DAY 8: Scripting
"Every writer you know writes really terrible first drafts, but they keep their butt in the chair.
When my older brother was in fourth grade, he had a term paper on birds due the next day, and he hadn't started. So my dad sat down with him with an Audubon book, paper, pencils and brads -- for those of you who have gotten a little less young and remember brads -- and he said to my brother, "Just take it bird by bird, buddy. Just read about pelicans and then write about pelicans in your own voice. And then find out about chickadees, and tell us about them in your own voice. And then geese."
So the two most important things about writing are: bird by bird and really god-awful first drafts. If you don't know where to start, remember that every single thing that happened to you is yours, and you get to tell it. If people wanted you to write more warmly about them, they should've behaved better.
You're going to feel like hell if you wake up someday and you never wrote the stuff that is tugging on the sleeves of your heart: your stories, memories, visions and songs -- your truth."
We're here! Finally! Scripting! Here is the slide show from class with notes below. GODSPEED
Before You Start.
Get clear on the Protagonist.
What is at stake?
How do their flaws exacerbate the situation?
If they are not not flawed, what flaws can you give them?
We need stakes to raise a comedic premise into a story that “has a reason to exist.”
Characters:
Detail your characters’ backgrounds. The more you know about your characters and how behave and what they want the better.
What is the psychology of your characters?
Characters are not loved because they behave well.
Take the time to flesh them out. What is their ego like? How do they behave? How do they want people to see them? Who are they at their core?
The more clear you get, the easier it will be to write for them, the more impactful their jokes will be.
Make the dynamics clash.
Pair personalities that are at odds with each other.
Know every character’s objective, scene to scene. Every character wants something. Do the wants conflict?
Characters rarely speak their truth. Every character has some sort of mask. What is the ego? And what is the real person?
The mask (or how they present themselves) dictates how they speak and behave and is indicative of how they want people to see them. Get clear on the mask vs. the core.
Give every character a strong introduction.
Show us who they are.
For dialogue, speak aloud as that character. How would you respond? And how would they respond?
Jokes are powered by the specific uniqueness of every character. Once you are clear on what drives each of them, you can write lines that resonate.
Improv Exercise with Characters
-
Monologue as that character
SPIT DRAFT aka VOMIT DRAFT
aka DOWN DRAFT
Use your creator brain, not your critic brain.
Be brave and just go for it writing the whole script. Embrace it being a spit draft and let it be “bad.”
Set rules/ boundaries for yourself to set yourself up for success.