Check In with your Hero

Today I blazed through about eight pages of script and then stalled. I knew what the next scene is, but I couldn't figure out what to put there.

I realized: this is the point where it might be a good idea to check in with my main character. She's in practically every scene of the movie. But only now and then do we get some alone time with her, to see how she's really feeling. (She's not someone who shows her feelings easily.)

You don't always have to make a whole scene out of checking in with your main character. It might be a glance in the mirror at the beginning of a scene, or a closeup of her face as she walks away from a scene. Sometimes, you don't even need to put the scene in the movie -- you can write the scene but keep it to yourself. But checking in with your main character can allow your story to take a breath and gather its strength for the next push. And it helps make sure your story isn't going off the rails.

Also, actors love it.

Another Awesome Googletool

Now that Google has scanned umpteen gazillion books into its Big Computer Brain, you can now ask it to graph how common a word or phrase has been over the past 200 years.

It's like Googlefight, but in the fourth dimension!

I mean, how awesome is that?

I have no idea what use this is, but it sure is fun.

Stupid Decisions

A friend of mine got a note complaining about a stupid decision a character made. Of course, in real life people make stupid decisions all the time, but in drama or comedy we want to feel that things happen for a reason.

I would generally translate this note to, "You haven't convinced me why this character would do this dumb thing." I would generally address the note by making sure that I'm really selling the character's flaw that makes him or her do the dumb thing. Are they vain? Make them do it out of vanity. Are they devious? Make them do it because they're being too clever by half.

A character can do incredibly stupid things. But unless they're Joey-from-FRIENDS stupid, you need to earn their mistakes. Using the mistake to reveal or reinforce their character flaws seems to work well.

Interstitials

Q. I'm writing a comedy pilot and am torn between including the talking head interstitial bits that are so prevalent in the MODERN FAMILY and PARKS & RECS of today's new shows.  On the one hand including it shows a familiarity with what's trending in Hollywood, but on the other hand it's been trended to the point that it's XXXL unoriginal.  I'm leaning to include it only if I can make the bits funny enough to be worthwhile + including a slightly finessed approach to it such that it's at least mildly fresh.  Any thoughts?

Well, it's not like MODERN FAMILY invented it. THE OFFICE has been doing it for years. Er, and didn't THE NEWSROOM do it before that?

I think the talking head faux-doc interstitial has actually moved past the point of being overused, and it is now at the point where it's just another tool like voiceover or the swish-pan.

Readers, what do you think?

Facebook Name Trees

Thanks to Ron Bowes' recent release of the public Facebook info for 100 million users, there is now a handy tool for matching first names to last names.

For example, if your last name is Aamir, your first name is most commonly Muhammed or Mohammed. If your last name is Epstein, your first name is often David, Michael, Mark or Dan.

This comes in handy if you want normative names for a script. For example, if you have an Arab character, put in an Arab last name (Hussein, say), and you'll get some convincing Arab names: Ahmed Hussein, Ali Hussein, Mohammed Hussein; also Mostafa, Abdulrahman, and adorably, Rehab.

This allows more precise ethnic marking than, say, the awesomely useful Baby Name Voyager, which is excellent for age marking.

Reverse Image Search

TinEye is a reverse image search engine. Upload or link to a photo, and it will tell you where that photo shows up on the net. Handy to see if someone is using your artwork, or if an artist is putting other people's artwork on his page... you get the idea.

They're only in beta, so results are spotty. But the engine is smart enough to spot images when they're surrounded by text, and I imagine they'll be indexing more and more pictures as they get up to speed.

Tip of Your Tongue

Can't quite figure out that perfect word. You sort of know what it sounds like and it sort of means this but it's just not coming?

Try the Tip of Your Tongue tool. Maybe it can help!

New Perspective

I rarely link to other screenwriting blogs 'cause you're probably reading them. But this one from John August seems particularly cool and I don't want you to miss it.

The question is "how do I keep rewriting when I've lost perspective." August offers three techniques:

• Challenge yourself to remove one seemingly important scene. Imagine what would happen if the actor you needed died during production, and that scene never got shot. Could you work around it? Could you make the movie better for its absence?
• Push yourself to use better words. Particularly in the back half of a script, there’s a tendency to get a bit sloppy and repetitive. Make that scene description on page 98 as sharp as it was on page 13. Here’s a test: Are you using “there are?” If so, you could do better.
• Imagine a secondary plot that we’re not seeing. Like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, perhaps there’s an offscreen adventure taking place that a reader will never see. Only you as the writer will know it’s there. Dangerous? Sure. But on your fifth draft, a little danger may be what you need.

Each of these is the moral equivalent of standing on a chair to help find your wallet. You'll see the terrain differently. Try it.