Should you always specify location?

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  • Should you always specify location?

    The setting is pretty non descript, it's just an average urban location. Most people set their location as NY or LA by default, but even those conjure up too much by association. Everywhere else has something specific that comes to mind or a specific feeling associated with something. I don't want to pull some random place off a map, or use some hillbilly town in the middle of nowhere, or even use something seemingly non descript like Buffalo, NY. Even that conjures up too many thoughts. It just needs to be somewhere average in every sense.

    Can I just make up a place Averageville, USA and describe it as just an average place not specifying where it is? Or is that a big mistake, should you always specify where it is and make it a real place?
    "This kid is going to be big"

  • #2
    Re: Should you always specify location?

    How important is the location to the story?

    I've read plenty of scripts that never mention what city a story takes place in.
    Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue

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    • #3
      Not Always....

      If it doesn't matter to the story, leave it generic, (ie. City, Town, etc.).

      I had more fun inventing a couple of counties, a town, and a regional airport in the Smokey Mountains, (names needed in the story); and, one knows that the names were convincing when someone else tried to find them on a map.
      JEKYLL & CANADA (free .mp4 download @ Vimeo.com)

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      • #4
        Re: Should you always specify location?

        Originally posted by MadSam View Post
        Can I just make up a place Averageville, USA and describe it as just an average place not specifying where it is?
        Yes, that's fine.

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        • #5
          Re: Should you always specify location?

          If it's not important to the story, leave it out - they'll film it in Vanvcouver anyway.

          - Bill
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          http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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          • #6
            Re: Should you always specify location?

            While I agree with the general sentiment, it's worth considering whether a specific location will add another dimension to the script. There's a big difference between LA/San Francisco/New Orleans and sometimes that choice can help bring the script to life.
            twitter.com/leespatterson

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            • #7
              Re: Should you always specify location?

              Originally posted by -XL- View Post
              While I agree with the general sentiment, it's worth considering whether a specific location will add another dimension to the script. There's a big difference between LA/San Francisco/New Orleans and sometimes that choice can help bring the script to life.
              That's a great thought. The right city can become a character in the script, suggest original set pieces, etc.

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              • #8
                Re: Should you always specify location?

                Very interesting question. As I read it and the replies, "The Truman Show" came to mind because the location there seems both generic and specific, so to speak. I Googled a bit and found 2 versions of the script - one described as an early draft and one as the shooting script. Oddly to me, it seems it was originally set in the boroughs of NYC.

                As for the shooting script, it describes the location his way:
                EXT. SEAHAVEN ISLAND TOWNSHIP. DAY.

                A high-angle reveals an anonymous mid-sized town built

                around a small, pretty bay. A cluster of high-rise buildings stand
                at the water's edge overlooking a marina. Surrounding the
                commercial center lie neatly arranged suburbs.

                Based on that and the description in your question, and going back to comments in a thread that I started recently about "We see" in which people discussed "We don't see..."... Maybe you could describe your location in part by what it is not: "It's not LA or NY, it's simply Averageville somewhere in-between."

                Another thing that came to mind: If you asked 100 industry people to describe "Averageville, USA" - people who might be in the path between you and the sale of your script - what answers would they give and how would those compare to each other? If you think the answers would be pretty much the same, then you're fine. OTOH, if you think the odds are substantial that the answers would vary quite a bit in ways that are significant to your story, then you might reconsider - i.e., do name a place, or provide a good chunk of lines introducing the place.

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                • #9
                  Re: Should you always specify location?

                  Originally posted by MadSam View Post

                  Can I just make up a place Averageville, USA and describe it as just an average place not specifying where it is? Or is that a big mistake, should you always specify where it is and make it a real place?
                  It's fine. Make it up.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Should you always specify location?

                    Leave it out.

                    In my current spec, I don't specify the town or even the state that we're in. All the reader knows is that we're in the Appalachian Mountains. The name of the city doesn't matter. Just make it feel like it's a real place and your reader will believe it.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Should you always specify location?

                      Originally posted by ATB View Post
                      Leave it out.

                      In my current spec, I don't specify the town or even the state that we're in. All the reader knows is that we're in the Appalachian Mountains. The name of the city doesn't matter. Just make it feel like it's a real place and your reader will believe it.
                      OK, "the Appalachian Mountains" could mean anywhere from Newfoundland to Alabama - a wide range, so to speak - but don't you think for most people, at least at first, it conjures up Tennessee or West Virginia or there 'bouts? That is, you may not be specifying a town or a state in a geographic sense, but seems to me you are evoking a specific place.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Should you always specify location?

                        Originally posted by Manchester View Post
                        OK, "the Appalachian Mountains" could mean anywhere from Newfoundland to Alabama - a wide range, so to speak - but don't you think for most people, at least at first, it conjures up Tennessee or West Virginia or there 'bouts? That is, you may not be specifying a town or a state in a geographic sense, but seems to me you are evoking a specific place.
                        It definitely suggests a southern state. Even so, I'm leaving it up to the reader to decide. The assumption should probably be WV or TN. But it could be KY or NC or VA or MD. It depends on how I illustrate the place and the characters. If I do it right, the reader will know where the story takes place without needing a specific location.

                        But that's my point. You can evoke a specific place without pinpointing the specific place.

                        If you're going for Smalltown, USA then make it feel like a small town. If you're going for a coastal city, make it feel like we're near the ocean.

                        If it's not imperative to the story that we know the name of the city, then don't worry about it. Just make it feel like a real place and the reader isn't even going to notice.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Should you always specify location?

                          If it's not imperative to the story that we know the name of the city, then don't worry about it. Just make it feel like a real place and the reader isn't even going to notice.
                          Yes.

                          I never knew what city the movie Seven took place in when I watched it. Didn't care until someone brought it up years later.

                          (Not siting the script as an example but the actual movie)

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                          • #14
                            Re: Should you always specify location?

                            There's a writing 101 saying that might be relevant here:

                            When you try to create the specific and individual, you end up creating a type. When you try to create a type, you create nothing.

                            I first heard it in reference to characterization, not location, but I think it applies. A lot, of course, depends on the type of story you're telling, but in most stories you need the location to feel real. The more you base it on an actual place, and don't run away from the associations that an actual place has, the more life it will help breathe into your story.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Should you always specify location?

                              Personally, I don't think you need to specify a city. The world just has to be clear to you and the reader and it sets the tone for whatever story you are telling.

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