The writers room weeks 9-10-11: Screenplay complete

I left for London on April 12 and returned home a week-and-a-half before the May 1 Nicholl Fellowship deadline. My co-writer and I finished as much of the screenplay as we could before I left; we both planned to edit it during the week I was in Europe.

During the 11-hour flight home a man in the seat next to me noticed me editing the screenplay and gave me his contact information. He works for a company that licenses characters and produces video games for SONY and X-Box; they have offices in three countries.

Back home, the jet lag worked for me. I’d wake up just after 3:00 a.m. every day and work on the screenplay several hours before work.

My co-writer and I had given ourselves permission to create the story without being perfect. The final days before the deadline we met at lunch and reworked scenes to maintain tension. We also sharpened dialogue, throwing out options until a better line appeared.

We hope we accomplished the following:

•               The protagonist progresses from experiencing a want to identifying and fulfilling a need. She experiences polarity (challenging to accomplish)

•               The story's premise is controversial; the various characters' feelings about and reactions to the controversial choices the protagonist makes are equally strong. This shows that there is validity in the differing views, reveals passion and humanity, and hopefully creates a deeper understanding of the issue

•               The characters don't cry but we wrote the story so that (we hope) the audience will

•               We avoided using cliches and tried to remove the ones that had appeared

I received an email on the day we finished the screenplay from Irvin Kershner's son. It was a photo of his father playing the viola, taken on his 90th birthday; truly amazing. We had finished the screenplay on my mentor's birthday. We polished the screenplay and submitted it to the Nicholl Fellowship competition on May 1.

We’re planning to continue meeting at lunch to write and are working on an idea for a new screenplay I proposed. Our goal is to complete a new screenplay every six months (a guideline suggested by Frank Wuliger to aspiring screenwriters during a class I took from him: write two screenplays each year).

My co-writer is an editor/writer/designer who had never written a screenplay. Today I reviewed everything we’d done and the many elements that we had built into our screenplay.

This morning a USC professor invited me to share the process we'd used to a Facebook group of her current and past students. Making progress after graduation has been challenging for many of them and she wants them to see that it’s possible to make progress creatively in small periods of time.

In my next entry I’ll write more about that here; pretty amazing to have completed an entire screenplay in less than two months. Today as I reviewed with my co-writer what we’d accomplished I realized (and mentioned to him) that I hadn’t learned the process we’d used in any of the courses I’ve taken. Reading a summary of our journey might be helpful to new screenwriters.

Yes this post is about screenwriting!

Less than a month ago my colleagues and I met to walk through our new office space. Desks were still being installed and we walked past a ladder or two. What had been an old post office has been completely remodeled and the lobby has the feel of a luxury hotel. 

I left a pretty amazing office shared with colleagues I've described as thoroughbreds in their field (philanthropy), to join a space shared by writer/editors and a media team. We've been in our new offices now for about three weeks. 

Though moving from a private office to a cubicle is definitely not an upgrade I'm now occupying a space shared by longtime friends. There's a window and during the day I glance up and see the sky changing. It's the first time I've felt time pass connected to the changing sky. I'm glad to have experienced this during the winter—the sky morphs from the brightest blue to hundreds of variations of cloudiness. Even while working on a deadline I sense the movement of the sun across the sky as the afternoon passes, at about 2:30 I have to move when it shines into my eyes. The sun moves and clouds appear and spash themselves across the sky, hiding slivers of blue in bright silver or the whitest white, or covering it with angry greyish black. 

When the clock told me that it was mid-afternoon in the old office I'd long to see the sky and would walk down a long hallway past multiple offices to pause for a few minutes near the front desk. Looking outside I'd see the sky and I was happy; the mental fogginess caused by hours of staring at a computer screen lifted. I realize now that what I'd cherished every day was actually as rigid as a snapshot, even if taken during the most beautiful time of day.

Another unexpected positive—I realize that work is a place to contribute and support and achieve, but it is transient compared to my life. Home has become more important to me and I feel more creative, good things are happening and I'm not forcing it.

My friend and I decided to work on our Nicholl entry at lunch. At 11:05 today I told him (we share a cubicle wall), "Only 55 minutes 'til noon. Are you still excited about the screenplay?" "Yes!"

We met in the small conference room and started where we left off yesterday. I'd written the main characters' names on an iPad along with  a few important facts about the story. Today discussed the individual characters and I continued to make notes.

How far would one of the characters go to break the law? What was his relationship with our protagonist? How did he treat her? He's a pretty bad guy. Why did she love him for so many years? How did they become a couple (she was 16 and he was in his early 20s)? Why did she fight for a relationship that was so painful and abusive?

As we explored the characters and their motivations, I continued gathering facts that would provide the building blocks necessary to tell the story and then later to write the screenplay.

We talked about the importance of images (planting and payoff), and agreed that a uniform that will be worn by at least three of the characters has unique and equally powerful meaning when worn by each of them.

I mentioned a couple of movies I'd studied and we discussed the way these movie were structured and how this might help or hurt the story we are telling.

I wanted to see what my friend thinks about the creative process and how it extends to the director and actors. Being too controlling will not work.

He's a musician who has toured globally with an orchestra and he talked about musicians' artistry. Just as the musical groups he has performed with enjoy performing a piece a differently each time, I said that nothing would make me happier than writing dialogue that will inspire an actor (I can say it this way, no what about this? No this would be more powerful.). 

While just two days ago my friend had wanted to begin writing screenplay pages he has become intrigued by the preparation. After experiencing the process yesterday, at the end of our first session he said that we're nowhere near ready to begin writing. 

Just before our lunch hour was over today I sketched out the three-act structure to show him, and said that we're collecting the pieces needed to complete the structure. Then the short story (7-15 pages), then create scenes and sequences on index cards, and finally the screenplay.

The real work (fun) that happens before "Fade In"

"Out of everyone in this class, maybe seven of you will become full-time screenwriters." Wow, were there 50 people in the room? More than 70? All I remember is that the classroom was full of screenwriting and directing students who would be graduating in a few months.

While Frank Wuliger only said these words one time to our business of writing class he assured us that the others could find work in the industry. He demonstrated this through his guest speakers who loved stories and storytelling: agents and attorneys and directors, studio executives and managers. It was an amazing class (I remember "amazing" was a word he used quite often).

Another one of Frank's comments continues to haunt me. After finishing our writing program he encouraged us to do work that would put a roof over our head but that wasn't too intense. He said that he had observed many talented writers who took jobs that were so challenging that they had nothing left at the end of the workday, and never became screenwriters.

Taking screenwriting classes at USC while working full-time has helped me continue to write outside of work. But this semester I'm not in class. Writing alone after work can sometimes feel like punishment and so I've been joking with friends and colleagues—"Let's cowrite a screenplay and enter the 2013 Nicholl Fellowship competition."

Finally someone said yes. While I'd told him that if we worked together I wanted the process to begin with writing a short story (7 to 15 pages) before writing any screenplay pages and that that would save weeks of work. Rewriting pages of dialogue is not fun.

When he came back from lunch yesterday excited to show me a few screenplay pages he'd written I glanced at the first few scenes and remembered my first attempts at screenwriting. After having read about 14 books about screenwriting my words were written with enthusiasm. The protagonist made a bland appearance talking about something that was on TV.

I remembered classmates in USC's master of professional writing program who were upset when Irvin Kershner stopped them from writing screenplay pages and made them stop and think when they were as excited as racehorses wanting to run!

I started talking to my friend about storytelling. While we both write every day, the work we do is different from the purest storytelling. As I talked about what a story can be I realized I was echoing words I'd heard from mentors who had taught classes, students in those classes with hundreds of years of combined experience. My friend agreed to meet the next day at lunch and talk about the story.

I've heard the story we're writing about over the years. It was in the headines for a few months in the early 1980s. During our first meeting we talked about

• where the story should start (a topic which had come up many times in classes I'd taken). 
• who the antagonist is (not the easy answer, oh this was getting fun)! 
• controversial parts of the story that might have people talking by the water cooler after they had seen the movie. 

I mentioned that I had struggled for years to learn why audiences can watch the screen for nearly two hours and feel as if no time has passed. I shared some of the techniques that filmmakers use to do this (how to show the passage of time using images; planting and payoff and images and musical themes we could include in the story that will enchant the viewers.

My friend is a musician who composes music and I told him that learning how to write a screenplay is as complex and takes as much practice as learning to play an instrument and then learning how to write a symphony. Though I'd read those 14 books about screenwriting I didn't feel confident writing a screenplay until after taking classes and working with mentors, while struggling to create on my own. I remember telling one professor that writing a screenplay is like struggling with an attacking octopus.

We debated every part of a multitude of events and people who came together to create a story that made headlines for a few weeks in the early 1980s. While we're still not ready to begin writing the short story, we began to discover and agree on elements that make the story dramatic vs. melodromatic.

Today was the first time since Kersh helped me with my thesis that I've gone through this creative process. I'd been afraid that without him or a professor the octopus would return. But it was amazingly satisfying. And it's pretty fun to blog about too.

Putting it all together, a master class

I used to arrange and lead tours for students considering a career in one of the medical profession. The director of the marketing department often spoke with the students about the programs offered at the university and it was interesting to watch him tailor his talk to each group.

One Friday, the students on the tour were not connecting with him. The group was a couple of years younger than previous groups, so he tried making his presentation more simple.

When this didn't work he stopped and said, "You may not understand everything I'm saying. It's like someone is handing you a spoke, a wheel, pedals, a handlebar. It doesn't make sense; you're thinking 'what is this?' And one day you'll say, 'I have a bike!'"

Screenwriting classes were like that for me. I'd read about 14 books to get ready to take screenwriting classes. With each class I'd learn something that I knew was important, but I didn't need it for the exact project I was working on. But I kept collecting the tools and gems, knowing they would be important later.

Even after finishing the MPW degree/emphasis screenwriting, screenwriting was the most fascinating puzzle. I knew I wouldn't be happy doing anything else, and I was determined to continue until I reached my goal of becoming a full-time screenwriter so I continued taking screenwriting classes (USC allows alumni to take any class, with permission of the department, how cool is that?).

A major breakthrough came when I took Ron Friedman's beginning screenwriting course. Beginning screenwriting! That was the first class that the School of Cinematic Arts approved for me to take; everyone has to take it, I was told. Two or three weeks into the semester, I remember telling Mr. Friedman that I loved screenwriting but that writing screenplays was still like struggling with an octopus. He reassured me that I could tame the creature. I treated the class like a master class in screenwriting and for the first time I began to draw on the various tools I'd learned. For the first time I saw the entire bike and had fun riding! At the end of the class, he told me he was confident I had the skills needed; and that he thought I was ready to 'go for it.'

Storytelling and the elements of good screenwriting helped me recently as I wrote a 500-word feature about a hospital in Haiti for an annual report. I'd done research about the hospital and the staff that would be featured, and the earthquake. I went to the CIA Factbook and learned about the country and the people. I interviewed the hospital administrator over the phone. I struggled writing that article; there were so many things I had to leave out that were interesting!

After I had finished writing I thought about what I'd had to cut and what made it into the final piece. I realized that the following elements of powerful storytelling had helped me craft the article:

• Something happens so that the protagonist's life will never be the same again; and he or she can never return to the way things were before.
• Create distinct world/worlds where the story takes place.
• Answer: Why are these characters unique; what makes them different from anyone who has lived, or who will ever live?
• Don't save the best for the second sentence or hold it until the last sentence. "The curtain rises, and the reader is seeing your characters for the first time as if on stage."* How fun is that? That's what I live for!
• Use the senses/sound. Use things the reader/audience can connect with. Write stories that show our humanity and ability to change and connect.

Each story uses different storytelling elements but those are a few I used to decide what to include to tell the Haiti hospital story within the 500-word limit.

I'll always want to take more classes, to join writing groups. And whether working with professionals who have written, directed or acted in movies that have been seen by millions of people, or with eager writers who are beginning their first story, I will treat each as a master class.