organic screenwriting and the development of america

"Experience must be our only guide.  Reason may mislead us."

- John Dickinson-

Would the esteemed Mr. Dickinson please stand up.  And shake my goddamn hand?

Reason out your entire screenplay with an outline at the cost of experiencing the act of writing a profound story by way of a character who goes through real emotional ups and downs.

Go ahead.  Do it.  I dare you.  You little redcoat.  You stinky little islander.  You tea drinkin', rain soakin'-

Organic Screenwriting VS. Analytical Screenwriting - BOTH?

*Readers email me with this question constantly:

Can I be both an organic screenwriter and an analytical screenwriter?

And I respond with a resounding, NO.  No you can't.  Stop pretending you can because you can't.  You stupid fucking piece of- I'm just kidding.   

But seriously, I don't believe you can write a screenplay using two approaches toward development.

Bear with me:

Imagine plotting, outlining, creating character bios and descriptions- everything you need for a script.

Then sitting down and writing "in the moment."

Within the very first scene, if you are truly being organic, you're going to drive write off the plot outline, beat sheet, cliff.

Now imagine the opposite:

You sit down, let a story idea rip, go with the flow, and then stop and analyze what you've written.  You outline everything you've just written.  You're going to look at it and say, "This story is so broken it's unable to be fixed."

What's the difference between Organic Screenwriting and Analytic Screenwriting?

Organic screenwriting takes an approach toward development by using the feeling, sensing, intuitive faculties that process within your brain.

It's akin to acting.  You're going with the flow.

Listen, when you get into an argument or a debate at home, at work, at school...your going to be doing this organically.  You're going to hear what the other person says, you're going to process it, and use their points to defend your claims.  And you're going to go back and forth until you reach a conclusion.  You're not going to analyze the argument before you have it.  An emotion within you will ignite and off you go.  It might end with you putting your fist in their ass- I mean face.  And continue in the principal's office or police cruiser.  But it's going to be driven by your emotion, intuition, senses...

Imagine stopping in the middle of the argument, debate, fight, to analyze and plot out your next moves... 1) you get pushed to the ground 2) you lose your train of thought 3) you lose.

Analytical Screenwriting approaches script development using logic.

You sit there and plan out every detail and action and line of dialog.   

Now, let's say you're on the debate team, or you're going to be on the News on TV to argue something.  You're going to prepare your arguments and you're going to stay on point.  Watch anyone who prepares then goes off point.  They lose!

So here's the deal...

Can you do both?

SURE but the final product will end up a mess.  It will be muddy.

Which one should I choose?

Try both methods.  Just not during the same script development process.  

Organic at first may feel chaotic and dangerous but over time, as you build those intuitive muscles, it may just feel like your having amazing sex with the sexiest character you've ever met.  If you don't like amazing sex then...

Analytical at first may feel powerful and safe but over time, as you build your logical muscles , it may just feel like your building a cold, dead, series of set-pieces inhabited by cookie cutter characters.  And that's depressing.

Am I BIASED or what?!

Want another fun problem?

Try to develop a script with someone who develops stories using the opposite approach.

What an organic screenwriting approach is not:

It's not stream of conscious, put everything that enters your brain, onto the page. 

You've seen and read countless movies and screenplays.  You're not going to let your brain drive you out into outer space.

ORGANIC SCREENWRITING USES THE INTUITIVE PORTION OF YOUR BRAIN AS THE MASTER AND THE LOGICAL PORTION AS THE SLAVE

You're not going to throw your logical processes out with window.  

What you're going to do is use common sense, consistent tone, repeating characters, following wants and distilling motivations.  You're going to allow the characters to reveal their goals and fears and you're going to allow your mind to create attempts to reach them and fail until they don't fail no more.

And once you finish that first draft.  You are going to have people read it...people in your target audience...not just any human.

Write down their feedback and keep your mouth shut.  Don't defend anything in the goddamn story.  This isn't a debate, it's a feedback session.  You feedforward and they feedback.

Then you can go back and re-read and adjust scenes.  And intuitively those flaws will call out to you and you will rewrite, you will tweak, you will make it better.

And you will fall in love.  

*No one emails me...ever.  WHERE ARE MY READERS?!  Where are my fellow organic screenwriters?

Screenwriting - Writer's block - Guts, Glory, and writing shit you didn't want to write.

In the face of obstruction, forge ahead.

Washington and the revolutionary army dealt with cold, hunger, and probably a lot of stink.  But they walked to the Delaware, got into some boats, and...killed a lot of drunk Germans.

Well, maybe the revolutionary soldiers had rum in their bellies too.  Who knows?

BUT.

The point is, they forged ahead.

So the next time you don't want to write.  Shut up.  Take that emotion and put it into your characters mouth and actions.  Don't let unseen inspiration wallow. Sometimes you've got to just force it out and let your character bitch and give up and find the goddamn resolve at the end of the scene to keep going.

Will you ever screenwrite well? -

"Psycho-physiological state matters – you need to be happy, relaxed, and most importantly, you need to be tolerant of ambiguity. Don’t try to understand every detail as it will drive you crazy."

This quote is taken from Chris Lonsdale - the man who believes you can learn a new language in six months.

What's interesting to me is that writing a screenplay and learning a new language are very similar.

Notices how he says you must be tolerant of ambiguity.  When you truly write you have no idea what will come next, how something in the present scene might affect a future scene, etc.  You've got to be able to go with the flow and be comfortable with not understanding how every element of that scene might be addressed/adjusted in the future based on future scenes.

Here's a link to his lecture:
Learn a Language

 

Dramatica - It MAY NOT work for you because it sucks

"I see, okay, so this must be how human psychology works!" - Robot using Dramatica to understand stories.

I joke!

But seriously, do you really need to breakdown how your own mind works in order to do what it does naturally?

You're not a robot are you?


No.  You're a human.  And humans are composed of intellect(logic) and emotion(feelings and desires)

Dramatica works the intellect(logic) and ignores the emotion(feelings and desires, the pain of the second Act, pain of making choices)

IN fact any screenwriting book, software, guru who wants to help you make the writing process easier will be working your intellect.

They help you suppress your emotions and as a result water down your story.

Emotions!  Reactions! Like the ones you feel when you get home from a long day of work and you're reminded that you planned on exercising every other day but you're just too tired and just don't feel like it.  Those fucking emotions baby.

OH IRONY - of these self help books, software programs, and gurus lies in the fact that they try to show you ways to make the screenwriting process easy....BUT if writing a story is EASY the story will be BORING.

WHY?!

Because in order to add emotion to a story, you must hit Writer's block walls and infuse your characters with those feelings of being stuck, unhappy, feeling like the goal is unattainable, feeling that loss of romance for your idea.

Wait?  Toss out the books, the software, the stupid ARCHETYPES, and wave goodbye to your goddamn guru because you're going to start writing and infusing your screenwriting with emotion, with reactions, with a character who wants to prove something!!!

YES!  I have a NEW HOPE just for YOU!

Embrace the painful feelings and let them come out through your characters actions and dialog.  Hit the writers blocks and the feelings of being stuck in the second act with no where to go.  Forge the fires within the heart of your main character and allow them to overcome their hard internal battles.

STRIKE OUT FRIENDS!  BE BOLD!  Write well.  BE HUMAN.


Let me leave you with this:
When it comes to the hard choices you encounter - you can make the choice and become unique, become a voice...or you can allow a program to make them for you and create mumbling averageness.  Be someone or be no one, friends.

Take the Journey - The Stupid Screenwriting Secret You've Been DYING for

"Taking the journey"with your characters is one of the hardest things to learn in screenwriting.

But it's like learning how to ride a bike.  Once you do it, you say "Oh haha that was easy, idiot."

Here's a hint:
When your character fails during a scene...and you're stuck and don't know what to have them do next...put those stuck feelings into your characters actions and dialog.  They're stuck too!
If you feel like you wanna give up on the story...
If you feel like you don't feel like writing it anymore...
If you feel like you want to start that other awesome story idea you had....

Put those goddamn feelings into the story you're working on now!

Once you do that...well...you might just start to understand how to write a story with emotional impact!

Just Writing Stories is Enough

I'm telling you if you go with the flow you will succeed.  Even on the hard days.  Don't analyze your story...let readers do that.  You've just got to write the darn thing.  I'm serious.

Coen Brothers - Inside Llewyn Davis

Inside Llewyn Davis there is a refusal to sell out.  He refuses to disrespect his musical gift.  Which leads him to seem like a loser.  But he's a hero.  He's a hero because he defends Music.  He sacrifices his body for music...and for cats.  But seriously that's what the fucking movie is about.