Recently in Writing for Film Category

Way back in 2004, I entered the Australian version of the Project Greenlight competition. Modelled on the US cable TV show devised by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, the series applies the Pop Idol principle to movie scriptwriting. The winning script would be produced for cinematic release, directed by the winning scriptwriter, and with a $1 million budget.

My vampire script, ‘Nightfall’, achieved a top twenty placing before elimination. I can still remember the devastation I felt on receiving the call informing me I wasn’t going through to the Top Ten. But, considering that there was a full field of 1200 entries, and that elimination up to that point had been through a complex peer-review process followed by an experienced industry panel, this was enough to encourage me to develop the script further.

I love it when a new set of eyeballs reads my script. But, like anyone, when that person offers criticism the ego takes a knock. After all, what do they know? They didn’t stay up all hours writing the damn thing!

Criticism is an essential part of any writing process, but more important is the ability to deal with this criticism effectively. Many times I’ve come across an amateur writer who dismisses criticism as a misunderstanding on the part of the reader. If the reader wasn’t completely won over by the script, they simply didn’t get it.

The amateur wants to debate the criticism, hopelessly attempting to turn the reader’s opinion around. “Don’t you see? In Act 2 Fred does this, so that’s why Jemima leaves home. It’s obvious. I’m not changing a thing!”

It may be obvious to you, but if the reader misses it, it isn’t the readers fault – it’s yours. No one knows the story in your head better than you. But the script is the tool by which you convey that story inside you to someone else. If they don’t experience what you hoped they would, your script hasn’t done the job.

I’m currently in the planning stages of launching into another draft of my vampire script, ‘Nightfall’. With a strong performance in both years of the Project Greenlight Australia competition, and plenty of positive and constructive feedback, I continue to work with this script in the hope of finally getting it to a saleable condition.

The good thing is that every time I read the script, I identify improvements to be made. And I’m not talking about changing a line here or there either. This latest rewrite (draft #8) promises to be one of the biggest and most radical overhauls as I am returning to the basic scene structures, characters and story arcs to recraft the script from the bottom up.

Recently, I was asked to provide feedback on a logline by a fellow Storylink member. Benjamin Ray’s script ‘Marcus and Faith’ recently won the Thriller category of the 2007 Pacific Northwest Screenwriters Contest and now, Benjamin is doing everything he can to put his script in the best position while he enjoys twelve months of agency representation. You can visit Benjamin's website to follow his progress.

My professional role as a copywriter allows me a different viewpoint on how to write a strong logline. Most scriptwriters are used to writing for length, not brevity, so producing a logline can be counter-intuitive to many, but copywriting is about distilling a message down to its most economical form.