Re-Post: WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: PAGE ONE

Since somewhere someone is always starting a new feature screenplay, we thought we’d revisit our handy Screenplay Primers, assembled by our intrepid Library team. Start with Page One below and view the rest of the Primers here.

At the WGF Library, we operate under the belief that reading scripts is an essential part of becoming a better writer. Even while the library is closed to in-person visitors, we continue to keep the socially distanced inspiration and education flowing via blog posts. 

This new series is for any feature writer who may have felt neglected during our months of breaking down popular television shows. Each week, we will hone in on one particular aspect of writing, structuring, or formatting a feature screenplay. As we zero in on certain script elements and writing techniques, we will include short examples from some of our favorite feature scripts. (To clarify, this is a series about script drafts; not brainstorming or outlines or treatments, but putting words on the page.)

As always, if you have inquiries about scripts in the WGF Library (or about anything else writing-related), virtual reference assistance is available to you. E-mail library@wgfoundation.org. While we cannot send you PDFs of scripts, we can always advise and answer specific questions. For direct access to librarians, we also hold virtual library hours on zoom twice a week. It’s a great opportunity to be in the company of other writers and get work done. Sign-up here. 

So, where do we start in a series about writing and formatting feature scripts? 

Let’s start on page one. 

The first page is arguably the most significant page in a screenplay. As a writer, with that 8 1/2” by 11” space, you have the chance to express in a simple way what your movie is about, prove your capacity for writing cinematically AND compel your reader to turn to the next page.

First pages are less intimidating if you view them as an opportunity. 

Let’s look at how five different scripts utilize their first page.

ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)

Screenplay by William Goldman

Based on the book by Carl Bernstein & Bob Woodward

A few things to consider in the writing:

• Goldman doesn’t use scene headings. This produces a kind of disorienting effect on the reader.

• BLAAAAMM!! BLAAAAAAMM!! is written in comic book style onomatopoeia, which is always exciting to read.

• Screenwriting wisdom always advices to open where it’s “most interesting.” Here we think we’re witnessing gunshots, which gets our heart rates up immediately.

• BUT it’s revealed that the BLAAAAAM gunshot sound is actually words being written with a typewriter… which is a powerful audiovisual metaphor… a statement about the disruptive power of words, which is, arguably, the theme of the movie.
  

DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)

Written by Spike Lee

A few things to consider in the writing:

• Right from the get-go, the script incorporates text on screen. This harkens back to the silent era and title cards, giving the words an urgency and magnitude. Lee uses the opportunity to give us a sense of his personal style — his writing style — at the beginning of the movie.

• Do the Right Thing asks its viewers to WAKE-UP! That’s the backbone of the whole movie. It feels very deliberate to open with those words and to open on a close-up of a mouth speaking them.

• It’s disorienting, just like the words on a typewriter in All the President’s Men, yet opening tight on lips and a mouth ensures that we are paying attention to the words spoken.

THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (2016)

Written by Kelly Fremon Craig

A few things to consider in the writing:

• From the outset, we like this girl. The writing tells us she’s kind of a misfit.

• Nadine’s proclamation that she is going to take her own life grabs us by the throat on page one. This is an effective statement to open with because we — as readers or viewers — immediately start asking questions. Is she really going to kill herself? Why does she want to kill herself? How is Mr. Bruner going to react?

• Additionally, Nadine’s speech about the nature of her future suicide is so humorously detailed. The monologue shows us she’s smart and neurotic and needs to be noticed. More than anything, it makes us want to follow her (and Fremon Craig’s words) beyond just this first page.

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996)

Written by Shane Black

A few things to consider in the writing:

• Notice there are only a few pieces of description on this page that go over one line. It’s almost as if every line is a new shot in the film. Also, the verbs used here really crackle, yet feel natural. All of it keeps the reader’s eye cascading effortlessly down the page.

• The technique used in this instance is shocking contrast. The last thing the reader expects to see after a mother sweetly puts her child to sleep is that she’s holding a machine gun and that her arm is dripping with blood! Of course the reader is going to turn to the next page! This is also the same contrast that makes the mom (the protagonist) such a compelling character.
  

PARASITE (2019)

Screenplay by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won

Story by Bong Joon Ho

A few things to consider in the writing:

• In Parasite, the writers open with a family realizing they can no longer steal Wi-Fi. As readers, we get to watch how they react and attempt to work around this fact.

• By the end of the first page, we know three things about this family: 1) They have no money, 2) They’re (lovingly) quick and abrasive with each other, and 3) Despite being poor, they’re resourceful and have humor.

• Bong and Han don’t waste space with excessive description, simply giving us each character’s age and letting their actions and words speak for themselves.

• The writing style is lean and — literally — mean and by the end of the page, WE’RE IN.

We hope the examples are helpful and that you can apply the techniques and lessons presented here when tackling your own work, no matter your preferred writing medium. Happy writing!

VIEW ALL SCREENPLAY PRIMER POSTS

WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: THE END

As the first post in this series began on page one, it feels natural for us to conclude with a look at “THE END.”

SPOILER ALERT: Do a quick scroll through this post. If you haven’t seen some of the movies listed, please know we’ll be discussing their endings. If you don’t want to ruin it for yourself, watch the movie before diving in. 

People like to talk about happy endings and how viewers crave and love happy endings. We’re here to say: If anybody gives you this adage as a note, you have the WGF Librarians’ encouragement to question them.

Querying ourselves about some of our favorite endings, a movie that seems to come up again and again is My Best Friend’s Wedding. 

What is it about this particular ending?

If you’ve seen it, you know the film ends with the protagonist, Julianne, giving the maid of honor speech at her BFF Michael’s wedding… on every level, putting his happiness ahead of her own. For the duration of the film, she’s pursued marrying him, but in the end… he marries another person.

Julianne lets him go. She does the right thing, sure, but—as she points out—she loses. Doing the right thing is good, but it doesn’t really make Julianne happy. 

Life and movies are often about loss. Loss of a partner, friend, or protector. Loss of innocence. Loss of time. Loss of success or victory. Loss of the thing you thought you needed in order to be happy.

We find ourselves like Julianne, sitting alone at a wedding that is not ours, having experienced a painful loss. 

But then our phone starts to ring…

And there’s our other best friend, George, who points out….

“There may not be marriage. There may not be sex, but BY GOD…”

(CUE THE MUSIC.)

“…there’ll be dancing!”

Maybe when people say that viewers crave happy endings, they really mean that viewers crave SATISFYING endings. 

When we go through the major exercise in loss that we call LIFE, we want to be reminded of George. We want to be reminded of the things we STILL HAVE. At their core, that’s what stories give to us. They point out what remains. 

If you read the draft of My Best Friend’s Wedding that exists out there on the web, you’ll see on the page that the ending is more or less there, but it doesn’t possess quite the same magic that it does in the final film. The idea is there, but it hasn’t been totally realized yet. 

That’s the sentiment we’d like to leave you with here at the end of WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING. 

A screenplay is a blueprint, a map, a guidebook — often with a destination in mind, but as you move along towards that destination, the feeling might evolve. At its most transcendent, writing is about that very evolution and learning. Embrace it!

Now let’s look at a few more scripts. 

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1991)

Screenplay by Linda Woolverton

Story by Roger Allers

• Let’s call this ending a re-birth or restoration. The Beast loses his soul at the beginning of the film, but through self-sacrifice gains it back in the end, his transformation inspiring transformation all around him.

DEAD POETS SOCIETY (1989)

Written by Tom Schulman

• The boys might lose their teacher, but he’s helped them gain their voices. 

THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940)

Screenplay by Nunnally Johnson

Based on the novel by John Steinbeck

• The story ends the way it kicked off — the road. Many stories end on the road. The road is symbolic. Just because a story ends doesn’t mean that life stops. Despite losing everything again, the Joad family realizes their ability to keep going. 

HOUSE PARTY (1990)

Written by Reginald Hudlin

• The last image of this film is a great pay-off.

• At the beginning of the movie, we see a group of teens with party music so loud and bumping, they literally blow the roof off the house. In a turn of poetic justice, at the end of the movie, the roof lands on the cops who have arrested and bullied the protagonists over the course of the film. 

HUSTLERS (2019)

Written by Lorene Scafaria

• This film ends with a metaphor, which asks spectators to look at what they just saw and think about where they fit within it.

INCEPTION (2010)

Written by Christopher Nolan

• This ending is famously ambiguous, prompting an audience to leave the film in debate. Are we in reality or still in a dream? 

PLANET OF THE APES (1968)

Screenplay by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling

Based on the novel The Monkey Planet by Pierre Boulle

• Throughout this entire movie, the protagonists believe they’re on a distant planet…. The last page reveals, they’ve actually been on EARTH! It’s a TWIST ending where we, the audience, have been oblivious to the truth from the outset. In the end, we look at everything differently.

SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959)

Screenplay by Billy Wilder & I. A. L. Diamond

Based on the German film Fanfare of Love written by Robert Thoeren and M. Logan

And with the sentiments presented by Wilder and Diamond, we’ll end our series here. There’s much more to cover, but we’re going to get back to the small screen for a while. As always, if you have questions about scripts, formatting or anything else, you know where to find us via e-mail: library@wgfoundation.org.

WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: MONTAGE AND SERIES OF SHOTS

Occasionally in the library we get asked how to format montages or quick series of shots. 

Every once in a while, a movie explicitly needs a small montage — usually to condense the passage of a long span of time into a much shorter span of time, i.e. a character getting older, falling in love, getting used to a new job, etc. 

Montages can function like the cinematic equivalent of a collage, perhaps to establish a location or activity or even an idea. 

There aren’t hard and fast rules for the formatting of a montage. Since the beginning of formal screenwriting tradition, montages have tended to look on the page like a list. Exactly how you format that list is up to you as the writer.

As you’ll see in some of the following examples, there’s no wrong or right way to go about it. Montage is often a place to be creative and express a unique voice. 

HE GOT GAME (1998)

Written by Spike Lee

• Yes, at first glance, this is a giant blob of text. Lots of writing advice warns against bulky paragraphs, yet this opening description elicits majesty in its tone. Basketball is epic!!

IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (2018)

Written for the Screen and Directed by Barry Jenkins

Based on the book by James Baldwin

• In a very literary way, Jenkins formats Tish’s voice-over in quotes. This description effortlessly interweaves spoken words with individual images. 

• Note the clarity of labeling each image “IMAGE 1,” “IMAGE 2,” etc.

IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934)

Screenplay by Robert Riskin

Based on the short story Night Bus by Samuel Hopkins Adams

• Even in 1934, writers formatted montages much like we format them today.

• Note the text of headlines is in all CAPITAL letters without any excess description.

LITTLE WOMEN (2019)

Screenplay by Greta Gerwig

Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott

• There’s an interesting stylistic element at work here in that Gerwig writes all scenes that take place in the past with red text. 

• This montage consists of a quick bulleted list that gives us a sense of what happens during a day at the ocean. 

OFFICE SPACE (1999)

Screenplay by Mike Judge

Based upon the "Milton" animated shorts by Mike Judge

• We wanted to include this because we love the idea of a “nontage.” 

RAGING BULL (1980)

Screenplay by Mardik Martin and Paul Schrader

Based on the autobiography by Jake La Motta

• This is the first page of this draft. Paul Schrader has described as screenplay as “An invitation to collaborate”….

• Note how this text is simple and suggestive so that another artist can fill in the blanks.

TOY STORY 2 (1999)

Screenplay by Andrew Stanton and Rita Hsiao and Doug Chamberlin & Chris Webb

Original story by John Lasseter and Peter Docter and Ash Brannon and Andrew Stanton

• Note how the ellipses give this montage a feeling of fluidity.

• Note the reveal and gut-punch at the end. 

• This a technique used in all kinds of art — breaking-up a pattern with a NEW image to pack a greater punch. 

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (1989)

Written by Nora Ephron

• This formatting is a great way to show voice-over happening OVER a montage simultaneously. It’s very effective for when you want to communicate passage of time, but want to make sure we hear the character’s real time commentary on what we see. 

• 20th Century Women (2016) and Roman Holiday (1953) are two other scripts that use this technique well. 

If you have questions about montages or about other scripts or topics, feel free to e-mail the WGF Library staff at library@wgfoundation.org.

Until next time, happy writing! 

WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: STAKES

You might know the feeling when the card dealer asks, “What’s your wager?” You put down fifty dollars, hoping the amount will multiply; hoping that with the money you win, you can save a loved one from some terrible fate…. Knowing full well that IF you lose, your lifeline could all disappear.

The term stakes is thrown around in the realm of film and TV with reckless abandon. 

“What are the stakes?”

“It feels like there should be more at stake.”

“Bigger stakes!”

Because it’s tossed around so much, the word “stakes” sometimes loses power and effectiveness. When we’re not sure how to define stakes, we can be less effective at raising them or even implementing notes about them.

When we hear “BIGGER stakes!” sometimes our instinct is to inflate the equivalent of the monetary amount wagered at the crap table.

“Not 50 dollars! I said 50,000 dollars!” That’s a much larger amount and surely it would feel more devastating to lose it. Thinking of stakes as simply the AMOUNT being wagered won’t necessarily help to build a reader’s emotional investment in the story. 

Amounts and numbers are impersonal. Characters—people—are personal. 

It’s not the money on the table, but what’s lost IF that money disappears. 

When someone says “BIGGER stakes” they don’t necessarily mean that IF the main character fails, everyone on earth will perish. 

Stakes are personal. Stakes are everything the character stands to lose IF they fail. Stakes are only as meaningful to us as they are to the main character we identify with and love. 

When contemplating stakes, IF is a magic word. Notice we have capitalized it throughout this post. We all have personal “IFs” in our life….

This is why anxious people sometimes make good writers. It’s about being able to visualize the worst, most devastating outcome IF something goes wrong. 

Let’s look at how a few scripts raise stakes and build up our emotional investment in the story. Notice that in none of these scripts is the hero trying to save the whole globe from collapse.

APOLLO 13 (1995)

Screenplay by William Broyles, Jr. & Al Reinert

Based on the book Lost Moon by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger

• The Apollo 13 crew just completed their mission, but have encountered some engine and heating trouble, which might jeopardize their safe return to earth. 

• IF they drift there in space in the freezing cold, they will obviously die.

• IF Fred doesn’t get medical attention, he will die. (Note how the writers encourage us to uncover this with our intuition: “It hurts when I pee.”)

• IF Fred dies, his newborn kid doesn’t get to know his father.

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (2003)

Written by Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges and Guljit Bindra

• Jess is obsessed with football, but must sneak around her conservative Sikh parents in order to play. 

• IF Jess is discovered playing with the local women’s league, she’ll bring loads of shame and disappointment to her parents who’ve had to sacrifice their own aspirations and happiness to give their daughters a conventional home. 

• In this scene, Jess’s sister stresses that — according to her — something as lame as football is not worth the risk. 

DIE HARD (1988)

Screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza

• John McClane takes on Hans Gruber, who holds people hostage in Nakatomi Plaza in order to steal bearer bonds. 

• At this moment, we discover Gruber’s plan: Blow-up the roof of the building, killing the hostages and the FBI agents sent to help, getting away with hundreds of millions of dollars in theft.

• IF McClane fails to stop Gruber, everyone in the building will die, including him. IF McClane dies, he loses the opportunity to truly make amends with his wife. 

FRIDAY (1995)

Written by Ice Cube & D. J. Pooh

• Craig’s life at home is shitty. Excuse the pun. 

• IF Craig doesn’t go to school, learn a trade or find a job, he’ll be stuck at home — and the writers succeed at making being stuck at home a gross and unappealing prospect.

• IF Craig doesn’t find a job (and rent money), he’ll be kicked out of the house and have nothing. 

• This is a great example of using humor to communicate stakes. 

THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON (2019)

Written by Tyler Nilson & Michael Schwartz

• Zak has Down syndrome and lives out-of-place at a state-run home for the elderly… until he runs away to pursue his dream of becoming a pro wrestler.

• Eleanor works for the nursing home and is tasked with finding Zak and bringing him back. 

• This is a very subtle example, yet through this phone call at the restaurant, Eleanor finds out what will happen to Zak IF she brings him back. He’ll be forced to give up his dreams, happiness and purpose to live in a place where he won’t be treated for what he needs. He’ll likely deteriorate. 

THELMA & LOUISE (1991)

Written by Callie Khouri

• Thelma and Louise are in the worst possible bind. They’ve killed a man in self-defense and now they’re being tailed by police as they flee to Mexico. To boot, they’ve been robbed of all their money.

• Now, Thelma has committed a crime by robbing the store. IF they get caught, they will most assuredly face punishment. 

• This is an interesting turning point in that it’s a victory which simultaneously places the heroes in greater jeopardy. What they lose IF they are caught becomes greater. They lose their freedom. 

ZOOT SUIT (1981)

Screenplay by Luis Valdez Based on his play

• In Zoot Suit, inspired by the Sleepy Lagoon murder trials in LA in the early 1940s, (which unjustly targeted Mexican-American youths), Henry Reyna is thrown in jail for a murder he didn’t commit. 

• Valdez’s script, adapted from his play of the same name, cleverly presents stakes through El Pachuco, the mythical embodiment of both Hank’s subconscious and of the Pachuco way of life.

• According to El Pachuco, IF Henry fights back against what happened to him or tries to fight back against the system, nothing will happen. He’ll still be seen as a criminal. 

IF you have any questions about these or other scripts in the library, feel free to e-mail us at library@wgfoundation.org

WRITING YOUR SCREENPLAY WHILE SOCIAL DISTANCING: SUSPENSE

Most of us know it well — the feeling that something TERRIBLE lurks around the corner.

We dread the worst possible outcome in a given situation. Suddenly we’re swimming in adrenaline and cortisol, preparing ourselves for fight or flight. 

This is suspense.

For writers, to create suspense is to provoke anxiety or fear in the reader — the fear of what’s to come for the character(s) we identify with and love. 

Even if you’re not a thriller writer, even if rom-coms or quiet dramas are your territory, suspense is a must-learn aspect of storytelling. Why? Because suspense makes for emotional engagement and the all-important turning of the page. 

Last week, we talked about revelation of character. We talked about providing the reader with small nibbles to pique their interest about the depths of a person’s soul or intentions. Essentially, we discussed setting up questions or mystery.  

In mystery, the characters know more than the reader, so the reader turns the page to figure out what’s going on. 

In suspense, the reader often knows more than the characters. The reader sees the potential threat before the characters do and squirms, hoping the character makes it out in tact. 

The most helpful anecdote about this comes from the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.

Four people sitting around a table, talking about baseball, whatever you like… Five minutes of it — very dull. Suddenly, a bomb goes off… blows the people to smithereens. What does the audience have? Ten seconds of shock. Take the same scene and tell the audience there’s a bomb under that table and it will go off in five minutes and the whole emotion of the audience is totally different.

In a compelling story, the reader cares immensely about a character’s goals and safety. 

Suspense, then, is the delicate layering of threats to that character. This week, we’ll look at how several scripts keep us on the edge of our seat. 

HALLOWEEN (1978)

Written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill

• Laurie, horrified by the gruesome, murdered bodies of her friends Lynda and Bob, is too shocked to notice “the outline of a man standing right behind her.” 

• Let’s call this the “BEHIND YOU!” Technique. Notice the subtle layering of objects that we see, but that Laurie does not… the outline, the shape, the mask, the knife, the gleam. This creates the effect of slowly increasing the volume of the suspense.

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009)

Written by Quentin Tarantino

• This moment is the aforementioned Hitchcock technique embodied. 

• In 1941 France, S.S. Colonel Hans Landa arrives at his farm looking for the Dreyfus family. If he finds them, he will kill them. We know that if the farmer, Perrier LaPadite, is found harboring this Jewish family, Landa will likely murder him and his family too. The camera lowers underneath the floorboards where we see the Dreyfus family. 

• The suspense comes from KNOWING the family is hiding there and KNOWING what will happen if they are discovered. If we didn’t know they were there, the scene would have no tension.

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE (2012)

Written by Ava DuVernay

• Yes, Middle of Nowhere is a social drama about self-discovery, but it’s a great example of how suspense techniques can be used to heighten engagement and tension. 

• Note how DuVernay quietly shows that Ruby is unfamiliar with informal prison visit protocols — wipes for traces of drugs, cleavage, etc. as well as the general coldness and intimidation of the place. We wonder: Will she get in? Obviously, it won’t be good if she doesn’t.

9 TO 5 (1980)

Screenplay by Colin Higgins and Patricia Resnick

Story by Patricia Resnick

• If you lack contextual information about this scene, it seems like an innocent conversation between a hospital worker and a candy striper, BUT when you know that Violet is wheeling around a corpse she believes is her dead boss (whom she earlier poisoned) and that she is trying to steal the body from the hospital before she and her friends are caught and punished… This simple conversation becomes a life-or-death obstacle. Buffie could literally be the cause of Violet’s downfall. 

A SIMPLE PLAN (1998)

Screenplay by Scott B. Smith

Based on the novel by Scott B. Smith

• Three guys stumble upon $4.4 million in cash from a crashed plane in the woods. They then try to run off with it. They’re almost immediately stopped by a sheriff. 

• The tension is created in part by Hank being the only level-headed character of the three men. He can try as hard as he can, but he never knows if Jacob or Lou will blow their cover, I.e. - “You tell him about the plane?” Unpredictable characters are a useful tool in creating suspense.

SPEED (1994)

Written by Graham Yost

• Let’s focus on the general conceit: There’s a bomb on this bus. If the bus goes below 50 miles per hour, the bomb will detonate. 

• Yost throws in a new hurdle at every opportunity… an incapacitated driver, excessive freeway traffic, etc… BUT he always makes sure we’re aware the falling spedometer… 55, 54, 53…

• Our hearts race as the number drops. It’s better than a ticking clock.

TITANIC (1997)

Written by James Cameron

• Let’s call this the “LOST KEY!” Technique. Jack and Rose are in love, but Jack is handcuffed to a pole in the lower cabin of an ocean liner that is sinking and rapidly filling with water. (Again, there’s that ticking clock). To complicate matters: The key that can free him is GONE. 

• This puts everything on Rose. Nobody will help her. She’s on her own. The only thing she has is this axe… and it turns out her aim isn’t great… If she misses, she could fatally injure the only person that’s ever loved and understood her. If she doesn’t do anything, they’ll both be quickly submerged… 

AND LIKE A SUSPENSEFUL CLIFFHANGER:

JOIN US NEXT WEEK WHEN WE DISCUSS RAISING THE STAKES!!  In the meantime, if you have any questions about these or other scripts in the library, feel free to e-mail us at library@wgfoundation.org

Happy writing!