I'd start by learning about how to use these to construct and organize your story flow.

I don't use the act structure, but I am able to outlight a whole feature plot in my head. What I do is I just outline every scene I want ahead of time, even if I'm still not sure what the scene is about yet. Then I pick things to happen and come up with the reasons why and all, and put them in those scenes. Kinda sounds like a bad way, but if you plan through the scenes right, it can work. I find that easier than using an act structure, but I guess in a way, that is using an act structure. I find it much difficult to come up with a 20 page script. Not enough time for a lot of twists and turns.

Just see the entire story in your head and put it on paper.

I'm by no means an expert but I'll throw in a couple of ideas -

I like to think of Clint Eastwood.
Million Dollar Baby, I believe.. I haven't actually seen it - but my father's girlfriend was talking about a scene in which Eastwood was apparently having a conversation with someone about their socks. She was laughing that "Only Clint would stop a movie dead in its tracks to talk about a characters socks."

And I remember reading about him editing Mystic River. Did it in three days or something, playing rounds of golf between.

The "just go with it" mentality is something I really like. If a character wants to go off and do something completely irrelevant - than f**k it! Let 'em! Don't worry too much about it while you're putting it down. You can always edit it out later.

That being said - everything I've ever written excluding music/lyrics I've had something to say first, and then used the story to say it. So I've always known where I was going. Or at least known why I wanted the audience/reader to know something.

For instance - one thing I wrote was a propaganda film told and set in a very leave it to beaver world. I knew I wanted the characters to start out in a very naive "fight for our side!!" way, and I wanted the main character to reach the end and learn a lesson that the audience violently disagreed with.
Once I established those rules scenes just jumped out at me. The settings were easy, and the plot for the most part developed out of who I wanted to be sympathetic and why.
Another thing is that out of those rules grew a corporation that dominated the films world - which gave me the idea to present the film as two hours of this corporations network television.. with war video-game commercials and toy-advertisements.. (all of this pointed to the main thing I wanted to say.. )

anyway - this is a bit long winded, but I think what I'm trying to say is don't worry too much about where you're going in the short term - just let your characters breath. Keep in mind the point or conclusion or theme of the story you're writing and those pages will fill up pretty quickly with ideas..

Get some 3x5 cards and put a brief scene summary on each card. You should have about 60 such cards. Then put the cards on a corkboard in chrono order. Then sit back in your chair and stare at the corkboard and wonder how the F you're going to write it.

That's a good question.

I suspect everyone's different. There are a slew of books that describe how to get organized, that have templates on plot outline, that describe what story beats you need to hit on which approximate page of the script, etc. I think they're helpful to many people because they condense and sift through the structure and form of hundreds of highly successful screenplays for generalizations that can be applied. To fill a minimum of 90 pages of script with individual scenes and multiple character interactions that coalesce into a good story is a complex undertaking. That means lots of planning ahead. A story board divided into three acts with 3X5 cards pinned to it, each representing major scenes, is a good way to stand back and visualize the structure of your story. It's easy to replace the cards, or add cards, or rearrange scenes by simply moving the cards. I use this method myself. But again, everyone is different.

On the other hand, I've read interviews with very successful pro screenwriters who insist they start with a solid idea, theme or logline and then almost immediately sit down, write "FADE IN" and begin to bang away. They work out the story as they write. Or so they say. I think they're being a little bit disingenuous, however. I suspect that while it's true that they may not have detailed notes or a plot outline written down on paper, they DO have it fairly well sorted out in their heads.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, script guru Robert McKee claims that AT LEAST 75% or more of a screenwriter's effort and time must be spent on story design, and the rest on actually sitting at a keyboard and writing dialogue and action and sluglines.

He may be right or wrong, but since the wittiest, most brilliant dialogue or the most succinct and exciting action descriptions in the service of a suck-ass story is basically time wasted, I tend to agree with him.

best,

-Charles

I actually just found a great way to write my feature.

My screenplay will consist of three stories that intertwine. And since I am a very visual person I figured that I would want to see the story like a blue print. So with a bit of advice from brianluce I found a corkboard and built my story with notecards.

So far it's working out great.