Lebowitz

Sora Lebowitz Mr. Johnson September 22, 13

What elements make up a good script and how has it transitioned over the years?

Choosing a topic for my senior mastery was fairly easy. I found something that said me. The main topic for my senior mastery is Scriptwriting. Coming up with a more detailed question was a bit harder to think of. At first I was dead set on changing the status quo for scripts that are most likely to sell. However, I thought about it and realized I could not do much research on such a narrow topic. Thats when I came up with the question, What elements make up a good script and how has it transitioned over the years? I did not really know much about my topic other then what I had learned in class, but I knew there was much more. Even in class we did not really focus on scripts rather we spent more time on shots, equipment, and filming. After I decided I wanted to work on script writing (before I decided on a question) I started to do some research. I knew I wanted to use books as sources because I felt I would get more information, a wide range of publishing dates, and more of a diversity of information. I read a certain line that was the spark to coming up with my question. If you want to sell them a script for money, your best chances are to write one the way they like it. (Landau 46) Well how exactly do they like it? Thats where my research began. I checked out any book that contained script writing. I figured the less specific I was the better. Out of the many books I got only a few were duds. The rest of them contained information that either gave a completely new idea or that backed up with the previous book had stated.

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About half way through the books I had, the information started repeating and that is when I realized I found what elements make up a good script. What elements make up a good script and how has it transitioned over the years? This is the question I set out to answer. My idea originally started when I read something that said if your script did not contain certain elements, it would more then likely be tossed to the side. The basis of my research was finding what those imperative elements were. I had a total of thirteen different sources. Three of them were no good. The remaining ten all contained valuable information. Each source repeated what the previous source said, but in a different way. Each source also had its ideas of what was important in creating the perfect script. However, they all had three things in common, the formula, the story and characters, and dialogue. These three things, no matter what, are the most important. When referring to formula, it is not talking math, rather how your storyline is set up. This was one of the main ideas in a few of my sources, What They Dont Teach You at Film School Genre Screenwriting: How to Write Popular Screenplays That Sell and Writing Screenplays That Sell. All three sources explain that you need three acts. The first one establishes the story, the second builds the story, and the third is where the story is resolved. Camille Landau says that Three-Act Structure scripts are not the only way to write a script, however, it is the most popular script in the film industry that is most likely to be bought. (46) In Writing Screenplays That Sell the author gives the same idea of having the three acts but gives further details. Michael Hauge says, The three acts of the screenplay, correspond to the three stages of the heros outer motivation.(86) He continues to explain each change the hero goes through is a signal for the next act. In another source I

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have, it talked about a different kind of formula, but instead of talking script structure it was talking about the story. Chris Soth, writer for Now Write, Screenwriting says, Every good movie builds up and releases tension. He explains that in every movie we watch we are always hoping for one outcome and fearing another. Tension is what keeps a story interesting and the audience interested. The formula for tension Soth uses is Tension = Hope vs Fear. The story is just as important to the script as the formulas are. Without a good story that will keep people interested, then there is no point to the formula. People watch movies to be entertained and if they are not entertained then what is the point? In Genre Screenwriting: How to Write Popular Screenplays That Sell it says that nearly every film studio will consider purchasing a script based on a high-concept premise. High-concept premise is the idea that the main point of the movie is more important then the characters in the story. However, as like everything else nowadays, now that we are moving into the twenty first century things have changed. Now studios are considering the high-concept premise boring and stale and are looking at a low-high-concept premise where characters are thought about more but a unique situation and idea are still just as important. As with any story it is an obvious necessity to have a protagonist and antagonist. There needs to be the troubled character and then the hero. With out that you really do not have a story. A Young Persons Guide To Writing For The Movies says a key part of writing a successful screenplay is the stuff you come up with in your imagination: a dynamic story, exciting characters, and realistic and hip dialogue. Those ideas as a whole make up the second imperative element of a script.

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Dialogue is the third importance to the perfect script. If you want your script to sell, you need to keep up with language of the audience of today. Meaning, if you are writing for teenagers, you need to understand how they speak and how they construct their sentences. If you are writing for adults it is the same idea. You need to make sure your audience is easily able to relate to the dialogue of the story. Something I found extremely interesting in A Young Person's Guide to Writing for the Movies is a younger writer has a better chance of selling his or her scripts than an older writer does. It also said that the movies written by younger writers made a lot more money the others did and it makes sense. A majority of moviegoers are teenagers and they go to see movies they can relate to. Younger writers, in most circumstances, have a better sense of what is going on in the world of a teenager and therefore can write a story that will catch the generations attention. How your script is put together is important for studios to understand your idea, characters and the story are what make the money, and dialogue, as well as the characters, are who and what people are able to relate to. All of this combines to create a final script that has the best chance of selling. I really enjoyed researching about scriptwriting. I learned about things I had no clue were actually important to the script. This research was not only another paper I had to write, but it also gave me valuable information I will be able to use in the future. Writing is something I enjoy doing during my free time and who knows, maybe Ill write a script one day and take it to Hollywood. Now I know how to write a script that is sure to sell! When I first started the process of researching, I thought the type of script (two column, film style, etc.) was important, but that really doesnt matter. Now I have learned that the structure of

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the script (formula), the story (characters), and the audience are what is most important in writing a good script. Another factor I learned was important, and that I might take advantage of in the next few years, is that age most definitely is an important factor is selling your script. Hollywood buys script to produce for an audience. A majority of moviegoers are children and young adults and believe it or not Hollywood would rather produce a script that someone from the audiences generation wrote. It is more relatable and movies writer by younger people tend to make a lot more money. That very idea can actually lead me on to another idea of research. How have movies changed over the years? Meaning, are there an equal amount of family movies, children movies, and teen movies? Not genres like dramas, sci-fi, sports, but the audience that goes to see the movie? Maybe that will be next.

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Works Cited

Begleiter, Marcie. From Word to Image: Storyboarding and the Filmmaking Process. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2001. Print.

Duncan, Stephen V. Genre Screenwriting: How to Write Popular Screenplays That Sell. New York: Continuum, 2008. Print.

Ellis, Sherry, and Laurie Lamson. Now Write! Screenwriting: Exercises by Today's Best Writers and Teachers. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2010. Print.

Hauge, Michael. Writing Screenplays That Sell. New York, NY: HarperPerennial, 1991. Print.

Landau, Camille, and Tiare White. What They Don't Teach You at Film School: 161 Strategies for Making Your Own Movie No Matter What. New York: Hyperion, 2000. Print.

Lanier, Troy, and Clay Nichols. Filmmaking for Teens: Pulling off Your Shorts. Studio City, CA: Michael Wiese Productions, 2010. Print.

Lawrence, Colton. Big Fat Paycheck: A Young Person's Guide to Writing for the Movies.

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New York: Bantam, 2004. Print. Shanks, Bob, and Bob Shanks. The Primal Screen: How to Write, Sell, and Produce Movies for Television : With Complete Script of Drop-out Father. New York: Norton, 1986. Print.

Sandler, Ellen. The TV Writer's Workbook: A Creative Approach to Television Scripts. New York: Bantam Dell, 2007. Print.

Schleger, Peter. "Scriptwriting Like The Pros." Training & Development Journal 44.5 (1990): 69. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 17 Sept. 2013.