By Samuel Bartlett

The Law of Causation

So why not forgive my little lack of logic at that last turn.

No. You really can’t do that.

That’s what re-writing and polishing is. You go through every little crease, really finely and iron out every single one of those bumps.

Everything has to make sense. Everything has to link, every scene has to feed into the next. Speaking about beats making sense, flowing into the next etc…

Here’s something I just learnt recently that is screenwriting gold…

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the South Park creators figured that if they can take the beat sheet of your film script and put the words AND THEN between every beat, basically your script is fucked.

The words between the beats of a beat sheet of a great film should read THEREFORE or BECAUSE.

That first script I sold was a ‘found footage’ film similar in style to Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity.

During the script selling process I had approached Full Clip Productions for script sale advice. I had a friend that worked there and he gave me some great inside advice from a producer’s POV.

The words between the beats of a beat sheet of a great film
should read THEREFORE or BECAUSE.

After the sale went through, said friend approached me with an idea Sam Worthington had just pitched to him that they wanted to develop, the idea was of the found footage variety. He said they were looking for a writer for the concept, would I be interested?

The Bottom Line

I took the idea, no more than a logline, extrapolated that into a feature script and wrote my nuts off for the next month. Sent it to them, they dug it and as of last night I finished writing the third draft. (That I really should be working on instead of this…)

This same friend, let’s call him, Mike, I had sent another one of my scripts, my baby, I mentioned earlier.

Then one afternoon he calls me and says he’s put that script in the hands of a manager that really digs it, he’s flying to Sydney for 48 hours to do a bunch of shit, but he wants to meet.

That meet went really well.

I’m not writing all this to bang my drum, I really haven’t done all that much yet, it’s this notion of ‘breaking in’ that I want to get back to.

It’s not about IN or OUT, it’s about the steps along the way, each leading into the next.

You can write Lethal Weapon, you can sell a script for $3million, but unless you’re constantly at it, constantly working, constantly writing, constantly reading scripts, watching films, you can slip back OUT again.

My advice in a nutshell is to learn the craft.

It’s not about IN or OUT, it’s about the steps along the way,
each leading into the next.

When you’ve got a script that’s good, send it out to script comps.

When you place, solicit your script around town.

If you’re easily dissuaded by rejection, then quit.

Seriously. Give up. This ain’t for you.

When you do get that first foot through the door, when someone who counts does take notice of your work, make it work for you.

Dominos people, dominos.

Here’s a list of the script comps that agents and prod companies give a shit about in no particular order:

Austin Screenplay Comp. Nicholl Fellowship. Champion Screenplay Comp. Scriptapalooza. Pipeline. TrackingB (or Tracking Board). Final Draft Big Break Comp. Slam Dance. Page Awards. Expo Screen Comp.

There are others, smaller ones, but these are the ones people take notice of.

– Samuel Bartlett

Part 1 – The Beginnings
Part 2 – Cars and Cops
Part 3 – The Truth about Comps
Part 5 – Writing and Reading

Photo Credit:  The Man in Blue –  dicktay2000

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Samuel Bartlett is an award winning screen writer and film maker with two feature films currently in development with Los Angeles based production companies.

He shot his first award winning feature film in 2011 and has another short film ready for the festival circuit. He divides his time between Sydney, London and LA.

Samuel Bartlett

Samuel Bartlett is an award winning screen writer and film maker with two feature films currently in development with Los Angeles based production companies. He shot his first award winning feature film in 2011 and has another short film ready for the festival circuit. He divides his time between Sydney, London and LA. Samuel also regularly deconstructs unproduced scripts here.

deconstructthescript.blogspot.com.au/

by Mystery Man

I love the way Towne uses Secondary Headings to cut back and forth between Gittes and Mulwray.

In the hands of lesser writers, this sequence could have been a bear to read and follow. With a pro like Robert Towne, it’s simple, seamless, and visual. As far as I’m concerned, there was no other way to write this sequence.

And finally, here’s the opening scene from The Long Kiss Goodnight by Shane Black.

A number of elements I love about this scene. He has the camera panning from the windowpane over to the bed and to the eyes of the sleeping little girl who wakes up.

It’s dark. The mother by the bed is just a vague shape.

After a little dialogue, she turns on the nightlight, which brings a surprising visual revelation. And then we’re back to the mother by the bed and then back to same windowpane where we began. Perfect.

My man, Shane Black – I love his work.

– Mystery Man

In his own words, Mystery Man was “famous yet anonymous, failed yet accomplished, brilliant yet semi-brilliant. A homebody jetsetting around the world. Brash and daring yet chilled with a twist.”

MM blogged for nearly 4 years and tweeted for only 4 months, then disappeared – mysteriously.

The Story Department continues to republish his best articles on Monday.

Here, you’ll also be informed about the release of his screenwriting book.

:: Christopher Nolan on what to expect from Batman 3

:: How to logline a dual plot story? John August helps.

:: Dick happy about Blade Runner (via Kottke).

:: Final word on the Oscars (and Karel agrees)

:: The North By Northwest shooting script for download

:: Charlie (and Donald) Kaufman’s Adaptation script

:: (we keep going…) The Shawshank Redemption script

:: Finally: Basic Instinct (for Forest Gump and MANY others, go to MyPDFscripts.com)

:: Hitchcock on Content vs. Technique (via Bill Martell)

:: To three-act-structure or free-form, that is the question.

:: Cultivating a following- writing for a TV series.

:: Advice: never send out your first screenplay.

:: Own up to your audience: your inciting incident.

:: What really goes on in act one?

:: Satire with a touch of truth: the Super Script

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COMING SOON to the Story Department:

• The next week articles

With thanks to Sol.

Enjoy!

Karel

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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