Simon J. Michael

Tip #12

2009-08-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

It's logline time!

So you've written your screenplay and it's time to pitch it! Everywhere you submit it (on the phone, in person, in an email, in a query letter) you're going to need a logline to quickly get someone excited about your script.

The logline is not a summary of the plot.

The logline usually includes a brief description of what the main character wants and how he is unable to obtain it (or what is preventing him from obtaining it).

The logline must make the person want to read more!

An example:

If I were writing a logline for "Back to the Future" it would go something like this:

Marty Mcfly must get back to 1985 but he has to get his parents to fall in love again for the first time or he will cease to exist.

Wouldn't you want to read more?

That's why the logline must have originality!

The logline must be memorable - easy to remember - so the person could literally turn around and tell it to someone sitting beside them!

To get your logline try writing a few words about these and then find some way to string them together that gets people wanting to watch your movie:

What main character wants:

What's in his way of getting it:

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #11

2009-08-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of the "Hollywood Creative Directory"? It's like a "phone book" for contacting people in the movie business. It retails for about $70. But today's insiders tip is to save you some money. If you go on ebay and search: Hollywood Creative Directory, you can find it for much less. I got mine for .99 cents with free shipping! Unbelievable! I know! And it was brand-new plus it was the 64th edition which came out Fall 2008 so the contact information is still accurate.

The only drawback is that many of these production companies do not have an e-mail address provided which means to submit a query you have to do it through their fax number or their snail mail address.

Remember when making first contact that your query be a straightforward query only - no attachment of your screenplay - that's called an unsolicited manuscript and will basically guarantee that it will be deposited in the nearest trash receptacle.

Also, it doesn't hurt to use the phone numbers given in this directory to try and call their office and see if someone is willing to let you submit your query via e-mail and snag an e-mail address - plus you may stand out from the crowd having made a personal "voice" connection with a live person in their office.

Remember that in addition to presenting yourself professionally on the phone it's important to take the extra step to be friendly. People often forget the simple decency of asking a person "How are you?" - those three words can open doors! Especially if you ask with sincerity. Break the wall that comes up with: "How may I help you." Instead of telling them this is how you can help me, a simple "How are you?" in reply can make a world of difference!

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #10

2009-08-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a little chart I devised one day while working on heroes.

Hero's Name:
seperated:
initiated (journey begins):
descent into hell:
not integrated (does not become one with):
reborn (comes out of hell):

Here's a couple examples:

Hero's Name: Andy (from Shawshank Redemption)
seperated - from the life he knew outside of prison
initiated (journey begins) - enters prison
descent into hell - goes through suffering in jail
not integrated (does not become one with): he refuses to become a prisoner - he stays free in his mind! This stands out to us because all the other prisoners become integrated.
reborn (comes out of hell) - crawls his way out!!!

Hero's Name: Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum's character in Jurassic Park)
seperated: from his home
initiated (journey begins): arrives at the island
descent into hell: chased by T-rex
not integrated (does not become one with): he does not buy into the whole idea that Jurassic Park is a good idea
reborn (comes out of hell): escapes from dinosaurs

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #9

2009-08-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

Tip #9: Misleading Your Audience!

Why I never? Well you should! Have you ever seen a movie where everything that occurs is so predictable? Yes! Snooze city! What makes a movie fun is the mystery and suddenly finding out who the bad guy is! Oh I thought it was that other guy!

Here's an example of how you can set your audience up to use their own deductive reasoning to be misled:

Scene:

1 - you have a flashback of a guy saving his friend
2 - then the next time we see him in the movie again he is trying to save his friend in the present.

What this does is lead the audience to believe that this guy is on the "friend's" side. Then you can drop a few hints along the road foreshadowing that he's not the friend he "appears" to be. This lets the audience go back and forth in their minds over whether or not he is what he seems.

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #8

2009-08-17T09:37:00.001-07:00

I cannot stress enough how important it is to outline your script before you begin to write it.

Once you have written down your initial idea it's time to structure where you intend to take it. Rather than view this as a constriction look at it as an opportunity to make your script stand out from the rest. Which you rather read - a script with a good idea that's all over the place or one that aims for a goal and achieves it?

To get to Your destination:

1. Map it in detail - know where you're going, how you're going to get there, etc.

2. Use your map to begin your journey and let spontaneity GUIDE you in the direction you've outlined

By doing this you won't be wandering about aimlessly but you allow creativity and excitement to enter in - and because something unexpected can present itself, you can then choose to say Yes or No to it.

A good parallel would be taking a trip to Las Vegas - you've booked your hotel and made an itinerary of what you want to do and see once you're there - then when you get there you check into your hotel then head towards your first destination - but if you're flexible and allow spontanaeous things to enter into your field of experience you can be moved in directions you had not anticipated that are more exciting and enjoyable than you planned or expected without sacrificing your itinerary.

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #7

2009-08-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here's an exercise I've used to help me when I get stuck.

Write down the story for your movie and an outline for it using only the memories you have of it in your mind. Do not rely on any written notes you have about it. The purpose of this exercise is that it will get you to focus on the main storyline of your script and gets down your key points and important details. Then you can go back to your previous written notes and see what's important from them that you also want to include - you may find there's a lot in your previous notes that is not really significant and that you can actually exclude it from your new outline. Also remember every thing in your script should point towards the main storyline and build up to the climax!

write the summary again from memory every once in a while - in the outlining phase because while you're writing it new ideas for what happens will come to you as well as snippets of dialogue and new scenes to add!

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #6

2009-08-17T09:26:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody!

How's it going? So I've been busy writing a lot lately and have neglected my blog! But don't worry I'm going to make up for it and pro-rate my blog! lol! Yep get ready cause here come all the tips I would've posted between June-August!

So let's get started with Tip #6:

Sometimes we get bogged down in the details when writing a screenplay and overlook a simple but important point: make each scene enjoyable! What I mean by that is if you would enjoy watching it in the theater then so will your audience. If however you get bored, tired, feel like the scene is pointless - doesn't move your story forward then so will the audience.

One way to make it more enjoyable is to make it "more" - you've heard me mention my B&B "Bigger and Better" theory. Here's an exercise you can do to make your scene B&B: look at what you've decided to write for your scene and then think up something different that you can do with it by employing the "What if" technique and something B&B will definitely come up during your what if questioning!!

What if instead of them getting in the car and racing to the next destination they....your turn!!!
See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #5

2009-06-06T01:47:00.000-07:00

There's one quality in a hero that is needed to make an audience feel joined to him -and this is: his indomitable human spirit! No matter what the villian tries, it is impossible to subdue or defeat him (his human spirit).

I talk about this in my analysis of The Shawshank Redemption.

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #4

2009-05-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Epiphany strikes! I had been thinking about how a character has something happen in their past which affects their decisions in the present moment (in the movie) and it dawned on me that this thing that happens is the "defining moment" in the character's life - it's what forever changes how he approaches life.

Now I've mentioned before that this thing should have a deep emotional meaning to the character. Now I realize it makes or breaks the movie. And in fact it often (and maybe always) is what creates the climax for your film script.

This epiphany came to me when I was writing down a story idea for my next script. As I was trying to work out what made the main character capable of murder I had to find that "defining moment" - it was then that I realized it must be ONE MOMENT not a series of things that add up. Think of it as "the last straw" - no matter how much stuff built up to that point - it's that moment that defines the character - it's what makes him who he is.

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Tip #3

2009-05-23T01:20:00.000-07:00

Each character should not be omniscient - have an understanding of the entire picture. They should only have a small part which they must piece together = the audience gets to piece it together along with them. This is what makes them vulnerable and believable characters. If they know exactly what's going on then there's nothing to solve = no movie to watch. Think of Neo in the Matrix - what if he knew he was the one? What story would we have to watch then?

See ya next week,
Simon
simonjmichael.com

Sister Blog!

2009-05-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks!

I just created a "sister" blog - which is called: Screenwriter's Group Blog to discuss Simon J. Michael's 7 Steps to Create a Marketable Screenplay.

Here's the blog URL: http://marketablescreenplay.blogspot.com/

Hooray! So the great thing about it is it's a Group Blog which means up to 100 people can participate in it making their own posts! Great huh? And of course everyone else can view it and make comments.

So email me if you want to be a contributing blogger!

My email: author@simonjmichael.com

All smiles,
Simon

simonjmichael.com

Tip #2

2009-05-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

So how do you know a scene is "supposed" to go there?

1. It makes sense.

2. It lends to continuity.

3. It's the next step to move the story forward.

4. It provides exposition required to understand scenes before and after it.

See ya next week,
Simon J. Michael
simonjmichael.com

How to Write a Screenplay: 20 Lessons You Can Learn from the New Star Trek Movie

2009-05-13T13:24:00.000-07:00

I saw Star Trek last weekend and WOW! It was awesome! You've gotta see it! Especially if you're a screenwriter - it really hits all the points an audience is looking for. On the way home I was so excited by what I had learned from watching it that I started writing down the things I had seen in it that demonstrate what a movie needs to become a blockbuster hit! So for the next two days I hankered down and wrote an article on it.

Check it out:

How to Write A Screenplay - 20 Lessons from Star Trek

Exciting stuff!

See ya soon,
Simon J. Michael

Tip #1

2009-05-06T00:34:00.000-07:00

The story itself is simple. The complications come from how the characters react to what's going on. The reaction always stems from something the character feels strongly about. Which is why I say the character's desire leads to action.

This is why once you nail down what it is the character cares about (what they care about has to come from something in their past) the action of the script is easy to write. You don't have to figure it out or force something to happen - the character REACTS to what is happening = the action you'll put into your script.

See ya next week,
Simon J. Michael
simonjmichael.com

How I Got into Screenwriting

2009-05-05T11:57:00.000-07:00

I originally became interested in writing a screenplay in 2005 after watching a preview of upcoming movies on TV. I thought I don't want to see any of these movies. Then I thought about how many times I look at the movie listings in the newspaper and there's nothing I want to see.

So why not write something I would like to see? I sat down right then and there with a paper and pen and started writing even though I had no idea how to write a screenplay.

What I began writing turned into a Sci-Fi Trilogy (my masterpiece) which I then worked on - on and off for the next 4 years (mostly off ;)

As I picked up my Trilogy in Dec 2008 to begin working on it again I got to thinking about how I really wanted to make sure I didn't "miss" anything. Since I had done quite a bit of research into the Craft of Screenwriting I began going through my research again trying to piece together a comprehensive approach to writing a screenplay so I could use it myself to perfect my trilogy.

Obviously this got me thinking - since I'm having such a hard time gathering information on HOW TO write a screenplay from so many sources there's probably a lot of other screenwriters out there doing the same. So while I'm at it why don't I just put this information together into a book for them.

So I created a fantastic table of contents (TOC) - about 13 pages long! Yikes! Ya for real! I then submitted this TOC to a publisher in a book proposal. To be honest I didn't even really know what a book proposal was! When the Vice President of the Publishing firm responded to my E-mail an hour later from his cell phone I was shocked! I hadn't really expected a response at all!

Then I got all worked up - yikes! I hadn't even written the book why the Hell had I written this guy???? He asked me to send him the TOC and a sample chapter. I hadn't even written one chapter yet - I selected a chapter and wrote it that night and emailed it to him the next day.

After I submitted the book proposal I went back to organizing the book since I figured if he was interested I'd better have some idea of how long it would take me to write.

Then I came across a section in my TOC that I knew little about - screenwriting contests.

I decided to do my H.W. After an hour or so I narrowed down my research down to 2 legit contests: Bluecat and Nicholl's Fellowship.

I noticed the Nicholl's fellowship awarded $30,000 which caught my attention - this was the amount I was hoping to earn from selling my book to support myself while working on my trilogy.

I noted the deadline was 1 week away. The next morning I woke up with an idea for a movie - proof that miracles can happen. What the heck I thought I'd give it a go so I buckled down.

In 6 days flat I managed to write a polished marketable full-length screenplay!

It's called Donors and yes it's for sale if you're interested.

I thought - woah how did I just do that?

So I sat down and thought through exactly how I did it.

Basically I had ended up using the same process I had outlined in my TOC but in a condense way.

I thought heck this is a whole LOT better than the way I had planned to write the book.

So I went back to my table of contents and ripped it to shreds saving only the pieces I needed to explain the 7 Step Process I came up with to Create a Marketable Script.

So now my goals are as follows:

1-Finish writing this book by mid-June and then set it up so people can purchase an E-book version of it directly from my website via Google Checkout.

2-Keep searching for a publisher for my book - since I never heard back from that VP. I think I'll ask him if he wants to see my revised TOC - hey what does it hurt to ask?

3-Write another script each month using the 7 Step Process - which takes me about 6 days to write and edit one full-length movie script.

4-Complete my website so I can provide free helpful tips to screenwriters and add a new blog post each week with a screenplay tip.

So this is what I hope to achieve by August so I can get back to writing my Trilogy full-time.

Hey I let you know how it works out so make sure and check back on this blog in a couple months!

Sincerely,
Simon J. Michael
simonjmichael.com

Blog Introduction

2009-05-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of several projects right now. Writing and trying to sell my book proposal for the 7 Step Process I came up with to Create a Screenplay. I've recently finished a screenplay and am beginning another one. In addition to this I'm working on getting my website together. When it's ready it will be: http://www.simonjmichael.com

The purpose of my blog is to keep you updated on my projects and to provide a helpful tip for screenwriters each week. I hope you find it useful.

Sincerely,
Simon J. Michael
simonjmichael.com