The subsequent are excerpts from a memo from screenwriting great David Mamet to the writers of his Emmy-nominated series The Unit. It's superb how even professional writers still want to be reminded of the basic principles of writing. I particularly appreciate the way Mamet differentiates between the producer's (usually misguided) want to create things clear with "info" and therefore the author's want to make drama.
As Mamet puts it: (Please excuse his capital letters. He is an excitable guy!)"Any dickhead with a bluesuit will be (and is) taught to mention "make it clearer", and "i need to know more about him".
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When you've made it thus clear that even this bluesuited penguin is happy, both you and she or he can be out of a job."
That is as a result of, as Mamet thus brilliantly points out, nobody watches a movie for exposition. They watch a movie for an experience. And creating that experience is all about character.
Place all your focus on looking after your audience, and despite all your laborious work, they're going to be snoozing in their seats.
Target your character, and your audience can follow you anywhere. Which means making a personality who wants one thing desperately, tries to induce it against overwhelming odds, and in thus doing undergoes a journey that will forever change his or her life.
This is what Mamet calls drama. Again, in his words:
Query: what's drama? Drama, again, is the quest of the hero to overcome those things which stop him from achieving a specific, acute goal.
So: we, the writers, must raise ourselves of every scene these 3 questions.
1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER DON'T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?
The answers to these questions are litmus paper. Apply them, and their answer can tell you if the scene is dramatic or not.
Mamet follows up with a "crock of shit" list of necessary rules for seeking out and destroying non-dramatic scenes. As all of you recognize, I'm suspicious of any rules when it involves writing. But these are positively worth considering. Here are a number of the highlights:
Any time two characters are talking about a third, the scene could be a crock of shit.
Any time any character is saying to another "as you recognize", that's, telling another character what you, the author, want the audience to understand, the scene is a crock of shit.
If you fake the characters cant speak, and write a silent movie, you may be writing nice drama.
If you deprive yourself of the crutch of narration, exposition,indeed, of speech. You'll be solid to work in a new medium - telling the story in photos (conjointly referred to as screenwriting)
Take a look at the scene and raise yourself "is it dramatic? Is it essential? Will it advance the plot? Answer truthfully. If the answer is "no" write it again or throw it out.
After all, like any rules, these too have exceptions. Watch the opening of Inglourious Basterds for instance, and tell me if that scene would are better if it had been written like a silent movie.
Or take the utterly non-essential "McLovin' and therefore the cops" sequences out of Superbad and see if you continue to wish to observe the movie.
I think what distinguishes these exceptions is that even though they violate several of the foundations of Mamet's memo, they're true to the three principles that create drama: a personality pursuing one thing she or he desperately needs, against tremendous odds, and in an exceedingly method that will forever modification his or her life.
And after all it does not hurt if you're funny.
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Jerald Torres has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Screenwriting (Writing and Speaking ), you can also check out his latest website about:
