Summer package

Summer is in full swing with all its different rhythms. Record temps are being reported from every corner…it’s a sizzle! Will you pound away at the keyboard and avail of the energy of the sun, and later, free your mind enough to capture beams of inspiration from the cool night sky? Blogaroo and skidaroo, and sizzle too…and hopefully you find the will and the passion, to finish, or to start, a screenplay. So, to give you a nudge I have put together a “summer package” of suggestions, some key elements that are essential to creating a good screen story.

1.Your main character is on a journey, either willfully, or reluctantly, and the progression of your structure must move the character through events that propel him or her forward towards some kind of transformation. How your character develops in awareness or resolve or in any number of other ways, is the thread that knits your story together from beginning to end.

2. Drivers vs Conflict.I like to separate the two. The Driver is the external and the the Conflict is the internal. Let’s say the Driver is a tsunami or a stock market crash or the pandemic, let’s take the tsunami; your character is conflicted about leaving his sister stranded on the island, or, should he risk all to save her as well. The driver and the conflict. In turn this demands that in the development of the character/s, you have to build in the kind of relationship the two have that frames this Conflict.

3. Trigger points. I like to think of a kind of road map of trigger points, or a Step Outline. The shifts, the gears, the motor going from drive to reverse, and back again and speeding up, or slowing down, that determine the tone of your story and how it unravels. The big mistake we often make is to be content in satisfying our own understanding of how the story unravels, whereas, we need to be asking ourselves …and without putting up signposts…have I made it clear so the audience will get it? .

4. And last, I’ll leave you with the idea of the Spark. Your opening should in some way reveal an element of your story that sparks the interest of the audience enough, so that they jump on your train and take the ride with you.

For me this summer will be about meeting with old friends, long conversations, going for walks, swimming, and yes, talking to myself, as my characters gradually claim their territory and have their way. I will be a passenger making unexpected stops not sure of my final destination, but on my way.

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Wishing you a happy summer…see you next time!