DEADLINE Approaching!

Professional instructor!
Published author & writer

Deadlines approaching:

March 2008

Rated “Top” Online Screenwriting Class by Screenwriter’s Monthly

Screenwriting 101 is an online class for beginning writers or writers wanting to brush up on the fundamentals. For four weeks you will interact and study under the guidance of your instructor to jump start your writing and hit the ground running. Also, two online LIVE lectures during office hours to help you as you do your assignments and work on your script. (Register below).

The class presents the fundamentals of screenwriting: character development, plot development, structure, conflict, and dialogue. Mainly focused on beginners or anyone who wants to brush up on the fundamentals. Students gain enough knowledge to continue writing their screenplay, start their first screenplay, and finish.

Course Certification?: Yes!, you receive a certification of successful completion!
Course Format: Online & instructor based
Course Length: 4 week(s)
Cost: WAS $200/ Now: $75

For more information and read testimonials or to register:
http://www.4screenwriters.com/screen_101.html

Why take a class? Every year about 50,000 or more screenplays will be registered with the Writers Guild of America and other services. Less than 1,000 will be purchased by Hollywood studios and producers. The competition is fierce. You’re competing with professionals as well as everyone else. Start your screenwriting career (or first screenplay) by taking a professional level class taught by a professional.

Class Breakdown:

Finding the Heart of your story
Plot or Character driven, which is best?
Cause and Effect (Characters and Plot)
Thinking about Characters
Fully fleshed Characters
The Paradigms of a Story
Screenplay Structure
What is Structure and why is it important?
What Structure best suits your Story?
Structure and Genre
Classic Structure: Linear, Journey, Chase, Search
Types of Alternative Narrative Structure
Writing your first ten pages
The Setup: the or else scene
Establishing genre and drama
Connecting the Audience
Case Studies
Looking Ahead towards your Second and Third Acts (setups and payoffs)
Writing the Scene
Types of Scenes
Scene Dialectics
Ins and Outs
Functions
Structures
Sequences

Who is the instructor?

The instructor is Chris Wehner, a published author, journalist, critic and professional screenwriter. He has worked in the field for over 10 years. He was recently Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Screenwriter’s Monthly and VP of Development for MoviePartners. Currently his screenplay, EL CAMINO, is in development with Area 51 Films in Los Angeles and is scheduled to go into production this year. He recently optioned his latest script, THREESOME, to producer Ted Melfi and is also scheduled to go into pre-production this year. His book, “Screenwriting on the Internet: Researching, Writing & Selling Your Script on the Web” was a Top Seller at The Writer’s Store and his latest book “Who Wrote That Movie?” has received praise as well.

For more information and registration:
http://www.4screenwriters.com/screen_101.html

BEST PICTURE
“No Country for Old Men”

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”

BEST DIRECTOR
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, “Juno”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Counterfeiters” (Austria)

BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Ratatouille”(Winner)

BEST ART DIRECTION
“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“There Will Be Blood,” Robert Elswit

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” Alexandra Byrne

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Taxi to the Dark Side”

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“Freeheld”

BEST FILM EDITING
“The Bourne Ultimatum,” Christopher Rouse

BEST MAKEUP
“La Vie en Rose” (Winner)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Atonement”, Dario Marianelli

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Falling Slowly” from “Once”

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Peter & the Wolf”

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)”

BEST SOUND EDITING
“The Bourne Ultimatum”

BEST SOUND MIXING
“The Bourne Ultimatum”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Golden Compass”

I’m going to gather up some of my posts in chronological order about Tenebrous and re-post them here for everyone to read, then include some hindsight material, with close to year behind me.

Wednesday, March 21st, 2007

It has taken almost 11 years of my life, but it has finally happened. A screenplay I wrote is now in the middle of pre-production here. I can now safely talk about this after getting permission from the producers. As I write this, it is being submitted to IMDB as well.

And so it begins. The last month of my life has been surreal, busy, tiring, and fun, all rolled into one. Imagine feeling all of those things at the same time. That comes close to describing it.

I have been working closely with the director on the rewrites for the production script, which will be locked down by the end of the week. A web site devoted to the film will also be up soon, but I will also post my own thoughts and feelings as I get the time here.

The cast assembled for this astounds me. The special makeup f/x guy, an Academy Award nominee, said this was one of the best scripts he had ever read. I am truly humbled and honored to be working with such a great group of people.

I will post more here in a little while as more information is vetted and made public.

Did I mention I drove a movie star around in my car today? Surreal…

In hindsight…

Yeah, it was a bit surreal. I was a little starstruck, didn’t know some of the process all that well, and it was something new and exciting. As far as the “vetting of information”, there wasn’t much I couldn’t talk about because I was also a producer (although that part didn’t come into play until later.) Common sense told me what I could and couldn’t do, so that played out later.

Locking down the production script took a bit longer than to the end of that week. We were doing some scene-specific rewrites right up to the end of pre-production, mostly coming from the director and as locations were locked down. We were very lucky that most of the places I wrote about actually existed, and they were more than happy to let us use them for filming.

Stay tuned for more…

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Devin and other professional writers teach at 4screenwriters Institute.

A few recent movies on DVD I have seen are excellent and deserve some discussion. As a matter of fact, they present some excellent teaching opportunities for screenwriters.

 I want to discuss two movies: 3:10 TO YUMA, written by Halsted Welles, Michael Brandt, and Derek Haas; and WE OWN THE NIGHT, written and directed by James Gray. (3:10 TO YUMA (1957) was a remake.)

Let’s first look at 3:10 TO YUMA. Here is a fine example of good character development.
The character of Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) is clearly a “Good Bad Guy,”  and from the writing to the acting, a great example of one.

Here’s a question, think back to the opening 15-20 minutes of the movie. Who is the antagonist of this story? At first it appears to be local prospectors wanting to force Dan Evans (the protagonist) off his land. Then Ben Wade enters, but Wade is not the antagonist either, though early on the assumption is that he is.

Rule #1 in character development of the antagonist: “it must be the main cause of the Protagonist’s troubles.”

There are multiple causes to Dan Evan’s troubles early on - some of his own making; which was a nice touch that screenwriters sometimes do not consider.

Wade is an outlaw who ruthlessly kills, even his own men. Early on he takes the position of a strong antagonist whose storyline is “explicitly intertwined with that of the protagonist.” (Rule #2 in character development for the antagonist.)

However, the antagonist of this movie ends up being Charlie Prince, who is in pursuit of the Pinkerton group once they have Wade captive. The writers then have to balance several strong characters on the antagonist side, along with Evans. Not an easy task.

By switching the character assignment of the antagonist to several possible sources, the first act of 3:10 TO YUMA has a very strong narrative thrust (trajectory). This sets the entire story up in fine fashion.

Ben Wade as the good bad guy; this is a narrative and character device that when done well makes for a satisfying story. (This device is nothing new.)

The writers had to be very careful with Wade’s development. There are several things to be aware of: 1) this character (and his/her transformation) must be believable. The audience has to accept the premise that Wade is truly a bad guy. The writers establish this with his introductory scene. He robs a stagecoach, kills the Pinkertons, and executes one of his own men; 2) the character must be redeemable, meaning that if this character crosses the line from wicked to evil, there is no possible redemption for him in the audience’s mind. Wade never kills women or children, and only kills those who deserved it, or threaten his survival; 3) there has to be a clear turning point that is brought on by an act of redemption. This typically happens with the character ultimately sacrificing themselves to the cause. This act usually finalizes the good bad guy character’s transformation. However, in 3:10 TO YUMA, Wade accomplishes this by killing Prince and then willingly getting on the train, thus his final act of redemption.

Rule #3 in character development of the antagonist: “the introductory scene of the antagonist must establish his/ her wickedness and/or his/her desire for destroying the Protagonist.”

In 3:10 TO YUMA this rule is disguised in a clever way. Prince is clearly established as wicked in his introductory scene, however, at that time we are not aware that he will become the antagonist. This character development really serves this story well.

Not only was Ben Wade’s character development nicely done with a clear arc, but so was the protagonist, Dan Evans.

Evans was a wounded (lost his foot) Civil War veteran struggling to hold on to his land. In one scene early on, his manhood is outright questioned by his eldest son, and his wife clearly is disappointed in him. Desperate he goes to town to hock his wife’s jewelry in order to hopefully save his land. He has just a week until he will be literally moved off his land. Evans is at a low point for sure.

When in town the opportunity to make a lot of money by helping to escort Wade to the Yuma train station materializes and Evans decides he has no other options after his attempt to buy more time with the prospector in town fails. Evans is desperate and willing to take this dangerous trip in order to make possibly enough money to save his land.

Through Evan’s interaction with Wade we learn a lot about both of these characters and each plays an important role in helping the other get what they want. There is no love lost between them early on, and their mutual respect does not materialize until the very end. But you always had a sense that they respected each other.

In the end Evans has to get Wade to the station in Yuma singlehandedly, while surrounded by Wade’s gang. This desperate final act shootout satisfies with tons of tension and excitement, and the conflict’s resolution clearly demonstrates theme and character.

All in all, the writers did a masterful job with the character development of Wade, Prince, and Evans.

- Chris

Up next, Part II: WE OWN THE NIGHT.

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(C) Chris Wehner is a professional writer and author who teaches screenwriting at the 4 Screenwriters Institute. For more information or to take a his class, Screenwriting 101.

The 3-Act structure’s main job is to hold the narrative’s trajectory in place so as to maximize the amount of drama, tension, and conflict as needed.

How do you do that? Easy… well, sort of.

Focus- The reader/audience’s main focus is always with the protagonist. What is the character’s struggle and what will it take to resolve this central conflict? From the first page, your main interest is that of the protagonist (or central character) and how that character relates to the genre, audience, and plot.

Apprehension-There are expectations and anticipations of genre, regardless of our desire to remove them.  The reader/audience of your screenplay will need you to fulfull certain things in order to make your story, hence your narrative trajectory successful. If your story is not reaching the peaks required, the story loses effectiveness. Your character’s actions meet with unexpected results and this creates tension and drama. This creates the trajectory. This creates a 3-Act structure. Actions - Reactions - Consequences. This is conflict and a never ending cycle, until its resolution.

Resolution- The resolving of the central conflict between the two opposing forces will expose theme and shape the trajectory in its afterlife. Drama and suspense builds, and then it is finalized.  Think of this moment as the rocket firing into the sky and its finale as it explodes and lights up the sky. This is your final trajectory. The final Act is the “unknown” when the audience experiences the ending.  “Experiences” is key.  They do not have to feel “satisfaction,” that is left to you the writer to decide. But there must be something there that they “feel” and “experience.”  Many a good story has not had necessarily a ” satisfying” ending, but one that was memorable to be sure.

- Chris
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(C) Chris Wehner is a professional writer and author who teaches screenwriting at the 4 Screenwriters Institute. For more information or to take a his class, Advanced Screenwriting.

Devin’s 24 hour challenge got me thinking, at first I thought it was utterly crazy to sit down and attempt to force out a story.  But thinking about it, I realize it is a great way to work on the CRAFT of screenwriting. Lemme explain…

You have to stay focused, be willing to create on the fly, accept scenes that may not work, move on, and keep pushing forward. All of these aspects are important for a screenwriter.

Too often writers get stuck on a scene because it doesn’t “feel” right or it doesn’t “work,” and that scene becomes an anchor.  An immovable object. You can’t move forward.

The challenge to you as a writer is to force yourself to move on.  You can always go back and fix problems.  Remember, all writing is rewriting when it comes down to it.

The other issue with writers is blank mind syndrome or “Writer’s Block.”  This can be a symptom of many things, let’s focus on one: lack of planning.

You as the writer didn’t know exactly what your ending looked like, what it accomplished, and how its resolving of the main conflict exposes theme.

If you can’t move forward you either are stuck on that one scene that is not “perfect” or you have no idea where to go.  By forcing yourself to write, setting goals, forcing yourself to “Get it out,” you can move forward.

Just some food for thought…

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(C) Chris Wehner is a professional writer and author who teaches screenwriting at the 4 Screenwriters Institute. For more information or to take a class How You Lost it in the Second Act.