The Blank Page : Part 4

The Screenwriter's Workbook
by Syd Field

(Page 4 of 5)

When I first began writing, I would confront the blank page with fear and insecurity. And when my mind clicked in and I knew that I had to fill up some one hundred twenty sheets of blank paper for a screenplay, I totally freaked. I couldn't deal with it. Only by dealing with, and confronting my fear, did I learn that for me, writing is a day-by-day job, five or six days a week, three or more hours a day, three or more pages a day. And some days are better than others. If I lose sight of writing the scene that is right in front of me and instead start thinking of what I should do later, it's a total washout.

The blank page. It's intimidating.

If you know your subject then you can create a step-by-step approach that will guide you through the process of writing a screenplay. If we take a look at what a screenplay is, its essential nature, then we can define it as a story told with pictures in dialogue and description and placed within the context of dramatic structure.

So, where does the writer begin? The answer is anywhere you want to. There are many ways to approach writing a screenplay. Sometimes you begin with character - a strong, three-dimensional character in an extraordinary situation that moves your story forward with skill and clarity. Character is a good, solid starting point.

You can also start with an idea; but an idea is only an idea unless it's executed properly. You've got to take that idea and expand it, clothe it, make it say what you want it to say. "I want to write a story about a man who has a near-death experience" is not enough. You've got to dramatize it. Legally, the law says: "You can't copyright an idea, only the expression of the idea." The "expression" means the specific characters, locations, structure, and action that make up the narrative throughline of the story.

Sometimes you may want to write a screenplay that deals with an incident, episode, or experience that happened to you or to someone you know. You can use this particular experience as the starting point in your story, but as you go through the preparation process, you'll find that you want to hold on to the "reality" of the experience; you want to be "true" to the situation or incident. Most people find it hard to let go of the experience. But often, you've got to let the "reality" go in order to dramatize it more effectively. I liken it to climbing a staircase: The first step is the actual experience, the second step is increasing the dramatic potential of the story, and the third step is integrating both of the previous steps to create a "dramatic reality." If you remain too true to "who did what" in the "real" order of the experience, it usually ends up as a thin story line with little or no dramatic impact. Do not feel "obligated" to remain "true" to reality. It doesn't work. The "reality" of the event may, and often does, get in the way of the dramatic needs of your story.

I tell my students over and over again to "let go" of the original source material and simply write what is needed for their story. I call it creating a dramatic reality and liken it to climbing the bottom three rungs of a staircase. The first rung is the reality, the way something really happened. But to turn it into effective drama, you might have to add some incidents or events that did not happen; I call it creating an "unreality." That brings you to the third rung, which I call the dramatic reality. This is where you take the first rung, the reality, add the unreality incidents or elements, and make it a dramatic reality.

It's like writing a historical screenplay. You always have to be true to the historical incidents of the time and place. Those are historical facts which you cannot change. The actual history of the event has to be maintained but you don't have to be true to the emotional, day-to-day events, leading up to the historical incident. Just look at All the President's Men (William Goldman), Ray (James L. White), Erin Brockovich (Susannah Grant), and JFK (Oliver Stone and Zachary Sklar). History is only the starting point, not the end point.

A student of mine was writing a screenplay based on a true story, and taken from the diary of a Hawaiian woman in the early 1800s whose husband contracted leprosy. When his disease was found out, the couple became outcasts, hunted down by a posse determined to eradicate them.

When my student started writing, she used exact scenes and dialogue from the diary, faithfully recording some of the authentic customs and traditions of the islanders. But it didn't work. It was dull and had no structure, therefore it was lacking in story line and direction.

She became frustrated. She didn't know what to do and what direction to take in the story. So, I suggested she make up some scenes that never happened but that would help the story flow. I call it creative research. She went back to the drawing board, and a week or so later she came back with several ideas for scenes. We selected a few, wove them into the story line in this second-page unit of action, and she went back to writing. Her new scenes may never have happened, but they did capture the integrity of the source material and the story blossomed.

The hardest thing about writing is knowing what to write.

If need be, let go of the reality of the person, incident, or event and fashion a creative reality based on the actual historical happening. Find the unreality, the theatricality of the event. This is a movie, remember. You must communicate the people, the story, and the events dramatically. Make up your scenes based on the needs of the story while honoring the integrity of the experience.

There have been times when I've started with a location and used it to weave a story line. But even if you start with a particular place, it's still not enough. You've got to create a character and action to build your story around.

Many people tell me they want to start with a title. That's cool, but what then? You need to create a plot, but a plot about what? Plot is what happens, and since you're sitting down in front of a blank sheet of paper, it should be the furthest thing from your mind. At this point, you don't know anything about the plot; forget plot. We'll deal with it when the time comes. First things first. What are you going to research? You've got to have a subject.

Copyright © 2006 by Syd Field.

About the Author

Syd Field is a screenwriter, producer, teacher, international lecturer, and author of the bestselling books Screenplay, The Screenwriter's Workbook, Selling a Screenplay, and Four Screenplays. Published in 1982, Screenplay has been translated into sixteen languages, and is used in more than 250 colleges and universities across the country. At present he is creative consultant to the governments of Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Austria, and South Africa, and has been a script consultant for Roland Jaffe's film production company, for Alfonso Arau and Laura Esquivel on Like Water for Chocolate, and for Tri-Star Pictures. He lives in Beverly Hills, California.