|
This week's Answer:
A
Good Idea to Have a Good Idea Screenwriters
pour so much of their energy, effort, time, and
screenwriter's BS&T (blood, sweat, and tears) into a
script, so it is a very good idea to have a very
good idea (for your script). Why is it that so many of
them scribe well-crafted scripts and never find the
marketplace or reach the Green Light Holy Grail that
Knights of the Computer's Table seek for all the
glory. (Sorry. I recently watched an epsiode of
"Game of Thrones".) The
answer: They don't ask the hard questions before
they start writing. One of the hardest of the
questions that many writers tend to avoid like the plague
is "Is my script different?" Is my screenplay
something that nobody has seen before? And, if you
say your script is different, then you can follow with
"How much more different?" and "How
is my screenplay different"? And
it's best to ask the same thing about your characters,
your hero especially: "How is my protagonist
different?" Original. One of a kind.
Unique. These hard questions you must ask before building
your story isn't just about clever plot twists, setups and
payoffs, reversals, etc. This is about the very core --
the essential essence -- the heart of your story. You must
ask in the very beginning, no matter how bright and
brilliant your script idea came to you in that moment of
rapture when the world stopped for a moment and you knew
you now had the unbelievably fantastic idea for your
screenplay, yes, you must ask yourself... "Have
I already seen this?" And
if you haven't and you're still in love with idea and just
know it's original and can make a great movie, if it's that
good, then it's one of these two things: either
somebody has already used it in a movie or... somebody
somewhere is working on a script with that idea. So,
once you've done your research and you know, as far as you
can tell, that there is no movie like yours... then, what
are you waiting for? Stop
reading this and start writing. Doug
Herman Script
Advisor
|
