Hello. I'm planning to write my first feature (eeeeekkk) and not sure about something.

The script will start off in one location, and then for most of the script moves somewhere else. I'm thinking of somewhere like Tokyo. They find like five million dollars, and want to spend it . The thing is I don't know anything about Tokyo...

Do I have to be specific where I say the characters go to in the script? Or do I need to pick somewhere which I know about (Sydney or Melbourne) and say that they go there in the script.

It doesn't really matter where they go... It wont really change the storyline... I just love the idea of my action comedy to be set in Tokyo.

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Also, for another script, does anyone know how I would put "Go away" or something similar ("get stuffed") in "Shakespearean" speech? Has he written something like that in any of his plays?

Thanks for your help guys, appreciate it.

hey Tom! maybe u could find out about Tokyo on the net. identify some well known streets and landmarks and you're off.  if you use Aussie locations it will maybe be too foreign for a lot of SS readers. I don't know.  check out Tokyo on google earth and copy down some suburbs and streets. cheers

Quoted from stevie hey Tom! maybe u could find out about Tokyo on the net. identify some well known streets and landmarks and you're off.  if you use Aussie locations it will maybe be too foreign for a lot of SS readers. I don't know.  check out Tokyo on google earth and copy down some suburbs and streets. cheers

Australia is too foreign but Tokyo isn't?

I think you will be fine Tommy, just use generic terms or make up names of places in Tokyo and you should be fine. Unless you have a very specific location that is needed in which case a little research and you will be good to go.

I'd advise you to write what you know... The author of a very good novel in fact named "Tokyo" spent 6 months in Tokyo researching the city to make his writing authentic...

And some things about a city you won't be able to find out about by browsing the net - Ie, the feeling of the city (how the people in the city act to tourists) among other things.

Quoted from Toby_E I'd advise you to write what you know... The author of a very good novel in fact named "Tokyo" spent 6 months in Tokyo researching the city to make his writing authentic... And some things about a city you won't be able to find out about by browsing the net - Ie, the feeling of the city (how the people in the city act to tourists) among other things.

I normally agree, but I got the impression just the intro of the script was set in Tokyo, so since the characters are not really going to be there for long he should be ok...but perhaps I completely misunderstood his question  

Quoted from YaBoyTopher Australia is too foreign but Tokyo isn't?

Australia's not foreign if, like Tommyp, you live there...

RE: the Shakespeare, I can think of three suggestions, two of which are his, and one of which sounds like him. Firstly: "get thee to a nunnery" - Hamlet says this to Ophelia just before he drowns herself. She loves him, but he drives her away. Secondly, "out, foul jelly!" Not really "go away", but saying, "Out, wench!" or "Out, fiend!" could work (the original line is said by Cornwall when he's gouging out Gloucester's eyes in King Lear). The final one is "get thee behind me", as in, "Get me behind me, Satan." Jesus said that, not Shakespeare, but still.

As for your location question, my advice would be to either research REALLY well, or not risk it. You won't be able to achieve any real level of authenticity that way. How about using New York or L.A. and drawing on the collective wisdom and knowledge of the American SS community? Just a thought.

Quoted from JonnyBoy Australia's not foreign if, like Tommyp, you live there... RE: the Shakespeare, I can think of three suggestions, two of which are his, and one of which sounds like him. Firstly: "get thee to a nunnery" - Hamlet says this to Ophelia just before he drowns herself. She loves him, but he drives her away. Secondly, "out, foul jelly!" Not really "go away", but saying, "Out, wench!" or "Out, fiend!" could work (the original line is said by Cornwall when he's gouging out Gloucester's eyes in King Lear). The final one is "get thee behind me", as in, "Get me behind me, Satan." Jesus said that, not Shakespeare, but still. As for your location question, my advice would be to either research REALLY well, or not risk it. You won't be able to achieve any real level of authenticity that way. How about using New York or L.A. and drawing on the collective wisdom and knowledge of the American SS community? Just a thought.

No, Stevie said Australian locations would maybe be too foreign for SS so maybe he should go with Tokyo, I simply was wondering why he felt that, if anything Australia would be more familiar to most here then Tokyo mainly because of the language and cultural difference.

Yep, apologies, you're right. My bad.

However, I think Tommy's plot sounds like two people find $5m at the start, and then go to Tokyo to spend it. So he'll need to sound knowledgable if he's setting most of the plot there.

Quoted from JonnyBoy Yep, apologies, you're right. My bad. However, I think Tommy's plot sounds like two people find $5m at the start, and then go to Tokyo to spend it. So he'll need to sound knowledgable if he's setting most of the plot there.

I just re-read the op and you are right he meant that the majority of the story would take place in Tokyo, I had it backwards, so we both are right and wrong lol

So I agree, if the majority of the story is set in a foreign country you should be very familiar with the location. It is safer just to right what you know, so if that is Australia go with that.

Personally I think a Action Comedy set in Australia is a fresher idea then Tokyo anyway.

Hi guys.  I think i misused the word 'foreign' in my original reply. I meant maybe SS readers would be more familiar with Japanese references than Aussie ones. It depends how much local stuff Tom uses in his script. Cheers

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't replied earlier... bloody time zones...

The film will mostly be spent in this new city, which I think will be somewhere in Australia now, for safety's sake.

Jonnyboy, thanks a heap for the Shakespeare, I'll use one of them

Thanks for the replies....

Keep the locations familiar to you.  Readers will know if you're bullshitting.  A member oif the boards, a couple of years back, was asking me a lot of questions about the New York City subway system.  He wanted the story to take place in it; the problem was that he had never been to the United States, much less NYC.  There are subways where he lived, but he wanted to have his story take place in NYC.

I told him I couldn't tell him everything about the NYC subways.  It would take me too long to tell him about the entire culture of people who live and work in there.  Those who travel by subway.  The various architecture, the crime, etc.

Unless you can get the flavor of a location, you shouldn't use it in your work.  It'll fall flat.

In regards to your Shakespearean question, try, "Good day, Sir!"


Phil

Writing what you know is best, but if you must use somewhere you've never been, don't discount the value of the internet for research. People write stuff about all kinds of stuff. I know someone in France who keeps a blog, and after reading of her three years there, I feel like I could set a story in her hometown and nail it pretty good, even though I've never been out of the United States.

Yes, it's best to have been there, but a lot of research can go a long, long way in making it seem like you've been to a place you've never been to before. You just have to dig for it to find what you're looking for, and the best place for that is likely blogs of people who live there.

Why? Because it's opinionated, unresearched, and real.

Opinionated?  Yes. Unresearched?  Yes.  Real?  Not always.  A blog is only as god as the blogger, and there's plenty of reasons the blogger might have a cloudy view of things.


Phil

Thanks Phil and George. Great advice as usual.

That cloudy view, though, gives you an angle. A real viewpoint more than trying to decipher Google Earth. And if you go over multiple blogs, you end up with several angles. Those cloudy views give you the feelings of a place more than a forensic study of the cracks on the walls.

I'd buy a Lonely Planet guide to Tokyo and do a TripAdvisor search on any specific location. Any inadequacies will be dealth with in a rewrite, as long as the structure and narrative are sounds.

As for Shakespeare, what about, "Be gone." I'm sure it's been used a few times.

Or, watch documentaries/ other films or read some books (fiction, or non-fiction) set in the location you want to set your script in... I'd recommend reading the script for, and watching 'Lost in Translation', as well as some films made by Japanese directiors (such as 'Tokyo!' if you can track it down).

My next feature will be set mostly in Amsterdam - I've been reading lots of travel/ tourist books, and internet travel blogs, as well as talking to people I know who have visited the city. However, I also plan to visit Amsterdam in the next few months as well.