Earl Pomerantz Blog

Earl Pomerantz (COSBY, BECKER, MAJOR DAD, etc.) has also decided to join the ever-growing club of pro monkeys who pontificate for the benefit of aspiring and emerging monkeys. Here's a post about writing "like yourself" in his blog Just Thinking.

Check it out!

Man, we did not have this stuff when I was coming up. All you could do was try to get a booth at Nate'n'Al's next to the booth full of old Jews and eavesdrop -- hopefully they were veteran writers. (If you guessed wrong, there was at least the best raisin bread I have ever had.)

I wonder how anyone sells a screenwriting book these days?

(Thanks to Pardis P for the heads-up.)

Script Length Anomaly?

Here's an odd anomaly I'd love y'all to weigh in on.

Broadcast drama scripts are much more than a page a minute. Our CHARLIE JADE scripts were 51+ for a 43 minute show. THE BORDER scripts are up to 60. The very talky WEST WING scripts are in the high sixties. GILMORE GIRLS have been spotted as high as 73.

But look at cable dramas. Thanks to the efforts of my tireless researcher Webs, DEXTER pilot is 66, but other scripts are 54, 54, and 57 pages. DURHAM COUNTY scripts are 55 pages for 52 minutes. The MAD MEN pilot was 52, with most running 51-53 pages, and some 50, 49 and even 46 for a 48 minute show.

On the other hand, RESCUE ME: 64, 64. THE WIRE: 63 (and 89 - as Wilcox points out below, a 90 minuter). CARNIVALE pilot: 64.

The SOPRANOS scripts run a bit longer, but I don't think all the episodes are 52 minutes, either.

What's up with that?

Granted, broadcast scripts have act breaks. But five acts + teaser only gives you an average of 2.5 extra pages. (Slightly less, actually, since if writers are anything like me, they will usually try to reduce the page count, so a loose couple of lines at the end of an act will usually provoke a frenzy of line-trimming.)

Cable shows tend to weigh their dialog more carefully, maybe? Or have more dialogue-less cinematic goodies? Is it that you can afford more longueurs when you know your audience has already paid for its ticket?

What do you think?

Voting Rights

(Leftie politics.)

Hey, y'all. I have a new post up at Daily Kos about how we need a Voting Rights Act of 2009.

Writer's Journey

One of the books they made us read in film school way back when was Christopher Vogler's book THE WRITER'S JOURNEY: MYTHIC STRUCTURE FOR WRITERS. Vogler has come out with a third edition, so I thought I'd take a read.

Vogler is coming at story structure out of the Joseph Campbell HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES tradition. Campbell theorized that hero stories have a similar structure across all human cultures, and that there are archetypes that we always see in them: the refusal of the call, the mentor, the inmost cave, etc.

Vogler attempts to relate Campbell's character archetypes to successful movies. Who is the Shadow? Who is the Shapeshifter? Who is the Mentor? He also outlines a basic structure for the story:

1. Ordinary World
2. Call to Adventure
3. Refusal of the Call
4. Meeting with the Mentor
5. Crossing the First Threshold

6. Tests, Allies, Enemies
7. Approach to the Inmost Cave
8. Ordeal
9. Reward

10. The Road Back
11. Resurrection
12. Return with the Elixir

When you try to apply this formula to some movies, it works quite well, e.g. STAR WARS. Bear in mind, though, these often seem to be movies written by writers who are consciously trying to apply Joseph Campbell to screenwriting, as George Lucas was. Back in film school, I tried a bunch of times to relate these steps to stories I was trying to tell, and I had trouble telling what step I was supposed to be on. Lisa pointed out that many of the steps applied to the series I'm working on (Natural World, Refusal of the Call) but later on it gets difficult to say which part is "The Road Back" and which is "Return with the Elixir".

When Vogler tries to fit stories that aren't intended to be epic hero tales into his formula, the results aren't so neat. It can feel like he's shoehorning the facts into the theory, as when he looks at PULP FICTION. No "Shapeshifter" character? Claim that Vincent Vega and Mia's dance moves "reflect the SHAPESHIFTER archetype, as they try out various masks and identies in the APPROACH to love" (p. 275). Uh huh.

I'm not a big fan of formula, myself. I'm agnostic about Blake Snyder's formula (see my earlier post on SAVE THE CAT!) because I can see how it might work. My problem with Vogler is that while it is an interesting way to look at movies, and to understand what they're doing for the audience, I don't see how it helps me write one. It looks like a way to analyze what is going on in a movie, rather than a way to write a movie.

I should note that Christopher Vogler is not a professional writer, but a professional story analyst (if I understand his resume right). He shares credit on one German movie. Mostly, my impression is, he works with writers that the studio feels could use someone with a deeper understanding of story structure. In that case I would imagine that his approach, actually applied by him, might work.

But if you want a mythic perspective on screenwriting -- and how it fits into the grand epic tradition of storytelling -- then you might well check out THE WRITER'S JOURNEY.

Formula

Q. Seeing your link to the 'Save The Cat' movie logline formula got me to thinking: is there a similar formula to create a logline for a pilot? Do Series even have loglines?

If there is, I wish someone would tell me what it is.

But I hope there isn't.

Five Acts No Teaser?

Q. My spec pilot is five acts without a teaser. Is that a problem? The story itself doesn't need a teaser, but if I rack my brain I could probably come up with one that integrates in. But I'd really rather not. This story is an entrance into a world with the first act working as an introduction to players and themes, and I don't see an obvious big hook moment in the first two minutes for a teaser.

I've seen hour episodes without teasers. I can't think of any pilots without them. (Anyone have counterexamples.)

Not having a teaser is an interesting choice. It allows you to tell a bigger chunk of story before giving the audience a convenient break during which to leave you. You'll see it from time to time in hour episodes, though rarely in pilots. (Anyone got any examples?)

I feel you almost always want a teaser. I've never written a pilot without a teaser.I want to grab the reader's, the exec's, the audience's attention. A great teaser not only grabs their attention, it tells them what kind of goods the show is promising to deliver.

It does not have to have the main characters, though it usually does. The BUFFY teaser just tells us "this is going to be a narratively surprising show with vampires."

But don't take my word for it. If you're considering skipping your teaser, then you should really try to find some hit series that also skip the teaser. See why they did it, and how it works.

Then, of course, watch a bunch of hit show pilots and see what their teasers do for them.

If you can't find any hit series that don't have a teaser, then unless you consider yourself a narrative genius, and hope to break new narrative ground, I'd spend a week and find myself a teaser.

Always do your research. If you're building a new engine, you want to know how everyone else builds their engine. Otherwise you're liable to reinvent the wheel; and no one will be impressed at your effort.

Wassup? More Clever Homegrown Obama Videos

(Obamaganda)

Looks like some companies are producing high-production-quality, very funny Obama videos as calling cards.



I love democracy and capitalism. They keep generating things that no central planner or autocrat would ever, ever have thought of.



You know how you shouldn't slam the press? There might be a tactical argument for not taking cheap shots at Hollywood, too.

(Via The Daily Dish)

Mad Scotsman Wishes To Skip Summer in Edinburgh

I am a student in the UK and really enjoy screenwriting. I have applied to a program called "Work America" where UK students get a US visa to work and travel the States for 3-4 months during the summer. What are the prospects of getting a job in the film industry (any job)? Is there any type of job you would advise if I am really enthusiastic in working in film?

You don't need to be on a US set because they're more or less the same as British sets, except fewer tea breaks.

I would advise any aspiring screenwriter, director or producer who wants an intense learning experience to try to get a job (or internship) at an agency. Nothing else compares. Mailroom or assistant to an agent, those are the jobs to get. Or any kind of internship at an agency.

Get The Hollywood Creative Directory Online, get agents' names, call agents while you're still in Scotland, talk to them or their assistants, explain yourself, find out whom they think you should write to, write to those people, then call them. They'll cut you some slack because you're not from around here, and maybe because who doesn't like a Scottish accent; but not that much slack, because they have MBA's and lawyers volunteering for these jobs.

You can also try temp agencies once you're here but they're more likely to get you a job as assistant to someone in the DVD marketing department, say, or writing dunning letters to libraries who owe Disney money for motion picture rental. (Those were my two jobs from a temp agency specializing in showbiz.)

The prospects for any job in showbiz are the same. They are impossible to get, and yet somehow people get them every day. If you are daunted by impossible odds, consider another line of work. If you're not, just make yourself capable of the impossible.