From Script to Screen

I'm deep in casting, locations scouting and figuring out the shot selections for Raspberry Magic. It's all very exciting! I've learned so much about writing from actually making the film, here are a few things:

1. Don't waste too much time with pointless details of the setting. By "pointless", I mean, there is no need to give tons of ambiance and details, unless it very directly motivates the story or there is action around something. I spent too much time in my script describing the exteriors of the school, and it proved to be silly. I mean, middle school is middle school, right? The main thing is that it looks like that, a middle school.

2. Define spatial relationships, but keep them as simple as possible. Again, once you start scouting, you'll have to deal with how locations relate from one to another. In other words, how do we move from the house to the forest? It's good to set up the sense of place as clearly as possible in the script, so that when you start thinking about locations, it makes sense. On the other hand, it's good to be a bit flexible, too, because you never know how you'll have to cheat the locations.

3. Every, single role in the screenplay matters, because if you make the film, you'll have to cast someone for every role. To that effect, you want to think through each part--do you truly need it? What does it add to the story? In RM, we recently read for parts like the judges, cops, etc and though the parts seem small, they really do matter.

4. Every, single line of dialogue in the screenplay matters. This is the beauty of being a screenwriter vs. being a novelist. Someone is going to bring your character to life, and that someone will want to how, what's my motivation? How am I feeling? What am I thinking? Sometimes, when you create someone on the page, you don't think about these things. But then, you are asked these questions and you suddenly have to. It's a good thing, but unexpected as a writer!

5. I know writers shouldn't really worry about budgets when they create their work, but if you want to write a story that's meant to be shot as a low budget project, then keep things simple and low budget. I have a few tricky effects in my story that have been causing me a lot of stress. I can't take them out because they are central to the story, but geez, it's certainly a bit tricky!