By Shelly Frome
If you missed Part One it appeared last Friday on SWM's Suite T you can view via the archives. All in all, you could say that the key to
successful screenwriting, may very well lie in the very beginning as the writer
polishes the basic situation until it’s compelling, promising and in a certain
sense rings true with no preconceived message. As though the writer himself or
herself is on a quest. Given the backdrop of war, will Ilsa and Rick be able to
rekindle their romance or will they give way to a greater good? Then again, put
in the simplest terms, will Dorothy and/or Lassie ever find their way home?
In screenwriting parlance, the potential of
the project can be found in the logline. Or the ability to succinctly create a premise
in order to gauge whether or not, at the outset, this story is worth the
candle. You put aside getting caught up in non-essentials like, Will the roles attract
bankable stars?
Does it fit the bill for producers looking for a low-budget
vehicle? Does the story line comply with trendy genres like super hero action
tales or slacker comedy disasters? Instead, you take your time until you come
up with a one or two sentence intriguing venture that can’t help being self-generating.
In lieu of naming
the movie and/ or the screenwriter, here are two prime examples:
1.)
During a prolonged fraught in the 1930s in the west, a con-man rainmaker comes
across the Curry ranch, replete with circumstances that appear to be just ripe
for picking. The members of the distraught family include Jimmy, a slow-witted gullible
youngster, and Lizzie, his disenchanted older sister who is on the verge of
spinsterhood.
2.) Two New Yonkers estranged from their spouses decide to room together. The hapless duo
include Oscar, a sportswriter as carefree and sloppy as can be and his counterpart
Felix, a compulsive fussbudget.
Given each of
these dynamics, putting aside any contrivances, it becomes relatively easy to
imagine the possibilities as you allow the circumstances to run their course.
In closing, I’m always
reminded what happened to Edward Albee when starting to devise Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? according
to a plot, he had in mind. In his imagination, George and Martha, his principal
characters, told him one day that if didn’t stop interfering with their lives
they would no longer appear. He then completely backed off and gave them carte
blanch. As a result, you can view the film starring Richard Burton and
Elizabeth Taylor and judge for yourself.
____________________________________________________________________
Shelly Frome is the film columnist
for Southern Writers Magazine. He is also a member of Mystery
Writers of America, a professor of dramatic arts emeritus at the University of
Connecticut, a former professional actor, and a writer of crime novels and
books on theater and film. His fiction includes Sun Dance for Andy Horn, Lilac Moon, Twilight of the Drifter and Tinseltown Riff.
Among his works of non-fiction are The Actors Studio and
texts on the art and craft of screenwriting and writing for the stage. Murder Run, his latest
crime novel, was just released. He lives in Black Mountain, North
Carolina.
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