screenwriting Archives - Addicted to Writing

The Rewrite starring Hugh Grant and Marisa Tomei: Why It’s A Must-Watch Movie For Writers

Posted on December 20, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

*This post contains affiliate links.

Marc Lawrence’s The Rewrite (2014) is absolutely delightful. Of course, your chances of enjoying it are higher if you like Hugh Grant and/or Marisa Tomei, romantic comedies that aren’t like every other romantic comedy and movies about writers. Not to mention, the cast includes J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney. J.K. Simmons’ loving but tough/sentimental (you need to see it) character provides a hilarious contrast to his Oscar-winning, ruthless role in Whiplash.

I’m a fan of the genre, director/writer (Mark Lawrence) and the cast. And as a screenwriter (aspiring, but still), I do have a weakness for movies featuring screenwriters and their world.

Isn’t it also great the 50-something protagonist is only 4 years older than the love interest?

So why do I recommend the movie to (screen)writers in particular? Let’s start with the plot:

The Rewrite Plot Summary

Oscar-winning screenwriter Keith Michaels (Hugh Grant) is far from his glory days. He hasn’t been able to sell something in ages and is forced to take a screenwriting teaching gig in a cloudy, small town to pay the bills.

Moreover, he seems totally wrong for the job: He doesn’t believe great writing can be taught, starts a relationship with a young student (not Marisa Tomei) before his first day and pisses off the head of the ethics committee Mary Weldon (Allison Janney). Not to mention, he doesn’t even read the scripts of the students.

But thanks to the threats of Weldon and help of his new-comer student Holly (Marisa Tomei), Keith starts teaching and turns out to be pretty good.

You can guess that his involvement with the younger student will cause trouble, and he will fall in love with Tomei’s character.

But it’s the fun and honest journey of a desperate, formerly successful screenwriter getting his groove back, helping out a talented student and getting to love again that intrigues us.

The dialogue is truly funny. One of my favorite lines:

Dr. Lerner (J.K.Simmons): I have a wife and four daughters. I have no opinion.

Why Writers Need to See The Rewrite

– It sums up feast-famine, glory-failure, and acceptance-rejection cycles pretty well.
– It shows that we won’t have a gorgeous house by the pool with movie deals at all stages of our career, and why it is okay.
– It shows that helping other writers is not just good karma, but it will inspire and motivate us.
– It shows that not all good jobs look alike.
– And last but not least, despite our tendency to shut down and be on our own, we need our kind of people to make all those cycles, and life in general be more bearable.

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I honestly don’t care if you like Hugh Grant or not. If you are a writer, and especially a screenwriter, you should give this movie a shot.

Have fun, and don’t forget to comment to talk about your favorite movies with writer characters.

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5 Tips on How To Watch Movies According To Your Writing Needs

Posted on August 5, 2017 Written by Pinar Tarhan

A writer has to read a lot. For fun, inspiration, motivation, and to get better at their craft. It also helps with market research.

And a screenwriter doesn’t just have to read a lot; they have to watch a lot too.

But with only 24 hours a day, so many other tasks, possibly a day job and of course your writing, you can’t watch everything.

So how do you choose?

Easy. You prioritize.

What prompted this post was that I’ve over 500 movies on my watchlist on IMDB. If you eliminate the guilty pleasures, there are still over 400 movies to analyze.

And I’m someone who has watched a lot of movies. I’m still so behind, it is crazy.

So let me help you choose what to watch (again).

Genre. I try to watch in similar genres to what I’m writing. It helps to see what was made and how it was made. But it also helps flex your creative muscles when you watch stuff outside of your comfort and taste zone. So mix it up whenever you can.

Box office and budget. Box office result matters, as well as how much the movie cost. Which budget range gets more movies? Low, medium or high? Which budget range tends to make the best profits?

Commercial success is a huge plus. After all, rarely anyone writes hoping not to be watched by a lot of people. But the budget is very important when you are deciding based on box office. I give priority to a 50mil dollar movie that made over 200, rather than a 200-million that made a billion.

Because:

A) I don’t write movies that will cost that much to make. You could put Tom Cruise in it (I know, I wish), and it still wouldn’t cost that much to make. Well, apart from what you’d have to pay him. 🙂

B) Quality movies that were shot with relatively small budgets give me hope, and it teaches me a lot.

You can use boxofficemojo.com to check budget and box office information.

Cast. There are a lot of actors whose works I enjoy, and all of these actors are people I’d love to work with. So I want to know what kind of scripts they are attracted to.

Try IMDB for the cast info.

Critical acclaim and/or audience reactions. Some movies become cult hits years after they are released. Festival wins/awards and other critical acclaim intrigue me. Why did this one particular movie become so popular, successful, and/or loved?

I wasn’t going to watch Dunkirk since it is not a genre I’m particularly interested in. But the audience reactions are so mixed, now I’m tempted. And one can always learn from director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Trilogy, Interstellar, Memento), so there’s that.

Relaxation and entertainment. And many of our best work comes when we are not stressed out. So forget everything above, and choose according to whatever you feel like. You can always change the disc or walk out of the movie theatre if you are unhappy. And even that shows on what/how not to write.

If you need suggestions, feel free to comment with what you are looking for, and I’ll get you started in the right direction.

Obviously, not all movies will have all of the qualities you’re looking for. But your time is limited, so you should try to kill as many birds as possible with one stone.

Now, this reminds me…what should I watch tonight? (Comment your suggestions please!)

A Brainstorming Activity That’ll Help You Sell Your Screenplay: Make Your Protagonists More Active

Posted on August 30, 2015 Written by Pinar Tarhan

OK, you don't literally have to make them more active, though, depending on the genre, you might have to. :D — OK, you don’t literally have to make them more active, though, depending on the genre, you might have to. 😀

It’s a rational idea, isn’t it? Make your protagonists active, and the audience will be more engaged.

Generally, it’s not a problem for me. My characters tend to be lively, ambitious and passionate. Even the ones who aren’t ambitious about their career, they’re big on their right to party, live and love freely and to the fullest.

But some characters aren’t that easy. What if there are mental or physical blocks? What if they are in a place in their lives where they lack the energy or the will to live more ferociously? What if it’s more natural for them to just react?

I hear you.

I was recently (rightfully) challenged by several readers to make my protagonist more active. And even though she did a lot of major things, most of those happened off screen, making her seem passive.

So I rose to the challenge and realized there are many scenes where I can shake things up, without going against the heart of the story.

Making my severely depressed character more active (from another story) is, however, more difficult because he already does something huge that affects everyone, but I’m brainstorming ways to increase his activeness.

As much as I resisted this after I first read the notes, when I imagined him pursuing things, I was more hooked by the story as well.

So while you don’t literally have to make your protagonist run toward things (or escape from things by running), it makes sense to show them as taking charge.

What can you do to make your protagonists more active?

Don’t worry, though. If you have already created a Bryan Mills-type character (Taken) who starts getting active even during his conversation with his about-to-be-kidnapped daughter, you just might be okay.

Too much Exposition vs. Not Enough: Biggest Screenwriting Challenges

Posted on July 17, 2015 Written by Pinar Tarhan

Exposition reactions: The right vs. not enough or too much. And you don't want to piss off readers... — Exposition reactions: The right vs. not enough or too much. And you don’t want to piss off readers…

So you have a written a decent script. You know you have some solid parts, because you’ve been told so by several professional readers, including competition judges. But your script has issues, and some, if not most, of those issues stem from exposition:

You either have too much.

You don’t have enough.

Problem 1: Too much Exposition

You simply reveal too much. You don’t give your reader enough room to interpret and come to their own conclusions. You spoon-feed. You go overboard with description, dialogue, flashbacks… They get bored. They pass on your project or they simply aren’t crazy about it.

This was the problem I was initially facing.

You want to avoid this. But sometimes you work so diligently to avoid unneeded, unwanted exposition that you end up with not enough…

Problem 2: Not Enough Exposition

After many reads by different readers, I thought I had edited my script to perfection, at least exposition-wise. But then some of the notes made me realize: I might have cut too much as these were questioned:

Why my characters went to the lengths that they did,
Why some characters reacted the way they did.

So you’re not really allowed to let your characters talk directly about their feelings and motivations (also known as on-the-nose dialogue), so you have to include a lot of subtext and show these through action and scenes.

But of course it’s frowned upon to go over 120, even 100 pages unless you are a well-known writer or your script is plain awesome, which you know it, is subjective:

Problem 3: Subjectivity

So how do you know?

1) You compare professional notes. I wrote a guest post on how to evaluate your script evaluations for Lucy V Hay’s Bang2Write.

2) You follow your gut.

Finding the right amount of exposition, as well as the right ways to expose, is one though challenge.

If you want to study more about exposition, you might want to start with these articles on Script Magazine or Bang2Write.

You can however find what works by working diligently on your work, as well as studying your favorite screenplays.

How do you feel about exposition? Do let me know in the comments.