Film Courage: When you're starting a story, are you starting with an outline? Kenneth Castillo, Writer/Director: I didn't always
do that actually learned how to do that recently I one of the best creative
decisions I've ever made was joining a writing group I was in a bubble for a
very long time but it's also hard to find a writing group where everyone
knows how to give notes and knows how to take notes and so I've been I was very
lucky because what we have is very unique and the people within that
writing group understand that too and I've gotten jobs out of this writing
group you know we're all kind of looking out for each other there's only eight of
us but I you know I was a type I would just turn in pages say okay this isn't
my and they're like well we don't know where the story is going can you just
outline it for us and I'm like no I don't outline it just follow this give
me the notes on the pages like yeah well we can't give you notes we don't know
what the story's going and so then I had to think about how do I do that and I I
started writing learning how to write treatment you know and and that was
great first practice in terms of just writing a treatment makes it very easy
for you to pitch your script so there's that skill and then outlining it you
know when I would get lost normally when I'm writing a script right I'm just
going and I get to a point I don't know where the story is gonna go from there
that's normally how I would write I'm not saying it's the right way to do it
but that's how I would do it and then I would something would strike me or I
would know okay well over here I know this is gonna happen so let me just
start there so these the huge gaps in my scripts and then I would connect those
gaps well now I outline my entire script my entire story first I'll take those
from notes so I'll have a notebook with me everywhere I go so doesn't matter
where I'm at an idea will come and I'll write it down
and I'm starting to get into recording but I'm very old-school so I start real
just writing down and a page of notes and my little notebook will be about 10
pages of script so I'll usually then on my writing day will translate that to
those 10 pages but now that was the old way now I will outline everything so
I'll outline the entire stories and I'm able to
my scripts a lot faster because of that because I already know where the story
is gonna go the dialogue the characters are fleshed out and the dialogue will
come a lot easier and a lot faster so I definitely recommend that but you have
to learn how to outline you have to learn how to write a treatment you have
to learn how to come convert your notes to those things mean I just started
writing the scripts because that's what I understood the script right and
started writing there but that was a very stop start kind of kind of way I
like to now just like a fluid like like playing a piano
you know once the outlines done and I start to screenplay it's like playing a
piano for me what did the writing group teach you about giving notes not to give
notes in the sense that this is how I would do it you're giving notes in terms
of what's missing what's not being communicated what do you
is this your intention here because this is what I'm getting from it you're never
coming from a place of ego either and sometimes that happens sometimes you get
hurt by the note so you feel like sometimes someone gives a bad note you
know that happens too but with this particular group we've established
ourselves enough when we we do hurt each other on occasion but we can recover you
know and move on you know just recently like I'm doing this screenplay and
they're like all of them are in agreement like kill the first act of
this like it's you don't need it and that was like I was just so against that
like I'm like no I'm not killing that act and then I turned in the outline and
so when I started the script you know I said I appreciate all you guys know
something I didn't take that one and so the first 10 pages are this act you told
me to kill and then 2/3 of them were like oh okay I get it because sometimes
it's not always on the outline either sometimes it's in the screenplay you
know and they were judging the outline they're like okay now I see I see what
you're saying now because I'm I send the script they're like yeah this is
engaging entry' I totally get it now but that was also me sticking to my gut but
normally when everybody in the room is against something
that's when I know it that it's special Francis Ford Coppola said the things
that they want to fire you for when you're a young filmmaker are the things
that they give you awards for when you yep when you're older and that's in the
back of my mind so when they all when they were all in agreement if they were
like half like did half didn't like it I would have been more conflicted about
whether or not to keep it but when all of them were like no this you don't need
that I'm like no this we're going forward with this I'm trusting my gut
you guys are wrong on this one and I might proof some of them wrong on that
on that next when I presented the script what does this writing group talk to you
about outlining it's like a combination of being concise and being as detailed
as you possibly can sometimes I don't have the patience for that because I
know I'm going for a feeling right so I'll start writing out a scene that
doesn't necessarily feed the outline that's gonna be in the script so I just
need to say on a beach somewhere whatever the two characters have a
conversation so I some of them are very good and very detail-oriented with their
outlines and will continue to do that until they get to the script me since
I'm the director like there's only three directors in our group their director
writers so for the writers in the group their outlines are gonna be far more
detailed and I have to remind them sometimes I'm a director
no one's gonna direct this script except me so I don't need to write all that out
for myself and I don't necessarily need to write
all that out for an investor I need this story I need them to get the gist the
gist of the story and then hopefully that's enough I need them to be
interested enough to run to read the screenplay
so I could be I would be more detailed four things I'm not going to shoot that
maybe but most of the things that I write I know I'm gonna shoot them so I
don't necessarily have to be that for the group to know where I'm going and
who the characters are what the logline is how what the pitch is
that's what I present and then all of the great nuances that I want to put
into it go into the screenplay so if someone said I love what you've written
and I hate to use the a word they say it's authentic but are you
willing to then turn it over to them and and not be the director what if they say
sorry we've already kind of like filled some roles here but we love the script
we love the story The Voice is original right I don't I don't know I've never
been in that situation it depends on how attached I am to the script but every
screenplay I've ever written I've had a personal attachment to I've never not
written anything that wasn't personal or I had an attachment to it I've never
written something just for fun or just cuz I thought it would this would be
cool like everything that I've written has been personal everything so I don't
see myself that's why I don't think I could ever be in a writers room you know
I just don't know how to I don't know that wouldn't want to put myself into
someone else's characters on a daily basis I think those are worth that
that's a that's work and I'm sure it's great work but that's not necessarily
for me I need to dictate the story and I need to dictate the characters do you
think it's because they mean so much to you these characters no you're not
you're not just writing just like this this there's no character they mean a
lot to you yeah they don't if I'm spending time with them then I'm it's
not that they mean so much they do mean something that's I'm protective of them
and I'm selfish with them but in a good not no it sounds like
because you're protective yeah oh absolutely yeah absolutely and I'm
invested with the actor because they're they're communicating that character you
know and they're then now they're invested in it now they're they are
gonna protect this story they're gonna protect the character you know and
that's exciting that's when I share that's when I share is when we're on day
1 is set now I start sharing you know the story and the screenplay
and the characters with everybody and hopefully the audience responds
great so it's almost there like real people and you're you don't want to let
them go yeah absolutely I definitely look at him that way
absolutely
you