Now that I've got your attention...
Dead Things on Sticks has a few really enlightening thoughts on writing sex scenes into your scripts - well worth a read!
And to be fair, here's something for all you ladies:
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Sex!
Now that I've got your attention...
Dead Things on Sticks has a few really enlightening thoughts on writing sex scenes into your scripts - well worth a read!
And to be fair, here's something for all you ladies:
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3 comments:
I mostly agree with leaving the sex scenes to directors and keeping it simple in the script, but I also think some good sex description can be very strategic for pulling the reader back in.
During my intern days I had to read a couple erotic novels to see if they would be decent movies. They weren't movie materials, but I can tell you that after every steamy encounter between the woman and the Greek god who was in love with her, I was awake, alert, and reading on.
I've seen it in some of my friend's scripts too. It's not that you're bored with the material, maybe you're just tired. Then you come to a few hit you in your face lines about sex and as a human with a pulse you will react.
So I would say hold off on describing every kiss and caress, but we are all sexual creatures, so use the moment to throw out 1-3 descriptive lines that could very well wake up the tired intern that's reading your script and get him/her back into it.
I do remember a terrible experience back when we read each others’ pages out loud in class rather than at home. Then one day a script came in with, oh, 2, 3 paragraphs of this sex scene. It wasn’t even that graphic or detailed. Expect the professor always insisted on reading the directions. He sounded like your grandpa, except rather than reading storybooks in a long, monotonic, dreary voice, he was reading a sex scene. The memory still gives me shivers.
Sex scenes really aren't much different from action, in my opinion. A lot can be done with little description, and using a lot of detail can seem indulgent, amateurish, or gratuitous. I've read some pretty steamy sex scenes in scripts before, scenes that have lasted 5 pages or more. In the end, while engaging, they didn't do much to further the plot. Even the hottest sex scene has the potential to be completely changed by a director, and while your script might be known for its erection-inducing orgy, that won't necessarily get it made if there's nothing else to the script.
The writer's job isn't to choreograph much, if anything at all. It's best to include the few (if any) necessary details, include a couple lines of hot action on the page, and let the reader and director do the work from there.
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