From the Pitch to the Outline

Transcription

1 From the Pitch to the Outline The first step, as discussed last week is the Pitch This leads us directly to the Outline First a couple of Pitches based on the assignment brief.

2 Some Pitches: It is nighttime, a woman is home alone. There is knocking on the door, when she answers it, we see a zombie standing there. Later we realise it is actually a man dressed in fancy dress who got the wrong house.

3 A Pitch! Caitlan Winters A case of violence leads to an elderly couple receiving an unexpected arrival at their home in the early hours of the morning by a distressed young woman with signs of bruising and bleeding to the face and neck. The shock is too much for the elderly couple, and within seconds they close the door and the young woman has a further need to escape. Who is the woman running from? Have the elderly couple worsened the ending result for this young woman?

4 Some Pitches: A woman is home alone, there is a knock on the door, when she answers, there is no one there. This happens several times throughout the day, until we see it again from a different perspective. We realise the person knocking is the ghost of her dead husband.

5 Some Pitches: A Person is home alone, banging at the door in a very suspenseful manner, at the door ends up being a delivery man. (2 ways this could end. 1: A genuine delivery man. 2: Pretend delivery man who barges in as the person shuts the door)

6 Some Pitches: A haunted house, where doors are repeatedly being hammered all over the house. When one door is opened from being hammered (nobody there), you hear another being slammed shut.

7 The Outline

8 162MC Narrative You have Pitched an idea that a producer or commissioning editor or someone with authority has responded to in a favourable way. What is the next step or stage in the process? The Outline

9 162MC Narrative It is not the go- ahead to write your brilliant award wining screenplay Far from it It is merely the next step along, but an important step It shows that someone likes your idea enough to request further detail

10 162 Narrative When asked to write an Outline you are being asked for a number of specific things: Elaboration on your story Proof on the page that it works and is a complete and original story idea The main central characters, Protagonist / Antagonist et al all, work an are engaging and original An engaging document proving that you can write clearly without confusion or over complication

11 The Outline To be clear: The Protagonist is the Hero / Heroine The Antagonist is the Bad Guy /Girl / Corporation / Alien / Animal / Object / Institution / Government.etc

12 The Outline A good definition of the outline is the following: An outline, incorporating the notion of a synopsis, is a present- tense, prose version of the intended screen narrative. It concentrates on the main narrative story, the central protagonist/s and antagonist/s, their motivations, and the essential active questions. (Parker)

13 The Outline I hate outlines. Hate em, hate em, hate em. The point of the exercise is to tell a story, and once that s told in outline form, why write the script? But producers require outlines before they will commit to a script, so it s a necessary evil J. Michael Straczynski creator of Babylon 5 He wrote 92 of the 110 episodes including an unbroken 59 episode run through series 3 and 4

14 The Outline I usually work from an outline. I will know first in a general sense where I m going. What it is I want to say. Walter Bernstein Screenwriter of amongst other scripts: Yanks, Semi- Tough, The Molly Maguires, The Train, Fail- Safe, The Magnificent Seven, The House on Carroll Street.

15 The Outline Outlining makes the writer more spontaneous David Howard and Edward Mabley

16 The Outline Personally I really like and enjoy writing the outline. You have an opportunity to at least put on the page your story and for someone to read it who has expressed an interest. It is a condensed telling of the best bits in you like. There are some basic rules to follow:

17 The Outline For a Feature Screenplay: An outline is generally no longer that a page to a maximum of two pages in length. For your short: no longer than half a page, possible only one or two paragraphs. Told in the Present- Tense

18 The Outline Keep to the main story and the relationships and conflicts It is a document where you can include / write emotion. Peter Parker was in love with Mary- Jane, he always had been and he betrayed this in his behaviour each time he was in her presence.

19 The Outline If it is hard to write there is probably a problem with your idea You should resolve the story but you can leave the dreaded. if you really must at the end Sometimes I do leave an idea hanging at the end that I know will be resolved in the next stage.

20 Coraline Coraline Jones is a girl of 11 who is feisty, curious, and adventurous beyond her years. She and her parents have just relocated from Michigan to Oregon. Missing her friends and finding her parents to be distracted by their work, Coraline tries to find some excitement in her new environment. She is befriended or, as she sees it, is annoyed by a local boy close to her age, Wybie Lovat and visits her older neighbors, eccentric British actresses Miss Spink and Forcible as well as the arguably even more eccentric Russian Mr. Bobinsky. After these encounters, Coraline seriously doubts that her new home can provide anything truly intriguing to her

21 Coraline but it does; she uncovers a secret door in the house. Walking through the door and then venturing through an eerie passageway, she discovers an alternate version of her life and existence. On the surface, this parallel reality is similar to her real life only much better. The adults, including the solicitous Other Mother, seem much more welcoming to her. Coraline is more the center of attention there even from the mysterious Cat. She begins to think that this Other World might be where she belongs. But when her wondrously off- kilter, fantastical visit turns dangerous and Other Mother schemes to keep her there, Coraline musters all of her resourcefulness, determination, and bravery to get back home and save her family.

22 The Outline Remember, write in way that is engaging, the outline is a document that you want someone to read and be intrigued by, so intrigued that they want to go to the next stage, the Treatment. However it is not uncommon to be asked to revise and develop your treatment further

23 The Outline However it is not uncommon to be asked to revise and develop your treatment further. Later in the pr0cess of the script is not working as well as you expected, re- visit your outline and see if what you are writing reflects what the original story that you had in mind.

24 The Outline Film making is an expensive process so at each stage from now on producers especially want to feel that your story/outline/idea is working enough to attract potential backers. It is also important that you actually like what you are writing, at least in the first few drafts

25 The Outline: For next week: Write an outline based on your Pitch Up to about half a page, (no longer than a page)

26 The Outline: Remember to blog and post at each stage from your Pitch right through and do include variations and drafts of the process, when you read these at a later date you will see the process of development at work.