Index cards to Final Draft: How the octopus created a breakthrough

I've been organizing multiple photo shoots at work, and it's been like playing doubles against several sets opponents simultaneously, on several courts, alone (and I don't play tennis). Tonight I was sleeping when someone connected with one of the shoots texted me after 10:30 to say she had just arrived home.

While trying to get back to sleep I began thinking of a blog post, and decided to write down my thoughts because I couldn't sleep.

When I took advanced motion picture script analysis in USC's School of Cinematic Arts, I knew I needed the class. While I'd completed the USC master of professional writing program with an emphasis in screenwriting, I knew there was more I needed to learn before I could successfully complete a screenplay.

USC allows alumni to return to campus to continue to take courses with departmental approval. Before taking a course in the School of Cinematic Arts, I was required to take beginning screenwriting. I treated it as if I were taking a master class. The teacher was amazing.

I learned many of the lessons in the class, including the importance of understanding and using time in video; better understanding the full palette of tools writers use while creating a screenplay; how to write, in a few words, a description which will cause everyone in the audience to focus on a specific area of the screen.

Screenwriting, done well, is incredibly intricate. A few weeks into the class, I told the teacher, "When I'm screenwriting, I feel like I"m struggling with an octopus." He reassured me the octopus could be tamed and at the end of the class he told me, "You're ready to go for it. You really don't need to take any more classes." But I did.

When I took advanced motion picture script analysis, I attended every session, arriving before class. I even listened to the professor's answers to students' questions during breaks.

The final test was open note/open source, and I took about 10 hours to complete it. I received the nicest note from the professor. He said I'd received a perfect score and that he was using my answers as a key to grade the other students' finals. It has been fun sharing many of the things covered in the final here. At the end of the class finally felt as if I could write a story coded with the elements needed to make those watching the movie lose track of time; suspending reality to feel as if no time has passed while experiencing the story.

I remembered the octopus analogy a few weeks ago as my cowriter and I prepared to go from index card stage to screenplay writing stage.

Every movie I've watched, including the dozens of films I studied while attending USC includes several stories within the main story.

The sub-stories are interesting and are integral to the main story, however their treatment can be uneven -- some end at strange places in the movie and are never mentioned again. Others unfold unevenly. To be satisfying, none of the substories or elements in the film should draw attention to themselves.

The day before we began to write our first screenplay page, I drew an octopus. Then, on each arm I wrote a specific element of the story. Without giving away the plot, these included:

• The protagonist's want
• The protagonist's need
• The conductor's substory
• The love triangle substory
• The protagonist's flaw
• Planting and payoff

Then, my cowriter and I briefly discussed each of the octopus arms. Is the protagonist's flaw shown realistically and strongly enough? Does it appear thoughtfully or have we forgotten it while too much time passes? The protagonist's need, if realized, will transform him. This is the most challenging of all. Transformation is miraculous, and occurs through realization, followed by dozens of small changes in the tiniest increments. Progress is made, interspersed with setbacks which are fought with ferocious determination.

Using the sketch of the octopus to sort through the many details of the story was a breakthrough. In the past trying to write a screenplay felt as if the creature was attacking me as I tried to pry each arm away the others would grab me. However as we talked through how each element and substory unfold throughout the story, the complicated parts became simple.

Before writing "fade in," I will do this with each project. The octopus exists, but it is now tame.

Actor Love -- Writing the first five pages

I prefer spoilers.

Before seeing a movie I like to hear its plot told enthusiastically by someone who has seen it. Then, when I see the movie, I enjoy it earlier.

Screenwriting is condensed, with an enormous amount of information captured in impossibly few words. It's a densely coded language. 

A world is created with the story taking place in a certain time period, sometimes on a specific date. Imagery and music give clues about what the director wants me to feel. Then, the story begins. During the first 10-15 minutes I have to sort out who the characters are, what they want, complex relationships.

Sometimes this is done well but when it's not, it is not enjoyable. If I've heard the story I'm immediately begin to live the story with the actors, in their world. It is magic.

With the best-told stories I'm reassured that people can move from the emptiness of pursuing a goal (want) to realizing what they need. Then change can occur, all within 120 pages.

Change happens so rarely in real life, I believe successful change fascinates people. It's one of the reasons time seems to stop during movies as we watch every detail.

How do actors so realistically portray change when it rarely exists in real life? How do what do they do? I am in awe. It is truly miraculous.

I'm co-writing a screenplay with a friend. We worked on it for weeks before opening a laptop. 

The story begins in a small town. As we talked about each of the characters, they began to come to life. One is too big for the town; the world will one day marvel at his talent; another, who is from a wealthy family, will be content to live there the rest of his life. Another once had dreams of leaving. The protagonist has a flaw that could forever scar a child put under his care. 

We've enjoyed exploring each character and understanding how they see the world. We know when each character's defining moment will arrive. Defining moments are raw, brave, shocking.

We used Post-its and 5x7 cards as we crafted the story. Then, two weeks ago during breaks at work, we began to write the screenplay.

We've written the first five pages with great attention to how we create the world and introduce each character. 

The audience is watching in anticipation. The story begins and they meet a human being, a person, fascinating and like no other. How does each character come to life? What is their routine, and what hints are there about how they will react when their routine changes? 

Rising tension! Motivation! (I can still hear Irvin Kershner shouting those words, he must have said them hundreds of times). "In each scene the characters want something. What do they do to get it? Now that's interesting."

We are creating the scenes to be transparent and revealing. We've worked tirelessly to honor the actors' skill and the audience's time, inquisitiveness, and love of story.

If we're successful, it will be a movie that I would want to see before hearing spoilers. In fact, the movie would be less enjoyable if I knew anything about the storyline before watching it.