RYAN BINGHAM
All the things you probably hate about travelling -the recycled air, the artificial lighting, the digital juice dispensers, the cheap sushi- are warm reminders that I'm home.
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CHRIS
I've been offered a lot for my work, but never everything. CARL SPACKLER
Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac... It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole! [repeated line]
ROBOCOP Dead or alive, you're coming with me! MAME DENNIS
Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death! by
Michael Arndt 109 Pages Great opening first page. Sets up the character of Olive and what she wants. She wants to be in a beauty pageant. This is emphasized with her freezing and rewinding the tape over and over again. We then cut to Richard in class. Nice bit of dialogue. RICHARD (V.O.) There's two types of people in this world – Winners... and Losers. Nice touch with the class being almost empty on page 2. What does that say about Richard and his teaching? On page 4, you have the coke being lined on the mirror and then the dollar bill. Not something you relate to coke. A one dollar bill. Then the introduction of Grandpa. Good turning point on page 8 with Olive being excepted into the Little Miss Sunshine Contest. Great opening 10 pages. Sets up the characters. Olive wants to be in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest. Richard wants to be successful. Sheryl has a suicidal brother, she's also trying to hold the family together. Frank is Sheryl's suicidal brother. Dwayne hates everyone and he's fedup with life. Nice turning point on page 20 when Olive and Sheryl hear the message from Jeff. Olive's over the moon about the contest. Grandpa gives a nice speech to Olive about trying and if you try you're not a loser on page 50. As much as this is about Olive and the contest. It's also about the family coming together, trying to be a family. Sad moment on page 57 when Grandpa is declared dead. Looks like they won't make it to the contest now. One of the funniest moments in the movie when the Trooper searches the back of the bus and finds the porn mags on page 70. Will he find Grandpa's body, will he bust them? No. One of the funniest moments happens on page 76 when they're so close to the hotel but so far. RICHARD How the fuck do you get across? You can really empathise with the whole family here. Even entering a hotel parking lot is a challenge. Could things get any worse? The obstacles keep coming, now the Official won't let them enter on page 79. Rising tension. All this way, only to be told. Sorry, you're too late. A good example of the dark humor on page 83. RICHARD Yeah. Is there a funeral home around here? Things appear to be changing for Richard and Sheryl when they have the argument about whether or not Olive should continue on page 98. The first time Richard admits to being a loser, comes clean. This is emphasized when Dwayne walks in wearing his Loser T-shirt. Not to mention Dwayne talks to Sheryl. Page 105 is very much what this whole story has been about. The family comes together and root for Olive when the Assistant tries to stop Olive from finishing her routine. Richard gets up on the stage with Olive and wrestles with the Assistant. There's much more than just winning. There's the taking part and trying. Richard supports Olive by dancing with her. Perhaps he's learned something? Great ending with the family together, apart from Grandpa. If you compare the closing scene with the scenes with the family in the kitchen on page 7 and beyond, it's the complete opposite. The beauty pageant has brought the family together, they managed to get through a load of obstacles and ended up being there for Olive. It isn't always that important whether you can relate to or feel empathy for characters. You do not always need to feel empathy and a lot of the time characters do not need a flaw or character arc. If they don't change during the course of the movie, who cares, as long as the movie is entertaining and draws you into its world. Not every single character created needs to have a flaw and character arc. You don't go to the cinema to learn, you go to be entertained. But, when it comes to movies like this, it's very important that the audience and reader can relate to and feel empathy and sympathy for the characters. It must be done. A great piece of writing to learn from. Also a great movie. Read Watch Reread. JACK COLTON
What did you do, wake up this morning and say, "Today, I'm going to ruin a man's life"? BROMHEAD
If 1200 men couldn't hold a defensive position this morning, what chance have we with 100? Lt. PETE "MAVERICK" MITCHELL and Lt. NICK "GOOSE" BRADSHAW
I feel the need—the need for speed! Random ramblings on outlining.
A screenplay in itself is a blueprint for a movie. It is not the final product. It is merely an outline that will be used by the director, production crew, actors, visual effects etc to work from. There are many methods a writer can use to get this crucial element down on paper. A writer may use a treatment, outline, beat sheet, whiteboard, index cards or a combination. There is no right or wrong method to this process. A writer will probably find themselves using various methods before adopting one that best suits their own needs in structuring a story. The more detailed an outline the easier it will be to navigate from A to B. A screenplay is structure, 3 Acts. The beginning, middle and end. Consisting of setups and payoffs. The more detailed the outline the easier it will be to see where the story is working or not. Should a writer use an outline? Even if the outline only consists of a few lines detailing the 3 Acts. This will prove an invaluable tool to the writer who will know where the story starts and where it will end roughly. A good outline will help with the overall sructure of the screenplay. A screenplay in itself is an outline, a blueprint for a movie. It's the starting block that everyone will use to create something visual to put on screen. From the director, special effects department, producer, casting director, sound crew etc. A screenplay will be used by various people to bring a story to life. In order to get this story down on paper a writer must first have an idea and a rough plan where to start the story and finish it. Otherwise they'll be writing blindly without any clear objective or goal. They won't have a clear first, second and third act. A beginning, middle and end. Setups and payoffs. This is where creating and having an outline will come in handy. It will give structure to your three acts within the story. Outlines can take many shapes and forms. It could be as simple as a few lines detailing what happens in each act. Or it could be a twenty page treatment detailing each segment of the story. Usually without dialogue. It's up to the writer to figure out which method best suits them through trial and error. They might find that they end up using a combination of processes to write. Beat sheets, treatments, whiteboards, index card system. Whatever works for you as a writer. Do you need an outline? Some will argue that you don't and as long as you have the story knocking about in your head that's all you need. If you already have the story formulated in your head, why not write it down? At least this way, every time you get an idea or thought on how to improve the story, you can add a note to the outline. And when the time comes to write it. You can decide whether you want to use these notes or not. At the end of the day you'll still be in charge of this world you're creating. It'll just be easier if you have notes to refer to if you get stuck on where the story should go. More detailed the outline the easier it will be to write the screenplay. It may not help with the dialogue as you won't know how your characters will react until you get to them. But it will certainly help with the locations and moving the story forward. Any problems will hopefully be ironed out in the outline or at the very least will certainly make it a lot easier to do if there is an outline. It certainly won't do any harm when it comes to the rewrites. Take this out. Add this. Move this here. Put that there. An outline is an essential part of the story process. It's basically a plan to help the writer create a blueprint for a movie. An outline will help the writer create and build a story with structure. Use an outline to write a blueprint for a movie. JOHN KEATING
Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary. BLADE
Some motherfuckers are always trying to ice-skate uphill. KATHY
It had never occurred to me that our lives, which had been so closely interwoven, could unravel with such speed. If I'd known, maybe I'd have kept tighter hold of them and not let unseen tides pull us apart. V.I.N.CENT
A pint can not hold a quart, Mr. Pizer. If it holds the pint. It's doing the best it can. [last lines]
THE WRITER [typing on computer] I never had any friends later on like the ones I had when I was twelve. Jesus, does anyone? Written by
Neil Marshall 94 Pages Later became The Descent Great opening first page. Thrown straight into the action with Juno, Beth and Sarah making their way down the rapids. Major turning point happens early on page 4. The car smashes into the van and Paul is killed when a scaffold support plunges into him. Sarah's life is thrown in a new direction at this point. First hint of death on page 23. The dead elk. This could be a sign of things to come. Act 2 very much starts on page 25. They've discovered the sink hole and Juno prepares to go down. She's very much the leader of the group. She's in charge. JUNO I'll go first. I'll see you down there. Once they enter the cave, they leave their old world behind. A little more foreshadowing with the scratch marks on the side of the rock. Something was trying to get out the hole. Could be nothing could be something. A sign of their impending doom. They're not alone. Something is moving with them in the Cathedral Cavern. The first hint of trouble on page 29. Increasing the reader's and audience's anticipation that something is going to happen. A humanoid hand picks up the candy bar on page 34. A bit of foreshadowing on Beth's part when she tells Sarah that she has nothing left to be afraid of on page 37. BETH It’s over. And you’re here. You didn’t give up. This is just a poxy little cave. You’ve got NOTHING left to be afraid of. The audience should have worked out by now who the star of the movie is going to be. Who's going to have the most character arc. Sarah's character is going to start as a weak character and grow into a strong character. Problems really arise for the group when the fissure collapses and on page 40 they find out that Juno has not brought the book with all the routes. They're in serious trouble now. This is reinforced when they also find out that that this cave system isn't the one Juno filed a flight plan with mountain rescue. They really are up the creak without a paddle. Not to mention Sarah glimpses one of the freaky humanoid creatures. This all occurs on page 41. Quite a scary moment on page 45. They aren't the first ones to come this way. Rebecca spots a really old Piton. Who else came this way? Some hope for the team when they discover the painting and the two entrances on page 51. A false victory perhaps. Again raising the tension on page 57 when Sarah spots the silhouette of the creature up ahead and Juno sneaks up on her. Finally get to see a Stygian Crawler on page 61. It's poised to strike but runs off because of the light. Juno doesn't come clean about what happened to Beth when Rebecca asks her on page 74. She had the chance to come clean but chooses not to. This sets up what happens at the end of the movie. Two pages later Sarah discovers Beth's body. But there's a twist now, Beth isn't dead. Everything is revealed to Sarah about Juno. Beth tells her everything. Not only did Juno leave Beth to die, but she was also having an affair with Paul. Page 77. This was hinted at the very start on page 3. Sarah's character arc pretty much becomes fully realized when she plummets into the pool of blood. She kills the two crawlers and she becomes a cold ruthless killer on page 80. The complete opposite of how she was at the start of the screenplay. Sarah saves Juno on page 86 and questions her about Beth. This is her chance to own up and come clean. But she doesn't. She tells Sarah that she saw Beth die on page 87. Big mistake. Payback time on page 90. Juno finally owns up when she sees Beth's whistle around Sarah's neck. But it's too late and Sarah plunges her pick into Juno's knee. Nice ending. You think she's escaped but she hasn't. It's her mind playing tricks on her. If you're considering writing a low budget contained horror, this one's definitely worth reading. A very quick read. Read Watch Reread GEORGE M COHAN
My mother thanks you. My father thanks you. My sister thanks you. And I thank you. |
Welcome to Russell’s website. A storyteller who enjoys writing screenplays for movies. Even though the process is hard. It keeps his imagination working overtime.
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