The Writing Week part 49 – Writing Exposition

One of the big discussions we wound up having at our writers meeting last Tuesday was about delivering large (or at least largely necessary) amounts of exposition at the top of a film. DOA submitted the first act of a new draft of something that she’s been working on recently, and it opens with an expositional voice over, which introduces us to the world and some of the key characters. From there, we got to talking about successful and unsuccessful ways of planting the reader (and, hopefully, audience) right in the middle of the world, without bogging them down with too much unnecessary or overly-detailed exposition.

Think of some of the great examples of this. Star Wars has to be one of the first films that come to mind. I don’t think anyone who has seen them will forget those letters scrolling from overhead, informing all audiences of the battle going on somewhere “far, far away.” You get everything you need to know at the start of the film in the span of a few short paragraphs, and from there, you’re dropped right into a space battle. Information, then (relevant) action. Could there be a better way?

Gladiator, to a lesser degree, does the same thing. We find out the state of the Roman Empire and the battle history, and then find ourselves watching an epically awesome battle unfold before us. It’s immediately relevant to the information that we needed. (OK, I’ll admit, Gladiator is not necessarily the best follow-up to Star Wars in the example field, but I think it gets the job done.) There are dozens, hundreds of other films that follow this same procedure – the informative exposition (sometimes verging on off-screen inciting incident) followed by immediate, pertinent action that thrusts us deep into the story – be it through newsreels, TV montages, voice over, text, or any number of other approaches. The key, as we at the League decided at our meeting, is to have whatever happens next be relevant and put the audience right in the middle of the action.

This week, inspired in part by the meeting, I took a stab at opening a film that way. I started a new spec script, the basic premise of which revolves around new government legislation. Rather than attempt to craftily allude to the new policies through act one, I decided to try a cold opening with a press hearing, detailing what has happened. The approach, which I’m not sure will survive future drafts, allows me to get the necessary information out of the way immediately, so that I can quickly move into the heart of the story. We’ll see how it goes. I enjoy how it turned out so far, but it’s only the first page and I have A LOT of planning to do before I can really progress with this spec.

Have you tried writing heavily expositional openings before? What’d you think of it?

Writing the Economy

The Cleveland Browns. The weather. Um…

Damn, there really are few things that suck worse than the economy right now. And it’s not exactly the best time for an aspiring screenwriter, for, as we know, our writing is meant to be watched, not read. This, of course, takes millions of dollars. And, sadly, those fortunate members of The Millionaires Club are too busy stuffing their remaining assets into a mattress to finance a movie.

But that’s not entirely true. I mean, movies are still getting greenlit. Hell, The Dark Knight grossed nearly a billion dollars in theatres. There’s clearly money to be made.

Here’s the problem: studio heads are notorious for being cowards. And, frankly, it’s easy for anyone to label them as such. I mean, if my former boss was canned for greenlighting a sixty million dollar flop whose lead actor got DUI, I’m sure I’d be more frugal. And that’s when things were good. Now, the corporations who support these studios have a lot less ammo; the studios will have to be even more careful in selecting targets.

For the next couple of years, I envision a slew of sequels, adaptations, Judd Apatow comedies, and disaster movies. They are the best chances for a studio to make money. And by “best chances”, I mean that these types of movies are continuously validated by box office revenue.

I’m not so sure about the indie world. I know some indies are bankrolled by rich people who like to dabble in the arts. Then again, some are shot with a bunch of no-names on a shoestring budget in Brooklyn. Regardless, there will be less.

Pretty bleak, eh?

I had a high school football coach who, before the start of every season, would punch us linebackers in the stomach. Later, in close games, he’d huddle us up and say, Men, it’s gut check time.

Not many aspiring writers support themselves with their writing. All of us Leaguers have day jobs. Mine is at a hedge fund. I get to see this beast of a stock market leave blood trails. It ain’t pretty.

And I wonder how long I’ll have a job. And I wonder how I’ll react if I lose my job. Will I say, Fuck it, screenwriting was a bad choice; I’m going to med school? Or will I have confidence in my abilities and education, and persevere?

I’m not the only aspiring screenwriter who works for a company that’s losing money. For a lot of people, this will be gut check time. And, frankly, it gives me hope.

I’ve seen a lot of creative endeavors get rewarded. Our former classmates at Derrick comedy had a slew of successful web sketches, and now they have a movie premiering at Sundance. And there’s things like this guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCx8xjHMt_M), a character actor who had one line on The Sopranos and then created a rap about it.

I’m not saying I want to film a YouTube sketch. I’m just saying that this whole mess of an economy has made me want to embrace my creativity. Not just in the hope of getting rewarded financially, but also because it feels good. I never started writing for the money. And if anything else, this experience has reaffirmed my faith that money isn’t everything.

One down...

I sent in my 33 1/3 proposal last night. It's a long shot, but right now I'm proud of myself for getting it all together and turned in. Now if I can finish this second draft of my current spec script before the year's out...

Using Google Notebooks to plot your novel

A pretty Neat idea, from The Average Idea blog. I think I'll start using it myself.

Do you plot out your novels on notecards? I did too, until I stumbled across Google Notebook.

Some problems I ran into using paper notecards:

• Cards get scrambled out of order
• A pain to refer back to when I’m actually writing the book
• Don’t always have them on me in case inspiration strikes

So I decided to try out Google Notebook to plot out my current novel. It worked fantastically. Here are some tips and tricks you can use to not only plot out your own novel, but also to get the most out of Google Notebook.

Quickly Add Scenes

You can get the bare bones of your novel in place quickly by just clicking the blank space in your notebook. I rifled through all my ideas for scenes to get a rough idea for how the book would lay out.

Trailer Trash XXIII: Zapped! (Scott Baio, Willie Aames 1982)

"It's a movie that's out of this world, and out of it's mind!"

Before there was "Charles In Charge"... there was Zapped!

It's not that I'm particularly excited about that fact. Don't let the exclamation point fool you - it's part of the title.

Before they went on to star together on "Charles in Charge", Scott Baio and Willie Aames starred in the ridiculous teen skin romp. Y'know the type of movie: a lowbrow comedy starring 20-somethings playing teenagers that's sole focus is to flash a bit of female nudity to a predominantly 13-year-old male audience - maybe a nipple here, a panty-shot there. Think Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Porky's or Revenge of the Nerds. These movies are still being made today, but they definitely hit their height in the 1980s.

If you need a visual hint at what kind of movie I'm talking about, check out the poster:


Just one look at that poster tells you it was marketed with the budding feminist in mind, right? (Disturbing trivia: google image-searching "slutty bratz doll" brings up more than 5,000 results, which might say something terrifying about our culture.)

In any case, the plot of the film involves Scott Baio receiving telekinetic super-powers in a botched marijuana-growing experiment. He the does what any typical high school male (in an 80s teen movie) would do: use the powers to cheat in school, make bullies beat themselves up and remove girls' clothing.

Behold the zaniness:



At 0:05 - The music is already way too exciting for this trailer.
At 0:11 - Gotta love a movie that treats women fairly.
At 0:21 - "Barney, you can do stupid things!"... Does this remind anyone else of Trumpy?
At 0:26 - That's a look that just screams "duhhhhhhhh"
At 0:35 - If you're one of our female readers, I'm already sorry to have made you watch this.
At 0:40 - Is it just me, or does Scott Baio look a little, how shall I say... handicapped... in this trailer?
At 0:52 - He at least looks constipated whenever he's using his powers.
At 1:05 - Okay, you see that, girls? This movie totally respects the laydeez.
At 1:14 - Wait wait wait wait wait! Did he just tell us to GET OFF??
At 1:16 - Good lord, I can't help but laugh (at him, not with him) whenever he makes that face.
At 1:27 - Ok, so I'm sorry again, girls.
At 1:38 - Good lord, did they have to name every character in the movie?
At 1:46 - The tag lines are definitely the funniest things about this movie. Oh, and Scott Baio's face.

Besides the "get off" bit and all of Scott Baio's ridiculous facial expressions, my favorite part of the trailer is when the narrator rattles off the list of non-important side characters. Imagine if every movie did this:

"Get off this summer... with Requiem for a Dream! Also starring... the donut cop! The corn dog stand boss! A mailman! Arnold the shrink! Tyrone's mother! The voice of the jailer! A newspaper man on a train! Paramedic Greenhill! A southern doctor! A prison guard! An ECT technician! A banker and a cast of twenty PARTY ANIMALS!!! This movie is OUT OF THIS WORLD and OUT OF ITS MIND!!!"

A special bonus bit of trivia: screenwriter Robert J. Rosenthal also wrote The Van, which appeared on Trailer Trash earlier this year.

"Get off this summer... with Zapped!"

Trailer Trash is a weekly tribute to oddball, cheesy and often just plain terrible movie trailers. Writers: These movies got made... so can yours! You can read through our archive by clicking here.

Screen Alert - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Curious, Indeed

Screen Alert is a short, irregular segment highlighting noteworthy films that we saw during advanced screenings. Keep an eye out for these cinematic gems when they hit theaters.

After much thought, I decided to put Brad Pitt’s latest film on Screen Alert. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (in theatres December 25th), starring Pitt as the titular character, a man born as an 84 year old baby who ages in reverse, is as much a historical epic as it is a love story. Covering everything from love to life, death, birth, acceptance, death, age, death, and the progression of time, the film raises and attempts to answer a number of deeply thought provoking questions.

Probably the most interesting question, at least to me, is how a child who looks like an arthritic 80 year old when he’s celebrating his 7th birthday gains acceptance, first in boyhood, and then at every other stage in his oddly destined life. At nearly three hours long, BENJAMIN BUTTON has plenty of time to dissect not only the answer, but the question. With a sweeping biopic such as this, it’s inevitable that certain parts of the character’s life simply won’t be addressed or will be glazed over. Button is no exception, but I’m confident in saying that as an audience member, I felt as though the biggest points I wondered about were all touched on at some point or other. Life and death, as all of the characters openly recognize – Benjamin in fact grows up in an assisted living facility, which I thought was a brilliant choice – is an ever going cycle that cannot be fought. Benjamin, though unique in how he experiences those inevitabilities, openly acknowledges that he cannot compare it to a normal life, as he has only seen it through his own eyes. Life and death are accepted by everyone in this picture, as is Benjamin’s condition. Ultimately, the question in the film is love, not whether it’s real – for, ask anyone in Benjamin’s world, and they will tell you that it is unquestionably so – but how many times we are fortunate enough to experience it.

Arguably the most interesting element of the picture – one that the producers willingly recognize – is the logistics behind Button’s reverse aging. “He’s 30 years old now, but he should look… how old?” or “OK, he looks like a tween, but he’s showing signs of his true age (70) in what ways?” I found myself trying to work out the math a few times during the picture, and I can guarantee I wasn’t the only one doing that. Granted, with pretty-boy Brad Pitt playing the protagonist, the filmmakers are going to want to get as much mileage out of his face as possible. For the most part, I think they were pretty true to the logic of the film. I did wonder if he de-aged a bit too quickly at one point, but after a little math, was able to convince myself that the timing worked out. Furthermore, all the while Benjamin is aging down, everyone around him is aging up. As Cate Blanchett’s character recognizes at one point, she and Benjamin are aging from opposite ends and “meeting in the middle.” The middle, though, in Benjamin’s universe is nearly a lifetime long, as he finds acceptance and companionship the entire time.

Visually, the picture is quite beautiful. The make-up artists who worked on Pitt – he’s on-screen the entire time, not once substituted for an older or younger actor (except a baby) – brought a new level of effects to film makeup, and if they don’t earn an Oscar for their work, I don’t know who will. The digital shooting captures a warm, often sepia feel that’s quite inviting.

My primary gripe, and it’s not really a small one, is that Benjamin Button – as the producers also recognized – is the kind of character that writers will receive an endless bombardment of studio notes for. He’s completely passive. With few exceptions at all, he goes through life observing and reacting, and for that reason, the movie, especially in the beginning, dragged on a bit too long for me. The strength lies in the reversal of the age (at 16 he look 70, and at 70 he looks 16), but watching any other boy have his first drink, his first sexual encounter, his first wife would be nowhere near as engaging. BENJAMIN BUTTON gets away with a lot based on the ingenuity of the protagonist’s situation. Nevertheless, those of you looking to see a movie where the stakes continually raise, where the action and the character drive the plot forward, where the main character takes the horse by the reins and steers the picture will be disappointed.

I was also turned off by the fact that the story was set against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina. While New Orleans was a perfect setting, the decision to end (not a spoiler at all) with the levees breaking did not add anything to the story for me, and actually grounded this otherwise gripping fantasy in something much more tangible and immediate, and that killed some of the magic for me.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON hopes to be a breath of fresh air, a reminder to Hollywood that the industry can and should support historical epics. It works visually and is interesting enough to sustain its running time (though a shorter version could have worked, too). Depending on your mood, this can be an overwhelmingly powerful film on love and life well lived despite what seem to be insurmountable obstacles, and the acting and make-up are top notch. A real head-scratcher, BENJAMIN BUTTON’s weak spot (to those who think it has one) will inevitably come from its meandering pace and observant, inactive protagonist. Ultimately, this is a Screen Alert (though I’ll forgive you this one time if you wait for DVD), because though it can be slow, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is an example of an epic biopic that all writers should study.

What, When, Where this Weekend - Frost/Nixon, Nobel Son, Cadillac Records, The Black Balloon, Punisher: War Zone

What, When, Where is a weekly guide to select screenings, discussions and events in the NYC-area of interest to screenwriters.

- Young Friends of Film are screening Robert Altman's Short Cuts tonight, with two stars (Matthew Modine and Annie Ross) in attendance. It's a wonderful movie starring my man Tom Waits (and no less than 30,000 other big-name actors) - if you haven't seen it, here's a great chance. The screening is followed by a party with an open bar and h'ors d'oeurves, so check it out and mingle with other film fans. Details are available here.

- Fellini's classic Amarcord is playing for a limited run at Film Forum. Like Short Cuts, this is one of those required-viewing movies - if you can't catch it on the big screen, please at least add it to your Netflix queue.

Opening this week...

FROST/NIXON, written by Peter Morgan, dir. by Ron Howard


Premise: A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.

Playing at: Lincoln Square

Lots of great buzz around this one, and the trailers bring about warm, fuzzy memories of Altman's Secret Honor, which is by no means a bad thing. (When did this turn into an Altman-love day?) This is likely to get a nod for best adapted screenplay.

And speaking of that screenplay? You can read it for free over here.

NOBEL SON, written by Randall Miller and Jody Savin, dir. by Randall Miller


Premise: Barkley Michaelson is in a deep life rut. He's struggling to finish his PhD thesis when his father, the learned Eli Michaelson, wins the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Barkley and his mother, Sarah, a renowned forensic psychiatrist, now have the ill-fortune of living with a man-eating monster whose philandering ways have gotten less and less discrete. As if Barkley's world is not bad enough, on the eve of his father receiving the Nobel, Barkley is kidnapped and the requested ransom is the $2,000,000 in Nobel prize money. Needless to say, Eli refuses to pay it and so starts a venomous tale of familial dysfunction, lust, betrayal and ultimately revenge. In the words of Michel De Montaigne, the 16th century philosopher: "There is more barbarity in eating a man alive than in eating him dead."

Playing at: Loews Village VII, AMC Empire 25

THE BLACK BALLOON, written by Elissa Down and Jimmy Jack, dir. by Elissa Down


Premise: All Thomas wants is a normal adolescence but his autistic brother, Charlie, thwarts his every opportunity. Will Thomas, with the help of his girlfriend, Jackie, accept his brother?

Playing at: AMC Empire 25, Village East Cinemas

CADILLAC RECORDS, written and directed by Darnell Martin


Premise: Chronicles the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists.

Playing at: AMC Empire 25, Union Square Stadium 14, Loews West 34th, Lincoln Square

The music geek in me is going to win out here: this tells the story of Chess Records' golden age, when they were the musical stables for Etta James, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Little Walter...

The cast is great, too. I'm in.

PUNISHER: WAR ZONE, written by Nick Santora and Art Marcum, dir. by Lexi Alexander


Premise: After hunting down and killing hundreds of violent criminals, Frank Castle, aka The Punisher, faces his most deadly foe yet: Jigsaw.

Playing at: All over.

This review from Cinemablend has one of the most brutal blurbs I've ever seen:

"It’s as if someone saw Batman Forever and then thought: “Hey I wonder what this movie would look like if it were rated-R,” and then designed their sets accordingly."

Ouch!

What are you doing/seeing this weekend?