NICK’S BLOG

I know some people think acting classes are mandatory for writers and some think they’re a waste of money.; that if you just read enough scripts or writing books, you’ll be a pro.

Acting classes aren’t mandatory, but I would recommend them. I started out acting. That’s actually how I got into writing.

My mother also writes, and whenever she reads something I write, so always ask me “How do you write so realistic dialogue?”

There’s a simple answer: I’m an actor.

There are several benefits in my mind to taking acting classes.

1. It helps you write better dialogue.

When you’re up on stage or in class everyday and you have to perform someone else’s written work. You have to make that dialogue ring true. You learn what NOT to write, when it comes to dialogue. I hate to say it, but not even A-list actors can make cheesy dialogue come to life. When you are acting saying other people’s dialogue, you learn very quickly what works and what doesn’t.

Dialogue is also very important. Yes, there have been amazing silent films and amazing scenes without dialogue. But dialogue is the pepper, salt, and cheese to your Mac’n’Cheese. Without it, they’re just noodles. Noodles are good, but so much better with the cheese, and the pepper and salt on top. Don’t you want to make a great Mac’n’Cheese?

2. It helps with pitching.

Once you’ve performed a play, you can pitch. It’s no different. You selling a story in both of those. You’re just telling the story when your pitching and acting the story when you performing in a play.

3. It builds confidence.

That’s pretty self-explanatory.

4. It builds a thick skin.

One that’s very needed in the entertainment industry.

5. You make connections.

If you ever wanted to make a low-budget film, the actors and actresses you meet in acting class are the one’s you want. They’ll be trained and most likely work for free. Plus, it always helps to have actors read your script and give feedback. After all, they are the one’s that are finally going to be performing the script, hopefully.

Finding a good acting teacher is really tricky, especially if you don’t live in LA. But, even if you got involved in community theatre as an extra, that helps. I love acting and it’s not easy. But it’s helped me so much when writing scripts. And it’s just another tool to put in your screenwriting tool chest. One of my acting teachers use to say when teaching us a new technique, “This is another tool to put in your tool chest and pull out when you need it.” When you have that tool chest full, you’ve got everything you need to write or to act. And even if you can’t fill it up, don’t you want to put as many tools in your tool chest as possible? What happens if the house starts to flood, don’t you want ALL the tools you need to fix the problem? You don’t want to have to go to all the way to Lowes just to pick up a wrench, because you didn’t have one.

Katlyn Tillman

Pitching from head to toe: Selling your script to the producer

By Katlyn Tillman

Pitching is a very scary term to most screenwriters. We spend countless hours behind the safety of our computer screen writing our masterpiece and now… we have to go out and talk about it! Just to get some else (hopefully a producer) to read it! And what’s more scary is that not only do we have to verbally explain our story to this person and make them realize how amazing our story is, but normally we only have ONE SENTENCE to do it! Before we lose their attention.

I’ve pitched my script before. Several times before. To friendly people. To mean people. To people who were interested. And to people who weren’t.

Let me tell you something. The only thing that makes it scary is you.

If you prepare and if you know what you’re doing. It’s not scary, it’s only fun! (more…)

Hey Fellow Screenwriters,

Well Production Live has finally posted their interview of me at the Filmmaker’s Shindig! I’m really excited about seeing my face on YouTube (and the PL Beta site as well) pitching my Boston-based romantic comedy, “Opportunity Knockout.”

You can view it here:

This was a great experience and is indicative of how you have to be ready to pitch your screenplay anytime and anywhere. I had no idea that they were doing these interviews at the networking event; however, once I knew what was going on I HAD TO GET IN ON IT. My reasoning is simply: if I can’t do it here, then how can I do it out in Hollywood?

So my advice to fledgling writers is know your material and be ready to pitch it because you never know when that golden opportunity will arise and somebody might say, “Great, send it to me.”

And that’s how it’s done!

Cheers,

Nick

Hey Fellow Screenwriters,

Well it looks like the cold weather seems to be diminishing people’s creative spirits as attendance for tonight’s meeting was really low. For about half the meeting it was just Gabe and I talking about his story, “Way Down Under.”

We had an in-depth discussion about how to solve certain writing problems by learning to cut out material and then write a line or two that covers what was cut. Also, we discussed the revision process as it often does take many turns with a writing project. Sometimes you write stuff, then revise it, then cut stuff out, then find you have to put stuff back in but in a different order. I used my screenplay, “Opportunity Knockout,” as an example. It went from 124 pages after draft five when I submitted it to an agent who then told me to cut 14 pages, then from 110 pages I had to add 7 pages back in as I needed to make the story easier for so-called “Story Analysts” to grasp the Three Ss (Subtlety, Subtext, and Symbolism) and hopefully recommend the story to producers.

Gabe is now hard at work writing Act Two of his screenplay.

Later in the meeting we had the appearance of a new member, Ed Dugan. Welcome Ed!

Ed came in with a couple of story ideas that he needed to figure out how to flesh out. Gabe and I thought one if his ideas about an inventor’s mysterious mansion was a good basis for a screenplay.

The three of us starting working out a real story-line and then the usual development flow ensued:

Genre, Logline, Title, 3-Act Structural Breakdown, and a Tagline

Now Ed has a real workable story on his hands that he seems eager to write and vows to have 10 pages of a script ready for next month’s meeting.

Hopefully with spring right around the corner more of you will be able to drop by and share your wonderful ideas and works.

See all of you on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010!

Cheers,

Nick

Hey Fellow Screenwriters,

Well it looks like some of you were still recovering from all of that holiday cheer! We only had three people at the café this evening: me, Jeffrey, and Gabe — and Kelvin was there via conference call. I’m sure that we’ll have a full house next month on February 3rd.

We still had a great meeting. The focus on tonight’s gathering was Jeffrey and Kelvin’s project “Immagracion” and Jeffrey sole project “Healing Hand.”

The discussion on “Immagracion” centered on whittling down their 43 page treatment to a solid 120 page first draft. They’ve already started writing Act I of the script. We talked about ideas for where the major milestones and turning points should be, and delved into the concept of “opposition” to the protagonist’s goals. Character development was also an important topic as Jeffrey and Kelvin want to make sure that the main character grows in some way through his journey in the story.

After Kelvin signed off, Gabe and I discussed Jeffrey’s other work, “Healing Hand.” Jeffrey has already drafted 69 pages and will apply the same strategies for honing it down just like on the other script. Also, I talked more at length about formatting requirements and techniques. For example, the concept of secondary headings is useful for things like superimposing text on the screen. E.g. SUPER: “THE NORMAL WORLD”

Another topic that we got into was the idea of “subtext.” I’ve posted a discussion about subtext on the blog (The Three Ss: Subtlety, Subtext, and Symbolism) but made an example from Jeffrey’s story to illustrate the point. In the story there is a pending funeral event. A child has lost his mother and he is very broken up about it. The grandfather worries about his grandson’s well being. The father debates as to whether or not to let the child go to the funeral.

The scene as it is written covers 3 pages but I made a suggestion to cover all of that in four lines of dialogue using subtext. E.g.

INT. CHURCH – DAY

The funeral …

REGINALD
(whispers)
Where’s Carl?

VICTOR
He’s too distraught to see his mother like this; I decided to let him stay home.

REGINALD
That boy’s gonna need to talk to someone.

VICTOR
(bows his head)
I know dad … I know.

Here I’ve used subtext to convey the grandfather’s concern about the overall emotional well-being of the child without going on at length about it. Also, I’ve gotten across the fact that Reginald is Victor’s father and by extension Carl’s grandfather without having to write that in the action/description.

Subtext can be very useful to save time and space in a screenplay — and believe me, both are at a premium.

After we finished up discussing Jeffrey’s second story we then got into a discussion about good writing strategies and how to break a story down so that you can reign it in to fit the 120 page limit for first time writers. The strategy I referred to is in Blake Snyder’s book, Save The Cat. He uses a beat sheet to map out all the main beats of the story, and then a limited amount of index cards (40) each representing one scene in order to force your story to be as streamlined and concise as possible. It is just one of many strategies but an effective one. And when you’re a first time writer you need to learn to “say more with less” or you won’t get the people who “hold all the cards” to read your work.

Finally, we talked a bit about the marketing aspect of screenwriting, delving into one-sheets, and my project of filming a scene from my rom-com to post on YouTube to raise awareness about my story. And of course we talked more about the upcoming in June, 7th Annual Great American PitchFest.

Great meeting, and I look forward to seeing all of you the first Wednesday in February (2/3/2010) at the café!

In the meantime keep working on those projects and let us all know how you’re getting along.

Also, keep checking the blog as I will be posting some new content very soon. I’m working on a post right now about “The Three Ps” for character development.

Cheers,
Nick

P.S. My interview on the Production Live website where I pitched my romantic comedy at the Filmmaker’s Shindig will be posted very soon — I’ll let you know when and send the link.

What goes into making a good title page for your screenplay? Well, first let’s clarify the difference between a title page and a cover page.

A title page is the page that contains obviously your screenplay’s title, who the author(s) is/are, also your contact information, and finally your copyright/registration protection notices. However, as we will see, the copyright/registration part can and should be left out under certain circumstances.

The cover page is a the 100 lb mono-colored (usually white) sheet of paper on both the front and back of your screenplay. This is generally to protect it from wear and tear as it gets read by script analysts, agents, or producers.

As you go along in your screenwriting career, you will find that there are certain conventions that you are expected to follow when formatting and submitting your screenplay. Like it or not, failure to adhere to these conventions may get your screenplay tossed out before it is even read. Therefore, after many hours of research, I feel that I’ve finally got somewhat of a handle on what passes these days for acceptable screenplay front matter.

Of course leaving that aside, nothing is more important than writing a compelling, lean, crisp, and a fully proofread story.

But back to the basics here.

So what are the two type of title pages of which this blog entry suggests?

One simply has your copyright/registration protection information on it and the other does not.

The reason why you would have a title page sans the protection notice is simply because when you finally get the chance to submit your full screenplay to the entities I described above, they already know that you’ve probably copyrighted and registered your script. Noting that on the title page looks more amateurish and also the sign of someone who is paranoid of their story idea getting stolen. Plus, if you sell it, then the buyer will own the rights to the screenplay and do with it what they will.

Myth Buster: No Hollywood/Entertainment Industry professional is out to steal your story! Believe me, it would cost them far less to option the story from you rather than go to court and pay for the legal battle that would ensue. This is just not done. Furthermore, you may think that you’ve got the greatest most original story idea on the planet, but in reality probably not. I’m not saying that your story isn’t a good one, just that with hundreds of thousands of scripts out there trying to get noticed, chances are that someone has thought up the same thing. The difference is in how you tell the story, and in your efforts to market your screenplay.

So why would you put your copyright/registration info on the title page then? Well, if you were submitting your story to non-Hollywood/Entertainment Industry professionals like members of your writers group, friends, family members, acquaintances with a passing interest in reading your story; then letting them know that your story is protected — in case of that rare instance that your screenplay falls into dubious hands and someone tries to run off with your story idea — is probably a good idea. Also, if you were submitting your screenplay to contests or to a registration institution (like the United States Library of Congress), or on the Internet, then putting that info on the title page is also wise.

So what is copyright and registration information?

There are two types that you really only need to be concerned with. One is getting your screenplay copyrighted with the United States Library of Congress (US LOC), and the other is with the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW).

Registering with the US LOC has gotten a lot easier and less expensive over the years. You can even register online and submit your work electronically! The current lists of fees and instructions are available on their website. It usually takes a long time to get your registration certificate from them, but keep in mind that really once you write something original it is copyrighted by you—the official protection is just an extra bit of legal insurance.

Registering with the WGAW is similar to the the US LOC. However, with the WGAW you can register a lot more than just a story (technically you can register anything with the US LOC, but it doesn’t get down to the granularity of which the WGAW offers). In other words, you can register your story concept (a few paragraphs of your idea), pitch (what you would say to a exec to get them interested in your story concept), and of course your screenplay to name a few. Go to their website and you’ll see what I mean. Furthermore, you can also submit your work electronically.

How do you format the copyright/registration info on your title page? Simply like this:

© 2009 Nicholas R. Iandolo

WGAW Registered

[Note: displaying this on a webpage is a bit different then on a printed page. There would be no line space between the above two notices of protection.]

What you have here is pretty self-explanatory. For the US LOC copyright it is simply: © [copyright symbol or (c)], a space, the year, a space, and the full name of the author.

For the WGAW registration you can simply use: WGAW Registered

Do not use the WGAW registration number that you are given for the work. That is not necessary and again amateurish.

Place these notices either on the bottom left or right of your title page. See the example below.

In the above example I have used the simple title page format from Final Draft’s standard screenplay template but with a few modifications. I’ve added (for my own edification) the draft version and put the copyright/registration info on the right-hand bottom of the page. The protection notices are flush right with the right-hand margin of the page and appear on the same lines as my home address.

Also note that I’ve capitalized and underlined the screenplay title. Unlike with a novel, you have a bit of flexibility here as you can use quotation marks to enclose the title or leave out the underlining. The title is centered about a third of the way down on the page. Then there are 3 line spaces (or hard returns) and the words “Written by” are next (you can also simply write “by” — no quotes of course). Then another 2 line spaces down and here’s where the author(s) name(s) appears.

One thing to note is when there are two authors that worked together on the screenplay you use the ampersand symbol “&” between them on the same line. See the following:

Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

[writers of the 2009 movie STAR TREK]

If another writer was brought in after the original screenplay was drafted and submitted (or sold), then you’d see the word “and” between the authors. Now-a-days, if you look closely at the writing credits you can see up to six or more people having contributed to a screenplay. There are a lot of ampersands and ands behind many screenplays. You could see “Story by …” with a few names after it and then “Screenplay by …” with a few more names. So keep in mind that after you’ve sold your screenplay you will face the very real possibility of other writers being brought in to legally and contractually “bastardize” your work! That’s “par for the course.” So I wouldn’t get too hung up on protecting your screenplay from all outside forces.

Here’s an example of the title page without all of the hoopla of protection notices:

So as you can see, it is a nice clean title page that is simple and unobtrusive—just the thing that keeps script readers from getting annoyed, and motivated to go onto the first page.

Finally, a word about the cover page. Cover pages do not have any words on them except for the screenplay title (formatted as in the above example). I personally choose to not have any thing written on my cover pages. Since a lot of people would have the title, why not be different and don’t put it on there? Plus, I think it adds to the mystique of the script.

A mysterious blank cover! What amazing adventures could lie inside!

So there you have it: a tale of two title pages.

Not quite Charles Dickens but who’s counting?

Nick

Hey Fellow Screenwriters!

You probably want to take a look this. My buddy, Daniel Thron, who currently lives and works in LA as a lead matte painter, visual effects supervisor, voiceover talent, actor, screenwriter, and an aspiring director, sent me this.

It is so true that if and when you sell your script you will most likely find that not one word of what you write will ultimately appear on the screen. Such is the tough and often ruthless game of screenwriting in Hollywood. Things are starting to change a bit as more and more independent productions are happening, and as more projects are being distributed through other mediums such as the Internet. However, as an aspiring screenwriter, you’re going to face some serious uphill battles, lots of rejection, and outright merciless criticism. Those are the hard realities, but that is true for any industry. The key is “not to take it personally, and never stop trying.”

So without further adieu, let me present to you this trailer for Tales From The Script.

Perhaps we’ll do a group field trip and catch this film at The Kendall Square Cinema or wherever it will be shown in the Boston area.

In the meantime, get back to that writing!

Slugs Lines! Wonderful Slug Lines!

What is a slug line?

Well, a “slug line” is also known as a Master Scene Heading. In the world of the cryptic and often confusing language of the screenplay format, figuring out how to format a master scene heading can be a frustrating endeavor.

For example, if you were trying to establish a location at a certain time of day on a certain day and then continue the action contiguously in another location, what do you do?

Your main character works at the John Hancock Building. You need to establish the existence of the tower and then get the character into the building and into his office without confusing the reader. You could say something like this:

EXT. JOHN HANCOCK TOWER – DAY

The glass and steel tower gleams on a sunlight Boston day.

EXT. PLAZA – JOHN HANCOCK TOWER

Mike makes his way into the building.

INT. OFFICE – CONTINUOUS

Mike sits at his desk, turns on his computer, and stares blankly at the sea of cubes.

So let’s look at each line.

First up is the so-called “establishing shot” in a spec screenplay (one that does not have camera directions or scene numbers) is NOT done by saying:

EXT. JOHN HANCOCK TOWER – DAY – ESTABLISHING

- or -

EXT. JOHN HANCOCK TOWER – DAY

Establishing shot of the John Hancock Tower.

This is the sign of an amateur writer who doesn’t know yet how to “direct the camera without camera directions.” Unless you are a director or DP, don’t include things like: CLOSE UP, ANGLE ON, POV, or any other camera direction. What you need to do is focus on the story only. Tell it in the leanest, meanest, most efficient way possible.

So, when I add the narrative: “The glass and steel tower gleams on a sunlight Boston day.” That gets the point across; the DP will do whatever they need to go to get the shot.

Next you have a character, Mike, heading into work. What I do here is simply say in the slug line: PLAZA – JOHN HANCOCK TOWER. There’s no need to write “DAY” again because we know it is day and by not writing “DAY” we imply that it is the same day. Writing “DAY” again may confuse the reader as to what day it is. When in doubt, always opt for clarity over what you think may be technically correct.

Finally, we see Mike sitting at his desk in his office. Here we have a few choices. I could have written:

INT. OFFICE – JOHN HANCOCK TOWER – DAY

But that might be too confusing. We know that this is the same Mike on the same day in the same building, so better to simply say “OFFICE – CONTINUOUS.”

“Continuous” is a convenient time indicator that simply says: this character is continuing the action from one place to another without interruption. There are exceptions to using this term like if there is a cut-away to another character (“Alison watches him go inside.” for example), then you drop the “CONTINUOUS” when you get back to the previous character.

Formatting slug lines requires making choices over using a strict set of rules. As long as you can keep the reader at ease about where they are in the story, your slug lines will be fine.

FADE OUT:

Nick

Let’s start with query letters. Since I’ve been writing tons of them ever since getting back from The 6th Annual Great American PitchFest, I’ve become something of an expert on this matter.

Query letters for scripts are much like letters to an editor when trying to get a book published. The standard structure is something like this:

• Your contact info (usually in the letterhead)
• The intended recipient’s contact info
• The subject
• The Greeting (with some kind of pretext opener)
• The hook
• The story concept/synopis
• The call to action
• The salutation

So what does a real query letter to a Hollywood exec look like? See the following example:

In the above example, I pitched two of my screenplays. Usually you would pitch one at a time, but if you have more than one and can be succinct, the double-pitch query can be very effective. That is as long as the intended recipient’s company produces films in the genres of the stories that you’re trying to pitch.

Good luck,

Nick

So I recently went to The Filmmaker’s Shindig on Saturday night.

This was a great local film and television industry event. I met over a dozen people who seemed really interested in hearing about my rom-com and my views on movie making. In fact, I got interviewed by Production Live and actually pitched my script. I said that I was looking for a “Boston-based producer who wants to take on a Boston-based romantic comedy.”

Once it’s posted to the PL website I’ll link to it from this blog so you can see me in all my “campy” glory!

As far as networking events in general (and I’ve been to a lot of them) this was one of the best. People here made it very easy to approach and talk to. In fact, there was this one fine lady, Sara Ting (President of Word Unity, Inc.), who kept introducing me to all kinds of awesome professionals and inspired me to pitch my script during the interview!

Perhaps it is simply the nature of the industry, or maybe the inclement weather made everyone cozy-up to one another; whatever it was, people were very friendly and the exchange of ideas and contact info was very forthcoming.

The Shindigs and events like these such as the ones put on by the Rhode Island Film Collaborative are a necessary part of the screenwriters world because once you finish writing that killer screenplay, you have to get it in front of as many eyes as possible. Ultimately, you want to consider attending even larger events such as The Great American PitchFest.

Whatever you do as part of promoting yourself and your writing make sure you have a business card and a good “elevator” pitch ready to go — that includes a great logline for your screenplay. And most of all, be open and enthusiastic to meeting new people because one of them may turn out to be the contact that gets you in front of a producer who may take you on as a writer.

Go Get ‘Em!

Nick