Tag: screen writing

Tell A Story

Recently, I reconnected with an old Christian writer friend on Facebook. We hadn’t seen each other in about a decade when we used to go to church together. She began asking me a lot of questions about screenwriting. She is interested in turning a couple of the books she’s written into movies.

Most writers feel that because they enjoy writing and telling stories, screenwriting is an easy task. Yes, all writers are storytellers, but not all storytellers are screenwriters. Below are different types of storytellers found in the writing community.

Authors/editors
Professional storytellers
Content writers
Screenwriters

Each of these niches has its own conventions and purposes. They may even have some similarities but they are different professions altogether, success in one doesn’t mean success in another; because each medium has its unique characteristics and technicalities. Deep inside most writers understand this.

This is why I have so many writers asked me how to write a screenplay. Not that I am an expert myself or claim to be one. I’ve just studied the conventions, techniques, and process of screenwriting for the last two decades. Still, there is no magic formula, approach, or secret to screenwriting.

Screenwriters can face the age-old dilemma of story versus structure just like most storytellers do. Most screenwriting coaches emphasize, “There are no screenwriting rules, but conventions and guidelines to help a story flow better.” Screenwriting coach Scott Myers explains that “structure is only half of the story.”

American theater producer and director George Abbott shares, “In the first act you get your hero up a tree. The second act, you throw rocks at him. For the third act you let him down.”

Structure Or Story?

Author and writer Steven James explains, “The beginning isn’t simply the first in a series of events, but the originating event of all that follows. The middle isn’t just the next event, but the story’s central struggle. And the ending isn’t just the last event, but the culminating event.”

For as long as I can remember, there has been a debate in literary circles about what is more important in writing—structure or story. My personal, unprofessional opinion is you can’t have one to the fullest without the other.

What I mean is, if you want to tell the best and clearest story, you need some form of structure. Legendary screenwriting professor Robert McKee explains,

“Structure is a selection of events from the characters’ life stories that is composed into a strategic sequence to arouse specific emotions and to express a specific view of life.”^[1]

When writers over-focus on the “structure” the story ends up suffering: meaning the story does not flow naturally and can come off as being formulated. Structure should always make a story clearer, but not predictable. True screenwriters have learned how to use structure to tell a better and clearer story. Below are seven steps to writing a screenplay from the Pond5 blog:

Craft a logline
Write a treatment
Develop your characters
Plot and outline
Write a first draft
Step back and take a break
Rewrite

Notice the writer doesn’t mention any formulas or formats. The focus is more on getting the concept of your story on paper and then reworking it into a clear order. If you are still curious or worried about a screenplay format or structure there are plenty of books and resources you can purchase to learn the layout of a script, but never let structure kill the story inside of your head.

My first guide to screenwriting was The Screenwriters Bible, it is a great guide for learning the do’s and don’ts of screenwriting conventions. Always remember to keep your story clear and flowing.

Then you can choose a structure that complements your story.

“A whole [story] is that which has beginning, middle, and end. A beginning is that which is not itself necessarily after anything else, and which has naturally something else after it; an end is that which is naturally after something itself, either as its necessary or usual consequent, and with nothing else after it; and a middle, that which is by nature after one thing and has also another after it. A well-constructed Plot, therefore, cannot either begin or end at any point one likes; beginning and end in it must be of the kind just described.”
Scott Myers,quotes Aristotle

Structure?

Dick Doherty explains, “When you get a story underway, refrain from interrupting the flow. Avoid digression. Don’t go parenthetical.” Don’t let structure kill your story!

Most writers understand basic story structure. Regardless of the type of writing you do, “story” will follow a pattern from point A to point B. The only difference is the timing and how you get from one to the other.

“Story structure helps guide your audience from the beginning to the end of your book by introducing characters and settings, setting up the conflict, developing the main plot points, and finally resolving that conflict. It also helps create tension, suspense, and surprise—essential components of almost any story.”
Blurb.com

In the writing community, writers have a choice about how their story unfolds, below are three of the most common story structures used in storytelling.

Three act structure
Five act structure
Seven act structure

If you’re wondering what structure works best for screenwriting, it really depends on the type of story you’re telling, but the five-act structure is what I have found used in most of the screenplays I’ve read.

“Screenplay Structure Simplified: “Plot is critical, but how a writer ‘gets’ to plot is even more critical.”
Scott Myers

Whichever structure you choose, just be sure you tell a great story.

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJohnson.com and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Tags screen writing, screenwriting, story, storytelling

Screenwriting

Where It Begins

Over Valentine’s weekend, I decided to re-watch one of my all-time favorite movies. I decided to do a commentary video on the beautiful foreign movie, A Very Long Engagement.

Not only is the movie one of the most romantic and hopeful movies I’ve ever seen and have some of the most beautiful cinematography and subtext ever filmed. It has all the key elements of a great movie, just not typical screenwriting format.

Clear plot
Both internal and external conflict
A great inciting incident

The unique thing about this movie is it is a perfect example of nonlinear storytelling. These types of stories aren’t told in chronological order. This means the story can switch from different points of the characters’ lives, all the pieces of the story are there, just jumbled up in different order.

For instance, this movie begins with the inciting incident, but then halfway through the movie, we see the main character’s childhoods and how they met which goes back to the inciting incident at the beginning of the movie. In storytelling the inciting incident is where the conflict and story begin, it is where a movie begins.

Where It All Begins?

An inciting incident is an event that occurs and disrupts a protagonist’s life sending it out of control or in another direction. It puts the events of your story into motion.

“The stronger your inciting incident, the more dramatic, compelling, and engrossing your novel will be.”
Jerry B. Jenkins, author and writing coach

In a sense, the inciting incident creates the conflict of a narrative.

Five characteristics from The Write Practice, that qualify an event as an inciting incident.

Early: They occur early in the story, sometimes in the first scene, almost always within the first three to four scenes.
Interruption: They are an interruption in the main character’s normal life.
Out of the protagonist’s control: They are not caused by the character and are not a result of the character’s desires.
Life-changing: They must have higher-than-normal stakes and the potential to change the protagonist’s life.
Urgent: They necessitate an urgent response.

It is critical to a story’s success for the inciting incident to happen as soon as possible in your screenplay. It doesn’t have to be in chronological order as with A Very Long Engagement, however, the audience needs it to occur sooner rather than later in the story.

“The inciting incident is indispensable because the inciting incident is the hook.”
Scott Myers, screenwriting coach

The hook is the lift-off moment of your story!

Story?

All stories follow a basic structure to some degree, they may not have the same events, but they follow a typical pattern. Think of it as a stream flowing from a lake, there can be multiple streams heading in the opposite direction of the lake, each one can follow their own paths.

But ultimately they are all flowing away from the lake towards a new destination. Using this analogy we can view the lake as the inciting incident if the lake boundary is breached. The CEO of Storybrand Donald Miller says, “The inciting incident is how you get (characters) to do something. It’s the doorway through which they can’t return, you know. The story takes care of the rest.”

The inciting incident is simply the starting point of any story, however, it complicates your story and sets the events in motion.

“The inciting incident is the primary cause that follows that puts in motion the other four elements.”
Robert McKee

Progressive complications
Crisis
Climax
Resolution

As you can see the inciting incident is a critical part of the plot of every story, regardless of what structure you use. Because the inciting incident is where it all begins!

Tags basic elements of screenwriting, screen writing, screenplay, screenplay differs from novel, screenwriting, script to screen-stage

Screenwriting

Final Draft

For the last six months, I’ve known what I wanted to write about my final post of the year. If you go back and read my posts, you will see hints of the direction I was going. However, I didn’t want to make it to this post until the end of the year, so I tried slowing down the points I was trying to make by discussing how writers tackle this in storytelling.

Pacing
Subtext

These two aspects of storytelling give writers the means to control the information the audience receives and helps build momentum and anticipation toward the final act of the story. This post is where the column has been heading since I discussed first drafts earlier this year, the final draft.

Final Draft

This is not to be confused with the screenwriting software most of us use to write, Final Draft, the industry standard. A final draft is the final phase in the screenwriting process.

“The first draft is just the writer telling themselves the story.”
Scott Myers, Screenwriting Professor

Storytelling is a hard process, even if the writer already knows what they want to say because storytelling is the vehicle writers convey the message and at first, most writers don’t know how to get from plot point to plot point.

Along the way, a story can get rough or pick up extra baggage from the journey, each of which can help slow the narrative down and not in a good way. Like in the game of chess, each character and event needs to fulfill its specific purpose if the writer is going to win the game.

Furthermore, the writer needs to know when to move each character or let a particular event occur. One domino out of sync can ruin the flow. Each draft of a screenplay is a refining process to make sure the pieces (characters, exposition, action) come into play at the right time.

Rewrites and drafts are a necessary part of screenwriting; the average screenplay goes through at least 30 drafts before reaching the final draft. Along the way is not uncommon for the story to change drastically.

4 steps from Script Lab on how to write a final draft in 10 days.

Day one-You already have your beginning in your head. Remember that you have to open your script in a compelling form. There has to be a physical or emotional hook that will take hold of the reader and force them to need to read on. Your task is to write ten pages. We’re shooting for a 100-page screenplay, which is right at the sweet spot of where you want your spec script to be. So you’ll be writing ten pages for each writing session/day.
Now, you can choose to write over the span of ten consecutive days if you want. Maybe you’ve taken vacation time to write this script in a week and a half. Perhaps you’ve dedicated X hours of each day or night after you come home from work or school. Or maybe you can’t commit to ten consecutive days of writing. That’s perfectly fine. A break in between writing sessions allows you the opportunity to visualize what you’re going to write for the next.
Many scripts from novice screenwriters fail to offer a consistent tone, atmosphere, and pace. This is primarily because most novice screenwriters take upwards of six months to a year to finish a single script. Their writing sessions are sporadic. They get bored with the story. They get frustrated with the process. And they become complacent to the point of just wanting to get it done. When you reread and rewrite pages as you go, immediately before you continue on writing from the point you’ve left off, you are in constant connection with the tone, atmosphere, pacing, characterization, and beats of your story. You also want to use this reread and rewrite process as a way to maintain a consistent format as well. There’s nothing more frustrating for a reader than inconsistent format, which includes scene headings, character names, scene description, etc.
Before you continue, you need to ask yourself some additional questions before you rewrite the first 30 pages of your script. Is there enough conflict in those 30 pages? Is the protagonist well on their journey (physical or emotional)? Has the major conflict caused many additional conflicts that the characters must face? You want to have some conflict injected into the story every few pages. That’s what creates a true page-turner. Now it’s time to write pages 31-40!

To save space, I only shared half of the list, so I highly recommend you going the original article on Script Lab and read the full list. The Takeaway is, the final draft isn’t just a leaner script, it has a clear message, and a focused story.

The golden rule of screenwriting is to cut whatever doesn’t move the narrative forward. A chunky description isn’t necessary to describe a scene, endless exposition isn’t the best way to develop your characters. And finally, always remember to enter the story at the latest possible point and get out as quickly as you can without confusing the audience. Every piece of your screenplay needs to count towards the bigger picture.

Make It Work

Remember, a screenplay is like a puzzle. If a piece is missing, then you cannot complete it; likewise, if you have too many pieces that aren’t necessary, they only get in the way. If you don’t make the cuts, the studio which purchases your script will likely cut them along with a lot more. Studios are notorious for changing screenplays drastically before the movie is made. Below are a few notable movies that changed drastically before being made.

As long as a screenwriter knows the key components of a screenplay, they can just fill in the blanks with their ideas and write a clear final draft!

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries, he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJohnson.com and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Tags Final draft, Page to stage, plot point, plotting, screen writing, screenplay differs from novel, screenwriting

Screenwriting

Inciting Incident?

Now that a new year is here, I want to start going in another direction. This year’s focus for this column will look at different components of screenplays—how there are alike and different from fictional novel writing.

It can be hard to get going at the beginning of the year. Traditional folklore states that what we spend the first day of the year doing will set the pace for the rest of the year. Thus, when I was growing up my mother always warned me to be careful about what I did on the first day of the year. Here are some of the things she warned me about:

Don’t clean – Cleaning on the first day means your house will be dirty all year.
Don’t sleep all day – You’ll have an unproductive year.
Don’t borrow money – You will be in debt all year.
Don’t argue or fight – you won’t have any peace that year.

Like the first day of the year we want to start our screenplays off right, this is why it’s important to have a clear inciting incident.

Inciting incidents?

The inciting incident is the event in any story. Whether it’s a novel or a screenplay, the inciting incident is the first domino that falls and sets off the chain of events that leads to our protagonist’s goal or destiny.

It doesn’t have to be the opening scene or in first beat of action, but in screenwriting, the sooner the better. It’s understood that the first ten pages of the screenplay are valuable real estate, because it must grab the audiences’ attention. This is why a lot of writers plant the inciting incident around page 5 or 7.

It gives a writer time to introduce the main characters and set up the need for change or conflict. Inciting incident ignites the fuse to get our story going forward. Often it gives our protagonist the motivation to pursue something or someone greater than themselves.

Since the nature of film is visual it is easier to present the inciting incident in a visible manner instead of using lines of dialogue full of exposition—we can see the inciting incident in action. (Show vs. tell.) Below are a few good examples from past movies:

Rambo: Last Blood – John Rambo’s friend’s daughter runs off to Mexico to find her father and doesn’t return.
Gran Turino – The attempted theft of a Gran Turino.
Friday Night Lights – Jason gets paralyzed playing a sport he loves.
Saving Private Ryan – The Death of three Ryan brothers leads General Marshall to find the last missing Ryan boy.
Die Hard – The arrival of Hans Gruber at the party.

Each of the above scenes sets a chain of events in motion that takes our characters on a journey from point A (pre-incident) to point B (the final action resulting from the inciting incident.)

While these scenes aren’t the opening scenes of the movie, they are the tipping points that get the ball rolling toward the eventual climax.

Just The Beginning?

Robert McKee explains it like this, “The inciting incident, the first major event of the telling, is the primary cause for all that follows, putting into motion the other four elements—progressive complications, crisis, climax, resolution.”[i]

As McKee notes above, movies are made up of numerous components. Although the inciting incident doesn’t necessarily happen at the beginning of the movie, it is the real beginning of the story you want to tell. Each of the components below has a direct relation to another (cause and effect.)

Characters: The participants in your story.
Actions: What your participants do in your narrative.
Conflict: Obstacles your characters face in your story.
Plot or Plotline: The sequence of events, where each event affects the next one through the principle of cause-and-effect (think about our domino analogy.)

While the timing and placement in a screenplay will vary from script to script, each should be a direct result of your story’s inciting incident!

[i] McKee R. (1997). Story: Substance, Structure, Style, And The Principle of Screenwriting (Kindle edition) pg. 181.

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Tags inciting incident, screen writing, screenwriting, story structure, structure

Screenwriting

Messy

Let’s face it, sometimes life just stinks. Friends betray us, family walks away and sometimes the boy doesn’t get the girl like Danny Zuko did in the movie Grease.

It’s why some Christian movies feel so unrealistic, life is too perfect—what’s the need for redemption or hope?

Last year I had the opportunity to attend my first Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. While there I was able to learn the craft from 30 year Hollywood veteran Brian Bird.

I’ll never forget his honest observations,

Keep your story messy, because life is messy and there is not always a happy ending.
Characters grow through messy situations.
Write your characters into a corner

Trials and plot twists cause our characters to grow, just like hardships in our lives can make us or break us. Fairytale endings are rare in real-life. Even Christian marriages rarely end up a happily ever after story; even when it does there are still struggles.

The audience can relate to stories that are messy, because their lives are messy too.

Even in my childhood favorite Star Wars was filled with messy real life struggles. The whole father-son angle hits home for a lot of men, me included. Sometimes fiction can be as real as reality.

Reality?

People can relate more to other messed up people. And when they do, they are pulled into the story. The rise of reality TV over the last decade and a half is proof of this.

According to Statistica.com. viewers like reality TV because.

They like the drama.
It’s a mindless.
It helps them forget the real issues in their lives/the world.

It’s obvious difficult and tough situations on the small screen resonate with audiences. Shouldn’t we keep the narrative in theaters more realistic and possibly more life-changing?

Legendary novelist Ernest Hemingway once noted, “When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people are not characters. A character is a caricature.”

Have you ever found yourself in an unpredictable situation? Welcome to being human, sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. Am I right?

Fight for it!

Audiences are drawn to stories that defy the odds. Okay, I admit I’m a hopeless romantic and often daydream about love stories that don’t make sense, love that endures the hardships to survive. The best romances are messy. Let’s go back to a movie I mentioned earlier, what man didn’t root for Han Solo getting the girl?

A rough-around-the-collar and rugged rebel who becomes smitten with the gorgeous young princess, not exactly a match made in heaven. But it works, because it’s messy.

I’m sure many of you reading this can think of dozens of movies with unlikely love stories that captured your heart.

In college my favorite was the movie Jerry McGuire. Who can forget when Renée Zellweger’s character says, “You had me at hello.”? Jerry didn’t realize how much he loved his wife until he lost her, now that’s messy.

Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Truamatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at Spiritual Perspectives of Da Single Guy and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.

Tags flawed characters, realism, Reality, relatable, screen writing, screenwriting