"Angel of Death" and the New Kid

Ironically, I was just watching a webisode called Angel of Death, where the main character takes a new kid (who is called literally "the new kid") under her wing -- right around the beginning of act two! And what is that new kid doing? Asking the main character questions, which help to explain some of what's going on in the story. Blessed exposition.

Check it out (watch episode 1):

http://www.crackle.com/c/Angel_Of_Death

What Blake Snyder Called "Fun and Games"

Nicole Criona of lawritersgroup.com posted this comment on my blog: “Often times, bringing in a new character will also serve as a way to avoid expository dialogue, especially in screenplays, because now the main character has a reason to explain certain things to the ‘new kid’ and thereby the audience learns as well.”

I would add to this that, often in your story, your main character is actually the “new kid” and can thus have things explained to her (and henceforth to the audience). This is especially true at the beginning of act two, when the main character has just passed over the “threshold”, as Christopher Vogel calls it, into the “new world”. In many “odyssey type” stories, the main character is now a total foreigner in a new and different world and must learn how to deal and prosper here, most often with the help of friends (and more often than not enemies). The main character oftentimes meets his/her love interest at this point – and/or what I call the mentor/motivating character – and that character can also serve to shed light on the rules of the new world and thus also inform the audience through dialogue about what is going on.

Sometimes the mentor/motivating character does this with the help of, yes, a bit of exposition. But this can also happen through action scenes, as we see the main character flounder and become flustered by this new world where the rules of her old world no longer apply. The late, famed Blake Snyder also called this the “fun and games” section of the story, where the scenes we see in the trailer of a movie come from – also where we can "have fun" paying off much of the premise of the movie. “Fun and games” means all those funny (or dramatic) moments where the main character is learning her way around in this new world, often tripping and falling on her face, much to the amusement of the audience.

If you are writing a screenplay, you can look to dedicate at least ten to fifteen pages to this part of the story. Just remember: all this good stuff you can read in books on story structure and how to write screenplays shouldn’t depended on too much by writers, or it just becomes formula. Stick to a formula too closely, and your screenplay will come off as – you guessed it – formulaic. Isn’t it boring to sit in a theater, watching some big-budget blockbuster, and you know exactly what’s going to happen because the studio execs didn’t want to take any chances on veering from the tried and tested? On the other hand, make sure your scenes emerge organically. This will happen the more you practice writing.

New Filmmakers

Just passing this along. They also screen indie films once a month at the Sunset Gower Studios in Los Angeles. 

Submit your film DIRECTLY to the NewFilmmakers New York Summer Theatrical Screening Series

 

 

Whether you have previously submitted a film to the NewFilmmakers Screening Series or not, now is the PERFECT time to submit.

 

Click here to submit your film

Great Article about Giving Your Characters Choices

From Anna Staniszewski's blog: http://www.annastan.com/2011/02/giving-your-character-choices/

Anna says:

"Nancy Lamb has a great chapter on plot in The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children which I use with my writing classes. As I was re-reading the chapter last night, something new stood out to me. (I find that often happens when I reread craft books–something jumps out at me that’s relevant to the story I’m currently working on.)

"In the chapter, Lamb says:

Remember that choice creates conflict. Without choice, there is no conflict. In literature, as in life, the torment of deciding between two equally weighted alternatives creates one of the most powerful conflicts a character can confront.

"This explains why love triangles can work so well, because the character needs to decide between two options that both seem like they might be the right one. When I think about the most memorable problems I’ve had in my life, they’re mostly of the “I don’t know what to do” variety, when I wasn’t sure which choice was the correct one. That, of course, got me thinking about  my characters’ problems.

"In a manuscript I’m currently revising, the character hasn’t had much in the way of options. Something happens to his family and he has no choice but to try to fix it. High stakes, right? Well yes, but thinking about what Lamb said makes me wonder if I’ve made things too simple for my character. Saving his family will be filled with obstacles, but he’s so single-minded about it that it’s not terribly interesting. What if he did have a choice? For example, what if he thinks someone else can do it for him–and things only get worse as a result?

"I’m not sure what direction I’ll take the story in, but I’m going to try to give the character more choices. After all, every decision he makes might be the wrong one, which will only get him deeper into trouble, and which will make the stakes even higher.

"What about you? Have you been giving your characters enough gut-wrenching choices?"

---

New Media Film Festival

FYI for those of you in the new media world....

New Media Film Festival

“New Media Film Festival is the Sundance for the Facebook Crowd”
- Culture Rehab

“The future of new media for storytelling is limitless... content creator(s) need to hear what's being said at New MediaFilm Festival. It 'll open your mind to all possibilities."
- Frank Colin, Script Magazine

The 2nd Annual New Media Film Festival will be held in Los Angeles May 20-21 2011, and in San Francisco November 4-5 2011, honoring stories worth telling in all media that are innovative, imaginative and inspirational.

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

The New Media Film Festival was created in 2010 for Artists, Filmmakers, Producers, Directors, Above and Below the line Crews, Thought Makers, & Implementers that brings stories worth telling to life.

There are categories in 3D Shorts, 3D Features, Animation, Apps, Digital Comics, Documentary, Feature, LGBT, Audience Choice / Mingle Media TV, Mobile, Music Video, Shorts, Shot on Red Shorts, Shot on Red Features, SRC - Socially Responsible Content, Webisode, and Web Series.

Don't forget: Deadline for submissions is May 1st!

For more information about the Film Festival: info@newmediafilmfestival.com.

9th Annual Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition

Just passing this along...

EARLY DEADLINE: March 1st, 2011 $100,000 Cash & Prizes 2008 Winning Script SHRAPNEL to be Directed by John McTiernan (‘Die Hard’) 2008 Winner Evan Daugherty Sold Spec to Universal for $3 million 2010 Winner Tripper Clancy Found Representation through SP Contact FilmEngine; Signed with UTA in 2011 REGISTER HERE

The 2011 Script Pipeline Screenwriting and TV Competitions are accepting entries for feature film and TV scripts–all genres, styles, and lengths accepted. This is an international competition and non–U.S. writers are welcome. $20,000 in cash to the finalists/winners and $80,000 in prizes given away to ANYONE who enters (winners chosen at random). Finalist loglines/scripts are sent to over 200 companies.

Interesting Musings on Filmmaking and Webseries By Jesse Warren

Check out Jesse Warren's blog, the writer behind the super-successful webseries, The Bannen Way.

http://jwarrenpiece.wordpress.com/

Interesting new entry about the relationship between writer and director...