The Nutshell Technique - the screenwriter's friend

So a couple weeks ago my writing group, League of Women Writers, had a guest speaker. Her name is Jill Chamberlain and she wrote a book called The Nutshell Technique. I didn't know what to expect, except one of the writers had heard her speak and raved about her, so that's why she came to speak to our group. I'm not usually one to buy a book with a guest speaker, but after her explaining her method, I was hooked and bought her book that night. She's also teaching a weekend seminar Sept 14 and 15 in Los Angeles, so if you like some of the tips I give here, I suggest you sign up. You won't be sorry! I'll include her website below to find out more.

So Jill started her presentation and told us that some of the things she learned from working with screenwriters were that 99% of most screenwriters were actually NOT telling stories. Oops! Not a good statistic. Most people were having one event, then another event, then another, etc. But what they were failing to do was have those events lead to the next, lead to the next, etc. It turned out there wasn't a connection between beats. She went on to explain that what's key about her technique is the connection between parts. It's not a formula, so stories don't become predictable using her technique. You can use it with other techniques, in fact.

She goes onto explain the basic principles behind dramatic storytelling are: drama, obstacles, choices.

That all stories have a beginning, middle, and end.

They all have a hero's journey, even if it's not the Hero's Journey we've read about in books, such as Luke Skywalker's journey. She just meant it's the one protagonist of the movie. Even if a story doesn't have one protagonist, the writer may know which one is the main protagonist, even in a buddy comedy.

And like many teachers, she explains the protagonist needs a good want.

She also goes into detail about which stories are comedic and which are tragedies, using Aristotle's definition. This means a comedy can be a tragedy and a drama could be a comedy, as far as storytelling goes. That in comedies the protagonist overcomes its flaws and has a happy ending. Tragedies don't overcome their flaw and have a sad ending. I'm not going to go too into detail to explain her technique, because really I can't do it justice in a blog post.

Her book is filled with diagrams that show movies she's used to diagram so you can start to learn what makes those movies strong and how to use them for your own stories. I think it would be nearly impossible to go into detail about the movies she diagrammed. So the best thing is to suggest either buying her book or going to her weekend seminar, or both. I'll include her website so you can find out about her book or her classes. https://www.jillchamberlain.com/ She also does consultations for 1 1/2 hrs or full script consultations. Her prices were really reasonable too.

I've already used it as I started to do my rewrite for my comedy script for the producers I'm working with now. And it really made it so simple! I'm finishing up another comedy and I've been stuck on, and I can tell it will help me with that too. Plus, some of her clients are really successful screenwriters. Because any story, no matter how professional a writer you are, can be tricky if done right. And that's what's great about her technique, is it really seems to be this secret weapon to writing any story correctly, and well.

It's casting time!

So my all women's writers group is putting on an all-female writers showcase. There's nothing better than seeing real actors read the words you've put on the page. So last Sunday, in the pouring rain, we writers ventured out to a casting studio in Hollywood to await the actors that would audition to be in our showcase.

It was an all-day event with actors coming and going. The room was small and hot. I even had to leave at one point because couldn't take the sweltering room. But I have to give these actors kudos because as you can see from the picture below, there were a lot of us! So any actor that came into the room was surely surprised to see so many women staring back. Luckily we're friendly and I don't think we scared anyone! At least not too much! haha There were some no-shows. Because well, it's LA and most people don't leave their homes in drizzle let alone a real rainy day. But in the end, we got all our pieces cast.

Next, rehearsals and then the actual showcase that we have invited industry directors, producers, managers and agents. It's really exciting that we're making this happen. And I must give out kudos and thanks to Lily Mercer, the head of the Bechdel Babes writing group because she's done this before and has spearheaded the whole thing. Looking forward to the real event next!

It's a pretty important day

It's International Women's Day. And that's pretty cool. So what better time to take a moment out to be thankful for all the strong women in my life. 

I'm thankful to have an amazing all-female writing group that not only inspires me to write better but to keep wanting to see more women's stories told. 

I'm thankful to all the strong women in my life that inspire me to go after I want, because if it's my dream to be a writer, then why shouldn't I be? 

I'm thankful to the women in the film industry that are paving the way for other writers like me, today, to tell my stories and know that I too can do it if I want. 

I'm thankful to people like my mom, who even though she was afraid to go after her own dreams, she's always proud of me when I go after mine. 

I'm thankful to all my strong friends who even if they aren't writers or have no interest in the industry, they are going after their own dreams, no matter what they are. 

I'm even thankful for all the strong men in my life who aren't afraid to let strong women go after their dreams and don't feel threatened when they do. We need strong men too, that's for sure. 

So no matter what International Women's Day means to you, I hope you've found a way to honor yourself or the women in your life too. And if not today, it's never too late. 

All women's writer group? Worth it or not?

Okay, first of all, this isn't for men who want to be in an all women's group! That's another post I think. So, we got that out of the way! But what if a woman wants to be in an all women's group. Is it really worth it? 

See, I've been in a few writing groups. I've learned something in all of them. Some I've outgrown and then had to find new ones, and others just fell apart. Well, lately I found myself in need of another writing group. So through an online social media writing group I was in, I found out about a new female writing group. I never really felt the need to be in an only female writing group. I've been in an all women's TV writer's group, but it never really felt different than any other writing group I was in. 

But this new one, something was different. Once I started talking to the founders of the group, I really got excited about it. They mentioned that in previous groups it had been men that had talked down to them, shut them up before they got to say what they wanted, and made them feel not listened to. I'd never realized it until we spoke, but in two separate writing groups, the only problems I'd ever had were both men that also treated me that way! These instances were years apart so it never even crossed my mind there was a connection. Of course, not all men are like that. In fact, I've had many amazing male writing group friends, male mentors, and many of my writing partners in TV and feature writing have been men. But it did start to seem that certain men, have lashed out at females in ways women don't. 

There have also been online writing groups where I've been verbally attacked, and when that's happened, it's been men. During the same time, it was a man that stood up for me and made me feel better about the whole negative situation. So by all means, I'm not suggesting men suck! Not in the least. But maybe in order for a woman to feel supported, it's okay to have other women who tend to be more nurturing, anyway. I can't say all women are like this and I'm sure there are some people who might have stories to share about not feeling supported by women. But maybe at least for me, and the women I've met in this group, maybe an all women's writing group just might be what we need. 

I made it to the first group and I really enjoyed all the women in the group. They all seem like very talented writers and I'm very excited to be a part of this new group. Will they always be my writing group? Who knows. But for now, I feel happy to call this my writing home. 

Why screenwriting is like Minecraft

So, maybe you do or don't know what Minecraft is. But it's a video game where you create things in a video world. So for instance, my 9 year old plays, and when he does, he has to build things like homes, or dig for gold or diamonds, and search in buildings for boxes that hold things he can use to protect himself against bad guys. That's the quick description of the game.

So what does this have to do with screenwriting? Well, I was watching him play yesterday and it donned on me, wow, he's really come a long way. Because the first day he played, he dug the earth and fell through the universe and his character died. It took him awhile, but eventually he got the hang of digging and not dying. And now he's really good at it. So yesterday I noticed that he learned how to find new lands and grab certain tools in one land and then use them in other lands so that he could collect things for even more lands. He's developed skills that have benefited him in this video game. So now he's not dying as easily and he's really created this whole video game world.

And it donned on me, isn't this what our screenwriting careers have been? At first, we might have presented pages in our first screenwriting class and our pages might have bombed when we read them out loud. It seemed painful and like we "died" right away when we let the class hear our pages. Then perhaps we took more classes, read more books, learned that taking a scene class or a dialogue class could actually make our script stronger. So that the next time we read pages, people actually liked what we wrote. And then that lead to a new writing group that was stronger. Which lead to doing better in writing contests. Which leads to meetings and getting managers. It doesn't happen over night. It takes learning the lay of the land, how to navigate the world.

So even though it might not happen as quickly as one would like, it does happen. And before we know it, we're gathering tools to help us survive in this crazy business called show. I wouldn't tell my son to give up as he's being chased by bad guys in the Minecraft world, or looking for tools. Nor should we give up as writers. Each tool and skill we develop helps us get further and further in our careers and craft. And as we move forward, we just become better adept and stronger to survive even longer, for new battles we might come up against. And hopefully, maybe one day, we have created the world we always dreamed of.

Put one foot in front of the other

One of my favorite inspirational authors and speakers, Doreen Virtue, had a post on her Facebook page awhile ago. "Every goal and change is accomplished one step at a time. Keep your focus centered on the current step that you’re taking. Don’t worry about the ones that you’ll take next week, month, or year". Isn't this so true, especially for writers? But are we all really doing this?

When it comes to writing, it's all we can and should do. Maybe it's the first class we take, or the first writing group we go to, or the first time we let others read our pages out loud. We don't know how long the journey will take till we reach success. But it's not about that. It's about being a writer. Getting our words on the page. That's all we can control. Looking far into the future of when success will hit, that's not our concern. If we worry about that, we may never succeed.

Does a famous athlete worry about how he'll perform in the Super Bowl or any big game? Nope. If he does, he won't succeed. In fact, just the opposite will happen. What makes a good athlete is doing what he does best. Not worrying about the outcome. And I think as writers, we need to do the same thing. I've seen too many writers disappear from their dreams because they focus on the final outcome of success. And when they don't see it happen in the schedule or timeline they hoped, they drop out. But what if they were on the verge of reaching that success? Or what if success would have been greater than they imagined, but it would take 15 years, instead of two? Don't worry about the timeline. Just know that you're always becoming a better writer. You're finding your voice. You're stumbling upon new stories all the time. Meeting new people that can help you achieve your dream. When all that lines up, you will succeed. But for now, just put one foot in front of the other. That's all we have. Now. Worry about what to do now. Which is write. Then go do it. The rest will happen when it's time.

Do you need a partner?

So, if you're a writer, you either have a partner, or don't. You've either thought about getting one, or have decided to always write alone. But maybe you're like me and you've had them at one point and written solo at other points. Maybe you're not sure if having a writing partner is or will ever be your thing. But I thought I'd write a post and help you see the positives and negatives about both. For me, I always thought I'd write by myself. Then a writer friend in my writing group years ago asked if I wanted to pitch to Disney with him. I was like, uh, yeah!!! So that's how it started for me. We worked really well together and I decided I really liked it. But after that project, it felt sort of like dating, and I wasn't sure if we should get "serious". Which means, can I ask this partner to be my one and only partner on everything? After that, we pitched a few TV shows together, and did really well together with that too. But, just like in a marriage, in a writing partnership there are two people with two totally different styles, not just writing, but in everything you do. So when you have a writing partner, you have to find ways to get along so as not to tip the scale of success towards failure. I noticed that my personality was always towards writing and constantly getting our work out there. My partner on the other hand, didn't seem to have the same drive as me. I think he took it as I was pressuring him, and I took it as very frustrating. So we decided to split up. So if you have a partnership, things can go sour. We didn't let it ruin our friendship and still keep in touch. But I learned a lot from writing with someone. He was a very talented writer and I know that my writing improved because of our experiences together. My motivation got us in to places that he would have never tried. But he had the experience of working on shows, so he was able to use those connections to get us meetings and a sale. Once we split up, I was actually nervous if I could be as good on my own again. It was almost like going back to the dating world as a writer. I'd have to go it alone. I realized that I could do it and in fact was even stronger as a writer this time around. I didn't lose anything I learned with having a partner, and in fact only got better. Then recently, I had the opportunity to get a TV spec to a Creator of one of my favorite shows! Since I normally spend all my time writing feature movies, I knew that it could take some time writing a TV spec by myself: getting notes from writing group, waiting to rewrite, etc. So I decided to partner up with someone new this time. It was an old friend I knew from advertising who only writes TV specs. We had never written together before, but I liked his writing and he was excited for the opportunity. He'd never written with a partner before, so was a little nervous how it would go. But we both gave each other the room and respect to spread our writing wings. When you are writing with a partner, I find it very helpful to let your partner do things that you may not think will work. Most times, people who read what you've written will agree with you and also think it doesn't work. But because you allow your writing partner to try it, then it's not you always telling them no. There's nothing worse as a writer feeling like you can't express your style. So both of us had similar work ethics, which was part of the problem with my first writing partner. So that was nice to see this time. Plus, this partner is a really strong writer, but not great at getting TV scripts out to the right people, which is something I seem to be fairly good at. So I guess I'm noticing that a partnership is good if both can bring something to the table. Now we've gotten our TV spec to the Creator of the show we wanted. Now we'll see if anything comes of it. I still have my features that I write by myself, and maybe that's a good thing. So I can write with someone for TV, but then can write by myself when it's a feature. It's sort of like open dating! But in writing. Whatever you decide is the right thing for you, if you haven't considered it, I suggest trying it on a project. You don't have to make it a permanent thing unless you decide it's exactly what you've been looking for your whole life. And if not, then you can always go back to being single. In writing, of course.

Being God in our screenwriting universe

So it came up in our writing group last night about the fact that we put our characters into jeopardy, whether serious or comedic, and we're the ones that shake up their world. So that pretty much makes us the "God" of their universe. The talk in our group focused upon, "Why now?" What about our stories is making this moment so important for our characters. It can't just be any moment of their life, otherwise the story would just ramble. But the moment we write about has a purpose to it. There will be on the end, some sort of character growth. So what exactly is the purpose of this story for our characters? Why do we stick them in this jeopardy here and now? And how will they grow and what will they learn? If we don't have answers to any of these questions, then we do not have a story, just yet. But the journey for our characters is going to take them from who they've been maybe their whole life, to a new and better person once the journey is over. When we think of it this way, it kind of makes it pretty easy to figure out what the story is, don't you think? Because the first act is the way they've always been. It sets up how they live, who they live with, it lets us see them before that "thing" happens that shakes up their world. Then comes act two and they are now on the journey of their world being messed with. This is where we see, how they will react to it, most likely not so well at first. Then we'll see what they do when they accept it, but still of course, not doing so well with it. And by Act 3 we will see them finally learn what they were supposed to learn all along, coming out of it, better than ever before. It was really helpful talking about this in my group, and I'm sure you can all relate to those moments in your life when something really bad or tragic happened. And at the time, there was nothing good about it. But now, of course years later, you can see how you grew from that emotional moment and journey. So if you can look at your own stories this way and your character being on this same kind of journey, I'm sure you'll see exactly what you need to do to your stories to make them better and have your character grow to become a better and more evolved person in the end.

Can I stand being judged even more?

So we've all had to get used to being judged by other writers as we joined writing groups, took classes, shared our work. There's been many stages of being judged by my peers. It took me some time to get comfortable with opening myself up to critiques. And at this point feel like I've developed a pretty thick skin. Even having some actor friends sit in on a past writing group, and not flinching to notes by fellow writers, and my actor friends saying, "Wow, the people here are pretty harsh." And I didn't even notice they were. So it seems like I could pretty much handle any kind of feedback. But as I start getting ready to see my stuff be on film, it has reached a whole other level of being judged: By the public! And we know how harsh they can be. Especially critics who are looking to tear apart writers for the pure enjoyment of it. And what about the reviewing audience where half of them are probably in a bad mood from having a horrible day at work or miserable marriages, and getting to rip apart your movie is perhaps the only joy they'll have all day. The thought of it is all too much! Of course that can't stop us writers as we see our dreams of seeing our screenplay actually on the big screen. But I must say, the thought of all those critics can almost send me into a panic. I guess the only thing we can do as we get closer to that, is take some steps to realize what it all means. First off, we know we can't read the critics. Sorry critics! But you're not going to help us at that point. 2nd, ask friends who are really going to give you good notes. Not your parents or friends who are proud of you for getting any film made, but your writing friends that will tell you like it is. 3rd, remember whatever ends up on the screen isn't always up to you. I remember one of my favorite screenwriting teachers had a movie destroyed by the actor/producer's wife who started writing pages. His movie got panned and he hid for months! It was a shame because the guy is a great writer. 4th, just remember that wonderful saying, "Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one" and take all the feedback with a grain of salt. 5th, be proud of yourself if you get something that actually goes from script to screen. Such a huge feat, as we all know. We can only do our best. So if you did your best, and it didn't turn out as you wished, then learn from that. Be allow yourself the time to be proud of yourself. No reason beating yourself up when there will be enough critics and audience members who can do that. Lastly, remember that you cannot please everyone. You just can't. I think I wrote about this in an earlier post, that the writer of The English Patient, Anthony Minghella won the Oscar for that, and then the next day he opens the paper in England and reads, "The English Patient - the worst movie ever!" It made me laugh. Him too. And you just have to realize, some people will like what you write, and some just won't. And if you made half the audience like it, then you're doing something right. Writing all this sort of calms me down. I talked to the indie producer and she said she wants to produce our script this November. I got excited and frightened all at once! I guess it's that same feeling I had when I found out I was pregnant. Like, "Yay! Here we go!" and then at the same time, gulp, and go, "Uh-oh, here we go." But I know it's what I've always wanted, to have a career as a paid and successful screenwriter. So in order to do that, we need to get our work out. We can't let our fears take over. We have to move through our fears. Because that's all they are. And what if, all our fears never even happen. Who knows, maybe we're on our way to becoming the next great thing. Now how nice would that be?

What's your plan to succeed?

What are you doing to move your writing career forward? Are you writing a new script? Are you working on an outline? Are you entering contests? Contacting managers? It doesn't matter what you're doing, but be doing something!

Jack Canfield in his Success Principles book talks about we should do 5 things every day that help us achieve our goal. Now, if I'm seeking a manager, contacting 5 managers every day, sure, could make it happen. But a lot of times managers don't want to hear from writers that have yet to succeed. So screenwriting doesn't always fit with that mold. But, there are ways around that. Perhaps it's taking another class to get your screenplays even stronger, so that you can enter contests, so that you can get the attention of those managers. Or maybe it's finding a new writing group, one that can really challenge you and make you a better writer. The key is to evaluate what your situation is, and ask yourself if it's propelling you towards the success you want.

Or maybe it's making a list of people you are friends with, or friends of friends with, who know people who know managers. A talented writing friend of mine queried a lot of managers and no one was interested. But then he found out a friend of his knew this manager, and that was how he got in. So even just moving forward on your goal can set the universe into action and make things happen in a way you didn't predict. So don't worry about wasting your time. You're never wasting your time if you're trying to achieve a goal and you're taking steps towards it.

Just have a plan, be clear about what you want, write it down, and go after it, every day. Eventually you will succeed.