10 tips for scriptwriters from the authors of "Fizruk", "Upward movement" and "Epidemics"
Inspiration / / January 07, 2021
Three famous screenwriters - Nikolai Kulikov (Legend No. 17, Bitter), Konstantin Mayer (Fizruk, I'm losing weight) and Roman Kantor (Epidemic, Dead Lake) - launched the podcastPope clan”, Where they analyze the scripts of films and TV series, recall situations from their practice and finish ideas right in the studio. They also give tips for those who want to master the skills of a screenwriter - we give 10 of them in the article.
Konstantin Mayer
Writer of the series "Fizruk", "Tolya Robot" and the film "I'm losing weight".
1. Write first, edit later
Write first, edit later is a rule you can find in any list of tips for writers, which does not detract from its value at all. You can endlessly rewrite your text, and it will drive you into a dead end. High standards are good, but so that perfectionism does not interfere, but helps, first write and only then sit down to edit.
2. Do not be shy about wacky ideas
Sometimes there is so much to do in a day that the need to fulfill the duty kills the urge to write.
Procrastination often happens because of high expectations. To ward off it, try starting your day by solving a simple problem. So in the morning you will relieve yourself a little of the burden of responsibility.If you don't have a simple and enjoyable task at hand, then you can just come up with it. For example, write down a dozen names of non-existent football clubs (or varieties of tomatoes, or Soviet pioneer camps): "Saratov patriots", "Novosibirsk snowmen". Nine of them, of course, will be stupid, but one will certainly make you laugh and help you get involved in the work process.
3. Write about empty to accelerate
A similar technology can be used when working with dialogues. If you need to write a complex scene, you can speed up a little by sketching like heroes talking about trifles, how they discuss everyday life or just news. This way you will gradually feel their voices and emotions and get to the essence of the scene. You yourself will not notice how you will simply write down your characters.
4. Say "Yes, and ..."
If you work in a team of authors, then the invaluable "Yes, and" link is your indispensable tool. If one of your colleagues suggested an idea, then do not rush to write it off for scrap, it is better to try to "throw" something on top. Pick up and develop each other's thoughts and do not rush to criticize them. “Yes, and” will save you a ton of time and energy that you would have spent devaluing each other's ideas.
Nikolay Kulikov
Screenwriter for Moving Up, Legend No. 17, Bitter.
5. Set yourself deadlines
Any work needs a deadline. Without a deadline, it's hard to prioritize your tasks, write regularly and effectively. A burning date on the calendar forces you to mobilize resources and regularly evaluate your progress. Another important condition for a productive creative process is a correctly set target for the day. You should never do everything at once. It is much more effective to pinpoint the place of application of efforts and focus on one thing, be it a separate dialogue, a scene, or the flaws in the overall structure of the script.
6. Don't neglect bad ideas
Sometimes the script reaches a dead end: it is not clear how to construct the third act or a complex scene, how to make the hero convincing. If you are experiencing a crisis of good ideas, then tackle bad ones. List ten ideas that would be most inappropriate under the circumstances. Let the hero do an illogical act, let the third act be extremely boring, and let the scene lead nowhere. Bad ideas are often followed by good ones. Aaron Sorkin himself trusts this method.
7. Combine different stories
One of the best tools for developing ideas for films and TV shows is the "co-ordinate". Take two very different ideas and combine them. What if it's Groundhog Day but sci-fi? We get "Edge of the Future". What if it is “Groundhog Day"Only horror? There will be "Happy Day of Death". What if this is "Ulysses", but only manga, the time of action is the XXI century and everything happens in Lyubertsy? Even we do not know what can come of it. You can combine anything. The more unobvious the pairs are, the more unexpected results you can get.
Roman Kantor
Writer for the series "Epidemic", "Dead Lake" and the film "Good Boy".
8. Write nonsense
Sometimes the fear of a blank slate turns into a real problem. To overcome this condition, start writing. You can even write complete nonsense, but the main thing is to write. At some point in this useless writing, your brain will jump into the game and start throwing up new ideas. This process is a bit like the ending of Vladimir Sorokin's Norma, where the text begins to disintegrate into incoherent combinations of letters, but here it will be the other way around. Start with incoherent words and goofy phrases, and your brain helps you link them into sentences, paragraphs, and pages.
9. Put it off for later
Master class by David Milch The Idea of the Writer - a source of strange but interesting advice. Here's an example: “Two voices, no names, no descriptions. No descriptions at all. Just voice-1 and voice-2. Don't explain the setting. Write for these two voices at least 20 minutes. Just follow them, write down everything they say. But don't sit on this for more than 50 minutes. Then fold it into an envelope, seal it and put it away. Do not discuss what is written, do not think about it. Sit down the next day at the same time and open this envelope. Read everything that you have written and you will see that these voices are different now. "
10. Remember the most important advice
To write is to rewrite.
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