John August

QandA

What do producers do?

Episode - 17

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News, Producers, Scriptnotes, Transcribed

Craig and John explain what producers do — at least, what they’re supposed to do — and discuss the myriad subclasses of producers that litter the opening titles of many movies.

Which is the more impressive credit — producer or executive producer? In film, it’s the former. In TV, it’s the latter. But whatever the title, producers are integral to getting a movie or TV show made.

Craig feels producers can be either anxiety buffers or anxiety conductors. John breaks down four essential roles you find producers filling:

  1. The general. This producer keeps things moving forward and protects the production. She forces you to make decisions.
  2. The diplomat. This producer makes sure crazy people feel respected, even when they’re being giant pains-in-the-ass. He talks the actress out of her trailer.
  3. The creative. This producer reminds everyone what kind of movie they’re trying to make. She performs quality control for the production.
  4. The bulldozer. This producer will smash down a phone booth to help the director get his shot. (This actually happened.)

Some producers can fill multiple roles (like diplomat-creative), but you’ll often find these qualities spread out among several people on a production, regardless of the size.

Who’s that fat cat, and how did he afford such a fancy cigar? Find out on episode seventeen of Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 1-4-12: The transcript of this episode can be found here.

Observations on the evolution of screenwriting based upon reading one script from 1974

Formatting, Words on the page

Last week, I needed to read a screenplay written in the early 1970s. I think it’s the earliest-dated script I’ve read that wasn’t reprinted in a book.

It had clearly been typed. As in actually typed on a typewriter. Corrections had been made with a pen. I couldn’t smell cigarette smoke on it — this was a photocopy — but I definitely got the sense that an ashtray had sat beside the typewriter as it was written.

On the page, it looked largely like current screenplays — elements had roughly the same margins — but there were some noticeable differences:

* ANGLES (especially POVs) were called out and given their own scene numbers in ways we never would today.

* Locations got much less writer attention. In this script, a kitchen is a kitchen. In today’s scripts, every location gets at least a color line (“stainless steel and subway tiles, with an $8000 convection oven that’s never been used.”)

* There were a lot of “AD LIBBED goodbyes” and such scattered throughout the script. You don’t see that much today, even in projects that use ad-libbing. If a character has a speaking part, you write the lines.

By “evolution,” I don’t mean that screenwriting has gotten better, by the way. It’s just gotten different, the way fashions change. Modern screenplays work very hard — too hard? — trying to make everything a fun read.

This script, at least, seemed much more interested in just getting it done:

Tom looks Barbara square in the eye. Barbara looks to Norman. After a beat, Norman stands and leaves.

PAN BACK to Barbara. She returns to her knitting.

It’s not thrilling, but you know what you’re going to see. There’s a lot to be said for that.

Intercutting within a musical sequence

Formatting, QandA

questionmarkI’m adapting (or rather adopting) a fairly well-known Broadway musical. I’m starting to use a similar convention in a number of the songs. For example, in one song the action takes place in four locations: an apartment living room, an apartment bedroom, a boxing ring and a wedding altar. I have specific bits of action for each time we change location in the screenplay.

I’m sure when it’s shot and cut together those specifics will be thrown out of the window, as they are just a blueprint.

Question: How do I format for this without making the song twice as long as it should be? Can I set the locations with an initial slug line / scene heading and then use just a simple line of action to state when we return to that location?

Bigger question: The majority of the story takes place within this one apartment. Do I need a slug line/scene heading for each room or part of the apartment as the scene shifts from one to another? If not, the core of the screenplay will be one extremely long scene.

— Cory

Musical numbers are a lot like action sequences: you’re trying to convey how it’s going to feel in the final movie, not beat out every little moment.

The first time you cut to a new location during the song, use a full scene header to establish it. After that, call in your best friend INTERCUT. You may also find yourself using straight cuts to sell the shifts:

GLEE KIDS

And we hope you’ll sing along!

INTERCUT BOXING RING

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP

I ain’t singing.

COACH

Script says you gotta!

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP

Nope.

A long pause. Music STALLS. Finally...

CUT TO:

EXT. RODEO ARENA – DAY

MUSIC RESUMES as COWBOYS dance with lassos.

For your second question: Yes, break up the apartment into smaller areas for the sake of the script — and the sanity of everyone reading it.

In plays (and musicals), readers are accustomed to staying in one scene for countless pages. For screenplays, readers get antsy if any scene goes on longer than three pages. Even if it ultimately plays as one long sequence in the movie, let us experience it as smaller moments in the script.

Try to keep characters moving, and use scene headers to show when they’re in a new space — even if it’s a corner of the room just slightly offset from the other characters.

Thirteen questions about one thing

QandA, Scriptnotes

Craig and John plug a book by their very first sponsor and discuss elective brain surgery, before tackling an exhaustive but illuminating list of questions from listener Daniel Barkeley.

They’re residual questions about residuals, which seems very meta:

  • Do TV show creators get compensated for every rerun?
  • How do residuals differ from profit participations and foreign levies?
  • And where does new media fall in all of this?

Thirteen conversations about a few things, on episode sixteen of Scriptnotes.

LINKS:

You can download the episode here: AAC.

UPDATE 12-15-11: The transcript of this episode can be found here.