Οι συγγραφείς είναι εραστές..

Σήμερα αγαπητοί μου φίλοι θα μιλήσουμε για την πραγματικότητα του συγγραφέα, όπως όχι μόνο πολλοί από εσάς την βιώνετε αλλά και μέσα από σκέψεις που πλέον είναι γνωστές, ελκυστικές, ενδιαφέρουσες αλλά και οικειοποιούμενες από πολλούς άλλους συγγραφείς. Σας παρουσιάζω ένα βιβλίο το οποίο είναι σίγουρο ότι θα αγοράσω και μάλιστα με ένα θέμα το οποίο είχα την τύχη όχι μόνο να ακούσω αλλά πλέον να μπορώ να το νιώθω. Το βιβλίο είναι της Πασχαλίας Τραυλού στοιχεία του οποίου βλέπετε παρακάτω:


Οι εραστές της γραφής
Πασχαλία Τραυλού
Ημ. Έκδοσης 08/04/2011
Ανατύπωση 2η

Λίγα λόγια για το βιβλίο 

Εραστής της γραφής είναι αυτός που περπατάει συνομιλώντας με τον ήρωά του, εκείνος που κρατάει συνεχώς σημειώσεις στο κουτί των τσιγάρων του, εκείνος που, ατενίζοντας τον ορίζοντα, βλέπει όχι ό,τι υπάρχει στην ευθεία των ματιών του, αλλά ό,τι εκτυλίσσεται στα άδυτα της ψυχής του. Τα ψέματα και οι αλήθειες, τα προσωπεία των ηρώων και των δημιουργών, οι συνειρμοί και τα σύμβολα, οι πληγές και τα οράματα, το φως και το σκότος, οι ιδέες που γίνονται λέξεις και οι λέξεις που φιλοτεχνούν «κοστούμια» ιδεών παίρνουν μια θέση στη χορεία αυτών των στοχασμών, προκειμένου να δώσουν κάποια εξήγηση για τον μεγαλειώδη όσο και ψυχοφθόρο έρωτα της γραφής. Μια χαρτογράφηση των σκοπέλων της δημιουργικής διαδικασίας. Ένα οδοιπορικό στην ψυχή του εραστή της γραφής. 

Συνεχίζοντας τις σκέψεις μίας υπέροχης συγγραφέος γύρω από τα άδυτα της ψυχής του ανθρώπου σε αντίθεση με τον ορίζοντα των ματιών του, σε ένα θέμα που υπερβαίνει κατά πολύ ακόμα και τον ιδανικό έρωτα, έτυχε να νιώσω λόγια και συζητήσεις ανθρώπων, επικαλούμενοι το φως και το σκοτάδι, μία επικείμενη συντριβή αλλά και μία σωτηρία, μέσα από τον αγώνα του ανθρώπου που πρέπει "να σκάψει και λίγο την ψυχή του"..;) Το να βγει νικητής από αυτή τη μάχη, άλλωστε, θα μπορούσε η γνήσια προέλευση μίας θρησκείας (όπως πολλοί επιστήμονες εστιάζουν στα φιλοσοφικά προβλήματα) να μελετηθεί χωρίς διαφωνία? Αν μπορείτε να προβάλλετε αυτό το φιλοσοφικό θρησκευτικό αγώνα στην έννοια ψυχή, στις εσωτερικές συγκρούσεις και προσδοκίες, σίγουρα αυτά που θα μάθετε θα είναι πολλά. Καλό σας βραδάκι...!

Καλοκαίρι, Ημερολόγια, Ετικέτες

Αγαπητοί μου φίλοι, φίλες, νομίζω ότι φέτος το καλοκαίρι, μετά το καλοκαίρι, το φθινόπωρο και έως ότου ολοκληρωθεί αυτή η διαδικασία, θα ασχολούμαι φουλ με τα ημερολόγια όμως περισσότερο αναφορικά με θέματα λογικής και background. Μάλλον τώρα που έχω ξεπεράσει τις πολλές εκατοντάδες άρθρα , θα ήθελα να διαγράψω μία ποσότητα (αν και τα ημερολόγια λειτουργούν στο φουλ), να τροποποιήσω πολλά άλλα, νομίζω ήδη ότι τα κείμενα αλλάζουν πολύ λιγότερο σε σχέση με τον τίτλο του άρθρου, να διορθώσω ότι χρειάζεται με την έννοια ότι θα προτιμούσα λιγάκι να δουλέψω πιο υπεύθυνα τα γραπτά μου και έτσι λοιπόν, σας παρουσιάζω τις κατηγορίες με άλλα λόγια τα labels, etiquettes, λέξεις κλειδιά, με τις οποίες θα ήθελα να προσαρμόσω το υλικό σε όλα τα ημερολόγια, ακόμα και να ερευνήσω το ενδεχόμενο δύο labels ανά άρθρο.

Σε κάθε περίπτωση έχω αποφασίσει ήδη πως έτσι όπως εξελίσσεται ο Blogger, το WordPress, το Free Hosting και άλλα πολλά που επισκέπτομαι στο ίντερνετ, πραγματικά αξίζει τον κόπο μία ιστοσελίδα να είναι free and organized και μάλιστα στις περισσότερες περιπτώσεις με πολλαπλάσια οφέλη σε σχέση με την επί πληρωμή υπηρεσία. Άλλωστε αυτά που χρειάζεται να μάθετε για να διαχειρίζεστε τις πλατφόρμες μπορείτε να τα μάθετε με τον ένα ή με τον άλλο τρόπο, καθιστώντας έτσι την κοστολογημένη και χρονοβόρα υλοποίηση απαρχαιωμένη. Έχουμε και λέμε λοιπόν, Article Etiquettes:

1.)    Multimedia
2.)    Art
3.)    Science
4.)    Education
5.)    Thoughts
6.)    Personal
7.)    Writing
8.)    Storytelling
9.)    Fantasy
10.)    …

Όπως καταλάβατε αγαπητοί αναγνώστες η ετικέτα 10 είναι ακόμα άγνωστη, με την έννοια ότι θα έχουμε τη δυνατότητα να την ανακαλύψουμε στο μέλλον μόλις δούμε ότι… κάποια άρθρα είναι λίγο διαφορετικά. Και επί της ουσίας επαναλαμβάνω τα λόγια του βραβευμένου Jacob Krueger στο Screenwriting, Branding Yourself as A Writer, The Brand is You, Your voice at your most Authentic. Έτσι λοιπόν σήμερα θα σταματήσω εδώ, προτιμώ να πιω το φασκόμηλό μου και εύχομαι σε όλους σας καλό Σαββατοκύριακο..!

Θέα Τριών Κόσμων, Από το Στούντιο Δραματικής Τέχνης του Εσωθεάτρου

Θέα-τρον = θέα τριών

Αναστάσιος Ασημακόπουλος (Ενωδών)

Το θέατρο, το αληθινό θέατρο, λέει όλη η εσωτερική φιλοσοφική παράδοση, είναι ΘΕΑ ΤΡΙΩΝ ΚΟΣΜΩΝ. Ο θεατής μετέχει δηλαδή κατ’ ουσίαν, σε μια μυσταγωγία, κατά την οποία ΘΕΑΤΑΙ ΤΑΥΤΟΧΡΟΝΑ:
α. τον απτό υλικό κόσμο, που εμπίπτει των αισθήσεων και αποκαλείται «πραγματικότητα»
β. τον λεπτοφυέστερο συναισθηματικό-ψυχικό, που διαβιεί μεταξύ λόγου και δράσης και μένει στην μνήμη ως ζωηρή εντύπωση και
γ. τους ανωτέρους υπερβατικούς κόσμους, τους κόσμους της Όντως -κατά Πλάτωνα- Πραγματικότητας.

Η επικοινωνία μεταξύ σκηνής και πλατείας σ’ αυτές τις συνθήκες, καθίσταται ευκρινής, γιατί το κείμενο ερμηνεύεται από  ηθοποιούς ειδικά εκπαιδευμένους, με δραματική συγκρότηση και ευαισθησία, ικανούς να ανασύρουν από το ψυχικό τους βάθος  πρωταρχικές αλήθειες, οι οποίες, «υλοποιούμενες» στην σκηνή, συγκινούν τους θεατές και ανυψώνουν τις ψυχές σε τέτοια επίπεδα ταύτισης, όπου θεατής, θεώμενος και θέαμα γίνονται Ένα.

Όταν επιτυγχάνεται αυτή η εσωτερική συγκινησιακή φόρτιση, απότοκη της θέασης των τριών κόσμων, τότε μόνον έχει συντελεστεί μια ουσιαστική δραματική πράξη. Οι θεατές αποκαθαίρονται και οι ηθοποιοί νιώθουν ευτυχή πληρότητα, αφού πέτυχαν να συντονιστούν με την ανώτερη έσω-ύπαρξή τους, καταθέτοντας υλικό από τα ψυχικά τους αποθέματα.

Το δε έργο, στον λόγο και στην δραματική του απόδοση, πρέπει να διαθέτει ουσία, αισθητική και μέτρο, κυρίως όμως μέγεθος.  Το ασήμαντο, το ευτελές, το ποταπό… πώς να συγκινήσουν; Το θέατρο οφείλει να τέρπει τις αισθήσεις των θεατών. Το ωραίο πρέπει να γεμίζει τα μάτια τους και ο λόγος να είναι γλυκύς -«ηδυσμένος», όπως λέει ο Αριστοτέλης στην Ποιητική, στον ορισμό του για την τραγωδία- και να έχει ρυθμό, εναλλαγές και μουσικότητα. Η κίνηση των ηθοποιών στον χώρο να είναι αρμονική, με μέτρο και χάρη και το σκηνικό, τα κοστούμια, οι φωτισμοί, οι ήχοι και η μουσική να συμβάλλουν στην προσφορά ενός άρτιου και υψηλής ποιότητας αισθητικού αποτελέσματος.

Το θέατρο που εμείς υπηρετούμε, έχει αλήθεια. Αποσκοπεί μεν στην αισθητική παρουσίαση του φαινόμενου αλλά ζητά να συλλάβει και το νοούμενο. Δεν μας ενδιαφέρει η φωτογραφική απεικόνιση μιας μίζερης «πραγματικότητας» αλλά το αιώνιο και συνεχές που είναι πίσω από τα πράγματα, που φωλιάζει ανάμεσα στις γραμμές του κειμένου και στις παύσεις του. Μας αφορά η Αλήθεια και όχι η περιγραφή της. Μας συγκινεί το θέατρο που από μία συγκεκριμένη κατάσταση σε δεδομένο τόπο και χρόνο, οδηγεί τον θεατή στο συμβολικό διαχρονικό επίπεδο και από εκεί, στο Αρχετυπικό, στο άχρονο Τώρα, στο Είναι, όπου νιώθει και συνειδητοποιεί την Αλήθεια και τον εαυτό του μέσα σε αυτήν, ως αιωνιότητα, συνείδηση και ευδαιμονία.

Αυτό είναι το θέατρο: λούσιμο στο Απολλώνειο φως και εσωτερική βύθιση στην θεία Βακχική μανία. Έχοντας αυτές τις σκέψεις για οδηγό, κάνουμε θέατρο για την ψυχή μας –όπως έλεγε ο δάσκαλος Κάρολος Κουν- μα και για την ψυχή των θεατών.

Send Your Characters to Hell, ScreenwritingU!

Written by Hal Croasmun on June 19, 2010.

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When your lead character is placed in a terrible spot, entertaining things happen.  The audience worries about him. They feel sympathy for him.  They want to know what is going to happen to him.  Why? Because you, the God of your script, set it up that way.

Or did you?

Sometimes, it appears that writers are too nice to their characters. You've established a deep friendship with those characters and don't want to hurt their feelings.  You'd never put a friend in such an awful situation.  So why would you do that to your characters?
There's nothing wrong with loving your characters.  After all, they were so much fun to create.  But remember, they have a job to do that, if done right, will bring them to life along with your career.
What is their job?  To go through hell and somehow survive to tell about it.
Think of it this way.  If your characters don't experience conflict and tension, neither will your audience.  This is important.  I don't mean that a story can't have happiness or fun or any other positive emotions.  For a story to be an emotional roller-coaster ride, there has to be both ups and downs.
But the highs and lows need to be delivered effectively and in most stories, it is the conflict that keeps an audience glued to their seats.

SOLUTION: Turn up the heat on your characters and watch them roast.

Here are a few suggestions.  At some point, I may write articles providing details on these strategies.  But for now, this simple list can provide you some possible solutions.

1. Put them in uncomfortable situations as often as possible.

2. Make sure the main conflict of the story is an absolutely "unsolvable puzzle" for the main characters.

3. Every time it looks like they'll succeed, send them a twist that mucks up their plans.

4. Place other characters in their lives that either sabotage or disrupt your main character's usual coping strategies.

5. Alternate "hope" and "hopelessness" whenever possible. The first pulls us back in and the second makes us worry.

6. Force them to do the one thing they would never do.

7. Don't give them the easy way out.  Leave them in pain for as long as possible.

8. Murphy's Law and misfortune suddenly visit their lives in unusual and interesting ways.

9. Take their problems to an extreme.

10. Make sure their internal conflict is represented in a graphic manner as well.

 
BTW, movies aren't all about pain.  As I said, there are both highs and lows in any good movie.   But try this exercise and see what you find out about conflict:

-------------------- EXERCISE --------------------------

Watch three of your favorite movies with a pad of paper.  As you do, make a list of all the things the writer did to cause pain and conflict for the main characters.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Even if you've written 10 screenplays and watched thousands of movies, you may still be surprised at the results.  You'll see both conflicts and setups for conflict that you never noticed before.
I heard a song once that said "you got to go through hell to get to heaven."  Could be that same advice applies to writing movies... or being a writer...or even being a producer.
Send your characters to hell and you'll send your audience through a highly entertaining movie.
And if you want help punching up your script, check out our "Fresh & Edgy Screenwriting Class."

Besting Your Own Best, ScreenwritingU!

Written by Hal Croasmun on June 9, 2010.

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About a year ago, we started having a curious thing happen in our more advanced classes.  People started asking me this question:
 
"This is the best script I've ever written.  How can I possibly improve the best I've ever done?"
 
My normal thought on this is to learn more skills and then apply them to the script.  But the writers who were asking were some of our best writers, so I had to look deeper.
So I read some of their scripts and they were right.  Those were some pretty good scripts.  The interesting thing was that there was nothing wrong with those scripts.
Nothing wrong.
Make sure you understand this because it is going to be important later in this article.  Most scripts have things wrong with them. Some have glaring mistakes.  So they are easy to critique and improve.  You just solve the problems.
But these scripts didn't have any problems.  There was nothing wrong with them.  So the standard solutions didn't work.
And that is when I realized something.  Most people work to the point where there is nothing wrong with their script...and then they're done.  Their standard for success is "nothing wrong."
Essentially, they have a script with no flaws.  Is that the same thing as a great script?  Can a script have nothing wrong and still not sell? You bet.
You don't just want a flawless script.  You want an amazing script.
Right?
You want a script that blows producers away.  You want it to sell you as a writer and you want it to be produced.
That takes more than "nothing's wrong."
So I created a simple, but profound 4-step process for besting your best.
 
THE PROCESS FOR BESTING YOUR BEST
 
1.  Decide that you are going to improve this script until it is truly amazing and until it causes people in this industry to give you the respect and admiration you deserve.
 
This is important.  When I talk with people who have written their best script ever, most of them don't want to do anything else to it. What they want is for it to sell the way it is.
Essentially, they've shut off the creative process because they thought their script was already done.
In order to improve it (improve is different than change, remember?), they must step back into the arena and fight the fight again.  All it takes is a decision.
Make the decision now and you'll enter into the creative process on this script.  As soon as you decide, you'll start thinking of ways to improve the script.  Just do it.
 
2.  Put the script away for 7 to 21 days.
 
You've made the decision to improve this script.  Now, I want you to get some distance from it.  That way, the next step will be so much more valuable.
If you've ever done this, you know that when you return to the script, the break time allows you to see the script with fresh eyes.
I know that you are going to want to dive in right away, but that is just stirring the same pot.  The objective here is to separate the script from the emotion that may be clouding your thinking.
When you return to the script, you'll be more objective and that means you'll be more creative.
 
3.  Change your standard from "nothing wrong" to "nothing can be improved" and discover all the areas that can be elevated.
 
This is the fundamental shift that will double or triple the quality of your screenwriting.  Once you have a script where there is nothing wrong, you can then go for this new standard.
This step is simple.  As you read your script, flag everything that can be improved.  Using a 1 - 10 scale, if a character is a 6 and you'd like them to be a 10, flag that character.  If a scene is good, but not great, flag that scene.
Do that process on every structural point, character, scene, description line, and dialogue line.
We had a lady come to us with a "perfect script."  She had two different consultants confirm that the script was perfect and ready for the market.
Both Cheryl and I read it and we were very impressed.  She had written a script to be proud of.  There wasn't a single thing wrong with it and it was a compelling read.
When I did this process with it, I found 39 places we could improve.
Keep this in mind.  The script consultants weren't lying to her.  Her script was perfect -- according to their standards. But she wanted the script to go to Studios, so I applied a higher standard.
When we finished elevating those 39 spots, she said that the script was at least 200% better.   I believe her assessment was accurate.
 
4.  Elevate everything you can until nothing can be improved.
 
This final step means you are going to apply the best skills you have and you'll be doing a lot of brainstorming.
But it is worth it.
Simply put, just start with the first item that needs to be improved and get clear on the purpose of that item.  Then, brainstorm ways to fulfill that purpose and don't stop until you have elevated the item.
Then move to the next item.  Continue that process until all the items are improved to the level you want them to be.
BTW, this works extremely well -- if you have professional level skills so you can elevate any piece of writing.   If you want to improve your skills, join us for an upcoming ProSeries and you'll get what you need to make this process fly at a professional level.
---------------

WHAT TO DO?

It is easy to think that you've worked your script to death and there is nothing else you can do.   But if you actually go through your script focusing on the search for places you can improve, you'll be surprised how many show up.
Do this process one time and you'll be hooked.  It will take a lot of work, but the results will astound you.  Anyone who has read your writing before will see a significant improvement. Many of them will be overwhelmed at the new quality level.
Final Recommendation:  Take a script you've already written through this process IMMEDIATELY.  It will give you a better script to showcase your talent and turn this information into an experience that will pay off many times in the future.
And when you win a contest or sell a script, email me to let me know how this process worked for you.
I'm looking forward to that.

Becoming a Naturally Talented Screenwriter, by ScreenwritingU!

Written by Hal Croasmun on February 19, 2010.

What if agents and producers saw you as “naturally talented?”

There are two ways to become a great screenwriter.  One is to find your “natural talent.”  The other is to build in all the skills, understanding, and creative process that can express that talent in the most amazing way possible. 
You need to do both.   Today, I’ll map out a plan for writing from your core – from that natural talent that you have deep inside of you. 
Keep this in mind:  Becoming a great screenwriter is a growth process.  Done right, you’ll mature a bit more every day – in writing skill, in philosophy, and in creatively expressing yourself.

1.  What are you naturally good at that can help your screenwriting?

A quick search will likely reveal some of your natural talents.  Maybe you can visualize a story.  Maybe you come up with good dialogue.  Maybe you can dream up unique and interesting characters.  Maybe you just love movies. 
Make a list of what you just naturally do well having to do with writing.   But don’t stop with the obvious.   Keep looking for a deeper understanding of what you are naturally talented at.   The more you understand your own talents, the more you’ll be able to focus on them to deliver your own unique voice in your screenplays.
Every day, you can discover something more about what you are naturally good at.  Brilliant talent isn’t always easy to understand or see.   Keep looking deeper. 
And with each discovery, your TALENT emerges.

2.  What interesting situations have you lived that you can bring to your characters and stories?

We’ve all had ups and downs in life.  Love and tragedy.  Successes and failures.  Embarrassments and proud moments.  Breakdowns and breakthroughs. 
Just as important, we all have a public face and a private face.  We’ve said one thing and meant another.  We’ve been both courageous and fearful .  We’ve had times we’ve won and felt like losers, but also had times we lost and felt like a winner.  Life has given us enough experience to build the most interesting situations and characters. 
Find those moments – especially the paradoxical moments – and fill your stories with them. 

3.  How can you use your imagination to bring those moments to life in a unique way?

The most common thing for people to do is write exactly what happened to them.  They put their characters in common situations and have them do common things.
Rather than that, what if you took your experiences and understanding and translated that into something amazing?   Your experience of being embarrassed at dinner becomes a tabloid publicized humiliation for your character.   Your experience of being pulled over by a traffic cop becomes your character being arrested for multiple felonies someone else did. 
Use your imagination to transform your experiences into an emotional roller-coaster ride that causes your character to grow in some amazing way while still feeling real.  
What makes it feel real is that it comes from your experience and understanding.  What makes it amazing is when you use your imagination to set it in a whole new context or to give it to us in an unexpected way. 
Can you take what you know and imagine it in an even more entertaining way?   You bet you can. 

4.  What skills will you learn that will elevate the quality of your screenwriting?

If you don’t think this game is about skill, you need to look again.  Read any great screenplay and you’ll see a combination of character depth, subtext, meaning, setup/payoff, and interest – all designed into single lines of dialogue. 
Those happen because the writer spent years learning ALL OF THOSE SKILLS.   Translating the story in your mind onto the page is all about having the right skills.  Higher quality skills equals a stronger translation of your vision and a more compelling read. 
But don’t worry; you’ll learn those skills as you progress.   You’ll discover them as you read produced screenplays and experiment with your own scripts or you can learn them even faster in ScreenwritingU classes because we give you exactly what you need to succeed.
Whichever route you take, make learning high-level screenwriting skills a priority now.

5.  How are you going to test your writing to make sure it is professional?

At some point, you need to find out how good you really are – and how much improvement you truly need to be professional.  
One way to think of it is climbing a ladder.  You write a script and move to rung 1.   You submit it to a contest and maybe you don’t even place.  So you take some classes, write another script…and your script is a Quarter-finalist.  You’ve moved to rung 2. 
Go back, apply more of #1 – #4 (natural talent, experience, imagination, and skill) and you make it to Finalist.  Not bad.  You’re on rung 3.  Now take some more classes, write another script, get script consulting, and surprise; you win the contest.  Rung 4. 
But does that make you professional?  So you test that script against the market and are turned down by everyone.  Give up?  Hell no.  You’ve come this far and with a bit more work, you’ll get where you want to go.  Apply more of #1 – #4.  Take better classes, get a better script consultant, write a better script…and you get optioned.  Rung 5. 
You continue moving up that ladder until one day, you’re at the top – A-List. 
Notice two things – 1.  You kept going back to your core and most likely, each time, you discovered something new about your natural talents.  2.  You kept learning, growing, and finding even better ways to express yourself in screenplays. 
Stay on this path and soon, you’ll be seen as “naturally talented” — and you’ll be paid for it!

Are You Thankful For Your Writing?

by, Jacob Krueger November 24 2011

On this Thanksgiving Holiday, I’d like to invite you to take a moment to ask yourself the following question:

What are you thankful for in your writing?

So often, we spend our time criticizing ourselves, searching for what is wrong, and what can be improved in the words we write.  And certainly there is value in that part of the process.

But it’s important to remember that the real key to becoming the writers we want to be lies in identifying what we love.

When you identify on the things you love about your writing, you shift your focus away from the things you lack, and onto the wonderful gifts you already have.

In this way, you give yourself a foundation upon which to build, open yourself up to the opportunities in your writing, and invest yourself with the hope and excitement that will carry you through to the end.

So take a moment today, think about your writing, and write down the things you most love about it.

Think about your process.  What about it makes you happy?

Look at a scene you’ve written or a character you’ve created.  What do you most connect to?

What’s a line of dialogue you’re thankful to have discovered? A theme you’re thankful to have explored? A character you’re glad to have taken on a journey? Or an obstacle you’re grateful to have wrestled with and overcome?

Get specific about all the things you’re thankful for.  And then,  if you’d like, share some of them with us and with your friends by posting what you love about your writing to our new Facebook Page!

We’ll be thankful that you did!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jake

Where Is Your Character Going?

by Jacob Krueger

I’m writing this from the air on my way to Costa Rica, thinking about the importance of location, both in screenplays and in life.
We behave differently in different places, and so do our characters. Travelling abroad, we speak to people we wouldn’t necessarily speak to, face fears we wouldn’t normally face, and get in touch with aspects of ourselves we wouldn’t normally recognize. New locations break us out of our routines, and open us to new experiences.

 

And of course they do the same for our characters.

As writers we know our job is to take our characters on a profound journey. But oftentimes we pay so much attention to the emotional side of that journey, that we forget the value of the physical side.



Simply choosing the right physical location for a scene to take place can completely change the value of that scene, the given circumstances for your character, and the feeling it gives to your screenplay.

 

There are many ways to take your characters abroad.

The concept of home is important for everyone, and we tend to be attached to the places we consider home, whether they are working for us or not. We stay in places we find unsatisfying simply because it feels safe, normal or routine. And our characters do the same thing.
Taking your characters abroad means forcing them out of the places they think of as home: the places are comfortable and normal for them. You can do this by taking them to a foreign place or an unexpected location. Or by choosing a location that already has a strong value for them and allowing that value to change.



Make your characters confront their fears, go to a place they are afraid of and allow something beautiful to happen to them there. Or, pick a place that seems comfortable and safe and violate that safety with something out of the ordinary. Force them to confront an old memory in a location in a place where they grew up, and find something different than they expected. Or allow an element from a location in their past to enter their present day life.

When you break your characters routine, you force them to take profound journeys.

And the great thing is, when you choose the right location, the place itself can do half the writing work for you! In Toy Story 3, think about the value of the daycare center, which begins as pure heaven, the answer to the toys’ desperate need to be played with, and ends up turning into a living hell, run by a satanic teddy bear. The contrast between the value of the daycare center and the shifting value of home helps us understand the character’s journey, simply by understanding the location.
Think about the value of a location in a movie like Into The Wild, as a character travels toward his imagined paradise of Alaska, only to realize he’s said no to all the real paradises that were offered him along the way.
Think about any haunted house movie, or a twist on the genre like Cabin in the Woods, and once again you’ll see how important the specifics of a given location can be to your storytelling and your character’s journey.

 

Your scenes can travel too.

If you’ve ever tried to get anyone to change, you know it doesn’t happen easily. Our characters cling to familiarity just like our loved ones do. And we cling to familiarity as well.
One of the unconscious ways we do this is by writing familiar scenes in familiar locations: the breakup at the fancy restaurant, the argument about dirty dishes in the kitchen, the drunken binge at the bar. We end up unconsciously writing scenes that feel cliché, simply because we’re attached to the locations that feel familiar to us.

 

When you switch your location, magic can happen.

Allow your breakup scene to happen at the top of a ferris wheel. Move your argument about dirty dishes to midnight mass, or allow your drunken binge to happen in a nursery school, and suddenly you transform a scene that feels cliché into one that feels fresh and exciting.
I’m reminded of a student who wrote his very first scene in my Write Your Screenplay class. It was a lovers’ quarrel, taking place in the bedroom as the couple got dressed. And it read pretty much like every other lovers’ quarrel. I suggested that he change the location, and he came back next class with one of the most hilarious scenes I’ve ever read. And the dialogue was exactly the same.
All he’d done was switch the location, from the bedroom, to a skydiving lesson. The characters were delivering the same lines to each other, but they were doing so as they plummeted toward the earth. The result not only made us laugh—but also made us recognize just how bad things actually were between them, because they were still discussing it, even in this totally ridiculous situation.

 

Location forces your character to do something interesting.

 

One of the big problems many writers have is that their characters aren’t doing anything. They stand around posed, delivering their lines, or doing their normal routine. But when you allow them to interact with a new location, they suddenly start to do fun stuff that roots your scene in action, and creates those movie moments that people can really connect to.
Remember the scene from When Harry Met Sally, when they’re “doing the wave” at the ballpark? Set this scene in any other location, and it’s going to be one of the most boring scenes in history. It’s purely exposition: Billy Crystal catching his friend up on his breakup with his ex-wife. There’s no conflict, and in the lines themselves there’s not so much comedy.
But watching the two of them seamlessly continue their conversation, standing and sitting to do the wave each time it comes around to them, transforms this scene into one of the most memorable scenes in the whole movie.

The Truth About Awesome Dialogue..

by Jacob Krueger 

 

Just Because Your Character Says Something Doesn’t Make It Dialogue.

 

Dialogue can be one of the most daunting aspects of writing for many screenwriters. It’s easy to become so obsessed with how an audience is perceiving your dialogue (is it believable, memorable, original, unique to our characters, realistic and compelling enough to captivate an audience) that you entirely forget to ask the most important questions:

What is dialogue? And what is it supposed to do in your screenplay?

I’m about to say something radical: just because your character SAYS something doesn’t make it dialogue.
Real dialogue, good dialogue (and the kind of dialogue you actually want in your screenplay) is distinguished from all the other stuff your character says by one simple quality…

Dialogue is just another way of getting what a character wants.

Your characters are just like you. When they talk, they’re doing it for a reason, whether they are conscious of that reason or not.
There’s no such thing as “just talk” in movies, or in life. And though that idea may seem counterintuitive at first, think about a recent social situation where you were “just talking” and you’ll probably be surprised to realize how many hidden wants were happening just under the surface, things you were trying to get from the person you were talking to: approval, congratulations, laughs, sympathy, compassion, protection, encouragement, excitement, thrills, sex, status, a free drink, a friendly smile.



And guess what? The person you were “just talking” with had a similar symphony of wants playing in their mind, the whole time they were talking to you, adding complex, barely perceptible conflicts to the scene that infused it with a certain feeling, and a certain reality.
When dialogue gets separated from the wants that motivate it, it’s almost impossible to make it feel authentic.

The reason most writers have such a hard time writing dialogue is because what they’re really trying to write is not dialogue, but simply talk.



Rather than listening to the complex symphony of their character’s wants, writers find themselves obsessing over the characters individual words and the way they’ll be perceived by an audience.
When you write dialogue in this way, there’s no drive or structure to it. Your dialogue isn’t actually doing anything. And more importantly, it’s not reflecting anything in the real world. That means the burden falls upon you, as the writer, to turn in the perfect virtuoso performance, in order to pass off a false product as a real one. And even if you succeed, unless you have a marvelous gift, you’re going to have to work your butt off for every word.
It’s like attending a concert at Carnegie Hall and listening only to a single violin. No matter how well executed the performance may be, it can’t help but sound a little tinny and false when divorced from the broader context of the symphony.
And heaven forbid a single chord be misplayed or a mistake be made in this context. Rather than being absorbed, or providing an interesting complement to the larger soundscape, it suddenly becomes an object of fixation for the writer, cutting them off from their creative impulses and from their natural talents.

Once you learn that your characters are using their words to get something from another character, the character starts to do most of the heavy lifting for you.

Rather than fixating on the words of the character (and your fear of being judged for how you write them), you can instead allow yourself to tap into the complex symphony of your character’s desires, allowing yourself to play around with the different ways your character can use their words to get what they want, in ways that are unique to that character.
Now, when you first set out to write a scene, the words themselves no longer need to be perfect, because you’re building around the deeper intentions that drive them, following your instincts and listening to the instincts of your character, focusing on what the characters are doing with their words, rather than what they are saying.
As you then work into later drafts, it becomes much easier to hone and refine your dialogue, and to separate the lines you need (the ones that pursue a want in a way that’s unique to that character) from the ones you don’t.

Tap into the symphony, without micromanaging the conductor!



It’s important to remember that just like you, your character may not always be consciously aware of their wants. And if you get super literal about analyzing every want before you even start to write, you may find that it’s just as much of an impediment to your writing as not thinking about the want at all.
Instead, I’d encourage you to keep your characters’ big wants (or at least the ones they are consciously aware of in the scene) somewhere in the back of your mind. And then allow yourself to play, enjoying the different tactics they use as they attempt to achieve those wants, and allowing your subconscious impulses to guide you.
You can then work back into the dialogue you have written, eliminating dialogue that doesn’t relate to the character’s desire, and getting more specific with the dialogue that does.

The Truth About Truth & Cliche, J Krueger

by Jacob Krueger

Cliché. If you’re a writer, you’ve probably experienced the terror this word implies about your writing:  boring, tired, overused, uninspired, uncreative, or just plain not good enough.

If you’ve ever been part of a writing class, you’ve probably had the dangers of cliché burned into your brain like a mark of shame.

 

And detecting it like a bad smell lurking in your pages despite all your attempts to avoid it, you’ve probably found yourself questioning if you really have what it takes to be a writer.
So here’s a little bit of truth for you to chew on:

 

All Writers Write Clichés.  All The Time.

Screenplays are just like people.  At first glance, they seem like they fit into certain types, but if you look at them closely, you come to realize that they are all filled with complexities and contradictions.
People are weird and strange and surprising, and absolutely nobody is normal if you’re looking at them closely.  The same is true of every character, every line of dialogue, every image and every scene of your script.

 

 

Writing a first draft of a screenplay is like going on a first date. 

Based on a very little bit of information, you extrapolate an entire story of who your characters are, and what your journey together might look like.  And as well observed as you may try to make it, this story is naturally full of clichés, because you haven’t really gotten the chance to know the character or the story deeply.
As you spend more time with your characters and your story, you start to discover all the things that make them special.  The qualities about them that you never could have seen coming on that “first date.”  Just like a relationship, this takes time, meditation and exploration… and involves going through some tough times together.

 

Clichés Are Necessary For Survival

If you were bombarded with all the complexities and contradictions of a person the first time you sat down to sip a Margarita, the chances are you’d never get to a second date with anyone.  Yet this is the mistake writers often make with their screenplays, trying to discover every layer of detail before they even have a sense of who their characters are or what their story is.

As cliché as they might be, it’s those early assumptions, that early sense of the scene, the character, or the story, that allows you to hang in long enough to decide which ones you want to explore more deeply.  And which ones you want to get the heck out of!

 

Your job as a writer is not to avoid cliché, to fear cliché, or beat yourself up over being cliché. 

When you’re feeling that desperate need to impress people as a writer, it’s hard to just sit down and be real with your characters.  So instead of worrying about how people are going to perceive your writing, put your focus on learning to step into the worlds of your characters, so you can capture them as truthfully as you possibly can.
Your job is to allow yourself the clichés you need in early phases of your writing, and then to look more closely at them, so you can uncover the truth, and turn them into more specific, more exciting or more closely observed writing.



Nobody is normal.  And no scene is normal either.  So next time you feel your writing is cliché, just sit with it awhile, and ask yourself what you’re missing.  What’s that extra detail that would make it special, and compelling?  What would be slightly cooler, slightly more exciting, or slightly more complex about the truth?
Capture that detail, and you’ll no longer have a cliché.
In fact, you may even find you have a screenplay worthy of a second date.

 

Connect to the Truth of Your Characters With Meditative Writing

 

If you’d like to discover a new way of moving beyond your clichés, connecting to your characters, developing your voice as a writer, and capturing the compelling heart of every moment of your story, I invite you to check out our new 6 Week Meditative Writing class with Jessica Hinds, starting soon.
Each class begins with a guided meditation, and then segues into a series of mind opening writing exercises designed to set free your voice as a writer and connect you to your characters, your story, and the truth of each moment in your writing.  Over several weeks, you’ll develop a meditative writing practice that you can use every time you sit down to write to get to your best writing faster, and find the inspiration you need every time you sit down to write.
I’m so excited about this class that I’m taking it as a student!  And hope that you will join me either in our NYC Studio, or through our Live Online Video Stream.

Σκέψεις για την Μορφή, το Περιεχόμενο και την Εκφορά του Λόγου στο Αρχαίο Δράμα

Από το βιβλίο του Τ. Προύσαλη «Το αρχαίο δράμα για φυγόπονους σπουδαστές υποκριτικής»

Τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες παρατηρείται στην υποκριτική τέχνη μία στροφή σε μια ακραία λιτή, πιο καθημερινή, όπως λέγεται, εκφορά του λόγου. Το κύριο χαρακτηριστικό αυτής της εκφοράς, που αποτελεί και το πρόβλημα, είναι η παντελής της αδυναμία να νοηματοδοτήσει σωστά ένα κείμενο, ώστε να γίνει πλήρως κατανοητό το περιεχόμενο των σκηνικών του δράσεων. Εάν η τέχνη αντανακλά την εποχή της, δικαιολογούνται να συμβαίνουνε τούτα διότι η εποχή που ζούμε είναι αλήθεια εντελώς πεζή, στείρα και αβαθής, με επόμενο και ο σύγχρονος δραματικός λόγος, ενταγμένος σε ένα τέτοιο περιβάλλον να έχει ανάλογο ύφος, ποιότητα και ήθος.

Ωστόσο, ο θεατρικός λόγος οφείλει να λαμβάνει υπ’ όψιν του, όχι μόνο το σήμερα, μα πιότερο την χωροχρονική συνθήκη που επιβάλλει η τέχνη γενικότερα αλλά και το ίδιο το έργο ειδικότερα. Και εξηγούμεθα. Στο θέατρο συμβαίνει μια μετακίνηση μέσα και πέρα από τον χρόνο και το ζητούμενο είναι, αυτή η μετακίνηση να συνεπάρει τους θεατές, να τους συν+κινήσει, ώστε να ταξιδέψουν από το σύγχρονο στο διαχρονικό και από το διαχρονικό στο άχρονο. Αυτό το ταξίδεμα μπορεί να συμβεί, όταν ο λόγος δονείται, πάλλεται όπως επιβάλλει η ιδιοσυχνότητα, ο εσωτερικός ρυθμός του κάθε θεατρικού είδους. Στην περίπτωση τώρα του αρχαίου δράματος, ο λόγος, ο αναγκαία μεταφρασμένος στην νεοελληνική, καλείται να εκφράσει μια εποχή που είναι εδώ, που πρέπει να είναι εδώ• μια εποχή ηρωική, μεγάλη, οπότε πρέπει να λάβει τέτοιες διαστάσεις και χαρακτηριστικά. Γίνεται επομένως αντιληπτό πως η μετάβαση από το ένα θεατρικό είδος στο άλλο, πέραν της χρήσης της γλώσσας και του ορθά δοσμένου περιεχομένου της, επιβάλλει την χρήση διαφορετικού φάσματος υποκριτικών μέσων. Και είναι σημαντικό για τον σπουδαστή της υποκριτικής τέχνης, όχι μόνο να ασκηθεί στην ανάπτυξη ποικίλων και πολλαπλών εκφραστικών μέσων, αλλά και να εντρυφήσει στην διάκριση και επιλογή των κατάλληλων και ταιριαστών -ανά περίσταση- τρόπων.

Στο Αρχαίο Δράμα και ειδικότερα στην τραγωδία, ο ηθοποιός οφείλει να «ενδυθεί τα γιορτινά του» εκφραστικά μέσα. Κι αυτό, γιατί πρόκειται για κείμενα διαχρονικά, με λόγο συμβολικό και κορυφώσεις που αγγίζουν το αρχετυπικό. Αν ο  υποκριτικός λόγος εκφέρεται «πρόχειρα», καθημερινά,  και δεν είναι αντάξιος μιας (μίμησης) πράξεως σπουδαίας και τελείας -κατά τον Αριστοτελικό ορισμό της τραγωδίας-, το τραγικό δεν αποδίδεται• και η Μήδεια για παράδειγμα, από τραγικό σύμβολο υποβιβάζεται σε ζηλότυπη απατημένη σύζυγο, από τραγική ηρωίδα, καταντά χαρακτήρας που χρήζει ψυχαναλυτικής προσέγγισης και ερμηνείας. Άρα, όταν ο λόγος μέσα στη σκηνική δράση δεν είναι μεστός, διαυγής και πλήρης όγκου, όταν στερείται κι απογυμνώνεται απ’ ό,τι σπουδαίο, μεγαλειώδες και ηρωικό, τότε η έννοια της τραγωδίας παύει να υφίσταται.

Δυστυχώς, στις μέρες μας, ερχόμαστε συχνά αντιμέτωποι με μια απολυταρχική ιδεολογία στο θέατρο, η οποία προσπαθεί να επιβάλλει τον απέριττο, καθημερινό, «κινηματογραφικό» λόγο, όχι μόνον στα σύγχρονα θεατρικά έργα, αλλά ακόμα και στο αρχαίο δράμα. Όμως, αυτού του είδους ο εκφερόμενος λόγος, είναι εντελώς ακατάλληλος για την ερμηνεία αρχαίων δραματικών ρόλων. Γιατί αλήθεια, πώς είναι δυνατόν, ένας λόγος π ε ζ ό ς  να υπηρετήσει  και να ανταποκριθεί στις απαιτήσεις της δραματικής π ο ί η σ η ς; Πώς το «λιτό» μπορεί να αποδώσει το μεγαλειώδες; Η προαναφερόμενη ιδεολογία απ’ όπου κι αν προέρχεται, συντηρεί και συντηρείται, από ένα καθεστώς «θεατρικής ορθότητας», που βαφτίζει έναν ηθοποιό με πενία υποκριτικών μέσων,  που άλλοτε θα χαρακτηριζόταν «αχαμνός», ως άμεσο και λιτό, μετατρέποντας έτσι το έλλειμμα σε προσόν. Την ίδια στιγμή, αν ένας καλά εκπαιδευμένος στην τέχνη του ηθοποιός, χρησιμοποιώντας τα πλούσια εκφραστικά του προσόντα αποδώσει τον πρέποντα όγκο στον λόγο και στο παίξιμο του εν γένει, τότε είναι πιθανό να χαρακτηριστεί «βέκιος», υπερβολικός. Είναι γεγονός βέβαια ότι ένα υπερπαίξιμο σε ένα σύγχρονο έργο φαντάζει φτιασιδωμένο. Όμως, γιατί δεν στηλιτεύεται εξίσου η χρήση στην αρχαία τραγωδία ενός λόγου τόσο απλουστευμένα καθημερινού, που καταλήγει να είναι εύκολος, αβασάνιστος, άχαρος, επίπεδος έως και χυδαίος;

Στην πραγματικότητα, η μειονεξία είναι αμάρτημα (με την αρχαιοελληνική σημασία του όρου) εξίσου με την υπερβολή. Σε κάθε περίπτωση, ζητούμενο είναι το μέτρο. Και το μέτρο στην εξωτερίκευση της υποκριτικής δύναμης είναι άλλο στον κινηματογράφο και άλλο στο θέατρο, διαφορετικό σε ένα μεταμοντέρνο δράμα με αποδομητικό λόγο, αλλιώτικο στο αστικό δράμα, και τελείως διάφορο στην αρχαία τραγωδία, που χαρακτηρίζεται από ιεροπρέπεια και συνιστά  τελετουργική μυσταγωγία. Σ’ αυτήν την μυσταγωγία, ο θεατής πρέπει να οδηγηθεί σε μια ψυχοπνευματική διέγερση και τελικά στην κάθαρση και λύτρωσή του. Για να συμβεί αυτό, πρέπει να επιτευχθεί ο συντονισμός• η μέθεξις. Ο συντονισμός ηθοποιού-κειμένου, θεατή-ηθοποιού και δρώμενου.

Όλα τα εκφραστικά εργαλεία του ηθοποιού, η φωνή, το πρόσωπο, ολόκληρο το σώμα, πρέπει να λειτουργούν αποτελεσματικά.  Ανάμεσα σ’ αυτά τα «εργαλεία», ο ρόλος του λόγου κρίνεται καθοριστικός. Κάθε δραματικό είδος αξιώνει μια ξεχωριστή αριστοτεχνική ποικιλία και ευελιξία ρυθμού, έντασης, όγκου, ύφους και  χροιάς του λόγου, γιατί ο από σκηνής αποδιδόμενος λόγος είναι και μουσική. Κι έτσι, θα πρέπει να απαγγέλλεται και να αποδίδεται με όλα εκείνα τα στοιχεία, τους όρους, που θα συναντούσαμε σε μια μουσική παρτιτούρα π.χ. presto ή andante για την ταχύτητα, piano, forte και άλλοτε crescendo για την ένταση, ή επισημάνσεις του τύπου allegro ή allegro ma non troppo σχετικές με το ύφος και τον ρυθμό.

Αξίζει να σημειωθεί ότι στο θέατρο οι εναλλαγές αυτές επιβάλλονται, όχι μόνο από το είδος, αλλά και από τον χώρο που εκτυλίσσεται το δρώμενο. Έτσι, για παράδειγμα, όταν ένα έργο παίζεται π.χ. στην Επίδαυρο, είναι αναγκαίο ο λόγος να μεγεθυνθεί για να ακουστεί και να φτάσει, μέχρι και τον τελευταίο θεατή του τελευταίου διαζώματος, ενώ αντίθετα, σε ένα μικρό κλειστό θέατρο, ο ηθοποιός αρκεί και μόνο να αρθρώσει τον λόγο σχεδόν στις πραγματικές του διαστάσεις. Η χρήση μικροφώνων  που παρατηρείται τελευταία σε παραστάσεις αρχαίου δράματος, ακόμα και στο θέατρο της Επιδαύρου, με την γνωστή εκπληκτική ακουστική -με το σκεπτικό ότι ο ηθοποιός, απαλλασσόμενος από την προσπάθεια να διατηρήσει σε δεδομένη ένταση την φωνή του, θα καταφέρει να γίνει πιο εκφραστικός- δεν συμβάλλει διόλου στην επίτευξη της μέθεξης. Απεναντίας, η προσπάθεια τεχνητής κατάργησης της απόστασης ηθοποιού-θεατή, επιφέρει τελικά αποτέλεσμα αντίθετο από το επιδιωκόμενο. Τα μικροφωνικά ηχοχρώματα δεν είναι κατάλληλα για να ενεργοποιηθούν οι θεατές και να γίνουν συμμέτοχοι, ούτε είναι ικανά να θραύσουν τον «τέταρτο στανισλαβσκικό τοίχο».

Αυτές οι πεποιθήσεις, απηχούν την διδασκαλία που λάβαμε ως παρακαταθήκη από τους δασκάλους μας στο θέατρο και ειδικότερα στο αρχαίο δράμα• και θα είμαστε πάντα ευγνώμονες, γιατί στην πράξη αποδεικνύεται ολοένα και σωστότερη. Στον δρόμο τους πορευόμαστε, πιστοί στις ιδέες αυτές, προκειμένου να μεταφέρουμε αυτούσια την γνώση εκείνων, στους δικούς μας μαθητές.
________________________________________

[1]: Γι’ αυτό  «ο μεταφραστής πρέπει να είναι όχι μόνο ποιητής, όχι μόνο γνώστης βαθύς και της αρχαίας και της νέας γλώσσας αλλά και φωτισμένο πνεύμα που αντιλαμβάνεται ποιο είναι το πέρα από τις εποχές στοιχείο του αμήχανου κάλους…  …Ο ποιητής σαν μεταφραστής πρέπει ν’ ανήκει μονάχα στην σχολή της αδιαίρετης ομορφιάς. Και δεν υπάρχει αμφιβολία ότι μια ευλογημένη γνώση του στοιχείου αυτού αθανάτισε την αρχαία Ελληνική Τέχνη.» Από τα «Θεατρολογικά» του Τάσου Λιγνάδη, σελ 173.

[2]: Πρόκειται για τον ιδεατό τοίχο , που χωρίζει την σκηνή από την πλατεία και αναφέρεται σ’ αυτόν ο Στανισλάβσκι, όταν μιλάει για την ποθούμενη επικοινωνία του ηθοποιού με το κοινό.

Από το website του Εσωθεάτρου!

Do you really want to be a Screenwriter? ISA

By Michael Hauge

Almost every writer and every serious film fan at one time or another has at least considered writing a screenplay. Lured by the power of the big (or small) screen, and by stories of all the fame, success, awards and big, big money that other screenwriters have achieved, they get seduced by the fantasy of Hollywood.
Now no doubt some of you reading these words have already achieved a career in the industry. But my guess is that most of you are still at the 'breaking in' stage and are wondering if writing for movies or television is a silly pipe dream -- or is truly worth considering. I'd like to help you answer that question by discussing some of the realities of the movie and television business and offering both the right and the wrong motives for pursuing Hollywood.

Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Screenwriter?

I've been teaching screenwriting classes and seminars for more than fifteen years, and I've worked with thousands of movie and television writers at various stages of their careers. But, whenever I'm with a group of would-be filmmakers hoping to launch their careers, I encounter two different myths about the Hollywood obstacle course that both lead to disappointment.
The first misconception is that Hollywood is an easy path to fame and fortune. Perhaps a writer watches some brainless TV show and concludes that anybody with the I.Q. of corn could write drivel like that. Then she reads about how Joe Esterhasz sold a spec script for slightly more than the gross national product of Portugal, while she's wondering how long she can get by on her $25 check from 'Big Rig Monthly' for her article on mud flaps. And then some polite, but chicken-hearted, publisher tries to let her down easy by saying that her 873-page manuscript about the Millard Fillmore White House years would be much better as a movie. So before you know it, she's typing 'FADE IN.'
She has fallen victim to the erroneous belief that writing a movie is no harder than watching one. She thinks that everybody who sells a script will be a millionaire and that because movies and TV shows are plentiful, relatively short and frequently mediocre, there really are no rules, standards or professional skills to worry about. In other words, that screenwriting is easy.

Not True.

The other, more destructive, myth about screenwriting is just the opposite: a writer hears about the thousands of unproduced, unsold, unoptioned, unread and unopened screenplays floating around Hollywood and decides that his dream is absurd. Friends, loved ones and failed screenwriters will be happy to reinforce this belief with loads of anecdotes and statistics: everybody in Los Angeles is working on a script; it's not what you know, it's who you know; every writer in Hollywood gets ripped off; you have to live in Southern California; you have to be a young white male; and even if you could break in, writing movies is obviously a ridiculous, pointless, demeaning and hopeless pursuit for any serious writer to consider. In other words, screenwriting is impossible.

Not True Either.

The first myth described above ignores the years of pain, struggle and failure that precedes (and sometimes precludes) success for most working screenwriters. But, the second myth ignores the fact that about a hundred and fifty feature films, plus more than fifty TV movies and seventy weekly series are produced each year by the major studios and networks. And, for every film produced, an average of at least five scripts are developed and paid for. And these figures don't include non-primetime and cable television or the numerous markets for independent, educational, industrial, religious and adult movies and TV. Somebody must be writing all those stories.
Screenwriting, like any other form of professional writing, is a specific, learnable craft that requires study, talent, training, practice and an immense level of commitment. It is at various times frustrating, exciting, fulfilling, exhausting, lucrative, unfair, depressing, ego- gratifying and fun. And, it has a clearly defined set of standards, rules, parameters and methods for achieving both artistic and commercial success.
So, to decide if you want to commit your life to this particular path, ignore both the fantasies of wealth and fame and the prophets of doom and, instead, ask yourself exactly why you want to write movies or television.

The Wrong Reasons to Want to Be a Screenwriter

Screenwriting is not a wise career path if you're choosing it for any of these reasons:

1. The Money

Pursuing screenwriting because an occasional spec script sells for a million dollars is like studying hotel/motel management because Donald Trump has a big yacht. Starving screenwriters are no happier than starving poets, and if the big bucks are your only goal, by the time (if ever) you get there, the trip won't have been worth it.

2. You Want to Weave Magic With Words

If your love of writing is based on the beauty, texture, breadth and majesty of the English language, you'll be much happier as a poet, novelist or essayist. Screenwriting 'style' is much closer to that of ad copy, comic books and the sports pages than it is to great literature.

3. You Want the Respect that Comes with Being an Acclaimed Artist

Dream on. Once you sell your screenplay, it probably will be re-written by someone else (often several others) until it's unrecognizable. You're usually persona non grata while the movie is being shot, and neither the status nor the financial reward given the average screenwriter is anywhere close to proportionate to his or her contribution to the film. If you want real respect in Hollywood, become a maitre d'.

4. You Have a Strong Visual Sense

I'm not even sure what this means, but I hear it all the time, and, if anything, I think it's detrimental to successful screenwriting. Sure you want to picture what is going on on the screen, but the important talent is the ability to turn action into words. If you think only in pictures and are very right-brained, pursuing a career in production design, cinematography or directing might make more sense.

5. You Want to Adapt Your Own Novel (or Play or Life Story)

This is hard to accept, I know, but trust me: if your novel or play wasn't published or produced in its original form, it's extremely unlikely it's going to work as a movie. And, by now, you're much too emotionally attached to your original story. You will never be objective enough about it to make the numerous changes necessary for it to become a commercial script.
The same holds true for your own life experiences (or those of your grandparents). Yes, your life has been thrilling, painful, passionate, moving and glorious for you. But, I'm afraid the mass audience really isn't interested.
(It's fine to draw on your own experiences, but only to provide an arena for a fictional story. And if you want to be both a novelist and screenwriter, choose separate stories that are best suited to each medium. Just don't mix the two until someone offers you money to adapt your work into script form.)

6. You Want to Improve the Quality of Movies

If you don't like the stuff that's coming out of Hollywood nowadays, and you find yourself gravitating to foreign films and Fred Astaire festivals at the local Cineplex, or if you don't see at least one current American movie a month, then screenwriting probably isn't for you.
I don't think you'll ever be very happy pursuing a career in an industry you don't like. And you won't be able to change Hollywood. The most you can hope for is to write the best screenplays you can within the parameters of the system. Or else blaze your own trail outside the mainstream arena with low budget, independent films. But success there, which is even tougher to achieve, still requires a basic love for the movies.

The Right Reasons to Want to Be a Screenwriter

1. The Money

Yes, I know I just said that untold wealth is the wrong reason for pursuing screenwriting. But if money isn't your only motive, and you know you want to write, then you can probably make more as a steadily working screenwriter than with any other form of writing. Just remember that it's a package deal, and all of the other rules and obstacles are included.

2. You Get to Tell Stories

If creating unique, captivating characters and taking them over seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve visible, bigger-than-life goals is the kind of writing that thrills you, then you should consider movie writing.

3. You Love the Movies (and/or Television)

You not only love seeing them, you relish the challenge of staying within a rigid formula and creating a visual story that is original, thoughtful and emotionally captivating.

4. You'll Reach a Huge Audience

More people saw last week's episode of 'The West Wing' than have read 'Gone With the Wind'. Makes you stop and think, doesn't it?

5. You Love to Write

Screenwriting may not employ all the big words in the dictionary, but you still get to spend your day lost in the power of language.

In summary, if you're wondering whether to begin (or continue) your pursuit of screenwriting, forget both the defeatist statistics and the dreams of glory and riches. And omit the word 'easy' from your vocabulary entirely; there is NO form of professional writing or filmmaking worth pursuing because it's easy. Instead, ask yourself if your joy will come from within the process of sitting every day at your computer and creating a story for the big or small screen.

If the answer is truly 'yes' and your motives match those listed above, then close the door, fire up your computer and start writing.