Script Project

Please continue to work on your scripts. Many of you have somewhere about 3-4 pages at most, after several weeks working on this. Consider what the problem is.

• --I have no ideas: a writer MUST plan a film. It's not the organic process of wandering through a plot until you find an ending. A good script has an interesting character by design, not happenstance; a good script has plot points--a plot that turns and twists in unexpected ways. This does not happen by accident.
• --I am having trouble getting started: brainstorm. Use a mind-map, free associate. Use the techniques that have worked for you in the past. Skip to the next scene that you can write. You have a word processor and can always fill in what you leave blank. If you know your ending, start there. Writing scenes for films is like shooting them: they don't have to go in chronological or narrative order.
• --I am stuck in the middle (very few of you are here at the moment): there are a variety of ways to unstick a middle. See my advice about this below.
• --My characters have nothing to say: a). characters in films don't have to say anything. Rely on your ability to describe (just like in fiction). A film is visual, not aural. A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say. b). give your characters motivation and a reason for being in the scene. 
• --I've lost inspiration: If you are bored writing your script, chances are you're doing it wrong. Yes, writing can be frustrating, but there may be thousands of other things that are keeping you from writing. Fix those (or better yet, forget about them for 80 minutes and focus on writing). Other tricks: watch movies, read books, go for walks (not now, but while at home before and after writing). Some people are motivated by deadlines. Your deadline is next Thursday. The script is due.
• --I hate my writing. I suck!: No, you don't. Get over yourself. Never tell yourself that you can't write. You can. You know you can. Stop complaining and write. Not everything we write is an "A"--whoever told you that you had to be perfect all the time is an idiot. The most important learning happens when we fail at something. Be realistic and do what you are capable of (which should be more than complaining).

Lab: write.
Next week: Deadline for your script: Thursday, April 25 (this is an extension. The original project was due April 11--count yourselves lucky).
UNIT TEST: 1930's films: Thursday, April 25. Covers everything we've been working on (handouts, readings, class information, clips of films, etc. from the 1930's).