Preface

Screenwriters are big dreamers. We love writing down those dreams so they can be made “real.” Wanting to see what’s in our heads made universally visible is what drives us. It’s a tall order but one we’ve signed up for. And we usually wait with the hope that someone will share our dream and actually commit to producing it.

Sometimes that’s a long wait. Often we’re rebuffed and rejected. Sick of that? Well, there’s another way around this waiting game, and that’s to make the film ourselves. Those of us ready to take this giant step of actually materializing our dreams by shooting them are faced with an even more daunting dilemma. We need to become practical, and in dreamland, practicality is a four-letter word that often tears us apart. We’re afraid that we’ll be forced by the exigencies of that practicality to minimize our vision so drastically that it’ll become ordinary, predictable, oversimple, and banal. We’re terrified of having to mess with technology we don’t understand, and we’re afraid to trust those who do understand it to get our vision right. We’re scared that our project will be way too expensive. And those are just a few of the hideous fears that drum into our brain as we go forward.

Well, help is on the way. This book was written to allay those fears by showing writers who want to make their own movies how to overcome challenges that give rise to terrors. The secret of that overcoming is anticipating the problems that may come up on set and eliminating them as the script is written.

Ideally, all scripts should be written this way, but they aren’t. When writers are working on spec feature scripts, we let our imaginations run wild. And rightly so. We aren’t thinking of budget and logistics because we hope and pray some studio/production company with big bucks will snap up our project and run with it. That’s a legitimate way to go if you’re into big-budget movies.

Those of us who are tired of hoping and praying and want to put our work out there ourselves often decide to write low-budget films. And when we do, we need to consider things a bit more carefully. We usually tailor our stories to be “smaller,” more compact, and less involved. And those of us who want to make short films as sizzle reels for our features (high and low budgets) and as calling cards for our talent are faced with being even more stringent in what we write.

But how do we do that without losing our initial creative burst, gutting our story, or dreaming small? That’s the challenge. We’ve got to write smart, solve puzzles, and become savvy connoisseurs of the filmmaking art. We’ve got to better understand how to write for production!

That’s because we need to accept the fact that what we write won’t get realized if no one can figure out how to pay for it or shoot it.

We’ve got to know at our core that we’re involved in a limited (for now) medium that involves equipment, wires, gadgets, and all manner of technology with which some of us may be uncomfortable. We’ve got to learn to acknowledge that we need that technology to get our vision out there, and we’ve got to learn how to work in ways that will allow that technology to be easily applied. This is a huge challenge to lots of screenwriters who would prefer not to deal with technology at all (apart from their own computers and sometimes—God forbid you’re using a quill!—not even those). That’s why it’s important as we write to think about production issues that may come up.

Often, too many people start writing without thinking about these kinds of issues. They say they’ll do that after they have the script. This is dangerous and a waste of time. Unless the script you plan to produce is written with production in mind, lots of changes will need to be made during shooting, and that can create nightmare situations. Better to think of technical logistics before and during writing.

To do that, many of us have to overcome our fear of technology. We’re afraid because there are so many buttons, knobs, and things that can go wrong. The solution to all of this is simple. Partner up with someone who likes gadgets. And if you can’t do that, get yourself equipment that is laughingly simple and learn to use it: iPhones, iPads, really easy point-and-shoot cameras.

These may have what we might consider quality drawbacks (I hear purists whine that the quality isn’t as good as film, etc.) but forget about that. If the important thing is the message and story you want to get across, then lower some of your standards! The reality is that if the story is compelling, people will forgive the odd technical glitch. You just have to make sure it can be heard well (sound is paramount) and actually seen … not too dark or too light.

That’s what this book will help you do. Sure you may need to compromise a little, but that little compromise is what’s going to get the pictures you have in your head come to life on the screen (and maybe someday in holo-graphs … right in front of people. Even as I write this Microsoft is releasing a holographic lens—Microsoft HoloLens—that, as Microsoft’s site tells us, “blends holograms with reality.” Wow. Imagine the possibilities!).

Remember—compromise isn’t always a bad word. Purists will tell you that it is and that no real artist who is true to herself should compromise. Poppycock. All art is compromise at some level. For instance, the medium in which artists work forces compromise. Painters have to give in to the demands of watercolors oils, pigments, and potions. Screenwriters have to say things clearly in order to be understood by the people charged with physically mounting the movie. That means, of course, that screenwriters have to adhere to a very strict format that isn’t always satisfying (think of the leeway novelists have to include thoughts and emotions and bits of philosophy). Screenwriters can only deal with what is directly seen or heard. But that’s what, for me, makes the screenwriting puzzle fun. It’s challenging to create something that will transmit thoughts and philosophy without resorting to blatant exposition.

That’s also what makes screenwriting hard. And particularly so when it involves making those things real when there are so many other things to think about … location, action, dialogue, character development, sequencing, structure. The list goes on.

And for those of us who plan on shooting our own projects, the biggest concern is budget! How to fit all we want to do into a circumscribed budget arena is perhaps most daunting of all. But it doesn’t have to be. Think of fashion. Lots of us would love to wear couture worth thousands (a Dior jacket with a $24,000 price tag would be nice!), but with a little ingenuity and flare, we can figure out how to get the look for much, much less (think knock-off Dior retail for maybe $78.00!) It can be done, and I admit I do it! The same is true for film. We can find ways to reduce the amount we spend by ingenious ways. Some of those ways we’ll discuss in detail later.

So here’s to the daring adventure that is writing for production. It’s the first part of a bigger dream, and it’s exciting because if we do it right we can lay the groundwork for finally seeing our mind movie on screen and have certainty and control in the process.