Structure...
max70 said:
Thanks guys.
The concept for this story is, a combination of animal farm, lenin, nazis, pharmacutical companies, corporate american, military, politicians the terrorist and of course vengance. I thought of this situation and how they all interact with each other. The current news and the best selling books but what caught me was my study of history about how any government can be overthrown with calculation and taking advantage of the current situations of our time.
In a world gone mad Alex Carrera is thrown into web of deceit and destruction. In the current situation of our country men of power will make one more attempt for another america revolution to overthrow the united states government. Alex may be our only hope.
Hopefully this wakes it clearer. Also, i thought of a title, THE CORPORATION or CORPORATION AMERICA. i thought of this but it's out there, YEAR OF THE IGUANA.I think someone has it but, i'm aiming for something like that. I'm trying to touch the right buttons here. I'll write a synopsis also to get some of your opinions. Thanks for the feedback poke.
A synopsis is fine and I definitely recommend that you write one but even more important to me is some kind of an outline...
I outline all my ideas according to my own structure theory because it works for me and I'm comfortable with it. You should decide NOW what kind of structure you are comfortable with and then create an outline, beat sheet, 3 X 5 cards, outlining program (whatever works for you), and get your ENTIRE STORY CONCEPT down so all you have to do is write from plot point to plot point.
One thing I've learned over the years and especially recently is that NOBODY will argue with sound structure. Your dialogue might be on the nose, your characters might be a little flat, etc. but if your structure is SOUND, that is 90% of the battle!
I know screenwriting friends who are making BIG BUCKS who structure their story like crazy. Plug all the holes and make it as perfect as possible before writing the script.
The execution doesn't go that well but the structure is SOLID. People see and get a feeling for the story INSTEAD of wondering what the hell they're reading.
Structure your story. Make it solid. Get it right and get it tight. Then, even if the rest of the screenplay isn't up to par with the structure, THAT part can be fixed because you have a real story.
Worse case scenario, if you've structured a great story but the script is mediocre, they can always get someone else to rewrite the damn thing but guess what? Your structure will be so fucking great that you still get the SCREENPLAY BY credit.
Yet another benefit of sound structure. LOL.
Trying to write the screenplay without having most of the story already figured out is stabbing in the dark. Eventually, you hit a vein and move forward but not after a lot of stabbing. LOL.
Often, my characters will NOT let me take them down the roadmap I made for them to follow. They grow to be people like you... Like me... They want to make their own decisions so don't worry about them following your structure to a tee... They usually do when you finally take a step back and look at everything you have but let your characters explore.
Form, NOT formula.
Get them to follow your map as best you can no matter how many pages it takes OR how many detours your characters have to make before following the map. Get it down.
Without the map however, you're experimenting... None of us can read your 10 pages and tell you if you really have a story there but I can say the concept sounds INTRIGUING. I probably shouldn't say this but I have a screenplay that's similar.
Some high powered politicians figure out a way to take over the presidency on the day of the inaugeration. There IS in fact, a way to do this. I found out about it quite by accident and did some research and BAM wrote the script. So yes, you do have a high concept idea.
The outline or structure map is the hardest thing to do and even harder to sit down and commit to. It's just easier to start writing and make shit up.
Don't do that...
Create a story first -- then write a story second.
Good luck!
filmy