A New Style?
March 15th, 2006
Recently have you sat behind your computer and just stared blankly at your newest screenplay? Why are you staring at it? Why aren’t you working on it? Doesn’t flow the way you want it to? Are you feeling just a little be restricted by all the rules that you have read on the Hollywood style of script writing?
Well I am here to bring you some good news. And no, I am not going to a do a Geico joke and say I just saved a ton of money on my car insurance. Though I think I just did. I won’t wait for the laughter to die down to continue, but I don’t think there was any to begin with.
We’ve heard about the new script style that is out there, it states that you need to show as much white space as possible, it says that you can not use any ‘INGs’ at the end of words, it says you have to show and not tell.
Have you read any of the screenplays that have come out recently? They are full of long lengths of dialogue, lots of ‘INGs,’ and there is a lot more telling in screenplays. Read CRASH or SIDEWAYS and look it both those scripts very closely. Then tell me what you see.
“It’s all about the flow of the screenplays now,” says a very reputable agent at a higher agency, that at the time of writing this hasn’t given me permission to use his name, “What everyone is looking for right now is flow and a good story, no one really cares about whether or not ‘INGs’ are used, using them increases the flow of the story. What it ultimately comes down to is the story and is it formatted correctly.”
You know the key point I take away from that is, ‘the story,’ isn’t that what we want to write, the story?
My agent, Paul M, says, “It’s all about the story. Story and format, if both are exceptional we’ll give it a serious look. Formatting isn’t hard, that’s the easy part, if you have the right software it does it for you, then all you have to do is write the story.” I then asked him about all the rules that Hollywood has put on us the screenwriter.
“There are only a few rules in place now, but Hollywood is looking for good stories. The writer needs to focus on the story and not worrying about the thousand or so rules that hang above their head. None of the guys in the industry follow the rules, they just worry about the story and getting it done and written.”
What about the double standard?
“It’s going away,” Paul replied, “Hollywood is hypocritical and still operates like it is still in the past, but there is a lot more young blood in many high positions in agencies and production companies and where there is young blood there is change.”
Oh my God, thank you! I have always felt a bit overwhelmed by all the rules and with every word I was writing making sure it fell into Hollywood standards, now that I find out they are going away. What a relief!
Hopefully in Dave Trottier’s next edition of the Screenwriters Bible he will have this information in there. Because when I read it two years ago, I would have loved to read something like this. Just write the story… What a concept!
This article was written by Kevin Nesgoda a member of the SU family. Kevin is known as nesgodawg on the boards. Kevin is also the Creative Director for Shadow Star Productions. You can check out more information on Kevin by going to www.shadowstarpro.com or looking him up on www.imdb.com
Well I am here to bring you some good news. And no, I am not going to a do a Geico joke and say I just saved a ton of money on my car insurance. Though I think I just did. I won’t wait for the laughter to die down to continue, but I don’t think there was any to begin with.
We’ve heard about the new script style that is out there, it states that you need to show as much white space as possible, it says that you can not use any ‘INGs’ at the end of words, it says you have to show and not tell.
Have you read any of the screenplays that have come out recently? They are full of long lengths of dialogue, lots of ‘INGs,’ and there is a lot more telling in screenplays. Read CRASH or SIDEWAYS and look it both those scripts very closely. Then tell me what you see.
“It’s all about the flow of the screenplays now,” says a very reputable agent at a higher agency, that at the time of writing this hasn’t given me permission to use his name, “What everyone is looking for right now is flow and a good story, no one really cares about whether or not ‘INGs’ are used, using them increases the flow of the story. What it ultimately comes down to is the story and is it formatted correctly.”
You know the key point I take away from that is, ‘the story,’ isn’t that what we want to write, the story?
My agent, Paul M, says, “It’s all about the story. Story and format, if both are exceptional we’ll give it a serious look. Formatting isn’t hard, that’s the easy part, if you have the right software it does it for you, then all you have to do is write the story.” I then asked him about all the rules that Hollywood has put on us the screenwriter.
“There are only a few rules in place now, but Hollywood is looking for good stories. The writer needs to focus on the story and not worrying about the thousand or so rules that hang above their head. None of the guys in the industry follow the rules, they just worry about the story and getting it done and written.”
What about the double standard?
“It’s going away,” Paul replied, “Hollywood is hypocritical and still operates like it is still in the past, but there is a lot more young blood in many high positions in agencies and production companies and where there is young blood there is change.”
Oh my God, thank you! I have always felt a bit overwhelmed by all the rules and with every word I was writing making sure it fell into Hollywood standards, now that I find out they are going away. What a relief!
Hopefully in Dave Trottier’s next edition of the Screenwriters Bible he will have this information in there. Because when I read it two years ago, I would have loved to read something like this. Just write the story… What a concept!
This article was written by Kevin Nesgoda a member of the SU family. Kevin is known as nesgodawg on the boards. Kevin is also the Creative Director for Shadow Star Productions. You can check out more information on Kevin by going to www.shadowstarpro.com or looking him up on www.imdb.com
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