Developing Story Ideas Page 20

  Note

  1Michael Roemer, Telling Stories: Postmodernism and the Invalidation of Traditional Narrative (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1995), Chapter 7, p. 89.

  Going Further

  Available at the website www.routledge.com/cw/rabiger are the following additional assignments: Assignment 20–2: An Original Thirty-Minute Piece Inspired by an Image and Assignment 20–3: An Original Thirty-Minute Piece Inspired by CLOSAT Cards. Books on short films and screenwriting are:

  Cooper, Pat and Ken Dancyger. Writing the Short Film, 3rd ed., Butterworth-Heinemann, 2004 (Like poetry in relation to prose, writing the short story is in some ways harder than the long, and this book helps you grapple with it. Their explanation of dramatic concepts complements mine).

  Cowgill, Linda J. Writing Short Films: Structure and Content for Screenwriters. 2005 (Undoctrinaire guide to writing short films of substance, with special attention to plot and structure. Cites examples that you can find and view).

  Dancyger, Ken and Jeff Rush. Alternative Scriptwriting: Beyond the Hollywood Formula. Butterworth-Heinemann, 2013 (Very accessibly written. Explores what is possible in the nontraditional short form, working with and against genre, character distinctions and limits, and controlling tone. Plenty of writing samples).

  Gurskis, Daniel. The Short Screenplay: Your Short Film from Concept to Production. 2006 (Good all-around industry information for those meaning to make a mark in film festivals, a strategy I strongly recommend).

  Munroe, Roberta Marie. How Not to Make a Short Film: Secrets from a Sundance Programmer. 2009 (How to avoid run-of-the-mill by someone who’s seen it all. Short films take all the thought and artistry of long ones, which is why good ones make excellent calling cards).

  21 Feature Film

  Everyone dreams of hitting the jackpot by writing a successful feature screenplay, but even in barest outline it’s a big undertaking. Keeping an audience enthralled for ninety minutes will eventually take richly detailed characters, and a plot with a plethora of events and subplots. Themes have to develop, connect, and achieve a depth of meaning. Writing a complete, finished feature screenplay takes nearly the effort, narrative material, and planning that it takes to write a novel.

  We shall only go to the foot of the mountain, but to make an initial outline is still significant and exciting. Where the thirty-minute fiction assignment asked you to explore the experience of one character, this asks that you:

  Depict the quests and development of two characters, making each equally interesting.

  Make your audience sympathize with at least one point of view to which you, personally, are opposed.

  “Nothing human is alien to me.” 1 It takes a big heart to accept as human everything that humans do. It means embracing even what is antithetical to your own values and treating it respectfully, sympathetically, and unjudgmentally. When this starts from the intellect, your heart eventually catches up with your head.

  This requires that as you write, you depart from the norm by no longer identifying exclusively with one character. Instead, you work at inhabiting two different characters, imagining their perceptions from the inside, even those that are imperfect or odious. Being able to enter all shades and conditions of human life is now your job, as a battlefield surgeon’s is to heal friend and foe equally well (see sidebar, “Nothing human is alien to me.”)

  Assignment 21–1: Idea for a Feature Film (Featuring Two Points of View)

  For your presentation, write:

  Step 1: Treatment in scene-outline form.

  Step 2: Definition of the themes handled by your story.

  Step 3: A “shopping list” of sequences and their approximate timings, which should add up to about ninety minutes.

  Discussion

  In developing your feature film idea, you might include:

  What does this story make you feel at a gut level?

  What genre does this story belong in and how well does it exploit this?

  What moral forces is the story handling and what thematic work may it be trying to do?

  What do its two central characters represent within the film’s cosmos?

  Are the stakes raised as high as they might be for each central character?

  Are the obstacles that each faces optimal for showing what each is made of?

  What is the story’s crisis, and how do you feel about it?

  Does anyone develop, and if so, how does it happen, and is it credible and satisfying?

  Are the two characters receiving evenhanded treatment?

  How would you rate the originality of the story?

  How would you rate its overall impact for a general audience?

  Example

  What follows is historical fiction, a genre we have not encountered before. As you will see, many fascinating issues make the discussion a lengthy one.

  Example: Feature Film Idea (Paul Flanagan)

  Treatment Outline. Henry, a hefty nineteen-year-old tobacco farmer, and John, a twenty-one-year-old loner, stand before the Colonel inside a tent in Delaware. They have just joined the United States army in hope of assisting the American Revolution. They stand at attention as the Colonel sits behind his desk and begins to speak. He talks to them about the tough times that lie ahead, and the state of affairs in the rebellion. It is December 29, and General George Washington and his troops are suffering bitterly in their encampment in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. They are freezing, have minimal food, and practically no clothes. They are also without their flag, for it was lost during a scuffle in Brandywine. Due to its utmost importance, the Colonel instructs Henry and John to deliver the flag to Washington in Valley Forge. The soldiers stand motionless as the Colonel dismisses them.

  John and Henry are in their tent packing their belongings. John clearly doesn’t want the mission. It doesn’t involve battle. Henry isn’t crazy about it either but he knows his time to fight will come, and he might as well follow orders.

  The boys arrive in Philadelphia and walk through the city. John, completely lost, follows Henry, who seems to know his way around. The busy streets and vendors hurry them along as they scoot around a corner and arrive at their destination.

  The two boys stand firmly in a very prim and proper home. Everything is polished clean and in its proper place. An elderly woman, Betsy Ross, appears with a folded American flag in her hand. They exchange some pleasant conversation, Henry throws the flag into a satchel, and they politely leave.

  With the flag in their possession, Henry and John make their way out of the city and into the vast countryside ahead. They walk along for what seems like hours, talking to each other and trying to keep up enthusiasm. Henry walks while slowly slinging the satchel by his side, once bumping it into a tree and not taking notice.

  They arrive at a large creek and stop at its edge. John, knowing that they must go across, reluctantly begins walking through the waist-high water. Upset at having to get wet, he makes his way across as quickly as possible. Henry follows, yelling at John for taking him through the water.

  Once through, Henry questions John’s navigational skills and they argue. Exhausted, they make camp for the night. Henry, sitting close to the fire, heats some food while John paces around the area. Henry, not being able to get comfortable, uses the satchel as a seat cushion. With the food cooked, John sits down and joins him. They eat their food and cover themselves as warmly as they can for the night.

  Awake at the crack of dawn, John pops up. He scopes the area looking for their direction of travel. Uh oh! They’ve been going the wrong way. He wakes Henry, and John, now carrying the flag, is not any more protective of it. They climb hills, move through ditches and more creeks, until John finally collapses. To hell with this! And John tosses the satchel away. They’ve been tearing themselves up. John doesn’t move from the ground. He’s too numb from the cold and just doesn’t give a damn. Two good men wasted on a stupid delivery mission. Henry picks up the flag, keeping their orders in mind, but sits down als
o. A moment passes as they can barely control their shivering. Uh! What was that? Redcoats! John and Henry stagger to their feet and take off. In thick woods, they are stumbling over just about everything. Whack! John runs into a branch. They keep running with their muskets at the ready. John is shot in the arm from behind. He falls. No use. They are surrounded.

  Captured. They are beaten up, harassed, and taken away after a few minutes to a small British camp. They practically walked right into it. Tied to two trees, the boys are thoroughly questioned by one of the commanders as to the whereabouts of Washington. They keep their mouths shut.

  Their muskets and gear have been stripped from them and laid to the side. The men go through the soldiers’ belongings and find the flag. All hell breaks loose as the men tauntingly hold up the flag, swirl and throw it around. One in particular wraps himself in it and rolls on the ground.

  John and Henry, feeling something they haven’t felt before, grapple with their ropes. Henry can almost get free, and he would, if only a soldier didn’t coincidentally shove a musket at his knees. Eventually the mocking ends, the flag is dropped, and they are left for the night.

  Night arrives and Henry breaks free and unties John. They grab the flag, any food they can find, and deftly flee. Scared, they run and run and run. John looks deathly ill from his arm. He can’t even move it. They spend a freezing night awake up against a tree.

  The next morning they slowly begin walking along. They come upon a log cabin secluded in the woods. Before they get to the front step, they have a musket pointed at their heads. It’s a young woman, Clair. John shocked by the gun, starts dribbling tears down his cheeks. Seeing the wound, Clair lowers the musket and brings them inside.

  The home is amply furnished, and in exquisite taste. There is an American flag in the background on the wall. Three young children, around ten years old, surround the men. A not-as-tough-as-he-looks teenager is standing in the corner with a musket at his side.

  Clair and the children tend to the wound and wrap both men in blankets. After a small meal, Henry and John explain what they are doing and what had happened. They learn that Washington and his troops passed by in the fall and that Clair actually met him. Seeing the soiled and bloody flag, Clair exchanges hers for theirs. If it’s going to be taken to General Washington it must be clean.

  At daybreak they leave. Henry helps John along. John babbles about being home, and how he wishes he could stay at Clair’s.

  Only slightly rejuvenated, they trudge along. Snow begins falling, and after a few miles’ walking it’s near a foot deep. Able to go no further, they halt. At the edge of the Brandywine River they sit and freeze. Henry, spotting shelter across the river in what appears to be an overhanging rock, gets up. It’s likely they’ll die from the cold water, but it will definitely happen if they stay where there are. After a quick look of mutual despair, they begin crossing the fast-moving current. Half way through Henry falls. Struggling to his feet, he realizes that he doesn’t have the satchel. It’s being swept away by the current! Henry darts after it.

  John gets to solid ground and runs along the side. Snow is coming down fast. Henry goes under. John can’t find him.

  He jumps in! Searching, reaching, reaching, he’s got an arm. He swims and pulls. They pull up on the bank on the other side and get under the rock. Stretched out, they look at each other—motionless. Their belongings are lost. Their flag is gone. Near death and freezing, night comes.

  John and Henry awaken on their backs. Wrapped in blankets they are being carried on stretchers. They were right outside Valley Forge and didn’t know it.

  The area looks like hell. People are freezing, dead, or dying. The two men are brought into the camp and into shelter. The troops watch in amazement as they see these two men who survived the past night carried in. The troops tend to Henry and John and both, almost frozen to death, pass out.

  The next morning John wakes up with no one else around but Henry. He wakes him and they eat the food laid out for them. Neither talk. They didn’t bring the flag. John gets up and walks to the opening of the tent. He stands there, motionless. Henry notices a change in John and finally speaks. He makes his way over to see what John is looking at. The men of Valley Forge have made their own flag—from the clothes off their backs.

  A few of the themes being handled are:

  The boys’ journey into manhood. The entire story is symbolic of this.

  Themes of hope and struggle. The boys are up against unbelievable odds and are struggling all the way. The troops of Valley Forge are also struggling, for they are suffering in one of the worst winters ever.

  The theme of hope is also present in that the troops make their own flag in the end, taking the clothes off their backs in order to have something to fight for.

  There are also themes of compassion—compassion that Clair has for them, and compassion they have for each other.

  Shopping List of Sequences

   1 In the tent receiving orders—10 minutes.

   2 Packing belongings and heading out of town—5 minutes.

   3 Arriving in Philadelphia and getting the flag from Betsy Ross—10 minutes.

   4 First day’s journey into the woods. They cross the creek—15 minutes.

   5 First night’s camp. They cook food, argue, and shiver—5 minutes.

   6 They wake up and continue the second day. John is carrying the flag—5 minutes.

   7 John stumbles and wants to give up—5 minutes.

   8 Redcoat chase scene—5 minutes.

   9 They are captured and taken back to the British camp. Entire camp scene—15 minutes.

  10 They escape from the British—5 minutes.

  11 Night camp—5 minutes.

  12 They arrive at Clair’s home and are taken in—10 minutes.

  13 They leave and lose the flag in the river—10 minutes.

  14 They are taken into Valley Forge and are tended to—10 minutes.

  15 They wake up the next morning and see the handmade flag—5 minutes.

  Approximate time: 120 minutes.

  The strength of this idea is that it’s an archetypal journey film, with a series of rite-of-passage tests that the two must pass, or their mission will abort. For me, the premise is, “Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men.”2 Like their own emerging nation, these untried, rural partners—“revolutionaries” to fellow Americans, “insurgents” to the exasperated colonial British—must endure a descent into privation and disappointment on their way toward maturity.

  Let’s say it again: good drama poses questions. By artfully involving us in its characters’ predicaments, it gets us to care how they deal with a succession of problems. Drama exists to draw us into exercising our faculties and judgment. Thus we rehearse for crises in our own lives.

  We can ask what questions the piece poses. This lifts its function from exposition (undramatic information) to options and dilemmas. Here, most scenes take shape as tests of John and Henry’s strength, persistence, and ingenuity:

  Taking the challenge—Can these two raw recruits carry out the task?

  Manners—Can these country bumpkins behave properly in a lady’s living room, and can they make their way through the big city?

  Endurance—Are they equal to the endless trek through the wintry countryside, especially when soaked and freezing after fording the creek?

  Cooperation—Can they agree about navigation and on the worth of their purpose?

  Ingenuity—Can they make a meal and improvise a modicum of comfort?

  Endurance—Will they persist with their mission once they become lost and exhausted?

  Loyalty—Under the British taunts and bullying, can they keep silent about Washington’s whereabouts, especially with John wounded and vulnerable?

  Ingenuity—Are they resourceful enough to escape from their uncouth captors?

  Endurance—Can their bodies and spirits survive the worsening cold, when John becomes serio
usly ill?

  Luck—When they evade their pursuers, do they deserve to find a haven?

  Pride—Can John recover from the embarrassment of crying in front of a woman?

  Paradise lost—Can they leave Clair’s sanctuary and return to the comfortless world of their mission, especially with John disintegrating emotionally?

  Endurance—Can they go through one more river—a truly dangerous one—with shelter on the other side uncertain?

  Failure—After they nearly die in the river and lose the precious flag, can they find any reason to go on?

  Grace—Can they overcome the disillusioning fact that their mission was never necessary?

  Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (USA, 1941) made Kane’s sled “Rosebud” the key to all that the newspaper magnate Kane lost in childhood. Paul’s film works inversely: its homemade flag is the public emblem of statehood and independence. By safely conveying it, the two boys help defy their unworthy motherland and put their colony on the path to nationhood.

  A flag is something young men will die for, so Paul makes a nice comment when their emblem becomes a cushion; is nearly abandoned; gets muddied and bloodied; is desecrated by the enemy; and ultimately lost in the river. Particularly ironic is that all the boys’ suffering turns out to be needless. The film’s resolution is its parting thought—that what must “get through” is the symbol’s meaning, not any actual or particular emblem.