Quoted from Sandra Elstree. Thanks for starting the thread. Is it action-heavy in the sense of car chases and whatnot or do you just mean not a lot of dialogue? Sandra

In this case it's a bit of both. Although not car chases, as it's contained to a space station (a single location, perhaps?), there is some excitement and cheap thrills for the entire family.

Quoted from Pii In this case it's a bit of both. Although not car chases, as it's contained to a space station (a single location, perhaps?), there is some excitement and cheap thrills for the entire family.

I appreciate your response. I'm trying to gain an understanding of how and why action itself doesn't float my boat, although the Bourne shows were very much to my liking, but that was a complete exception.

I'm thinking that certain individuals experience a kind of "high" by watching certain action sequences and are thus bored to tears watching more internally and psychologically based movies.

I guess that's why many Hollywood movies try and cover both angles for the guys and the gals (so to speak).

When I think of the books that I've read and scripts that I've studied that I've especially enjoyed, they were not action based. But then again...

I loved some of those old action thrillers like Towering Inferno.

What probably has high value in those kinds of stories is that people psychologically place themselves in that scenario and say, WTF! So it is
internal after all.

That's what I need to figure out. What's the value that I place on any action? Whether I write it or read it from someone else? Why is it there? Why does it matter? I guess I'm trying to get into the heart and soul of screenwriting. I could care less about the ending, or anything superficial. What I want to know is why the writer chose this and this and that in order to tell his story.

Sandra

This is a fun thread. I find I go on writing rampages as soon as I have something I actually have to be doing instead, so with school I've been getting more writing done, leisurely. I'm about 45 pages into a script I'm writing now and I'm pretty excited about it, I can see the whole thing in my head. When I open the file, I type away endlessly. However, it's the darkest thing I've ever written or even tried writing so it's a different experience. This summer I was way too distracted and barely wrote at all, it feels good to be back into the game again!

Quoted from kev This is a fun thread. I find I go on writing rampages as soon as I have something I actually have to be doing instead, so with school I've been getting more writing done, leisurely. I'm about 45 pages into a script I'm writing now and I'm pretty excited about it, I can see the whole thing in my head. When I open the file, I type away endlessly. However, it's the darkest thing I've ever written or even tried writing so it's a different experience. This summer I was way too distracted and barely wrote at all, it feels good to be back into the game again!

Hello Kev!

I have a couple of different questions for you:

Do you ever have the problem of bouncing back and forth between "light" and "dark"? In terms of mood... If you do, can you tell us some stories.

Second is:

You're from Montreal, Quebec and I...

I have a young Francais family across the street and my little "adopted" girl, (5/6 years old), she speaks only Francais, (although her brother who's only 15 months (because being in our care) is learning English as his first language, he is learning more English with the +French side...

My girl, Emily is her name, have this strong connection even though we don't speak the same language and her father, who speaks English a bit better than her Mom, has said that she wants to go see "Sanda", cause she can't say her "r's".

My question is:

Can you offer me any suggestions on a rhyme or a song that I can learn that will help us? As an English example, I'd give the "Brush Your Teeth Song" by Raffi, but that's English. Do you know any French songs that I can learn so that I can do translation and we can work together?

Don't worry if you're too busy, but I at least have to ask, right?

Thanks a bunch.

Sandra

Quoted from Sandra Elstree. I appreciate your response. I'm trying to gain an understanding of how and why action itself doesn't float my boat, although the Bourne shows were very much to my liking, but that was a complete exception.

I'm exactly the same. Action sequences have always felt nothing tedious to me and they're extremely unpleasant to write as well. Basically, I'm just not interested. My attitude towards action sequences are just about the same as it is towards sex scenes. When I'm watching a movie, I essentially tune out for the duration, waiting for something more interesting to happen. If I'm at home, I might even check my email or some forums while I'm waiting for the thing to finish.

I try to avoid having to write action, but this time it's pretty unavoidable, since the story is jointly written by me and the producer/director who wanted more action-y elements in there.

But in the end I don't mind all that much, because I can then approach it as a challenge. How can I make the action interesting to me? It forces me to come up with something new that hopefully will be an advantage for the sequence.

But then again, there's way to go around these things. I heard that a pretty respected action screenwriter simply writes: "Action sequence to be choreographed."

Sex scenes I won't touch. I've never had to write one and I don't plan to ever do so.

Hey Sandra!

Quoted from Sandra Elstree. Do you ever have the problem of bouncing back and forth between "light" and "dark"? In terms of mood... If you do, can you tell us some stories.

Jumping back between light and dark does get really tricky for me. I find watching movie trailers in the same genre or moody music helps me a lot but it is hard when you're in a good mood to start writing dark stuff.

Quoted from Sandra Elstree. You're from Montreal, Quebec and I... I have a young Francais family across the street and my little "adopted" girl, (5/6 years old), she speaks only Francais, (although her brother who's only 15 months (because being in our care) is learning English as his first language, he is learning more English with the +French side... My girl, Emily is her name, have this strong connection even though we don't speak the same language and her father, who speaks English a bit better than her Mom, has said that she wants to go see "Sanda", cause she can't say her "r's". My question is: Can you offer me any suggestions on a rhyme or a song that I can learn that will help us? As an English example, I'd give the "Brush Your Teeth Song" by Raffi, but that's English. Do you know any French songs that I can learn so that I can do translation and we can work together?

About the french, I'm sorry but I don't think I'll be too much of a help here! I'm from Toronto and moved to Montreal for university two years ago. I'm completely anglophone living on this little french island but I manage to get by pretty easily. I've been able to pick some things up throughout my time here but I can't construct a sentence, you're lucky Emily is in the 5/6 age, that is prime time to learn languages as it gets a lot harder as you get older. I'm not sure about any rhymes but I can ask some of my Quebecois friends, they might have some answers!

Quoted from Pii My attitude towards action sequences are just about the same as it is towards sex scenes. When I'm watching a movie, I essentially tune out for the duration, waiting for something more interesting to happen.

Interesting.  There are some truly great sex scenes here and there in film, but I can definitely agree that the majority are extremely boring.  Those that are excellent are presumably not much to do with the writer anyway.  I would imagine little or no description of the actual act.  

Great sex scenes -- Don't Look Now, Coming Home, A History of Violence, Brokeback Mountain, Out of Sight.  And, for just plain old entertainment value, you can't beat 9 1/2 Weeks.  I don't think any of those, though -- maybe History of Violence -- have much to do with the writing.  Probably best if the writer keeps description to a minimum.

Saw where this was going and had to ask a question.

In a feature I have finished I have a sex scene which is delicately crafted which the immortal words,  " they have sex". Nothing more, although the setting and build up are played out properly.

Does this under sell the script or will readers etc be ok with this?

It's funny but I seem ok with someone getting a knife out rather than their...  in a script. Silly really.

In terms of general writing whilst I am newish to this all, I have already realised that many of my most interesting thoughts come when they are not expected, hence the need for a pen and paper close to hand aswell as  my now trusted  iPad. Cheers RD

If you write, "they have sex", IMO, it's about as non visual as you can get.

If you really picture what this simple line says, you're saying that you want to show this couple have sex, and that's rarely what will be seen on the screen.  The actual act of sex isn't what's important most likely, unless you're writing a porno.  It's most likely more about how they interact, what kind of passion exists between them, what kind of nudity you intend to show, etc.

IMO, it's lazy writing and equal to using a line like, "they fight".  Doesn't work for me at all.

If you think about it, the amount of detail you write has a correlation to how long the scene plays out.  "they have sex" takes about 7/8 of a second in screen time, and I'm pretty sure that's not what you're after.

Whether you can write it out like you want it shown or not, doesn't matter...you should try.

It's your script (at the moment).  Fill it with exact scenarios that you see happening.

Quoted from Heretic Great sex scenes -- Don't Look Now,

Have to agree.  That has to be one of the weirdest sex scenes.  It says so much about their relationship.

I think whether you write "They have sex"  or get elaborate is mostly up to your style of writing and the script you are writing.  

Personally, I tend to expound on my sex scenes but I can easily see situations where I might distill it to "They have sex".

I'm twenty pages into my new script. I feel like I have a clear understanding of what I want this script to be in terms of its mood and essence. It's not going to deviate in that respect. Though I have been known to straddle the fence in terms of mood, this will be a work that will not go down that road.

Again, I will continue to work on clarity and approach it from many different angles, including from the limited, but various character POVs.

Right now, I haven't officially used a specific location, but I think one of the main ones will be Stanley Park in Vancouver and one of the nearby apartments.

Going there, in my mind, brings me back to my childhood. Even now, when I think about it, if feels like it was someone else's life, not mine. So yes, I'm leaning towards there, but of course, this could be done in New York's Central Park or even a smaller park somewhere; so it's good on the budget side.

It's an emotional film about an approaching death, but there's trickery and love and friendship going on that challenges death and creates life.

I think I'm going to work on this one until Christmas alongside other work. Then, I'll let it rest I think until the end of January. Work another month on it in February. Go on a vacation. Pretend that I'm dead. And come back to it in March.

March sounds like a good time to really work the hell out of the draft.

By the way, yesterday it was title-less, but today I learned its name.

Again, Henrick. Thanks for this thread. Even if you borrowed the idea from another site. It's an excellent idea. I appreciate it.

Sandra

I think I've finally come up with an idea for a feature. So far I've only worked with audio dramas, short films and especially teleplays because an idea worthy of a feature had never came to me. But when I was watching the films at the film festival, I realised that I have a perspective I can contribute.

Much to my chagrin, I've come to notice that films and television portray solitude in an extremely negative light. People who are alone are automatically lonely and distressed. There's no tolerance of people who rather spend time with themselves. And for nearly all films and television, a romantic relationship seems to be the holy grail of all of existence. Very narrow-minded.

So that's what I want to write about. I want to write a feature how being alone can be exactly as rewarding as being in a relationship and how being alone is far different from being lonely.

Now, just how I plan to portray that is still beyond me. What is the plot, who are the characters? Beats me. But for me the primary question always is what the thing I'm writing is about. And now that I've passed that hurdle, I do expect the other things to fall into place as quickly as they see fit.

Quoted from Sandra Elstree. Again, Henrick. Thanks for this thread. Even if you borrowed the idea from another site. It's an excellent idea. I appreciate it.

Thank you. I really enjoy reading the various musings that people have contributed and I hope that this thread will remain active.

Quoted from Pii I think I've finally come up with an idea for a feature. So far I've only worked with audio dramas, short films and especially teleplays because an idea worthy of a feature had never came to me. But when I was watching the films at the film festival, I realised that I have a perspective I can contribute. Much to my chagrin, I've come to notice that films and television portray solitude in an extremely negative light. People who are alone are automatically lonely and distressed. There's no tolerance of people who rather spend time with themselves. And for nearly all films and television, a romantic relationship seems to be the holy grail of all of existence. Very narrow-minded. So that's what I want to write about. I want to write a feature how being alone can be exactly as rewarding as being in a relationship and how being alone is far different from being lonely. Now, just how I plan to portray that is still beyond me. What is the plot, who are the characters? Beats me. But for me the primary question always is what the thing I'm writing is about. And now that I've passed that hurdle, I do expect the other things to fall into place as quickly as they see fit.

Well, maybe I can help you. My one daughter, (the one currently living in China on a scholarship) she is a middle child and has always been the loner in the family. She and I share very much the same characteristics, although, I'm not sure that I'm a true loner as she.

Likewise, my brother, (ten years older than me and living in a cabin in the woods and yes, without running water), he has always been a loner. My Dad or someone had dubbed him "The Lone Wolf" and it always stuck.

I love my brother, Randy. And I think about how much he helped me as a child growing up.

Both Lindsay and Randy enjoy their solitude. It's not like they don't like other people's company, but they prefer their solitude.

Also, I want to mention, that our Pia, I think she prefers her solitude also...

So I think it's an amazing subject for you to tackle.

I would be very interested in hearing the progress on your work. To actually hear your work "breathing" -- that's what I live for. I'm passionate about that.

Behatzlekha!!!

I wish you every success in the coming year.

Keep me tuned in.

G-d bless,

Sandra

[quote=henrik]
So that's what I want to write about. I want to write a feature how being alone can be exactly as rewarding as being in a relationship and how being alone is far different from being lonely.
quote]

So something a la Eat Pray Love? Cool

I'm struggling with my writing at the moment. I'm making tons of excuses, but not much headway on the page. I'm in the home stretch of my current feature, but I'm at the action part (which, some of you may recall, I can't write. I mean, CAN NOT). So this is the sucky part of the writing process for me, second only to the dreaded rewrite.

Actually, I think I'd take the rewrite any day...

Quoted from rdhay [quote=henrik] So that's what I want to write about. I want to write a feature how being alone can be exactly as rewarding as being in a relationship and how being alone is far different from being lonely. quote] So something a la Eat Pray Love? Cool I'm struggling with my writing at the moment. I'm making tons of excuses, but not much headway on the page. I'm in the home stretch of my current feature, but I'm at the action part (which, some of you may recall, I can't write. I mean, CAN NOT). So this is the sucky part of the writing process for me, second only to the dreaded rewrite. Actually, I think I'd take the rewrite any day...

I'm still asking the question:

What is action?

Is it the car chase?

Or is it the nice lady pouring poison into the wine?

Sandra