Quotable Quote: In Hollywood a marriage is a success if it outlasts milk.
.........--Rita Rudner

Feature Article
by
Barry Pearson

The Essence of Theme - Part I

Back in the so-called Golden Days of the movie industry when moguls like Louis B. Mayer and Harry Cohn ruled the roost, "theme" was, well, kind of a dirty word.

When they thought about theme at all, those moguls-of-old often thought of it as being a moral lesson, a political platform, a "thou shalt" or "thou shalt not." No wonder they snarled at their writers, "If you want to deliver a message, send a telegram, don't put it in your screenplay."

The moguls said it, but writers didn't always obey. They just got smarter about putting messages in.

Today, things are tougher for screenplay writers. Audiences have a lot more savvy than they did in the heyday of MGM or Columbia. Producers and stars are just as demanding as they ever were. And box office cash is still king, so screenwriters have to deliver more entertainment per script.

But one thing hasn't changed.

There is still an abiding hunger for something deeper in our movies. Something thematic.

Is this a good thing? Yes and no.

Yes, because most writers have a yen to dig down to deeper understandings. To deliver ideas that constitute food for the soul. To enlighten. To inspire.

No, because the idea of "theme" has the capacity to provoke writers into a downright irked and peevish mood.

Witness this correspondence sent to me from such a writer:

"Is THEME foremost in the scriptwriter's mind when he embarks on a new screenplay? Does he sit down and think, 'I must write a screenplay examining how, in the face of adversity, hope and courage will always win through' or does he just think, 'I've got a great idea for a war movie!'

"Screenwriting books I have read always ask the question, 'What is your movie trying to say?'

"The trouble is, I have no idea what any of my script ideas are trying to say, I just think they'd make good movies."

Well, that's one writer's frustration. What about you? Is your screenplay trying to say something? I'd give my old
Pentium 1 for a ten-minute standup from Robin Williams on that theme!

But, hold on. Does my screenplay need to SAY something?

That's a legitimate question, isn't it?

No. Because it's not the screenplay that needs to have something to say, it's YOU.

The writer.

Does that mean you have to hew to some "controlling idea" like, In the face of adversity, hope and courage will always win through? Not necessarily.

First of all, the idea above, expressed simplistically and abstractly, rings hollow. If you're a complex human being like most writers, you deal in complex, specific ideas -- and you're likely to have a truckload of them. Asking you, "What's the theme of the movie you're writing?" is like asking, "What color is the rainbow?" or "What's the taste of this wine?"

Your movie can have many themes. Sometimes one idea will be dominant, but isn't it liberating to realize that we are not bound to try to deliver one thematic idea?

When writers write, they undergo a process -- mental, emotional, practical, tactical, physical, spatial, sensory, and creative.

I believe that theme may be the most significant single aspect of our process of creating a screenplay.

Why? Because theme is our opportunity to dramatize our deepest beliefs, and our deepest understandings, about human beings and their lives.

Isn't it the expressing of these deep beliefs and understandings that strikes a chord with audiences?

I'm convinced it is. What's your sincere belief about what is the best way to live in the world? Answer that question and underpin your screenplay with the answers you create.

Next time we'll look at how this process works in one of my favorite movies, Witness, which garnered Academy Award success largely because of its strong grounding in a powerful theme.

[This article is adapted from an article that I wrote for Screentalk Magazine.]

All successful writers are
voracious readers.

Click here to find movie
scripts to read.

PEARSON'S
INDEX

350,000 -- The number of Googlehits
on the topic:"How to build a screenplay."

3,930,000 -- The number of Googlehits
on the topic: "How to build a bomb."

HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS

Special delivery?

Seems that Albert Lippincott, dysfunctional family and all, is about to get himself adapted to the big screen.

Albert is the brain child of J. Robert Lennon, critically acclaimed author of the 1997 black comedy Mailman.

Albert's Dad is a not-famous Princeton scientist, his Mom is a sex-addicted would-be torch singer, and his female sibling's idea of how to torment her little brother is to sashay around in the buff when he hides under the bed.

(Paging Adam Sandler or Ben Stiller!)

Anyway, Paramount is in the picture with an acquisition, and the script is under construction.

Anyone see a similarity here between this property and the quirky TV series Six Feet Under?

Wall Street Woes
And Warner Brothers is busy
shining shoes down on Wall Street.

Does this sound promising?

Confessions of a Wall Street
Shoeshine Boy, a novel by Vanity
Fair editor Doug Stumpf, has been
picked up by Harper Collins, who
flipped the film rights to the Brothers.

Story line? Brazilian buffer at a financial institution tells the story of three
Wall Street denizens, from his
point of view.

After Bernie Ebbers, Wall Street needs someone to redeem its good name.

Where is Gordon Gekko when we
need him?

CONTEST CORNER

Presenters: American Screenwriters Association & Gotham Writers Workshop

Prizes:
1st -- $10,000 cash plus a
value package worth $10,000,
including a $7500 Networking and
Script Development trip to Hollywood.

2nd -- $1,000 cash and $3,100 in
services and merchandise, plus a promotional ad of you and your script in the Hollywood Reporter (value -- $1500).

3rd -- $3,500 Cash & Prizes.

4th -- $3,250 Cash & Prizes.

5th -- $2,500 Cash & Prizes.

Deadlines:
Early --October 31, 2005
Late -- November 30, 2005

Fees:
Early -- Member ASA $40
Non-Member $50
Late -- Member ASA $50
Non-Member $60

The Craft of Screenwriting
Barry talks to writers about--

Voice-Over and Narration

Q--I've read your helpful answers to budding screenwriters and thank you for the information I've been privy to through others' questions. I'd like to know why you don't think that voice overs can be used effectively to introduce or to wrap up a story.

A--Here's the simple answer: the use of voice-overs and narration is an invitation to laziness.

When you succumb to the temptation to use VO or Narration to tell your story, you're writing radio drama. VO and narration is generally the "easy way out." If you grab for this crutch, you don't challenge yourself to tell your story visually, with the support of the score, which is the best way to convey the most information in the least time.

Imagine this metaphor: You need to use two vehicles to deliver your movie story to the audience.

One vehicle is called "visuals and music." It's the size of a Greyhound bus.

The other is called "narration and dialogue." It's the size of a Volkswagen.

Both are important, but you have to deliver a two-hour story load. Which one are you going to use most?

Of course, each of these modes has its strengths and weaknesses.

VISUALS are the best way of delivering information and taking the audience on a journey through time and space.

MUSIC is the best way of evoking raw emotion.

As for NARRATION, I would be inclined to avoid it whenever possible, but there are a few instances in which it would be justified:

1. You are short of money and cannot shoot certain necessary parts of your story with full blown dialogue and action. You can use VO from your major character to "fill in" the unshootable obligatory scenes.

2. Your hero needs to remain mysterious and enigmatic, so you want to use an observer/buddy character as a viewpoint for the audience: EG.Watson's narration in the Sherlock Holmes stories.

3. You are adapting a novel and you don't want to lose the "voice" of the author. EG. Daniel Dafoe's narration in Robinson Crusoe, Hemingway's narration, John Steinbeck, etc.

4. Your main character's psychological growth or development requires you to be "inside his head," for example, Lester Burnham in American Beauty. Only use Voice-Over or Narration after you've tried every other method, and you have to finally admit that you can't tell the story any other way.

DIALOGUE should be your last choice of a medium to deliver INFORMATION, because you always run the risk of the dialogue sounding bogus and destroying the audience's belief in the reality of your story.

When there is no other way to get information across, you must make sure you create a NEED for the line of dialogue. Either the speaker must have a strong need to deliver the information:

("Listen to me! I know where the bomb is!")

Or the listener must have a strong need to learn the information:

("There are people in that building, tell me where the bomb is!")

Think of how many prosecuting attorneys, or doctors or detectives, or spies are used in movies and television. Could it be that their occupations provide them with strong needs to extract and to impart information, which makes the writer's job easier.

DIALOGUE reigns supreme when it comes to revealing the inner ATTITUDE of your characters. Attitude is at the root of humor, suspense, and drama -- BP

CONTEST CAVEAT

This newsletter prints updates about screenplay writing contests. We have
no reason not to believe that all of these entities are reputable, and trustworthy.

But we're publishing information, not endorsements -- so -- screenwriters
need to make independent judgments
about whether any particular contest is legitimate and will be worth the time
and effort of submitting to.

The site below is run by the Science
Fiction Writers of America.

The information on board is geared
mainly to writers in general, but a
quick read reveals that the warnings
they publish apply to screenwriters
as well.

There are tips on how to spot
a scam, as well as links to other
sites that deal with contests and how
they're conducted.

http://www.sfwa.org/beware/contests.html

BARRY'S BOOKS

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my new ebook IT'S ALL ABOUT THE STORY,
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