Storytelling for the Screen

Graduate wins European 3D Film Mart Competition

2011-12-15T20:38:00.000Z

Yesterday, Amy Ricker (class of 2010/11) won the EU’s 3D Film Mart Competition with her film “Billy and the Goblin Rebellion”. The script was developed as her major project on the MA Screenwriting & Producing programme.

The win guarantees her a Euro 3,000 further development deal and links her to financiers, sales agents and distributors.

http://www.3dstereomedia.eu/en/film-festival-mart/3d-film-mart
http://finitefilmslondon.com/

To McKee or not to McKee, that is the question.

2011-10-25T15:56:00.013+01:00

So here's the thing. Has Robert McKee (McKee, R, Story, Methuen, 1999) and all his work made one bad writer a good one? Or, indeed, a good writer a better one?

Has his work helped one film script, one movie, to be better than it would have been without his influence?

I'm a huge admirer of McKee’s scholarship. I don't think that there is a single individual out there who has done a better job of describing the mechanics of how dramatic tension works. And you might include Aristotle in this line-up. If you can understand the practical use of Poetics then you're doing better than me. And, more than this, McKee identifies many of the best techniques for maintaining dramatic tension and using it to develop theme - what that great old timer Lajos Egri would call "premise" (Egri, Lajos, The Art of Dramatic Writing, Touchstone 2004). If you attend the McKee long-weekend course or read his book "Story" there is no question you'll come out with a better conscious understanding of the algebra of narrative. And there’s the rub.

For when in the history of great tales (on screen or off) did the great storytellers rely predominantly on the conscious, editorial, part of their brain? Never... Surely... NEVER.

Rewriting does without question require a conscious shaping and reshaping of all aspects of a script. Rewriting. But even then, the necessity for thinking outside of the clicheed box has to be paramount, surely, for a piece of work to rise above the simply “well structured”.

So has McKee, and script gurus like him, got completely the wrong end of the stick when it comes to helping writers/film-makers make the most of their talent?

For me its “yes” AND “no”.

“Yes”, because the McKee course, in essence, is a list. A list of principles, not rules, of what he calls “classical” story structure. 99% of the list is impossible to argue with – it is a pretty accurate analysis of how the structure of a story hooks an audience and keeps them hooked. But… it’s a list. And, for a practical film-maker, lists are (in my opinion) almost useless. Great examples (in other words, great individual movies) are incredibly useful.

Why is a list such a problem? Well, for one, it makes an artist jumpy that he/she has got to hit these golden principles or they’ll be, in some way, failing. So, the artist is always glancing over at the list to ask “have I got it right”? A certain type of confidence is essential for a flow of creative work and feeling that you need to check yourself against someone else’s list certainly does not help you to go with the flow. Secondly, a list is reductive – it reduces narrative form to a linear process. One idea literally follows another. A creative brain, when it’s firing on all cylinders, is very often operating in a graphic rather than a literary way. It is building through a collage of overlapping ideas – lists are like a sergeant major telling everyone to get in line and, if you don’t, you’re out.

In the early gestation of a movie idea it is, in my opinion, essential for an artist to have a license to daydream, to free associate. We all, or nearly all, have an innate ability to appreciate good story structure when we are an audience or a reader – we groan when something is clichéd or implausible or when cheap coincidence is used to progress plot. If we have this basic instinct for structure is the priority to become consciously aware of it?

I’m not sure. If we aspire to being good film-makers then we need to develop the ability to become great story tellers – and the challenge of this is not, simply, to structure a great story (there’s a strong argument that the stories are already out there). No, our greatest challenge is how to spin that story. We punters buying our £10/$10 ticket to the movies get a visceral thrill of excitement when, in the first ten minutes of a movie, we sense that we are in the hands of a master storyteller, don’t we? The planting of clues, questions, the withholding of information, the twist, the sudden revelation, the witty pay-off – it is the innate mastery of these rhythmic skills that defines a good storyteller. Can these be learnt from digesting a list of principles? Not a chance. It would be like teaching someone to ride a bike by handing them a manual on the laws of physics and gravitational pull.

Part of McKee’s massive appeal (and I include myself in this experience) is the very fact that his analysis IS finite and rational. It talks to the organized professional in many/most aspiring film-makers. His book and his course make such good sense, and are so easy to digest that it holds out promise of getting a movie “right” – as if there was a simple learning curve to ascend. Very very appealing. Very very misleading.

So, there, I’ve put the boot in, but… Does McKee and his work really have no practical value? No, I think he does... has. If nothing else, he has repeated a hundred thousand times to, perhaps, a hundred thousand storytellers, “What does your protagonist want?”. He has, I think, been a highly necessary blast across the bows of many a would-be auteur who thought that showing attractive young people talking about how they feel, having sex, and smoking cigarettes was a substitute for a tale about someone wanting something REALLY badly and finding it f***ing difficult to get.

I suppose you could summarize my reservations about his value as a mentor/guru as my concern about the way his wisdom is disseminated rather than the wisdom itself. Here's a different approach: Watch one of your favourite movies four times back to back with the remote in your hand. Each time you feel something, anything – hit PAUSE. Ask yourself, “What am I feeling?”, then “How the hell did they make me feel that?”. When you’ve got an angle on those questions, hit PLAY. When you feel something else, hit PAUSE again. You get the picture. For me, this is one of the most valuable ways to develop as a film-maker. Great movies will teach you through specific illustration, through a type of osmosis. They support and further develop the story instinct of a talented film-maker rather than dictate an algebra.

For me, the best thing that McKee has done is his “introduction” to Story. It is a great piece of inspiring prose and I’d recommend it to you all. But before you dive into the rest of his book or go on his course, I’d ask you, “How many movies have you written? How many movies have you made?” If you’ve written/made four or five and you’re still curious what the guru might be saying, then why not. But if you’ve written/made less than that – why do you want to go? If you want to learn from the true masters – watch movies. And if you want to get good, don't study... do.

To Robert McKee, if you’re not poking pins in a small doll of me, I say, “Forgive me. And if you ever want to talk movies and how to help develop good ones. Write me.”

Joanna Hogg - birth of a new auteur.

2011-10-03T12:37:00.004+01:00

The writer/director Joanna Hogg has cemented a reputation as an auteur after just two movies ("Unrelated" & "Archipelago"). Working with no script and muttering a “When you’re ready…” rather than screaming “Action!” she’s putting actors at the centre of the creative process.

She’s made a fully-fledged star of Tom Hiddleston ("Thor", "The Deep Blue Sea", Spielberg's "War Horse") and woken the broadsheet critics from their slumbers. Check the links below for how the hype has hit the polar extremes of The Guardian and Comic-con.

Joanna joins us for a workshop this month.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/amex/video/joanna-hogg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/mar/04/archipelago-interview-joanna-hogg-tom-hiddleston?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3486
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjU2tMmeXm0

Hossein Amini accelerates away from “Drive”

2011-06-29T13:24:00.001+01:00

Ryan Gosling in "Drive', 2011

Hossein Amini’s script for “Drive” helped Nicolas Winding Refn to this year’s Best Director gong at Cannes and Hoss is not slowing up.

This month his script for “47 Ronin” (Keanu Reeves, Rinko Kikuchi) goes into post, and he’s presently scripting “Snow White and the Huntsmen” (Kristen Stewart, Chris Hemsworth, Charlize Theron) for a 2012 shoot.

As well as Refn, Hossein has chalked up work with Scorsese (on Gangs of New York, Winterbottom (Jude), Ian Softley (Hossein was Oscar-nominated for The Wings of the Dove) and John Madden (Killshot).

Hossein will be doing a workshop with the MA Screenwriting & Producing programme next semester.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0024925/

Youtube Q & A with Refn and Gosling

http://itccommunicationsnet-johnnichols.blogspot.com/2011/05/cannes-film-festival-2011-best-director.html

Bogdan Mirica wins award for "Bora Bora"

2011-06-16T14:41:00.000+01:00

Bogdan Mirica (Class of 2007) has won the Best Short award for his film, "Bora Bora", at the Transilvania International Film Festival - the film continues on around the festival circuit.

Bogdan's first feature, "Ho Ho Ho", was distributed by MediaPro in 2009 and the same company is in post on Bogdan's latest script, "Las Fierbinti".
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1745739/
http://www.tiff.ro/en/news/the-transilvania-trophy-goes-to-argentina/238

Jeff Nottingham gets Arts Council Funding for "Lost in Mozart"

2011-06-09T18:53:00.000+01:00

Jeff Nottingham (Class of 2010) has received Arts Council funding for his urban musical, “Lost in Mozart”.

The stage show is a high-drama bromance set in the, factually-based “postal code wars” between the Mozart and Kilburn estates and pitches classical music head-on with the “spitting” scene of North West London.

“Lost in Mozart” will premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in August at theSpaceUK venues and will transfer to London (Venue tbc) in October.
The show is based on Jeff’s screenplay of the same title and will be used as a platform for a feature production in 2012.

Watch the teaser:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzNpYso0o_A&feature=player_embedded
More info at:
http://jknottingham.blogspot.com/

Seeing Pictures options Paul Joseph's "Condemned"

2011-05-06T14:36:00.002+01:00

"Condemned"

Paul Joseph (Class of 2010) has optioned his graduation feature script, "Condemned", to multi award-winning team, John and Shannon Jennissen, at Seeing Pictures. Earlier this year, Paul won the Raindance Pitchfest with his horror story about a condemned building that fights back. "Great script," says John, "Can't wait to get it out there."
http://www.seeingpictures.co.uk/index.html
http://paulbjoseph.tumblr.com/

After "Gnomeo and Juliet" - New Development Exec at Elton John's Rocket Pictures

2011-04-10T16:49:00.003+01:00

Julio Bonet (class of 2006) was post-production producer on Rocket Pictures/Disney’s “Gnomeo and Juliet” (James McAvoy, Emily Blunt), shepherding the movie to a number one spot at the UK and US box office.

He also provided the voice of the Mankini Gnome. This May he returns to the bosom of David Furnish and Elton John’s Rocket Pictures as their new Development Exec. The company intends to concentrate on music-based projects. "Rocket Pictures' aim is to develop and build upon a unique relationship with recording artists and to become the home for diverse, artistically driven and commercial music entertainment," Elton John said in a recent Variety interview.
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118028791?refCatId=13

Gemma Pascual joins Desert Road in New Zealand

2011-04-01T14:20:00.000+01:00

Gemma Pascual (class of 2006) has just moved as Head of Development at Factotum, Barcelona, to be Head of Development at Desert Road in New Zealand.


"Out of the Blue" from Desert Road

Desert Road is an award-winning film and TV company with features and docs being distributed worldwide by the likes of Sony, Lionsgate and the National Geographic Channel.
http://www.desertroad.co.nz/

Slim Jim Films in feature development on award winning "Mosa"

2011-03-30T22:39:00.001+01:00

The writer Victoria Pilkington-Miksa (class of 2010) has been commissioned by Slim Jim Films to turn her multi award-winning short, "Mosa", into a feature. Ana Morena will direct. The budget will be around the Euro 1.5million mark. A South African/ German co-production is on the cards.

Isaura Barbe-Brown is "Mosa"

http://www.mosafilm.com
http://www.slimjimfilms.com/indevelopment.html

"Men Don't Lie" to shoot with Michael Madsen in April

2011-03-26T20:47:00.003Z

Michael Madsen

Kat Moon (class of 2011) is co-producing "Men Don't Lie". It shoots this April with Michael Madsen ("Reservoir Dogs", "Kill Bill") and Jean-Hughes Anglade ("Betty Blue", "La Reine Margot"). Jane Spencer directs, and Lucy Shuttleworth, regular tutor on our programme, has scripted.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0424859

"Island" starring Natalie Press opens at Soho Curzon, 25th April

2011-03-25T17:30:00.005Z

Amy Ricker's (class of 2010/11) feature production, "Island" with Natalie Press ("My Summer of Love", & Oscar winning "Wasp") opens at the Curzon Soho, London, on 25th April and goes wide that week. Her company, Finite Films, is also launching the TV show "Walk Like a Panther" starring Stephen Graham ("Snatch", "This is England") and Kasabian frontman, Tom Meighan. Broadcast dates to be confirmed next week.

Natalie Press in "Island"

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/3480562/Call-me-Thomas-the-Terror.html
http://www.sabotagetimes.com/tv-film/walk-like-a-panther/
http://www.finitefilmslondon.com/wp/

BBC Films co-produces "Borrowed Time" with Parkville in April

2011-03-24T16:15:00.002Z

Cecilia Frugiuele (class of 2009) is co-producing "Borrowed Time" through Parkville Pictures in partnership with Film London and BBC Films on the Microwave Scheme. Jules Bishop is directing. Production starts in April.

Production still for "Borrowed Time"

http://www.ceciliafrugiuele.com/about-parkville-pictures/

Pilot for Dutch TV wins SFX award

2011-03-13T15:37:00.004Z

Brian de Vore (class of 2007) won an Award from the Visual Effect Society for Outstanding Effects on his pilot for the TV show, "The Mystery of the Full Moon".


"The Mystery of the Full Moon"

http://www.vimeo.com/8405520

Personal Growth - How Much is Good for You?

2011-03-12T14:34:00.002Z

Personal Transformation - the internal journey - the character’s arc

Each of these expressions touches on the “need” of a protagonist. They describe the steps that a character takes to progress towards (or regress away from) a better version of themselves.

One of our key decisions as writers is how to engage with this aspect of narrative structure.
Do we want our characters to change? If we do, how schematic should those steps be and how much do we need to spoon-feed the audience when we illustrate these steps? How much change is truly plausible, given that most of us change very little over the course of our entire adult lives? How much does this “character arc” enrich the impact of our movies?

There are no rules. The majority of writing “gurus” expend enormous time and energy persuading us that this “personal transformation” is the holy grail of script writing. But is it? Watch your favourite movies, read the scripts - make up your own mind.

What follows is a brief introduction to the principles...

INTERNAL JOURNEY – TO WHERE?

Sydney Pollack says “every” film is a love story.
So: 
“One Flew Over…” love of justice, love of fellow man.
“Godfather”… love of son, love of family, love of power

Identity:
For women - “Educating Rita”, “Erin Brockovich”, “The Piano”

The love of authenticity - “American Beauty”.

Any film that engages with these issues will find its rhythm through the development of an INTERNAL JOURNEY.

INTERNAL JOURNEY = TRANSFORMATION or REGRESSION.

“the movement of a character towards a more desired state” ?
-    “Advanced Screenwriting”, Linda Seger
-    (Seger doubles up a bit? Ch 6 and Ch 9 really both dealing with the issue of the internal journey.

But, general definitions:
A change towards a more positive life, set of values.
A journey from a flaw towards a solution to that flaw.
Or.
A positive value that is not useful; e.g. naivety in the big city.
Lack of assertiveness in women.
Too much aggession in men.

External Transformation, ILLUSTRATING Internal Transformation.
e.g. “Jerry Maguire”

INTERNAL JOURNEY – WHOSE?

Generally, the protagonist – but not always. 
“Unforgiven”, William Munny doesn’t really change but his actions and mentoring stop the Schofield Kid growing up to be like him.
“The Fugitive” – small change, several small beats make Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), change his mind about Kimble (Harrison Ford) and believe that he might be innocent.

INTERNAL JOURNEY – HOW?

Through confrontation, through trials, through impossible CHOICES.

Generally, a minimum of 3 big beats: 
Act 1 The problem – characters find themselves in a situation where they have to confront their “fault”. Often get there without planning it.

Act 2 The realisation (the acknowledgement by the protagonist that, yes, she HAS a flaw)

– FIRST HALF work hard, struggle, fall back on old habits, don’t get it, get shoved by people and circumstances, all “designed” to test THE FAULT. SECOND HALF – from mid-act turning point, character begins to change.
“Jerry Maguire” – greater compassion – Jerry marries Zellwegger.
“As Good As it Gets” – Melvin drives The Fag to meet his parents.

Second big turning point – BIG DECISION, will the character stick with their emerging transformation or will they go backward?
“Schindler’s List” – Schindler is rich now but has to decide will he leave with his money or stay and save his workers.

Act 3 The change – proof of the decision with one last test.   Character is now open enough to fall in love
“Jerry Maguire”
Confident enough to get promotion
“Working Girl”
Strong enough to win/survive the contest
“Rocky”

Generally – SHOW DON’T TELL.

Sometimes there is a tell “Schindler’s List” (I could have done more)
“Jerry Maguire” – (you complete me – you had me at hello) speech.
SGM- both of the above are risky and not entirely successful.

Most journeys take many more 10, 20, 30

INTERNAL JOURNEY – FELLOW TRAVELLERS

WHAT? & WHOM?

By EVENTS “perfectly” designed to TEST the fault. 
By CHARACTERS perfectly designed to TEST the fault, or HELP repair it. c.f. pretty much ALL love stories.

e.g. “As Good As It Gets” 
THE HELP: The hugely intelligent, good, compassionate waitress – Helen Hunt. 
THE TEST: Simon “The Fag” neighbour, his ugly mutt dog, the BLACK manager etc.

FOR A WRITER – REMEMBER, ACTOR’S CAN DO A LOT WITH A GLANCE. BIG DECISION IS WHETHER TO WRITE THAT GLANCE AND WHAT IT MEANS OR NOT. 
c.f. “When Harry Met Sally” – not written.
“As Good As it Gets” – every nuance written and explained (beautifully).

ULTIMATELY – the transformation, or lack of it, is the writer’s underlining of his philosophical message. 
“As Good as It Gets” – even a leopard can change his spots, great love will transform the devil himself.?

“ACADEMIC” NOTES ON PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE INTERNAL JOURNEY -
   in response to Linda Seger:

PHILOSOPHICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, THEOLOGICAL (METAPHYSICAL?) –  
Cf Linda Seger, “Advanced Screenwriting” p95 –
Linda Seger suggests a theological/metaphysical aspect to the internal journey. I think this is misleading and could lead to poor storytelling.

Theological points to possible redemption/forgiveness/transformation?
(can’t all this be achieved from a Humanist perspective – I think so.

All of the above is a matter of SUBJECT not TREATMENT OF SUBJECT.

Surely, ALL storytelling is fundamentally PHILOSOPHICAL. You can make affirmations of an after-life but they are only that. The subject matter of storytelling in film is the HUMAN CONDITION, NOW, in real time for us, ALIVE who only too soon are going to die. Why? Because that is who comes to see the movie!

When gods start sitting in the front row, THEN we can deal with the issues of being eternal.

Analyze your own reactions to films as you watch them. One asks, “How does this story and these characters’ experience reflect and inform upon my own experience to date and my hopes, dreams and fears for my future.”

Look at some non-classical forms:
“My Dinner With Andre”
“Sacrifice” by Tarkovsky.
“Breaking the Waves”, Lars Von Trier – a good example of a film whose plot takes a Deus Ex Machina twist (a woman’s sacrific of her life, the gods reward her paralyzed boyfriend by letting him walk again, and answers it whole-hearted by having, literally, the bells ringing in heaven.

But, whatever the plot, the emotional engagement is with the experience of man/woman here and now. When we go to the movies, we don’t care about the after-life - we care about now.