complete novice with an idea

[uncle_al]

It is ALWAYS easier to rewrite and edit than it is to write ... or as someone clever once said, "Writing is rewriting."

MANY clever someones, as memory serves.  (It may not serve, it may only stand and wait...)

Al Bouchard

[ScriptNurse]

The hardest part is starting. Get something down on paper as soon as you can. It is ALWAYS easier to rewrite and edit than it is to write ... or as someone clever once said, "Writing is rewriting."

[uncle_al]

Not a problem.  Apply seat of pants to seat of chair, and scribble away.

Al Bouchard

[denny29]

Thanks for the help guys,

This has been buzzing around my head for days. But the main point i do take on board, is that i need an ending before i need a middle. Think i will start down scriptnurses route and see if an ending comes to me.

As for uncle als obvious endings, i do take your points well on board. Like you said the 3 endings there are the obvious, but im not happy with any of them.

I envisage the time scale of the start of the film being over a couple of weeks, and the later 1/4 being over a year or two. On this scale the mother dying is a possibility but not really the father or children. Basically if the father or the kids have it, all 3 have it.

Re-reading script nurses 10 points. I think where i can really get an audience thinking is point 5, particularly the "whos the bad guy". To me this is the father. Although his intentions are good, the children will not see it that way.

Will work it out and come back for more advice when i get there !

[ScriptNurse]

Nice family-oriented storyline possibilities here, too.

To help you work though the story line and to help clarify things in your head, why don't you write an essay ... 10 pages tops.

START ... write the family backstory (read my article BACKSTORY BASICS for some thoughts on that). Having the backstory will help clarify who-gets-what-issues, behaviors and perhaps why the characters act the way they do.

STEP 1:  Outline the essay on 1 page.

STEP 2: Rough out the essay itself ... just get it down, even badly ... on paper. If you know something needsw to happen, but you're not sure what ... put a "placeholder" in the essay, like:  (PUT MARRIAGE BREAKUP SCENE HERE.) You can come back later and work it out.

STEP 3:  Re-write the essay for clarity and to add more details.

STEP 4: Re-write the essay to its proper length ... 10 pages, no more.

STEP 5: EVALUATE ... is it visual? Does the viewer/audience learn something from what happens to these characters? Can we identify with them? Do we care about them? Who's the "bad guy" in the story?

STEP 6: Polish up the essay to add nuances you discovered in Step 5.

STEP 7: Write a logline ... a one sentence description that describes the movie.

STEP 8: Find the 20 major scenes that take place in the story and put them on 3x5 of 4x6 cards.

STEP 9: Write a rough draft of the movie script.

STEP 10: Re-write and polish the script.

This will give you a structure to start form scratch and get something down on paper you can work with. That's often the hardest part. You can do it ... you just have to start!

[uncle_al]

As I see it, this has the beginnings of a good idea.
The thing is, as has been put forward by mystery writers since time immemorial, you need to nail down your ending before you try to nail down the middle.  Otherwise it's like herding cats.

A super-bug with no cure, and the children and their mother are all showing early signs of it.  This does not bode well.
There are three possibilities I see...

• The children get it, die, and the father ends up getting it and dying also.
• The children get it, don't die, and this leads to heightened research on a vaccine against it.
• The children don't get it, but the father does, and he dies at the end of the story.

Okay, sorry, there are a couple more permutations in there, but you get the idea.  Or, perhaps, this exercise will spark you off to find something new - or, at least, new to you.

Don't blow this story off yet... it could well pan out in the end.

Al Bouchard

[denny29]

Hi,

I have never attempted to write a book, filmscript or anything similar, but have had an idea that has been running around my head the last few days for a film script. Would be grateful for your opinions on where i go next.

Basic premis of the story is of a single father working delivering goods for a pharmecutical company. Time is the near future, say ten years time and common colds, super bugs etc are getting more difficult to cure.

The main crux of the story is the father, through his day to day work overhearing details of a new super bug which has no cure. Over the course of a weekend looking after his kids, which i see as a 12-13ish year old daughter and 6-7ish year old son. He spots early signs of this, and when returning the children to the mother at the end of the weekend, spots the same signs in the mother.

There the chase begins, with the father running off with the children, refusing to hand them over to the mother.

I see the setting  being a middle size village in the uk, probably wales or scotland.  With the chase heading to the mountains where the father hides out with the children.

I want to show that the father has very basic outdoor skills at some point.  I think this will probably be the start of the film, which will show the family, a few years previous on a camping weekend. Will also use this event to show the breakup of the marriage.

Main crises points would be
1) the immediate running away with the children and the conflict between all members of the family.

2) the chase as the father attempts to escape civilisation, with 2 hysterical children.

3) the mental conflict, as the father is not 100% sure he has done the right thing, and if the threat of the bug is real, while hiding out.

4) as time goes by, having to venture back towards civilisation.


I see the film being virtually 100%, from a 1st person view, being the fathers. Would only want to show scenes without the father, if it was entirely neccessary to progress the story.

I guess i would describe the film as a 'war of the worlds'(steven speilberg version) type film minus the special effects. The difference being the threat is not 100% science fiction but although invisible a very real and believeable threat. Would also envisage film, and direction shot in a similar style of 'children of men'.

My only main problem with the story (apart from being a complete amateur !), is how to end it.