Ever since I got into screenwriting, I’ve been hearing the same pieces of advice over and over again. Normally, when advice is repeated frequently, and by lots of people, it means there’s something to it. I know, as a tennis player, that the advice, “Watch the ball,” is just as relevant today as it was when it was first given, back in the 60s.
With that said, there are definitely some tennis tips from that era that are no longer applicable today. For example, it used to be that when you wanted to hit your forehand, you would step in with your left foot, turn your body, and swing forward via a “closed” stance. These days, pros will tell you to actually step sideways with your right foot, as it helps create more of a “coil” effect while swinging, which adds power.
This got me thinking I should reconsider all that classic screenwriting advice that’s been given over the years and decide how relevant it is in 2022. I suspect some of you are going to get triggered by my thoughts, as you sometimes do whenever I talk about these topics. Feel free to let your She-Hulk-sized rage out in the comments.
ADVICE: “The best way to be a good writer is to experience life.”
THOUGHTS: I’ve always had trouble with this advice because it’s vague and, therefore, not actionable. Going back to our tennis analogies, it would be like if I said, “Focus on being more present during the point.” Sure, that helps. But there’s no actionable advice there. I will say this. One of the main problems I see in the screenplays I read – both amateur and pro – is a lack of specificity. Writers write characters and scenes and plot points that they’ve seen before in other movies. Instead of writing original stuff. The way that you write original stuff is to base your scripts and your stories on your real-life experiences. If you lived in Morocco for a year, you can write a story about a unique place with a level of specificity that very few writers can. This is how Alex Garland broke onto the scene. He wrote a novel called “The Beach,” that was based on his own experiences traveling through Thailand. Could he have written as good of a book had he never been to Thailand? Probably not. The more you’re drawing from your own personal experiences, the more original your stuff is going to be. And the more life you live, the more of those experiences you’re going to have.
RATING: 9 out of 10
ADVICE: “Keep your script under 120 pages.”
THOUGHTS: My initial reaction to this advice is yes. And, actually, you should probably keep your script under 110 pages. The main reason for this is to keep the read under a certain amount of time. Readers have a set block of time allotted for script reads. Somewhere between 90-120 minutes. When you force them to go over that allotted time, they get very angry. Which is why a lot of readers will go into a script furious if they see the page count is over 120. With that said, screenwriting is a strange beast. I’ve read plenty of scripts that have been over 120 pages and have read quickly. And I’ve read plenty of scripts that were 90 pages that took forever. That’s because the type of writing tends to have a bigger effect on how long the read is than the actual page number. If someone writes in long chunky paragraphs and a lot of their script lacks clarity, forcing the reader to stop and re-read sections, those are the scripts that take 2 and a half hours to read. But if someone writes 2-line paragraphs and is a great storyteller, a 90 minute read can feel like half an hour. The truth is there’s a psychological component to that number (120) that readers just don’t want to see north of. Do so at your own risk.
RATING: 8 out of 10
ADVICE: “Concept is king.”
THOUGHTS: Whenever I hear this advice, my initial reaction is, YES! 10 OUT OF 10 YES! But like all advice, the devil is in the details. A big sexy high concept (High Concept Showdown coming in December!) does so many good things for you, the biggest of which is it’ll get you a lot more reads than a small concept. The more people who read something, the more bites you get at the apple. But I must admit, the main way screenwriters get recognized in 2022 is through the Black List. And the Black List has just as many average concepts as it does good ones. So how important can concept be? I thought about this for a while and I think I know the answer. Even though there are a lot of scripts on the Black List that don’t have sexy concepts, they still fit into the boxes that the Black List likes checked. If there’s something trendy, like socio-political horror in 2019, you don’t have to have a great concept. That script is going to get read because it’s on-trend. We know the Black List loves biopics. We know they like LBGTQ stories. Which is a long way of saying that these writers aren’t just writing whatever low-concept inspires them. They’re still being calculated with the concepts they’re choosing. Which means that concept is still king.
RATING: 8 out of 10
REMINDER!!!
What: AMATEUR SHOWDOWN – HIGH CONCEPT EDITION
When: Entries due December 1 by 8pm Pacific Time
How: E-mail me your title, genre, logline, any extra pitch you want to make about why your script deserves a shot, and, of course, a PDF of the screenplay.
Where: carsonreeves3@gmail.com
Anything else?: You can start sending in your scripts right now!
ADVICE: “You have to move to Hollywood if you want to succeed as a screenwriter.”
THOUGHTS: If you dropped this bomb in a screenwriting message board in 2003, you would come back the next day and find at least a dozen commenters banned. This advice used to get so many people riled up. And it’s understandable why. If you didn’t live in Hollywood and somebody told you that the only way to make it was to live in Hollywood, you’re going to fire some shots. The good news is that, with the evolution of the internet, the digital screenplay, and, most recently, Covid, you don’t need to live in Hollywood anymore to make it. I know people here in LA who would rather jump on Zoom than meet in person. That’s how used to virtual meetings people have gotten. With that said, if you want to be a TV writer, it’s still highly advantageous to live here. Because they want people who are going to be in a physical writer’s room together. And even if you’re a features writer, it helps to be able to meet people in person. You make more of an impression that way. Not to mention, continued real-life contact develops stronger relationships that are more likely to lead to working relationships. So, yes, it’s still preferable that you live here. But it’s by no means required.
RATING: 6 out of 10
ADVICE: “Every screenplay should have three acts.”
THOUGHTS: There was a time, back in the destructive 90s, when vagabond writer-directors like Quentin Tarantino were turning screenplay structure upside-down. Stories were being told out of order. Scenes would go on forever. Conflict, not structure, seemed to be the name of the game. Anyone writing in three acts, at the time, was considered lame. But it was interesting what happened after that. You had a bunch of writers who came into the craft writing without rules and movies quickly devolved into giant messes. It turned out not everyone was as talented as Quentin Tarantino. All the 3-Act structure does is give you 25 pages of set-up, 50 pages of conflict, and 25 pages of resolution. Do you have to use it all the time? No. But you’re going to use it in 95% of the screenplays you write. So it’s something you want to learn and you want to depend on.
RATING: 8 out of 10
ADVICE: “Outline, outline, outline.”
THOUGHTS: I don’t know why outlining is so controversial but it is. If I had to guess, I’d say that the people who don’t outline get really mad when you tell them they should outline. The implication is that they’re skipping a step and it’s making their screenplays worse. So they feel like they have to intensely defend their point. But in speaking with several newbie screenwriters over the past month, I learned something. Cause I told them they should be outlining and they came back with… “How?” My response was, “What do you mean, how? You should outline so that you have a sense of where your story is going and you don’t run out of story midway through the script.” Still, they looked back at me blankly. After some back-and-forth, I realized that a lot of beginners aren’t even confident in their understanding of the three act structure. If you don’t even know that yet, coming up with a well-structured outline is next to impossible. What this taught me was that you need to write a few screenplays and get a feel for the pacing and the structure before you can effectively start drawing up outlines. Maybe you’re one of the lucky people who have an intrinsic understanding of structure and, therefore, will decide you’ll never need to outline. That’s fine too. But I still think that, for most screenwriters, outlining helps more than it hurts.
RATING: 7 out of 10
ADVICE: “Nobody knows anything.”
THOUGHTS: Everybody loves quoting this line, even me. But I’ve found this line to be more dangerous to screenwriters than helpful. That’s because a lot of writers use it as an excuse to throw the rules away. “I don’t have to make my hero likable. NOBODY KNOWS ANYTHING!” The reality is, people know a lot of things. Those folks on the top of the Hollywood food chain? They know a sh#t-load about writing and making movies. If you’re going to get where they are, you have to learn what they’ve learned and incorporate those lessons into your scripts. It’s doubtful you can succeed by ignoring everything and writing whatever random thoughts accumulate in your head when you’re in the midst of a writing session. Become someone who knows something and you’ll have a much better shot at success.
RATING: 4 out of 10
ADVICE: “Writing is rewriting.”
THOUGHTS: If I’m being honest, I don’t know why rewriting is so heavily depended upon in the craft of screenwriting. Rumors are that there were 100 drafts of Good Will Hunting. The Safdie Brothers said they wrote 200 drafts of Uncut Gems. My issue with those numbers is that I’m not sure it’s the best use of your time – endlessly rewriting one script. I do think rewriting is important. But the truth is, if you do the work ahead of time (do a very detailed outline of your story), you won’t have to do as much rewriting on the back end. The question is, how many drafts of a script should you write? That’s impossible to answer because each writer is different, each script is different, and each rewrite is different. Is your first draft a complete miscalculation? If so, that script will have to be rewritten more than one where you got pretty close to your original vision on the first go-around. I think ten drafts should be the ceiling for an advanced writer. 15 drafts for an intermediate. And 20+ for newbie writers. Keep in mind, that’s what Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were when they wrote Good Will Hunting. They were newbies. So they needed more drafts to figure it out. But what you definitely don’t want is the forever rewrite. Get the script as good as you can make it and then move on to the next one.
RATING: 7 out of 10
$150 OFF A SCRIPTSHADOW SCREENPLAY CONSULTATION! – To the first person who e-mails me at carsonreeves1@gmail.com with the subject line: “150.” I have a 4 page notes package or a more detailed 8 page option designed to both fix your script and improve your writing. I also give feedback on loglines (just $25!), outlines, synopses, first acts, or any aspect of screenwriting you need help with. This includes Zoom calls discussing anything from talking through your script to getting advice on how to break into the industry. If you’re interested, e-mail me at carsonreeves1@gmail.com and let’s set something up!
