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Well, I have been wrong before and I have absolutely no problem admitting when that happens, but it's not now.
There are very few who will appreciate this kind of description...and many who will despise it and literally stop reading right there. It's amateur hour 101, and if you honestly don't know or realize that, then I'm not sure what else to say.
It's poor advice to doll out. Period.
Since Tom Lennon who sold some twenty odd scripts wants to give that advice to other people wanting to sell a script then he should give it. Basing his advice on his experience in the field is not giving poor advice. It's giving experienced advice.
And any advice can work or not work for the person receiving it. Because you can't actually speak for anyone in the field, only for yourself, when you say it's poor advice - you really mean it's poor advice for you. And that's fine. It probably is poor advice for you.
But other people deserve and should insist on the chance to try things and see if it works for them before they go all value judgmenty on it. I don't think it's poor advice to encourage people to be creative and try to set their work apart from others. This is definitely the time for them to do it.
The few feature producers I've been working with addressed this with me. I've never been asked to write with an actor in mind simply cuz they were hot.
However... They WILL ASK you to write their ideas with a certain "voice" in mind. This is due to specific relationships they have and want to take advantage of them. But I've never been asked to to write that down in the character description.
E.D.
LATEST NEWS CineVita Films is producing a short based on my new feature!
Gilliam and Palin famously wrote in the Script for Time Bandits that a character takes his helmet off, and is revealed as looking like Sean Connery.
Guess who got the part.
I once wrote a script in which a character name checks an actor - one I had in mind when writing the part. It was an indirect way to put the thought in the readers head...
So, Time Bandits was released 30 years ago, and written by 2 Hollywood insider Pros. Whether or not the script was written on spec, isn't even the issue here. These guys had clout and success, and basically could write anything they wanted to, anyway they wanted to. Whatever they were writing, was being read by other Pros and Hollywood A Listers. When you get tot hat level, go ahead and write Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie into your script.
The issue at hand, and question originally asked, was whether or not it was acceptable (or a goods idea) to to describe a character by using an actual actor's name in a Spec script, written by an unproduced, unknown writer.
And the clear answer is, "No, it is not a good idea to do that." Period.
Haven't we all read scripts that attempt this? I know I sure have and I know I didn't get more than a few pages into it, because of this. It's just foolish.
Do yourselves all a favor and don't write like this. Please...
Conz, this is very confusing. You're supposedly a board member, right? Assuming that's true, how could you not read a single line of what the OWC is? How is that even possible? It's not, obviously.
But after the fact, numerous members called you out on the fact that you reviewed your own fucking script, but not a single other one. Right? .
i was being self deprecating. i didnt even know it would be revealed to be mine to be honest.
but seriously dude... relax... you'll be ok. I feel like I've done something terrible to you by the way you're talking to me.
I'd list my "work" here, but I don't know how to hyperlink.
"Career" Highlights -2, count em, 2 credits on my IMDB page. -One time a fairly prominent producer e-mailed me back. -I have made more than $1000 with my writing! -I've won 2 mugs... and a thong. (polaroids of me in thong available for $10 through PM)
Conz, you haven't done anything terrible to me personally as far as I know, but again, this isn't the point.
It would be so simple of you to not have this attitude you're portraying and apologize to each and everyone and go back and read some OWC scripts...like you said you had planned on doing. If nothing else, you should read the scripts by writers that read and provided feedback to you.
So simple and the problem is long forgotten. Why can't you do that?
Conz, you haven't done anything terrible to me personally as far as I know, but again, this isn't the point.
It would be so simple of you to not have this attitude you're portraying and apologize to each and everyone and go back and read some OWC scripts...like you said you had planned on doing. If nothing else, you should read the scripts by writers that read and provided feedback to you.
So simple and the problem is long forgotten. Why can't you do that?
Because the only person pestering him about it is you. Both bert and I said let it go. Conz knows the OWC expectations now and if he enters the next OWC he will abide by them or not. Let it go until then.
that's an unacceptable way to write a character description, right?
There's ways around everything. I'm quoting here... "Once you know the rules and start breaking them...then you're really not breaking them." If that makes sense.
MARTY, 78, Think Ernest Borgnine in Captiva Island, sits in a chair with a corn cob pipe in his mouth.
HARRY, 51, think F. Murray Abraham in Largo Desolato, lies on the ground, examining the carcass of a skunk.
MARTY (in an Ernest Borgnine-like voice) Harry, are you sure the fucking thing is dead?
Harry looks up to Marty, a sly grin on his face.
HARRY (in an F. Murray Abraham-like voice) You think I'd be on the ground examining it, if it was still alive?
He goes back to work on the dried-up carcass.
HARRY (CONT.) Of course, it's fucking dead, you old goat!
I actually got a clear picture of your characters in my head, even if you went out of your way to pick obscure films. And if it wasn't for the the silly wrylies -- I would say it was ok not half as bad as I expected but not something for you to over-use.
But actually when I said some times it could be the right approach, I was thinking of movies about Hollywood, coming of age/fame movies. Using think *actor* to describe your characters would fit right in with the mood of the story. Your introductions would not only be appropriate, they would be essential to the story, belong there.
And some people, talk exactly like that, think this actor - think that actor, and so their voice when writing a screenplay would naturally phrase intros like that. And because it was their voice it would feel natural - so even if you did want to complain about it you wouldn't because a true voice is soothing...
I hope to see lots of this utilized in the upcoming OWC. I for one will definitely be using it every chance I get...minus the silly wrylies, of course.
Did you also get a feel for the horrid acting from Marty, since Ernest Borgnine gave a horrendous performance in Captiva Island? Hope so, as that was a major point in his character in my example.
I'd love to see someone else throw up another example of this...who's in?
Love it, Stevie! Well done. I'd also like to see this utilized in the upcoming OWC. Very, very visual descriptions there. That's the kind of writing that should make us all rich, famous, fat, and lazy...like Sean Connery.