Category Archives: resources

How to Write a Screenplay (According to Me): Part 1

This is not a definitive “How to Write a Screenplay” blog post. This is a “How I Wrote My Screenplay, What I Did Wrong, and What I’ll Do Again” post. It is my goal to provide a case study of one way (out of bazillions) to get an idea from brain to final draft.

1. Teach Myself the Proper Screenwriting Format, etc.

I read The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script* pretty much from cover to cover weeks before I started this project. I thought it was very informative. I tabbed and highlighted the heck out of it. I even created worksheets based on the information the book contained to streamline my writing process. I didn’t end up using the worksheets for this script, but I think they will be helpful for something that doesn’t hit me like this one did.Another edition has been released, but I used the 5th edition blue one.

2. The Idea

I’ve had several ideas for a screenplay percolating for months. One’s even been kicking around in my head for over a year. However, none of these ideas started a fire under me quite like the one I experienced for this story.
I was up, unable to sleep, “what if, what if, what if” circling around my brain and messing with my beauty rest.
And that’s just it. I thought about “what if” and out came scenarios, reactions, ways to combat the problem. No real life life solution manifested, but I had an absolute ball running with what could happen.

3. Getting It Out of My Brain

I wrote a huge chunk out in Microsoft Word in a single night. The day after next, I had to drive six hours to attend a wedding. Most of that trip was spent improvising dialogue into an audio recording app on my iPhone. For some reason, long car trips help my brainstorming immensely.

In between wedding festivities, I was transcribing what I had recorded and adding new scenarios.

I used the following format in word:

What’s Happening in the Scene
- Describe the setting (if I knew)
- Character 1: Talky talky talky.
- Character 2: Reply reply reply.
- This is action happening.
- Character 1: Babble babble babble.
- Action Action action
- Character 2: Ruminate ruminate ruminate
Next scene
- Repeat above.

A note on why I wrote it out in Word first: My screenwriting program of choice is Celtx (because it’s free). The program, however, does not lend itself, in my opinion, to easy editing and rearranging. Word, on the other hand, is incredibly easy to finagle with. Also, I used the transfer process from Word to Celtx as a way to do some initial re-drafting, but more on that later.

The word count for my screenplay was 13,385 words (pre-Celtx transfer). After fleshing out the writing, this translated to roughly 90 pages of screenplay. As you may or may not know, in general, one page of script is equal to one minute of screen time. That, of course, made me as pleased as Punch.

4. Playing with the Scene Order

After I had it all typed out in Word, I made each scene its own page. I adjusted font size to make it fit onto a single page if necessary.

I then printed out two written pages to every printed page and cut them in half so I had a bunch of scene cards that I could physically see and play with. I also made blank cards so I could add scenes as I needed them.

Next, I sat on the floor and laid out my film. I rearranged, cut, and added scenes where there were holes in the story.

Once that was done, I went back into Word and cut and paste my new order and wrote out the scenes that had been missing.

|A Note on Thinking Ahead|

I wrote this screenplay for eventual production. Specifically, I wrote one of the parts for me. One of my many life’s ambitions is to pull a Brit Marling and make my own way.

This means that even if this is the best screenplay ever (which let’s be real, even though I’m actually really liking where it’s going, Casablanca it’s not) getting this produced is going to be an issue. I tried to keep it as inexpensive as possible. I also made sure that there were plenty of Chicago shout-outs scattered throughout the script.

5. Transfer to Celtx

I printed out another copy of my script and then started to type it out, scene by scene, into Celtx.

This was an incredibly tedious process. I’m sure it would be more efficient to just do the whole thing in the program, however, during the transfer I fleshed out my scenes, added dialogue, cut things that I didn’t think worked, etc. By the time I typed “The End” in Celtx, I was really on my third draft of the script (1. pre-arranged draft 2. post-arranged draft 3. Celtx draft).

6. Reading Out Loud

I cannot stress the importance of this enough. Some of my dialogue didn’t sound like something my characters would say: sometimes it was too stilted, sometimes it didn’t make sense off the page, etc. I sat there and acted out 92 pages, by myself, making changes as I went.

I also fixed regular typos in this phase as well. I read EVERYTHING aloud, even the action and scene headings.

7. Read It Again and Fix the Nuts and Bolts

I fixed my errors in spelling, typos, and formatting. For example, I played with my montage format a few of times, so I needed to decide on a consistent approach. Also, I have a couple of phone conversations so I needed to figure out how to write those effectively. The resource that I turned to repeatedly was this fantastic free PDF called How Did They Write It, which is a compilation of how writers have dealt with issues ranging from phone conversations to on screen text. I also referenced my tabbed pages in The Screenwriter’s Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script*. (Especially pages 136-138 which contain a sample script.)8. Sending It to First Round Beta Readers

At the end of last week, I sent it to my first round of beta readers. These are the people who I trust to rip it apart and tell me what they think. None of my first round readers are in the industry or have studied film. However, most really love entertainment and are close friends. I’ve gotten initial comments back from one reader thus far and they’ve been beyond helpful.
Once I get those comments back, I’ll take them into consideration, change what I agree with, ignore it if I disagree, and send it out for another round with my next group of victims friends. Again, these will be close friends and people I trust to eviscerate my writing.

This is where I am with the script. I will do another post as I take steps toward getting that final draft completed. Hang with me.

* I have become an Amazon Associate to monetize my blog. When you see an asterisk, it means that the link could put money in my pocket if you decide to click it and make a qualifying purchase from Amazon. I do not include products on my blog that I have not personally used. If I find them valuable, I’ll let you know. If I hate them, I’m probably not going to write about them because of that whole “If you don’t have something nice to say…” thing.

Dealing with the Doldrums: Downtime and the Actor

Taken on a morning run along Lake Michigan.

Yes, yes, I’m late again. My dog had surgery back in my hometown so I had to take her down south, return for rehearsal, and then drive back to get her. I know, excuses, excuses.

The Doldrums “is a colloquial expression derived from historical maritime usage, in which it refers to those parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean affected by the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around the equator where the prevailing winds are calm…. The doldrums are… noted for calm periods when the winds disappear altogether, trapping sail-powered boats for periods of days or weeks.” Wikipedia.

I am in the midst of my own Doldrums. I’m not sure how it is for other people, but my acting cycle tends to come in starts and stops. I will have a hellishly busy (read wonderful) week where I feel like I can barely breathe for all the auditioning, filming, and rehearsing, my sink gets full of dirty dishes, and my tiny apartment looks like a hurricane blew through. (Nautical theme today, happy summer y’all). Then, the next week, nothing. Not a single audition. I try not to let despair set in. I know that eventually there will be another audition, this town is so full of theatres how could it not happen? It’s a numbers game, and I haven’t been here long enough for them all to hate me (<– Bad state of mind. Avoid this!) So I try to use the time to learn about other areas of this business and to catch up on some good TV and film.

For example, I recently finished The Screenwriter’s Bible. I’m interested in the process, and have a few ideas kicking around in my head. So I started a screenplay. We’ve talked about content creation and my doldrums are the time when I try to create more. To be perfectly honest, it doesn’t always work. I tend to be massively inefficient when I’m not busy, but I know this about myself and am, sort of, working on it.

I also use the time to catch up on TV and film that I’ve not seen. I love entertainment. Obviously, right? Observe what I’m doing with my life. I think it’s valuable to be exposed to lots of different styles and genres. I learn something from every actor’s performance that I watch. I even base (steal) some characters that I audition for on tics that I’ve seen other actors do. Right now I’m on a TV kick. I recently burned through the first season of Rectify. The show breathes. It’s slow and methodical and the performances are absolutely amazing. It’s tempting to say that nothing much happens, but it’s rare for a show where the characters get to spend an entire episode, heck, a season, feeling. I cannot recommend it enough. Then, I tore through the first two seasons of Arrow. So. Good. I love that show and am obsessed with #Olicity. It’s going to happen. But, I digress. Arrow is a completely different show than Rectify. It barely has room to breathe with the 45 minute action movie that every episode presents. But, I still find the characters to be compelling and the acting super solid. Different styles, different lessons.

Basically, I’m always trying to learn something about this craft that I love. Next up on my reading list is The Filmmaker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for the Digital Age. It’s probably going to take me awhile.

How do you all deal with the doldrums?

Chicago Talent Agents: Expert Curators of Marketable Talent (<--I'm coining that)

Chicago is a secondary market. It’s not New York or LA, though, as I reported in a previous post, it is making some major headway in film and television production. I had not made this connection until class last week, but being a secondary market means that things are run a little differently here. Makes sense right?

*Note that from here on out I will be writing about things that are generally true. The business relationship between a specific agent and actor may be different from what I describe.

Chicago is a “scale” town. In other words, most working actors in the Second City do not command paychecks beyond those mandated by the unions. This in turn, means that the role of a Chicago agent is oftentimes a little different from that of a coastal agent. Due to the realities of his/her respective market, an agent in New York or L.A. is going to be more heavily involved in the shaping of an actor’s career, as well as, negotiating an increase in pay (or as the adage goes, negotiating you out of a job). Here, for the most part, an agent acts as the first line between the actor and the job. They are, if you will, expert curators of marketable talent. More than likely, before you get called in to read for Chicago Fire you need to have been picked up by an agent. His/her relationships with the casting directors in town are invaluable. If you want to move up the ladder of work in this city an agent’s partnership is necessary.

HOWEVER, this is absolutely NOT to say that the lack of an agent keeps you from submitting directly to casting directors. Absolutely do that. Even after you get an agent don’t stop doing that. Even the greatest agent in the world is not responsible for the shape of your career. You are.

Acting Studio Chicago (where I’m currently enrolled) has a list of agents and casting directors. They also have a ton of other useful information on their website. Check them out.

Comments? Concerns? Corrections? Let me know.

And, because I mentioned Chicago Fire, I give you Severide. You’re welcome.

Taylor Kinney as Kelly Severide — (Matt Dinerstein/NBC)

8 Hours, a Bloody Tub, and How to Get (Fake) Blood Stains Out of Clothes and Skin

I spent this past weekend sitting in a tub of cornstarch, chocolate syrup, cocoa powder, and food coloring. It’s an actor’s life for me ya’ll.

In celebration of the gory little short, I’m going to share tips on removing fake blood from clothes and skin. I hope this comes in handy for you all around Halloween. But first! a still from the production.

STOP! IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE A LOT OF FAKE BLOOD!

***********

Photo Credit: Cassie Kranz

As you can see, there was a lot of fake blood. It was horribly sticky. We kept having to apply water because I would stick to the tub, my left elbow, which was bent, kept adhering to by bicep, and my hair got plastered to my face.

Supplies

1. Baby wipes. Absolutely wonderful for removing the fake blood from my face. I didn’t even look sunburned after gently wiping away the excess blood, latex, and makeup.

2. Baby oil. I didn’t end up using any, but in general, it’s really good for getting the stains off of skin.

3. Shampoo, conditioner, face soap, and body wash. I used baby soap and it worked pretty well, though I did look a little sunburned around my knees and on my arms. (I didn’t use the baby wipes in these areas).

How To

1. I primed my face with Benefit Stay Flawless primer and followed up with Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen WOW Foundation. I wanted there to be a buffer between my skin and the blood.

2. Cassie Kranz then did an awesome job of applying some FX makeup (broken nose; swollen cheekbone; cute little cut above my eyebrow). She blended with some latex and the Physician’s Formula foundation that I brought. (Read, more stickiness).

3. Shoot, shoot, shoot. So much blood on everything!

4. SHOWER immediately. I think that this is what did the most for the blood removal. As soon as we finished shooting, I stood up, in my clothes, and hosed down. I lightly wrung out the clothes and double bagged them, still pretty wet, in a couple of plastic bags. They stayed like that all night, and then this morning I threw them in the washer. All of the pink is gone, even from the white threads in the rips of my jeans.

5. As for skin, baby soap worked just fine for me, if you don’t mind being a little pink the next day. To get the stains completely off of my face, I, as mentioned above, used baby wipes. They also removed the remaining latex from my skin and hair.

Things I’ve Heard But Didn’t Try

1. Vaseline can be used as another barrier between the skin and the blood. In theory, it should make it easier for the blood to be wiped away. I didn’t try it because I was afraid I would break out.

2. Lemon. Supposedly, you can half a lemon and rub the juice on the stains. To me, this sounds painful and like a last resort.

RE: Networking

This is going to be a rather brief post, I’m picking up my bestie from the airport. I’m going to play tourist for the first time since I’ve been here, so I’ll share what we did on Monday. I imagine it’s going to be full of museums and food.

I’ve mentioned the Chicago Filmmakers networking event a few times, but I have some exciting news. The day before yesterday, I shot some test footage for a director I met there. I’m going to be involved in a cool project because I was trying to be proactive about meeting people in the industry.

At the event, he described what he did. I was genuinely interested and asked for his email so I could check out his work. We exchanged emails, and I followed up the next day, as I was instructed by said bestie. I watched his stuff, liked it, and told him so. He asked for for my demo reel (I don’t have one), so I sent him an audition video I put together for an agent submission. He liked it and Tuesday I was testing.

I’m not sure how often this happens, but not bad for the first time out.

Thus, get out there, be proactive!

The New Age: Transmedia Artists

Via The Underground Multiplex

RE: the networking thing I was stressing out over, it was mostly fun. I’m still not great at it, but I was definitely not the disaster that I imagined.

Part of the event, hosted by Chicago Filmmakers, included a TED style talk by LEW OJEDA and JOSEPH R. LEWIS of The Underground Multiplex. The entire presentation was great, but what really resonated with me were their thoughts on being a transmedia artist. Basically, the game has changed. No one is merely a Director, merely a DP, merely a Producer in the era of digital entertainment. If you’re going to be successful you have to wear all of the hats and you need to look good in them. No one has the luxury of specializing anymore. Content creation is king and you must learn to rule.

During the question and answer portion of the talk, someone asked how actors might apply this idea to their work. Lewis said (paraphrasing) that when someone says the word actor, he sees someone who is not in control of their own career. He sees someone waiting for the next job to come around. In order to take charge of the uncertain career of an actor you have to–you guessed it– create. Write yourself a role you’ve always wanted to play and get it out there.

In other news, I’ve been cast in a Columbia student film. It’s horror, and I’ve been promised that there will be “Carrie amounts of fake blood.”

Networking for Introverts

Shy Maiden by Michael Drummond

This past weekend was spent researching agencies I would like to work with, stuffing envelopes, and going out for lunch with a friend. Today, I walked to the post office to mail off my submissions, did general housekeeping, updated my paperwork, and worked on my monologues for an audition tomorrow.

In addition to that audition, I’m attending a networking event with industry folk tomorrow evening. I’m rather nervous about the prospect. Despite my passion for acting, I’m an introvert. I’d rather sit at home reading a book or tormenting my cat with a laser pointer than go out. I’m not good at the bar scene and have never been to a networking event. So, I enlisted the help of my best friend, who happens to be a master at events like these. (I tried to talk her into starting her own blog or becoming a career coach or something, but she declined.)

Some of her tips and my action plan for tomorrow evening:

1. Know what you want to get out of attending the event. (Super important. Don’t go in there without knowing why you’re there).

2. Confidence is key. Fake it if you must.

3. Scan the room immediately, look for people that suit your purpose for attending the event.

4. Spot an interesting person? Go up and introduce yourself. (Just like that, good heavens).

5. Small talk. (Yikes)

6. Exchange information.

7. Repeat.

8. Follow-up.

Her plan was much more detailed and eloquent, but I’ll save that for when I’ve finally convinced her to start a blog helping those like me.

Auditioning for Shakespeare

Will Shakespeare…maybe?

I have an audition coming up. Thank heavens because I haven’t had one in a while. Nothing like not even getting seen to get a girl down, but that’s part of it: grind, grind, grind, rejection, grind, grind, grind, hustle.

This audition is for a couple of Shakespeare plays. I’m to have a verse monologue prepared. I haven’t done anything but contemporary auditions for some time so I’m slightly nervous. But, I’m never not nervous about an audition so that’s par for the course.

How I’m going to prepare:

When I have a classical audition, I always start with: Soliloquy: The Shakespeare Monologues. I have the women’s version, which, for some reason, is a little harder to find than the men’s version. Not only does the book have the monologues, each entry contains a mini-dictionary explaining unfamiliar terms. Also included is a valuable description of the character. The character profile is helpful not only if you are in a pinch and don’t have time to read the play (NOT recommended) but also to provide you a reference point before diving into the play.

I’ve also recently found Shakespeare’s Monologues. It’s divided into men and women. The monologues are presented in chart form and it denotes whether the speech is in verse or prose.

I try to match the character of the monologue to the character that I’m most appropriate for in the show. Shakespeare’s writing contains some rather similar ladies so, thus far, it hasn’t been an issue.

I will memorize the monologue through the process I described in my post on How to Memorize a Monologue.

If you’re pressed for time:

If you don’t have the time to read the play, the following websites provide plot summaries.

Shakespeare Online: Comprehensive summaries on the plays. Also contains some articles ranging from Shakespeare’s language to information on the Globe.

No Sweat Shakespeare: Super short summaries.

Absolute Shakespeare: Summaries and commentaries on the plays.

Any resources and/or tips that you suggest? Comment below.

Thoughts on Marketing Your Brand Across Social Media

I did not major in marketing. I didn’t even minor in business. However, I still wanted to share my thoughts on a cohesive aesthetic across online mediums. (Blogger, youtube, and actor website).

Actors, much as we may resist thinking of ourselves this way, are a product in a self-owned small business. I want my product to have a specific look that can be easily identified. I’m trying to brand myself across different media. The way that I’m accomplishing this goal is pretty basic; consistency in colors and images.

My biggest tie in across mediums is the color scheme. I chose blues and whites. I chose blue because it makes my eyes pop. Seriously, that’s the reason I chose that scheme.

I also have my profile picture consistent across most mediums. Further, I designed my logo and used it on both my website and my youtube channel. I deliberately didn’t use the logo on this blog because I didn’t think it was appropriate. Self-promotion is an added plus of having this blog. However, its content is not centered on me. It’s about the business, process, etc. of acting and the city of Chicago.

Here are some screen captures of various online presences:

Website Screen-capture

Blog Screen Capture

Youtube Screen-capture

A note on my twitter:
If you’ve visited my Twitter you’ll notice that the only thing that it has in common with the other mediums is my profile picture. Other than that, it’s a crazy colorful comic book type tiled background. I love it. It’s quirky, it’s eye catching, and it’s me. Is it bad that it isn’t consistent with the other mediums? I don’t know. Does my concern for cohesiveness outweigh how much I like its look? No.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on consistency across mediums. Does it matter? Am I completely full of it? Etc.

Resources: How to Design and Code an Actor Website

I read the columns on Backstage rather regularly. One such piece, by Taryn Southern, gives a list of ten online tools that an actor should be using. You can read that article by clicking here. Unsurprisingly, one of those was a website. The author warns, in another article, that you shouldn’t do this solo if you don’t have any web skills. Well…there’s no time like the present and you can learn anything on the internet.

If you’re on this blog because you’re interested in acting, let me tell you that frugality is going to be essential. With that in mind, I’ve put in lots and lots of hours of sweat equity into this most recent project. Namely, I’ve been mocking up an actor website in Photoshop Elements 5 and then painstakingly coding it in pure HTML and CSS. (Caveat: For the contact form I used php in addition to HTML and CSS).

I’ve never done this. Ever. The closest I’ve come to coding was copying and pasting the embed code from youtube into blogger. This is a completely different animal. But, as I mentioned above, you can learn almost anything on the internet.

When I’ve got my site up and running I’ll share that. For now, here’s a screen capture of the site running locally on Chrome. I ended up really liking how it turned out. Hopefully, everything will go well when I upload it to a server. I’ll probably do another post on how I chose my web host and the process of changing it over so that it will run online.

After the picture, you’ll find some of the resources I used. I pulled from all over the internet, and I know I’m leaving things out, but I hope it will help get you started.

My self-designed and coded Actor Website

Most basic: I used Notepad ++’s online demo to code the entire thing.

The resources I kept going back to were: Lifehacker; CSS-tricks; and W3Schools.

Photoshop Mockup (I used Elements version 5 and it still worked, you’re just going to have more work-arounds if you’re using an older form of photoshop.)
CSS-tricks

Where to code
Notepad ++ Demo

Basic HTML
Lifehacker
CSS-tricks (a video about converting your mockup to both HTML and CSS)

Basic CSS
Lifehacker

Putting it together
Lifehacker

Embedding Video in HTML
HTML Goodies

Downloading PDF HTML Code (for resumes)
Whirlpool Forum

Creating a Contact Form (I’m not sure if mine works yet because it needs to be tested online)
Tangled in Design

These are the basics to get you started. If you think of something specific that you want to do, just google it. There are lots of resources out there that will get your design from photoshop to the internet.

One note: Don’t forget to test your site across browsers. Mine worked perfectly in Chrome, almost perfectly in IE, and not at all in Firefox and Safari. The issue was relative path vs. absolute path in the HTML. Chrome and IE recognized my absolute paths but the others didn’t. I sent out a cry for help via Facebook and one of my friends solved the problem for me. Thus, don’t be afraid to ask for help!