TothewritersofTheUnit. Greetings. Aswealllearnhowtowritethisshow,arecurringproblembecomesclear. Theproblemisthis:todifferentiatebetweendramaandnondrama.Letmebreakitdownnow. Everyoneincreationisscreamingatustomaketheshowclear. Wearetaskedwith,itseems,crammingashitloadofinformationintoalittlebitoftime. Ourfriends,thepenguins,thinkthatwe,therefore,areemployedtocommunicateinformationand,so,attimes,it seemstous. Butnote: Theaudiencewillnottuneintowatchinformation. Youwouldn't,Iwouldn't.Noonewouldorwill. Theaudiencewillonlytuneinandstaytunedtowatchdrama. Question: Whatisdrama?

Drama,again,isthequestoftheherotoovercomethosethingsthatpreventhimfromachievingaspecific,acute, goal. So:We,thewriters,mustaskourselvesofeveryscenethesethreequestions:

Whowantswhat? Whathappensifhedoesn'tgetit? Why now?

Theanswerstothesequestionsislitmuspaper. Applythem,andtheiranswerswilltellyouifthesceneisdramaticornot. Ifthesceneisnotdramaticallywritten,itwillnotbedramaticallyacted. Thereisnomagicfairydustwhichwillmakeaboring,useless,redundant,ormerelyinformativesceneafteritleaves yourtypewriter.You,thewriters,areinchargeofmakingsureevery sceneisdramatic. Thismeansallthe"little"expositionalscenesoftwopeopletalkingaboutathird,thisbushwah(andwealltendto writeitonthefirstdraft)islessthanuseless,shoulditfinally,godforbid,getfilmed. Ifthesceneboresyouwhenyoureadit,restassureditwillboretheactors,andwill,then,boretheaudience,and we'reallgoingtobebackinthebreadline. Someonehastomakethescenedramatic.Itisnottheactor'sjob(theactor'sjobistobetruthful).Itisnotthe director's job.Hisorherjobistofilmitstraightforwardlyandremindtheactorstotalkfast. Itisyourjob. Everyscenemustbedramatic.Thatmeans:themaincharactermusthaveasimple,straightforward,pressingneed whichimpelshimorhertoshowupinthescene. Thisneediswhytheycame.Itiswhatthesceneisabout.Theirattempttogetthisneedmetwilllead,attheendof thescene,tofailurethisishowweknowthesceneisover.It,thisfailure,will,then,ofnecessity,propelusinto thenextscene. Alltheseattempts,takentogether,will,overthecourseoftheepisode,constitutetheplot. Anyscenethus,whichdoesnotbothadvancetheplot,andstandalone(thatis,dramatically,byitself,onitsown merits)iseithersuperfluous,orincorrectlywritten.

Yesbutyesbutyesbut,yousay:whataboutthenecessityofwritinginallthatinformation?" AndIrespond"figureitout"anydickheadwithabluesuitcanbe(andis)taughttosay"makeitclearer",and"I wanttoknowmoreabouthim". Whenyou'vemadeitsoclearthateventhisbluesuitedpenguinishappy,bothyouandheorshewillbeoutofajob. Thejobofthedramatististomaketheaudiencewonderwhathappensnext.Nottoexplaintothemwhatjust happened,ortosuggesttothemwhathappensnext. Anyd*ckhead,asabove,canwrite,"but,Jim,ifwedon'tassassinatethePrimeMinisterinthenextscene,all Europewillbeengulfedinflames." Wearenotgettingpaidtorealizethattheaudienceneedsthisinformationtounderstandthenextscene,buttofigure outhowtowritethescenebeforeussuchthattheaudiencewillbeinterestedinwhathappensnext. Yes,but,yesbutyesbut,youreiterate. AndIrespondfigureitout. Howdoesonestrikethebalancebetweenwitholdingandvouchsafinginformation?Thatistheessentialtaskofthe dramatist.Andtheabilitytodothatiswhatseparatesyoufromthelesserspeciesinthebluesuits. Figureitout. Start,everytime,withthisinviolablerule: Thescenemustbedramatic .Itmuststartbecausetheherohasaproblem,anditmustculminatewiththehero findinghimorherselfeitherthwartedoreducatedthatanotherwayexists. Lookatyourloglines.Anyloglinereading"BobandSuediscuss..."isnotdescribingadramaticscene. Pleasenotethatouroutlinesare,generally,spectacular.Thedramaflowsoutbetweentheoutlineandthefirstdraft. Thinklikeafilmmakerratherthanlikeafunctionary.Because,intruth,youaremakingthefilm.Whatyouwrite,they willshoot. Herearethedangersignals. Anytimetwocharactersaretalkingaboutathird,thesceneisacrockofshit. Anytimeanycharacterissayingtoanother"asyouknow",thatis,tellinganothercharacterwhatyou,thewriter, needtheaudiencetoknow,thesceneisacrockofsh*t. Donotwriteacrockofsh*t.Writingarippingthree,four,sevenminutescenewhichmovesthestoryalong,andyou can,verysoon,buyahouseinBelAirandhiresomeonetolivethereforyou. Rememberyouarewritingforavisualmedium.Mosttelevisionwriting,oursincluded,soundslikeradio.Thecamera candotheexplainingforyou.Letit.Whatarethecharactersdoingliterally .Whataretheyhandling,whatarethey reading,whataretheywatchingontelevision,whataretheyseeing. Thisisaskill.Noonedoesitnaturally.Youcantrainyourselvestodoit,butyouneedtostart. Iclosewithonethought:lookatthesceneandaskyourself"isitdramatic ?"IsItessential?Doesitadvancethe plot?" Answertruthfully. Ifanyansweris"no"writeitagainorthrowitout. Ifyou'vegotanyquestions,callmeup. Love, Dave MametSantaMonica19Oct05 (Itisnotyourresponsibilitytoknowtheanswers,butitisyour,andmy,responsibilitytoknowandtoasktheright questionsoverandover.Untilitbecomessecondnature.Ibelievetheyarelistedabove.)