Scriptiments

Poirot’s theme

Poirot’s theme

Think of the theme of your screenplay as something the main character has to learn. Traditionally, they believe the opposite, then learn the lesson represented by the theme.

What is the essential question your movie is asking? Make your theme a declarative statement. The answer to that question.

One of my favorite examples of theme and anti-theme is in the recent Murder on the Orient Express. In the first act, Poirot states his world view. “There is right, there is wrong. There is nothing in between.” The anti-theme, because…

Poirot then spends the movie investigating a crime that puts his view to the test. By the end, he admits to himself that sometimes murder is justified. He comes to believe there IS a place between right and wrong, and acts on that belief.

So the essential question, “Is there a gray area between right and wrong?” is answered as “Yes”. The theme as a statement would be “Sometimes, murder can be justified.”

When I looked up this scene online, I found the dialogue quoted on IMDB (see below).

When I compared it to a PDF of the screenplay dated 2/20/15, I did not see that crucial line of dialogue. That tells me that the writer and producers at some later point decided that Poirot’s worldview needed to be spelled out more clearly for the audience. By doing so, it underlined the theme more clearly.

 

Everything is Alive Podcast

Everything is Alive Podcast

Writers should be able to think about any situation from any point of view. Maybe the story you’re considering would be more interesting from a different person’s perspective. So, for example, a bank robbery could be told from the point of view of the bank robber, the teller, the manager, the security officer, a five-year-old kid who just happens to be in the bank, etc.

What about inanimate objects? Can they have a point of view? Take a listen to the Everything is Alive podcast, where objects and animals get voiced through the power of improv acting.

Listen at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/everything-is-alive/id1388419519

“The Choice” writing challenge

“The Choice” writing challenge

Characters are defined by the choices they make. And often, a character’s bad choice kicks off act two of a feature screenplay.

As they say: “Bad choices make good stories.”

Another wise man, Aristotle, had this to say: “Character is revealed in choice: character is the habit of moral choice when the choice isn’t obvious.”

WRITE THE SCENE

Write a scene (or expand to a short script) where a character must make a choice. It can be major (whether or not to take revenge) or seemingly minor (ketchup or mustard).

I say “seemingly” minor because if it’s just whether to have ketchup or mustard on one’s hot dog, there may not be obvious repercussions. Try to frame the choice so it has meaning to the situation you’re writing.

What goes into your character making that decision? What in their backstory has lead them to this decision? What events does this choice kick off? Who else is affected by this choice?

“In the Bedroom” Writing Challenge

“In the Bedroom” Writing Challenge

From Screenwriters Toolkit

Two people are in bed. A siren or alarm is heard. Or the phone rings. Or a doorbell.

WRITE THE SCENE.

Ask yourself:

  • Who are these people
  • Who are they to each other?
  • What are the immediate circumstances?
  • How does the alarm affect them?
  • What do they do?
  • Are they at cross-purposes? How so?

Place ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances or extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances.

Download the PDF: In The Bedroom Exercise

“Tarantino” Writing Challenge

“Tarantino” Writing Challenge

From Screenwriters Toolkit

1) Choose two businesses at random. Move two characters from Point A to
Point B by whatever means you invent. Invent a good reason for the
journey. Reveal that intent skillfully. If it’s huge, understate it. If it’s trivial,
exaggerate.

2) Pick one of the following topics and write a dialogue scene between those
two characters, exploring and disputing the topic fully.

  • Standard shift vs. automatic transmission
  • Leaf blowers
  • Teeth
  • Class seating on airplanes
  • Vegetarianism
  • Paying for cable TV
  • Burning CDs
  • Any other mundane topic in the world.

As in every good scene, use the interchange not only to explore the issue,
but in doing so, reveal who the characters are, individually and in their
relationship to each other.

3) Orchestrate part 2 into part 1 and write a sequence of scenes.

Dowload the PDF: Tarantino Exercise

“Fill in the Gaps” Writing Challenge

“Fill in the Gaps” Writing Challenge

Using the given script, write one scene that features a character that is off screen while the rest of the movie is going on.

For example, Rocky and Adrian have a scene together. Adrian leaves and we follow Rocky for a few scenes. Then we meet up with Adrian again. What did Adrian do in the meantime? Who would she talk to?

This is a chance to write with existing characters. You don’t have to do much world building. You’re focusing on writing character, but also the craft of formatting action, dialogue, description, phone calls, etc.

Download the PDF: Fill in the Gaps exercise

Download the Rocky screenplay: rocky-1976.pdf