The Writing Week (Vol. 2) part 53 – Naming Characters and the Outline Begins

Last year, when I began writing my post-Apocalyptic spec, I went about it without an outline. I knew the setting and general arc of the script. I had a clear vision of the opening scene. And I knew, more or less, who my protagonist was. This script – let’s call it my “Roman Army Spec” – not so much.

Actually, I’ll admit right now that this was the hardest time I have ever had in cracking the first act. Usually, Act One pours out of me like whiskey into my (bottomless) glass. I almost always have an idea for the very first scene, the inciting incident, and everything between those two beats and the end of Act One. This time, though, I was stuck. I know the general arc of the plot and had some notion as to how, maybe, I might possibly get there. But what I really knew was that I was stuck.

The blank page was taunting me something awful. I felt like that kid in Algebra who swears the clock actually began ticking backwards. I was going nowhere fast, and it was painful. Finally, something clicked. I knew how to begin developing my protagonist – give him another antagonist, one we follow more closely at first, and build off of that. The overall story involves an enemy that the protagonist confronts, but not for a while. So, I decided to give him another adversary that we would see more immediately.

I still felt stuck, though. That was until I went to the tried and true Behind the Name, a site I think most writers go to frequently. It was becoming increasingly difficult to outline my script without being able to actually name my characters in the beats (other than Protagonist, or Antagonist, or Protagonists’ Friend). Soon, the names were flowing. I had more than I needed, so I went back and bolded the ones I wanted to use, then ascribed personalities/roles to those. I had my protagonist, antagonist, big “boss” protagonist, and everyone in between. What’s more, by finding all those names, I also found I was able to fill in character roles that I didn’t know I needed or didn’t plan on using, but which made the story so much stronger. Soon enough, Act One was outline, and Act Two was halfway there – note: outlining Act Two always SUCKS; the fact that I just about nailed half of it in one sitting and know what the second half will be like (I’ll do that part tonight) blows me away. I’ve either hit it just about right or am so far off the mark I don’t even see it. Either way, my characters have names, and in a week and a half, when we next meet, the League will tell me if my outline’s worth a damn.

When do you name your characters?

Trailer Trash XXVII: Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde (1976)

"Super-strong, super-natural and super-bad!"

Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde marks the second variation on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic story that I've written on here in Trailer Trash. (The first was Daughter of Dr. Jekyll.) It is, however, the first blaxploitation version I've touched on.

Dr. Pride (the 'Dr. Black' in the title is only a reference to the doctor's skin tone) is a brilliant young doctor working on a experimental cure for alcohol-induced liver damage. When he tests the serum on himself, he turns into a white-skinned (well, greenish-white-skinned, but we'll take the movie's word for it) monster that can't help but go on hooker and pimp-killing rampages. I'm not entirely sure of what statement the film is trying to make, so I'll leave that essay for the academics.

[Ed. note - For another cinematic study of what happens when someone's skin accidentally turns white after a nutty experiment, check out Trailer Trash subject Old Dracula.]

A quick heads-up: The video you are about to watch contains some of the best trailer-rapping we've seen in a Trailer Trash article since Dolemite. Also, the first few seconds are NSFW. (But who reads blogs at work, anyway?)

Aaaaaaand - go!



At 0:03 - Um, I think the phrasing should be "is a black doctor", right? Also, unnecessarily topless woman three seconds into the trailer... we know this is gonna be a classy flick.
At 0:05 - Hiya, nurse.
At 0:11 - You won't like him when he's angry!
At 0:17 - Pimpfights!
At 0:25 - Wika-chika-waka soundtracks. Put another check in the "1970s" column.
At 2:01 - If Samuel L. Jackson was working when this movie was made, that would have been his role right there.


"Don't give him no sass, or he'll kick your ass!"

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.

Logline Madness

I usually check DoneDealPro every day to see what's selling. I came across this logline for a Tom Cruise flick, and it just drove me batty.

An American tourist finds his life on the line when an agent from Interpol uses him as bait to beat out a criminal. The agent is a woman and once had an affair with the criminal.

We've spoken about loglines before and acknowledge that whatever use they serve - query letters, for example - they rarely if ever are why the particular script you're reading about has sold. So much more has to happen for a studio to shell out the big bucks to buy a script and turn it into a production than a one or two sentence logline can accomplish. In fact, most loglines I read on DDP are probably written after the sale just as a quick description of the project, and can therefore suck.

But let's look at the one above a bit more closely. Loglines, at least the ones we're writing in the League, should give the basic premise or theme of the picture, an idea of the protagonist, and, if you're successful at it, make someone want to read your script. Ok, so, how does this particular one stack up?

An American tourist finds his life on the line when an agent from Interpol uses him as bait to beat out a criminal.

Not bad. Kind of interesting. I get the sense that we're seeing this poor American dude running around Europe, camera dnagling from his neck, and bad guys and bad agents chase him from Paris to Rome. Cool. I could get behind that. Then, I read on.

The agent is a woman and once had an affair with the criminal.

Does anyone else feel like they just ran into a brick wall? First of all, the sentence is just dull. Dead. Lifeless. You only get maybe two sentences to describe your masterpiece. The both need to POP. "The agent is a woman and...." makes me want to go to sleep. Where's the action in this sentence? The past? Boo. Also, it throws a wrench into my idea of this schmuck running around Europe when all he wants to do is take a picture of a really old castle. Poor guy. He's doing all the running, and he's no longer even the most interesting character in these two sentences. He manages to be trumped by a sleeper of a sentence. Logline fail.

I figured I'd take a stab at reworking this just very basically, rearranging a few words and cutting a few. Obviously, I don't know too much about the script, so I'm not changing any elements of the logline. I just tried to make it pop a little more.

An American tourist finds his life on the line when a female Interpol agent uses him to bait out a criminal she once had an affair with.

It's still not perfect, but I think it reads better.

What, When, Where this Weekend - Defiance

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

Happy new year!

Opening this weekend...

DEFIANCE, written by Clayton Frohman and Edward Zwick, dir. by Edward Zwick



Premise: In 1941, a group of Jewish brothers organize the largest armed rescue of Jews during the Holocaust.

Playing: Clearview Ziegfeld

Slow week in movie openings - we're just over the Christmas lump and aren't quite to the January flicks yet. This looks pretty good, though. But what's with all of the nazi movies all-of-a-sudden?

What are you doing/seeing this weekend?

2008 - The Writing Year; To You in 2009

Happy New Year!

As a welcoming for 2009, I thought I would go back and evaluate all that I had done over the past year. I distinctly remember walking with a friend back home in Arlington, Virginia last New Year's Eve on our way back from picking up some cheap beer (or cheap champagne). We got on the subject of New Years Resolutions, as I think most people do at that time of year. Hers was to stop dating douche bag guys. Mine was to do everything in my power to sell a script, though that did not mean that I specifically had to sell anything in 2008. I wanted to stop being so timid and actually submit to a competition or, dare I say it, two. I wanted to complete a few scripts, and then send out query letters for those. I wanted to call in whatever favors from whatever contacts I had and try to push my work into the industry. Did I meet my writing goals? Could I have done more? How much time did I actually spend working on material?

By January 7th, 2008, I'd written 3 pages of my post-Apocalyptic spec and my first Writing Week. That draft would be completed in the first few months of 2008. After that, I put it aside to work on a new idea I had, to gain some distance from the script that I was told needed some major fixes, but which I was in love with. The second project flew by, yet remains untouched since the FADE OUT at the end of that first draft.

By June, I was in a bit of a rut, along with the majority of the League at that time. We kept tossing ideas back and forth to one another, but not many of us were doing any substantial writing to speak of. Ultimately, I got around to working on the post-Apocalyptic spec again over the summer - the big impetus for that being that I had finally taken the plunge (probably because Onyx twisted my arm so much) and submitted an action spec to two different screenplay competitions. I wanted to be sure that I had another action script to follow it up, should I be so lucky as to attract attention that way.

The summer ended, and with it, my hopes (and those of everyone in the League) for screenplay competition success. Not a one of us advanced in the Scriptapalooza competition, though each and every one of us who submitted made it to the quarter-finals in the PAGE International Screenwriting Awards. Disappointed and a little dejected, the writing slowed once more as the last of the summer days turned into Autumn evenings. I received my third round of feedback from the League on my post-Apocalyptic spec and submitted it to an outside working writer, who also gave me feedback.

With the competitions behind me, I turned my attention elsewhere, to another approach new to me. October was Query Month. Zombie was the only one of us to have tried querying agents and producers before that. As roommates, we often time things to correspond with one another, and we did that for query letters. We each compiled a list of people - I stuck solely to managers, while he incorporated a few agents, as well - work shopped our loglines and query letters with the Leaguers, and sent off about a dozen e-queries, choosing only those companies at first who permitted and made e-querying easy through their websites. A dozen emails went out, and the waiting game began.

By late October, I'd heard back from the assistant at one company who really liked my writing. I went on vacation and came back to a rejection letter that he'd had to send on behalf of the managers he worked for. He did, however, send encouraging notes, which gave me hope. As the line between 2008 and 2009 narrowed, I began to push the notion of getting signed that year out of my head. After all, I'd written two new screenplays and finished one of them, done the competitions (and would probably do so again), and sent out my queries. I'd done all I had planned.

Then, in mid December, that call came. The call we all hope for and, no matter how many times we dream about, can never plan for. A NYC based manager called me up and offered me representation. A week later, not even, I'd signed with him and my script was on the desk of a pretty big actor. And just three days ago, at the very last twilight of 2008, I received a bite from another manager, which I had to reject.

If you're reading this blog, I'm going to assume that you're a writer. And, if like us, you're young and still trying to get your foot in the door of this industry, I'll assume you probably have goals for 2009 like I laid out for myself a year ago, like Onyx lays out for himself every summer when his birthday rolls around. If you're wondering how to go about it or if it works, just read through the Writing Week segments I've put up each week, or that anyone in the League has written over the past year. My manager says that the first step is just "writing a great script" and adding to that, to paraphrase Jeffrey Nachmanoff, "great scripts do not lie hidden. Someone will find them." Don't listen to all those people who tell you that queries and competitions don't work, that you must know someone or else you can't break in. Just keep writing and, when your material is ready, get it out there however you can. Copyright it to protect yourself and go on the offensive. If it's ready, people will notice.

To 2009 - may it be all of our Writing Year!

DVD Junkie #3: My Name is Earl

As we here at the Screenwriter's League recover from the holidays and get geared up for the year ahead, I'd like to take a moment to talk about a largely unrecognized show that I've just recently come to appreciate.

My Name is Earl doesn't get a lot of recognition. As far as Thursday night NBC comedy shows go, it's kind of like the plain Jane in the popular clique. Placed inconspicuously right before one of the most powerful one-two punches on TV (30 Rock and the Office), My Name is Earl lacks many of the earmarks its prettier neighbors - few SNL or Daily Show alumni, hardly any cameos from anyone above the C-list, and it lacks that postmodern uber-self-referential shtick that is thiiiis close to being overdone.

Earl is a unique combination - taking the tried and true single-camera sitcom format and mixing it with skilled, creative casting, and rock-solid writing. Add in the ever-entertaining white trash setting and a dash of eastern philosophy, and you've got a recipe for an amazing, though inconspicuous show.

Luckily "grew an awesome mustache" wasn't something he had to apologize for.
Because this is America.

The show follows Earl Hickey - a low-rent con artist and Joe Sixpack type. After winning $100,000 in the lotto and then promptly getting hit by a car, he writes a list of every bad thing he's ever done. With the help of his simple-minded brother, his psycho ex-wife, and a motel maid, Earl is trying to improve his karma by righting the wrongs he's done to people over the years.

What this translates to is a virtual golden goose as far as story concepts go - watching Earl in sequence helps, but this is one of the few good shows you can honestly watch in just about any order. True, as with any formula you have a few dud episodes here and there, but even when the story fails, it’s still damn funny. Each episode is its own self-contained gem, complete with a moral at the end and an impressive number of laughs.

The main reason for this is the impressive mix between the writing and the cast. The writing is witty, and extremely tight. In fact, if you need a quick primer in simple structure, watch a couple of episodes - you can set your watch by them, from inciting incident to conclusion. But the way the characters are written makes this predictable structure sing.

And the cast, headed up by the smugly charming Jason Lee, is full of unsung character actors who have honestly found a niche. Now, if you were an adolescent in the 90's, you will definitely remember Jason Lee from his roles in Kevin Smith's movies, most memorably as "Brodie" in the horrible, utterly classic Mallrats - a movie that by all accounts he stole. Even though I never really watched My Name is Earl before recently, I was happy just to see that Jason Lee was working steadily - so many of those talented actors that got their start with the Jersey Trilogy either faded into obscurity or - in the case of someone who shall remain nameless (but whose name rhymes with Ken Maffleck) - pissed away their talent for a hot latin ass and a Mark Stephen Johnson turd.


Beyond Jason Lee, the cast is fantastic. Ethan Suplee (which IMDB just reminded me was also in Mallrats as William the "I want to see the sailboat" guy), is both believable and hilarious as Earl's stupid but quite lovable brother, and the shining star of the supporting cast is Jamie Turner, as Joy - Earl's loud and slightly unhinged ex-wife. She won an Emmy for the role in 2007, and she's simply fantastic. What makes her so good is that her performance is overblown, but grounded enough to still be believable. And that also is where the creativity of the casting shines through - even minor one-off roles have been cast with a precision that's remarkable. This is what gives the world of My Name is Earl such a vast richness and relatability, even though there aren't giant season-long arcs - the characters are crystal clear without being two-dimensional. You "get" it immediately, and so there's no need for explanation, all you have to do is sit back and watch.

So even though it doesn’t have the fancy bells and whistles of some of the other Thursday comedies out there, Earl is definitely worth a watch. It’s a rewarding experience without the commitment of the more prominent shows. It’s kind of like a fuck buddy. Yeah, I’ll stand by that. My Name is Earl is like the perfect fuck buddy – entertaining without being too much of a tax on your time or energy, and is even more fun than a daytime hooker. Happy New Year.

The fourth season of My Name is Earl just ended on NBC, and the first three seasons are available on Amazon for $108.99

DVD Junkie is a weekly review of TV Series on DVD. Kosmic only wrote this post sorta intoxicated and can finally cross “didn’t make fun of Ben Affleck on the internet” off her list.

Year-end List Round-up

In these last minutes of 2008, there's a good chance you're probably already starting to miss the year that was. Need a bit of help remembering what happened in the entertainment world over the last 12 months? Here are a few year-end lists to help you out...

TIME Magazine picks their top viral videos of 2008.

Yahoo's Jonathan Crow selects the ten most ridiculous movie moments of 2008.

Cracked.com has the eight most misguided sci-fi predictions of what 2008 would be like.

/Film picks their top five movie quotes of 2008 (with audio!)

FirstShowing lists "the 19 best movies that you didn't see in 2008".

Cinematical's gone all-out with their year-end lists, picking the hottest and lamest things in movies in 2008, the best cinematic mayhem of the year, the best ensemble casts, overlooked indie films, the year's best on-screen chemistry, the worst MPAA ratings and best movie trailers of the year.

Not to be outdone, Film School Rejects gives their picks for the biggest disappointments of 2008 (not to be confused with their ten worst movies of 2008), the coolest movie posters, their ten favorite foreign and horror films of the year, the fifteen DVDs you should have bought, a few great films that flew under a lot of people's radars, the ten best new fight scenes, and ten actresses who made the biggest mark in films this year.

The Onion selects the best television episodes, best DVDs and worst movies of 2008. (I'm still waiting for Cake Man to netflix Witless Protection...)

Defamer selects their best and worst movie posters of 2008 and their 2008 video hall of shame.

FreeWilliamsburg picked their top 30 albums of 2008. (Girl Talk at #7? Whaaaat?)

Stereogum had their favorite musicians pick their favorite things of the year.

MTV's Kurt Loder gives his picks for the best movie of the year.

Thoughts on any of the lists? Are there any I'm missing! Comment away.