F the System

Every person who has ever dreamed of being a writer has gone through this one phase. And every writer has to go through it at least once in their life.

I call it: "F the system". As in:

"F the system man. I ain't in this to make money, I'm in this to make art!"

Or:

"I'm trying to write the next “Rashomon” not the next “Paul Blart”! F the system!"

I understand this phase. I went through this phase myself. I think everyone has to. But it has to be a phase, not a mantra.

There comes a time in every writers life where you have to give up the idea that you’re going to write Godfather 4. You can’t do that right from the start. You have to work your way up. You might have to settle for Paul Blart 2. So why fight the system now?

You know who I blame for this phase? Independent directors. When it comes to filmmaking, independent directors have it the easiest. They don't have as many people looking over their shoulders. They have the freedom to create whatever idea pops in their heads. And an entire independent movement to support their every whim. They have one undeniable factor that allows them to "F the system".

They're not spec writers.

If you're a spec writer, you have rules to follow. Hollywood doesn't give a crap about you "not wanting to write sympathetic characters" or you wanting to write an ending where "everyone dies and no one is happy". Hollywood doesn't like those things. And you shouldn't either. Because if you don't play by the rules, then you don't get to play.

And if you are one of those Hollywood Haters reading this right now, I know exactly what you're thinking: "F this sellout. Why doesn't he shut up and go watch Twilight?"

First of all, “Twilight” sucks.

Second of all, that’s not a bad idea. In my opinion, if you’re a spec writer, you should be REQUIRED to see “Twilight”. And the rest of the sequels. As a spec writer, you NEED to go see the “Twilight’s”, the “Paul Blart’s”, the “Tooth Fairy’s” and everything else that hits a hundred million. Because that’s what’s selling. Do you think I went to see “Transformers 2” for fun?

You need to study not just the good films but the bad ones. For every “Inglorious Bastards” there has to be a “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra”. If you see “The Hangover”, you have to see “It’s Complicated”. The good with the bad. One for you, one for your craft. Watch these movies. Read the scripts. And figure out how the structure worked.

Uh oh. Did I just say the “S” word?

“Structure?! F’n structure?! This guy wants me to write something formulaic! F this guy, I’m gonna go watch Pulp Fiction for the fifteenth time!”

Look buddy, I hear you. When you’re first starting out, structure is a dirty word. But right now it needs to be your best friend. Better yet, your significant other.

Next time you go to the movies, bring structure along as your date. Hold hands with structure as you talk to each other about where you think act two begins or what you think the inciting incident was. You and structure will have a fantastic evening.

BECAUSE YOU NEED STRUCTURE.

I don’t know how to make that clearer for you Hollywood Haters. You can’t just have people sitting about talking to each other. Yes it does happen in movies. Yes it does happen in great movies. But if you do a little research on those movies, you’ll notice that most of them were made by independent filmmakers.

You’re a spec writer.

So next time you write a script, try to make sure that something happens. If it’s just a bunch of people talking, it’s going to get boring for the reader. Fast.

It's very true that the best movies of all time, barely follow structure. You're not wrong. But every reader in Hollywood is looking for a writer that understands structure. That's the way it is in the system. So to get your foot in the door, you're going to have to learn it. Once you are in, write what ever you want. More power to you. But in the mean time:

Act 1, Act 2a, Act 2b and Act 3. Learn it, live it and stop complaining about it.

Learn the rules of spec writing. Hold on to these rules as if your career depends on it.

Because they do.

Remember:
When you try to F the system, you just F yourself.

My First Mistakes

I can not believe that it's already 2010. It's been nine years since I tried to make my first film. And failed miserably.

Looking back on those days and reading those old scripts make me want to cringe. Did I really write that crap?

My goal with this blog is to help fellow writers. Help guide them though the hell that is screenwriting. What better way to do that than to tell you about the hell my own scripts went though?


Here are the five bigges mistakes that I made back in 2001. Five things I would never do today. Learn from me.

5) Only write what can be filmed - It seems so obvious to me now. But back in 2001, I had no idea. I had people "realizing" all over the place. Backstory in the descriptions instead of the dialogue. And worst of all, chatty asides that I put in there to make the reader smile. Really get a connection between me and the reader you know?

Turns out, not good.

It was the rule everyone knew except me at the time. Only write what you can see or hear on the screen. A screenplay is a blueprint for a movie. Not a novel. If it can't be filmed, don't write it!

4) I wrote well beyond four lines at a time - It didn't seem like that big of a deal to me. Why would it matter how many lines I had? Or how many words I have on the page?

What kind of jerk would not read every little word I type? How else are they going to experience the essence of my art?

We writers are so vain.

So why only four lines? Let's do a little experiment. Let's pretend this blog was all just one big paragraph. Would you read it? I wouldn't and I wrote it.

Spoon-feeding the reader is the single best defense against skimming. If you keep your paragraphs no more than four lines, allot more of it will get read.

You wanna hear something really crazy? Like really, really, really crazy? Dialogue is the same.
I know, insane.

Excluding the occasional speech, most blocks of dialogue should be no more than four lines.

It's all about the white space. The more white on the page the more black will be read.

3) I didn't understand present tense - This one took me forever to figure out. My writing history started out with writing novels where I wrote mostly in past tense.

In screenplays it's always present tense. It's not:

"The man is playing piano."

It's:

"The man plays the piano."

In fact, the word “is” should rarely show up in a screenplay outside of dialogue.

Remember, when writing a screenplay, every line you write is suppose to be a shot in the movie. So making sure that everything is happening in the here and now (present tense), makes the reader think he/she is actually watching the movie.

A very good sign.

2) I didn't buy Final Draft - I can’t even imagine it now, but at one point I was writing all my scripts with Mircosoft’s Word. Word?! I don’t think I could ever do it again.

The day I finally bought Final Draft was the day a creative weight was lifted off my shoulders. No more worrying about my dialogue being too long. No more pointless macros. And most importantly, no more hitting TAB seventeen thousand times!

If you are still writing with Word, please do yourself a favor and get some screen writing software. It makes everything so much easier.

1) I didn't read Save the Cat - This is the book that changed my writing life. The problem is, it took me forever to actually pick it up and read it.

Back in the early 2000's I thought I knew everything about writing. I knew my act one, two and three. What else did I need? It turns out allot. There were midpoints and turning points and other basic structure moments that I had no idea about. That was until "Save the Cat".
If you haven't picked this book up for whatever reason, do yourself a favor and head over to Amazon right now.

It'll change your life.
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Well, those are the first mistakes I ever made. If you are currently making any of these mistakes, I’m glad I could help you.
And if you have any mistakes of your own that you look back on and couldn’t believe you did, drop me a line and let me know what it was.