Gerald Hanks Filmography

Monday, July 6, 2020

Making Your Script Matter

As writers, especially in times of isolation, we tend to live inside our heads. We imagine how our stories will look to an audience. We visualize how the characters and events will play out on screen.

However, we often forget about the dozens of people, hundreds of hours, and millions of dollars needed to translate that vision from the page to the screen.

After watching the HBO documentary The Last Watch, about the making of the final season of Game of Thrones, writers can gain a new insight into the effort that it takes to make a feature film or TV series.

In the case of Game of Thrones, it took dozens of technicians, hundreds of extras, and millions of dollars to bring Season Eight to screens around the world.

When you watch that documentary, you'll see the effort that it takes to do something as simple as creating snowfall, or making sure a wig looks good and fits right, or working three months in a row exclusively at night.

Many of the talented and creative individuals who worked on that show also became fans of that show, either through the books or through their work on the set.

Your task as a writer is to create the kind of following that will drive actors, directors, camera operators, food vendors, drivers, and dozens of other people to sacrifice their physical well-being, their mental health, and their time with their families just to put your script on the screen.

If your script fails to inspire that level of devotion in everyone from the producer to the lead actor to the craft service workers, your words will never make it to the screen.

If you believe that your writing is "good enough" to make it in Hollywood and that the "evil gatekeepers" are locking you out of the opportunities you "deserve", you need to relieve yourself of that delusion right now.

You owe it to yourself, potential producers, directors, actors, and anyone whoever looks at the script to make it as powerful and affecting as it can be. The better your script is, the more talent and the higher quality of talent your project will attract, both in front of and behind the cameras.

Do you want the people who work on your movie to enjoy getting up in the morning and going to the set? Or do you want them to treat it like just another job?

Which option is going to result in a top-notch finished product? If you were working on your movie, how would you want to feel?

That's what I thought.

But how can you make sure that your script inspires that level of passion and dedication from the people who'll work on your set?

The answer comes down to two words:

Strong characters.

Actors want to play strong characters.

Directors want to tell stories with strong characters.

Audiences want to pay money to see strong characters, whether that money comes from a movie theater box office, a download purchase, or streaming subscription fees.

If you want to learn how to write strong characters for your script, Story Into Screenplay can help.

Story Into Screenplay offers coverage services, script rewriting services, one-on-one consultations, and more.

As an introductory offer, Story Into Screenplay will offer feedback on the first 10 pages of your feature film or TV pilot script for only $10.

Email storyintoscreenplayblog[at]gmail.com or send a direct message to our Facebook page for more information. As a bonus, you will receive the introductory chapter to the upcoming book, The VOTE Method: How To Create Strong Characters.

When you're ready to create a script that will draw a devoted following, Story Into Screenplay will be ready to help.