The Pinch

This was new to me.

A weird little point in the script that refocused it.

Now I thought that screenplays were supposed to be tight and focused but then I started to read about this new point in the structure which refocuses it. I either missed it when I did my first screenwriting course or it was never mentioned.

I think I just figured out what it means.

The problem I had had was I thought the FP was the introduction of a ticking bomb or something else that raised the stakes. I was thinking, tightening my plot meant reminding the audience of just what was going on and then squeezing something else into it. Terrorists have taken over a building and our hero has to save them. But now let's focus it by reminding everyone adding a countdown. In fact let's make the ticking bomb the second FP, something to to "speed up" the 2nd half of Act II, let's make the first FP the terrorists killing the first hostage. These guys mean business!

I've always said that when it comes to learning about screenwriting (or anything), it's best to read as many books as you can. Something about seeing the same thing written in a few different ways makes it sink in and click a bit better.

I recently realised that my turning points aren't about things happening but about decisions my character makes - and not just makes, actually does something about. Action not dialogue, show not tell. The turning point isn't the cave in, it's the character deciding that the best course of action is to go further into the cave to try and find another way out rather than sitting and waiting to be rescued.

Now just tonight I was reading up on focus points, trying to figure them out good and proper when I read this line from John Costello's Writing a Screenplay:

"A Focus points loops around the protagonists problem and the plot and draws both lines taught."

Every protagonist needs a problem, something he or she will learn to overcome by the end of the script. But also there is a plot. Whatever else is going on in the script. Your protagonist can be scared of heights or be unable to say "I love you"- both are character flaws or problems. The plot however might be the character pulling a bank job or joining a support group where one of the members is a serial killer.

So lets say our vertigo sufferer is planning a bank job. The only way in is through the roof. Here is where our hero's problem comes into direct conflict with the plot. That is a focus point.

Feel free to let me know if I'm wrong!

So I started back uni this week.

One of the other students had a few ideas for a film, but didn't really have much beyond that. You know like a romantic comedy about a guy who likes dogs. I mean there's nothing there. So we all pitched in with some ideas. You know like well if the guy likes dogs how about he meets a girl who likes cats and their pets don't get on or maybe she's allergic. I felt like we ended up with a neat little idea by the end of it.

It's something I wish we'd do more of. You know even if I ended up doing the complete opposite of what is suggested if it hadn't been suggested in the first place I never would've thought to do the opposite.

I should get my marks for my treatment back this week. The one that I struggled and struggled to start. I hope I got a decent mark, obviously, but you know I really worked hard and thought I had made a good job of it.

I thought this year we had 1 screenplay to write but from what I can tell we have 3. I think we write a screenplay off of the treatment we just did. Then next year we either write a vastly improved (based on the feedback we are about to get) version of that screenplay or a completely new one. Then in the summer we start a 3rd which won't count towards our degree but we will be given feedback on it to take away and use in a redraft. I think this is just to give us fledgling writers a boost up as we embark on our careers as writers with MA's.

So for my next I'm going to do my heist war movie. The worst soldiers in the army pulling a bank job in a war zone. I've been thinking about it a lot this week and come up with some new ideas and I actually have a protagonist now. I need to think more about the political situation in this country and exactly who the antagonist is. Is it the ruthless dictator of this war torn country or is it the General who set them up to be killed? Perhaps they're in cahoots! Things Like that are what I need to finalize. Also I was thinking about setting it in an African country. It'd be a kind of BLACK HAWK DOWN meets POLICE ACADEMY. More of a light hearted action movie than an out and out comedy. Similar in tone to SMOKIN' ACES, BAD BOYS or one of the older, less gritty BOND movies.

So I'm going to have to do a lot of reading/watching of similar movies so I can make it as different as possible. THREE KINGS and KELLY'S HEROES I'm talking to you!