How to Write a Selling Screenplay by Christopher Keane

Author:Christopher Keane [Keane, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-56774-1
Publisher: Crown/Archetype
Published: 1998-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

I have rewritten—often several times—every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.

Vladimir Nabokov, novelist and author of Lolita

“Writing is rewriting.”

“The first draft is labor, all the rest are management.”

These old adages seem more important today than ever before. Yet there are those who, by the completion of the first draft, feel they have it all in hand. A pinch here, a tuck there, and the thing is done, ready to be embraced by the world. When word comes back that the script is less than perfect, in fact, far from perfect, the writer feels this great hole in his gut, as if he has committed the greatest sin of all—deceit of self. “How could I have been so stupid as to not have seen these flaws?” he might ask. Or, in the case of the angry, defensive writer, “How can they be so stupid as to not see the real genius of this masterpiece?” Then everything settles down and the writer begins to revise, barreling forward into the rewrite.

Where do you start? What do you look for?

I finish the first draft, and then set it down for a week or two to get a better perspective. During this time I give it to people who can read screenplays and offer sound advice. Once I get my readers’ suggestions, I head back into the battle, armed with their advice and the two weeks of my own thoughts and note-taking. Then I bring out the 3#5 index cards and chart a rewrite course through the story.

I begin with character. I take aim at the main characters and draw a line from the beginning to the end of the screenplay to see what has occurred with each. This is the character arc: a scene-by-scene delineation of how each central character progresses through the story.

In the first draft, you already have the story laid out, at least the fundamentals of it. It’s the characters who have eluded you. You have spent a lot of time laying down the story track, and the characters have suffered. Fine, no problem. That’s the way it should happen.

The second step goes beyond character into what all stories are ultimately about: relationships. Trace the arc of the central relationships in your story. On the cards, write the essential elements of the scenes in which the main characters meet and what happens to them. Tack them to the wall and look at the progression. You’ll discover fascinating things. The cards will give you a clear line from beginning to end. Once you see the progression, you’ll be able to pinch here and tuck there and begin to build the relationships into the rewrite. You must take a very close look at these relationship arcs. They’re the key to a successful screenplay.

How does the Romeo and Juliet relationship move from one point to the next? How do Thelma and Louise get along together so that, at the end, they can both agree that going over the cliff together is the only answer?

Some writers make two lists.

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