Many people rightly point out the importance of telling a captivating story. We are writing for the film company’s reader — not the director or cameraman or actors. We write spec scripts, not shooting scripts. So don’t give camera directions, or at least keep them to a minimum. The reader wants a story he can follow, a page turner, not a lot of technical clutter.
When I tried to follow this good advice, I found myself writing something formatted as a movie script, but not actually a script. More like a novel. And people pointed this out to me. There is some magic here with eludes me.
Yesterday I watched part of ”Absolute Power”. Here are three shots from a few minutes into the movie, as I would have written them:
EXT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DAY
Luther, carrying some groceries, unlocks the front door.
INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY
Luther enters. Neat, tidy, nice equipment. He puts
food away.
INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DINING AREA - NIGHT
Evening. Luther enters carrying a tray with a plate
of food and his sketch pad. He puts it on the table.
Afterwards went to IMSDB and read the actual (draft) script for those shots:
EXT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DAY
A terra cotta planter to the right of the front door.
Luther shifts his packages, tilts the planter slightly,
bends down, pulls out a key, inserts it in the front
door.
INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY
as he enters. Neat, tidy. A Cuisinart, a cheese slicer,
lots of other nice equipment. As he begins putting food
away --
INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DINING AREA - NIGHT
Evening now. Table set for one. A single candle.
Beside the candle is Luther's sketch pad. Now Luther
himself moves INTO VIEW, carrying a tray. He puts it
down.
Clearly the professionals have put much more life into the shots, than my version. Lots more detail, and practically everything in the script is exactly as it came out in the film.
So I’m wondering: is this a shooting script or just a regular script? Granted, there are no instructions about close/wide shots, zooms or camera movements. But a lot of scenic detail.
I’m meditating on the level of scenery I should describe. And details of action such as bending down to get a key. Before, I would have said ”describe only that which is important to the story”. The fact that Luther keeps his key in a flower pot, the neatness of the kitchen, the single candle… they may matter to establish what kind of a man he is. I would never have thought of using his home and the solitary dinner in this way. But it’s good.
Read, read, read is probably the best advice anybody ever gave me.
When I tried to follow this good advice, I found myself writing something formatted as a movie script, but not actually a script. More like a novel. And people pointed this out to me. There is some magic here with eludes me.
Yesterday I watched part of ”Absolute Power”. Here are three shots from a few minutes into the movie, as I would have written them:
EXT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DAY
Luther, carrying some groceries, unlocks the front door.
INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY
Luther enters. Neat, tidy, nice equipment. He puts
food away.
INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DINING AREA - NIGHT
Evening. Luther enters carrying a tray with a plate
of food and his sketch pad. He puts it on the table.
Afterwards went to IMSDB and read the actual (draft) script for those shots:
EXT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DAY
A terra cotta planter to the right of the front door.
Luther shifts his packages, tilts the planter slightly,
bends down, pulls out a key, inserts it in the front
door.
INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - KITCHEN - DAY
as he enters. Neat, tidy. A Cuisinart, a cheese slicer,
lots of other nice equipment. As he begins putting food
away --
INT. LUTHER'S HOUSE - DINING AREA - NIGHT
Evening now. Table set for one. A single candle.
Beside the candle is Luther's sketch pad. Now Luther
himself moves INTO VIEW, carrying a tray. He puts it
down.
Clearly the professionals have put much more life into the shots, than my version. Lots more detail, and practically everything in the script is exactly as it came out in the film.
So I’m wondering: is this a shooting script or just a regular script? Granted, there are no instructions about close/wide shots, zooms or camera movements. But a lot of scenic detail.
I’m meditating on the level of scenery I should describe. And details of action such as bending down to get a key. Before, I would have said ”describe only that which is important to the story”. The fact that Luther keeps his key in a flower pot, the neatness of the kitchen, the single candle… they may matter to establish what kind of a man he is. I would never have thought of using his home and the solitary dinner in this way. But it’s good.
Read, read, read is probably the best advice anybody ever gave me.
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