The Wall Will Tell You by Hampton Fancher

Author:Hampton Fancher
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Melville House
Published: 2019-03-12T04:00:00+00:00

THE BED and THE WALL

You write a scene the same way you make the bed, when you make the bed with care.

Aspire to distillation. Extract the essentials, concentrate on those and throw the rest away.

■

Take whatever time it takes to write a good scene. Whatever time it takes, take it. It sets a standard for the next scene.

■

The elements need to complement and collide as they move toward a reckoning. Like a joke, it has to stay on course. What scenes do or don’t do to serve the anxiety of expectation. A movie story is all about anticipating something, something about to happen.

■

Establish a new and surprising context before the proceeding scene. A disturbance of or a diversion from the narrative can lure it into less predictable territory.

■

Compression: we call them movies because they’re supposed to move! Be abrupt and ride two rails, one suggestive, the other concise. It comes at you and it’s gone.

■

Concentrate your efforts, your approach on what’s going on immediately, which means now! Abruption! Something is happening!

■

Somebody wants to get there. Somebody else wants to stop him. Hence the drama of opposing strategies which make for moment-to-moment suspense. The goal is established, it’s out there, but the route is uncertain. The clash of unintended consequences. Football. Dynamics of drama and comedy have to do with juxtaposing agendas.

■

A real bird doing a real thing.

An unreal bird doing a real thing.

A real bird doing an unreal thing.

An unreal bird doing an unreal thing.

■

Alarmed at a blast from the left, we look to see what it was and we’re hit from a blast on the right.

■

If the character is not up against it enough to try to change it, you’re on dry land. Especially if all they do is talk about what they’re doing instead of doing it. Do it. Strike a match to the fireworks of misunderstanding. The unwanted. The mistreated. Jeopardize the goal of their desire. Their frailties and defenses can make them sharp, incarcerate them in the drama. Put blood on the page.

■

Take the short road. Use high octane. Sleek as a good joke. I’m talking about scenes.

■

Read your scene to an honest person. Encourage that person to help you locate the stumbling blocks. The weak points. Then turn stumbling block into cornerstone. Identifying stumbling blocks will lead you to the creations of cornerstones. Facile to say, hard to do, but that’s our job.

■

If you question a scene, watch it on the screen. Your wall. Everybody’s got one. Literally look up at your wall and watch the scene play. No picture, no story. Look at it critically. Does it run somewhere or just lie down and die? The wall will tell you.

■

Does it drag? If so, why? Maybe the thing is unmotivated, no struggle. Even a free floating balloon is on a dramatic journey. Will it rise or fall? Disappear or crash? Our concern with its fate is what it’s about.

■

The meaning of real. Hold that up to what you do. Making the unreal real.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.