2DO Before I Die

Our 'Make A Movie' Writer Makes A Movie

Great news - screenwriter David Lemon has his first full-length movie about to come out. Why is this relevant to 2DO Before I Die? Because David was among the first wave of 2DO Bloggers to write about tackling something on his list of things to do (see all of his posts about writing a screenplay) - and he's done it!

The film is 'Faintheart' - a romantic comedy set in the world of medieval battle re-enactments ('May The Norse Be With You..'). It was the closing film of the recent Edinburgh Film Festival and is set for release this Fall. The Festival's review: "With hints of Shaun of the Dead, Son of Rambow and Monty Python, this is a total pleasure - for geeks and lesser mortals alike." Big congratulations David - nice work...

See below for Faintheart's trailer, and click here for David's excellent new blog. And at the jump (follow the 'continue reading' link), David writes about the genesis of the film at The Writer's Guild.

May the Norse be with you...

A quick update to Dave Lemon's blog about the filming of his screenplay 'Faintheart' - an epic tale of frustrated romance, parenthood and Viking battle re-enactments.

Although filming had been postponed until later this year, the project has just taken first place in the prestigious Myspace Movie Mashup competition, along with the rather neat £1million that goes with it. This is to be put towards the production budget - rather than Dave's celebrity sock collection - which means Faintheart should now have a healthy green light and filming could start very soon!

Hopefully we'll hear more from Dave when it gets going in earnest. Until then, to find out more about the competition, visit myspace.com and check out the original pitch given for the project by Faintheart's director Vito Rocco...

Some advice if you're starting out on a screenplay...Pt 2

Rather than bore you with tales of writing a second draft of ‘Faintheart’ (1st act too long, ending needs work), I thought it might be useful to offer a few more tips to anyone embarking on their first screenplay.

3 -- Know What Your Ending Is Before You Start
This might sound obvious, but when you get all excited about a character or a set up, it’s very tempting just to dive in and start writing. This can be fine as a way of discovering character, but after 30 pages or so the ‘engine’ driving the story conks out, and you’re left with a bunch of characters, uncertain what their next move is.
Having a ‘road map’ for your story, whether it’s an six page outline, a fifteen page treatment or a thirty page scene by scene breakdown, is essential. Unlike a novel, a screenplay is a race against the clock. There is no opportunity to ‘re-read’ a scene (unless you’re watching on DVD) and if you do decide to take a strange detour away from the plot, you’d better have a good reason.

4 -- Be Your Own Audience
Would you pay to see your screenplay at the cinema? If the answer is ‘no’ then why expect others to? This doesn’t mean you have write a blockbuster with mass appeal but your screenplay has to be able to communicate what you want it to say to complete strangers. It’s also important to see films at the cinema as much as you can. Stopping and starting a DVD while you get a cup of tea or walk the dog just isn’t the same.

5 -- Pitch to your friends (and be prepared for them to hate it)
For a lot of British scriptwriters the idea of ‘pitching’ will throw up images of a recent series of mobile ‘phone adverts in which various famous actors try to sell their ideas to a committee of crass Hollywood producers (one of whom actually sits on a throne made of rejected scripts).
‘Pitching’ might suggest simplistic clichéd stories or ‘dumbing down’, but verbally summarising a story can be a very useful way of checking that you actually have a story that will hook an audience. When you’ve seen a film you’ve really liked it’s very easy to describe and recommend it to a friend. That’s all pitching really is; a way of recommending a film that’s yet to be made (although just saying ‘it’s really good’ won’t get you very far).

Some advice if you're starting out on a screenplay...Pt 1

As I don’t have much to report on the Faintheart front, and I’m off for two weeks to the Edinburgh Film Festival (in a working capacity, which should be fun but hectic), I thought I might take the chance to offer some tips on scriptwriting. While I don’t feel qualified to pontificate on ‘what is story?’ I can offer some general advice that might be helpful.

1 -- Read those ‘How To Write A Screenplay’ books (even if you think you don’t want to).
A common misconception is that scriptwriting is somehow a mystical art form, and that reading books on structure, character, plot etc. will compromise your creativity. It won’t. Even if you disagree with a lot of what the authors say, you learn a lot on the way.
Some recommendations: The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, Screenplay by Syd Field, Story by Robert McKee, How To Write a Film in 21 Days by Vikki King. Although it has a less than alluring title, Save The Cat! By Blake Snyder is a very good ‘one stop shop’ for the aspiring scriptwriter, and written in a clear, jargon free manner.
Seminars can be pricy, but useful too. Check out The London Script Consultancy for affordable courses and some nifty downloads on everything from Aristotle to the ‘High Concept’.

2 -- Read Scripts (especially new ones, and lots of them)
It’s amazing how many people who want to write scripts never read them. How else can you find out what a film looks like when it’s still on the page? Finding screenplays to enjoy and analyse has never been easier. Many are available in bookshops, and there are hundreds of screenplays that can be downloaded off the web. It’s free and as it’s for educational purposes, it’s legal (most of the time).
Reading screenplays is the only way to see how they’re constructed. If they’re good, you should be able to see the film in your mind’s eye, regardless of whether you’ve seen the finished film. Check out www.simplyscripts.com . You’ll be amazed at what’s out there…

            

The latest on 'Faintheart'...

As Eric L pointed out in his comment on my previous post, I’ve been so busy talking about the day to day reality of writing a film script - outlines, treatments, re-writes, etc. - that I haven’t actually described the story itself.

The film is currently called Faintheart and is a comedy/drama about a man whose passion for battle re-enactments costs him his family. I could say more, but the producers would come after me with a machete.

Speaking of producers -- I just got off the phone with one of them and it looks like filming will be pushed back from October of this year to May 2007. When I first heard this, I had a flash of classic writer paranoia, but it’s actually a good thing. Not only do we all have more time to step back and look at the script afresh (and hopefully see what an audience will) our director will no longer be fighting late Autumn’s short daylight hours. Were we on a soundstage this wouldn’t matter, but for a low budget film set outdoors, it’s a big factor.

This means I can relax, but only a bit. We still need to get a second draft finished soon to send out to actor’s agents for casting. More soon...