Film Courage: What mistakes to screenwriters make with structure? Jill Chamberlain, Script Consultant/Author/Writer: Invariably
screenwriters are failing to tell a story, they're failing to realize that
structure is a way to maximize the impact of their story and that they are
ending up presenting a situation instead of telling a story. So my method is a
way for them to identify the eight elements that are required to tell a
story to put them all on a one-page form and to see how structure can work for
them not against them in order to help them find the most surprising and
satisfying paths for their story so it's almost as if new screen writers or
screenwriters that's haven't mastered structure or almost like recounting it's
like it for a deposition and they're sort of recounting though just the facts
instead of actually putting flavor and flair and the characters voice I think
there's can be resistance to thinking that structure is gonna somehow inhibit
them you know that it's going to keep them from finding their voice when in
fact it's quite freeing all it is it's you know it's it's you know when people
study improv improv comedy is not just people who run around crazy on stage
right structure is a big part of it understanding the structures behind
different improv scenarios allows the performers to find these interesting
pads so it allows them to free themselves so they need just a little
bit of structure in order to discover those moments but without them you're
gonna end up floundering so what is the voice of the character I mean I think
about when I listen to let's say Margaret Atwood or Alice Monroe read one
of their stories there's a very distinct you know you feel that that person is
real it seems like such an it's such a very vague thing like the character
voice but it's so important how does somebody kind of like bring it down and
make it tangible well when I talk about voice I'm not talking about the
character's voice I'm talking more about the writers voice that the writers voice
needs to come through and that comes through in everything all of the
elements it comes it through and your word choice in the way you choose to
describe action in you the choice of the structure and the story and the
characters all of the elements work together are going to contribute to you
discovering your voice and your voice is what makes you unique as a writer what
makes it more than just plot that there's something unique and ultimately
that's what screenwriters are selling of themselves is that they have a really
unique voice that captures the imagination of the reader and makes us
experience it like a movie and not feel like we're reading a short story oh it's
the writers voice the writers going on yeah Eric to poison on the protagonist
in Jack okay so finding the writers voice okay that I
can see where can the writer have too much of their own voice can it is it
good to vary their style and their voice white or scantily get in their own way
in the beginning and that's why in the beginning you know the real screen
writing 101 approach is tells you to stick to what is seen and what is heard
right then and that's that's what we teach beginners because we want to start
training readers to writers to rethink from what you might have learned from
writing prose which could be very internal where we're getting inside
characters heads you don't really do that in screenwriting at least you know
what we're generally not gonna hear the character's thoughts literally unless
use voiceover and voiceovers in advance tool but as you become a more
experienced writer you're gonna be you should experiment more with breaking
rules and with not worrying about sticking to only what is seen and heard
and finding ways to discover your voice as a writer so that when a reader reads
you it doesn't violate the rules of
screenwriting it still is something that we can imagine in a movie but it brings
the words to life in such a way that engages the reader because what readers
are human ultimately we want to be delighted we want to be charmed by your
writing so ultimately I think to distinguish yourself you're gonna want
to explore your voice and it's become more charming as a writer in the
beginning though you're gonna get in your own way if you're doing that too
much until you've sort of trained your brain to stop to think more naturally
about what is being seen and heard and more naturally about seeing everything
as a movie but voice is something that you definitely going to need to develop
along the way if you want to distinguish yourself as a screenwriter what about
getting in your own way in terms of copying someone else's voice
unintentionally so if I'm devouring all these William Goldman scripts and I'm
just trying to really sink into them and then I somehow end up writing in his
style emulating him not knowing I'm doing that I don't know that that's a
bad thing in the beginning you know we in any form of artistry write we are
going to copy those whose style we admire in a way as a way to eventually
find our own voice you know if you're literally lifting things that that would
be a problem if you are you know and ultimately you're going to have to
develop your own voice it definitely is I can tell you it will be irritating to
read readers and I'll tell you a particular writer that this was a
problem with is a little a lot of young writers copy Tarantino for example you
know in the late 90s so we're you know because he had such a strong voice and
broke the rules in such a way that everyone everyone wants to break the
rules and so and that certainly can irritate a reader when they recognize
it's so clearly somebody else's voice that it it definitely can have a back
effect where we'd rather not try it any voice at all if you're gonna just cop it
where we feel you're just copying someone else's voice but really great
writers who have very specific voices and styles I think that can be a way to
start learning how to develop your voice to try to I don't I don't want to say
copy but to emulate in some ways a William Goldman style if you admire it
as a way to ultimately develop your own voice you're gonna want to ultimately
develop your own voice because the world probably doesn't need another William
Goldman voice out there alternately what they want is your voice right so you it
should be a step along the way to find that
you