AGENT X

Recently, a high ranking employee of one of the two major agencies in town (you figure it out) came to speak in my UCLA Extension Screenwriting class.

He must go unnamed due to various public speaking clauses, but was very forthcoming in our class.

Here’s what he had to say…

“One Thanksgiving, when I was just starting out, I had the privilege of sitting next to Paul Newman at dinner. I asked him what the key to the business was, and he said, ‘Longevity.’ Twenty years later, I see what he meant.” After attending USC’s film program, where his fellow students included John Singleton, Agent X started in the mailroom at the agency where he now works.

He talked about what happens to your script when it’s sent to a large agency. “There is a reader who will read it and they’re basically going to write a book report on your script. We call this coverage. Most likely, the agents will read the coverage before they ever read your script. “ Although he wasn’t discouraging, he wanted the students to know what they’re getting into. “If you think writing a screenplay is a golden ticket, it’s not. It’s too competitive, it’s not easy. It’s absurdly hard. All of you are on the one yard line and there’s a football field ahead of you filled with people who will try to stop you. But you will also meet people on that field who will help you. And it’s important to recognize them when they appear.

The agent then told a story about how this works. Recently, he was asked to speak at a high school career day in South Los Angeles. He went and was discouraged by the response. Most of the questions hovered around, “How much money do you make?” and, “What kind of car do you drive?” Each class got progressively worse, until the last one, which was attended by a very interesting student named Sean. This agent said, “How would you like to come to Agency X? I’ll introduce you to the people there.” Sean said he would like that. At the end of the day the principal came up and gave the agent one of the high school’s t-shirts to thank him for coming. A week goes by, Sean doesn’t show up. Another week, he can’t make it then either. So he never comes. He has this opportunity, and he never follows up on it.

A month later, the principal of the high school calls up the agent and says, “Do you remember me? I’m the principal at the school you came to on career day. My son is thirty, he works at the Olive Garden, he’s written three screenplays, and I wondered if you would be willing to talk to him.” The agent says yes, the writer calls him and pitches the logline of his latest script in one sentence. It sounds interesting, so the agent says, “Send it.” The writer sends it immediately via email. The agent reads it that night.

Needless to say, he loved it, and the 30-year-old writer who works at the Olive Garden is now meeting with directors at this high-powered agency who are interested in making his movie.

So clearly, part of making it down the football field, is recognizing the people on that field who can help you. If this principal hadn’t gotten up his courage and called someone he barely knew, his son wouldn’t be having the success he’s experiencing right now.

Be brave!

Agent X had other tips for the class…

1) “It’s important to know what the premise is. The logline. The elevator pitch. Pretend you have 30 seconds while the elevator is moving up, to pitch to the person next to you. What are the two or three sentences you are going to say that will pull this person in? This is how you’ll be pitching yourself and the project. And whether you like it or not, readers will reduce your screenplay to one such sentence in the coverage.”

2) “Write good characters. Write a part an actor will want to play. Not just the lead, but the bad guy, everyone in the movie. All the parts have to be good.”

3) “Write great dialogue. If I’m a reader and my boss is going to a lunch meeting, he or she will ask, “How is the dialogue?” If it’s really boring and vanilla, the reader will expose you. If the dialogue doesn’t ring true, or isn’t witty, you’ll be busted.”

4) “Everyone is different. Everyone’s a snowflake. Be yourself.”

5) “Write a script that other people will want to see. “

Here are some specific questions the students asked…

Q: What’s the best way to get your script to a decent agency? Is it only through a relationship or can you be ballsy?

A: If you can, use a friend who is a producer to get the script out there. Let them do the work. Email a PDF. Agents are usually only interested when someone else is. If a producer is interested, they will be too.

Q: What are some beginner red flags that make you drop a script like a hot potato?

A: When there’s no clear two-sentence premise, when there aren’t good characters, when the dialogue isn’t great. Basically, I’m going to give you ten pages. If you haven’t got me at the end of ten pages, it’s over. Make sure your screenplay doesn’t start on page 30. You got five pages to introduce the reader to the premise. If you start with a clever opening line, or a great bit of dialogue, or the cool way we meet someone, I’ll keep reading. You have to remember, I am not motivated to finish your screenplay. You have to make me motivated, with your writing.

Q: Do agents not want to accept material directly from the writer?

A: Some agents are willing to take a flyer on someone new. But most agents take scripts only from other producers, their friends.

Q: When should you give up?

A: This process takes time. Give yourself five years, a good long time, to devote to this, to move the needle. You’ll know if you’re not going anywhere. You’ll know it, trust me.

He then closed by saying, “Hopefully, you understand what you’re up against. What you’re up against is people who were given your script by their boss and have to cancel their plans to read it. But that person still wants to read the next ‘Good Will Hunting.’ They still want someone to knock their socks off.

It’s your job to be that person.”

I know all you screenwriting students out there are sick of the word “structure,” but once in a great while I watch a movie that perfectly exemplifies all the rules that are laid out in the thousands of screenwriting tomes at Barnes and Noble.

I use the Three Act Template as my structural model. It’s simple and easy to track, and instead of reading a book about how these landmarks work, I like to watch them in action.

I recently saw “True Grit,” written and directed by my faves The Coen Brothers.

If you haven’t seen the film, SPOILER ALERT!!!!

If you have, here’s how the movie lays out structurally…

ACT I

Inciting incident —Mattie Ross’s father is killed. She’s determined to get revenge on Chaney, the man who killed him. (See, the protagonist has a simple strong goal. The inciting incident happens on page one—he’s dead. The primary story gets started, pronto.)

Mattie tries to find a fierce man to hunt him down. She hears Rooster Cogburn is the meanest.

She asks Cogburn to help her find Chaney. He refuses.

She tries again, thinks she has a deal with him.

At the appointed time, she goes to meet him to leave, and discovers that he’s left with Le Boeouf, a US Marshall who’s also looking for Chaney. She’s furious that he’s decided to catch Chaney without her.

ACT I Turning Point-- She follows him (bravely riding her horse Little Blackie across a treacherous river) and insists she’s going. LB tries spanking her. Cogburn tells him to stop, and that she can come. The adventure begins.

ACT II

Follow the trajectory created by the first turning point-- She and Cogburn and LeBouef travel together.

Le Boeuf and Cogburn say they want to bring Chaney to justice in Texas. Mattie says no way. LB goes off on his own.

Mattie and Cogburn travel together by themselves.

Mattie and Cogburn find her dad’s gold piece that Chaney stole, discover he’s joined up with Ned Pepper’s gang.

After walking a long way, the weather turns bad. Cogburn says he knows of a cabin where they can take shelter.

They arrive at the cabin. Two men are already there. Mattie and Cogburn ask about Pepper. One of the men starts to talk, and his partner stabs him. Cogburn kills the stabber. Before he dies, the first stabbed man manages to tell them that Pepper’s gang is coming there tonight.

Midpoint—Mattie and Cogburn wait for them on a high ridge. LeBouef randomly rides up before Pepper’s gang. The gang shows up, lassos LB. Cogburn shoots to save LB. This triggers a big shootout (no kidding, it’s a Western!) The scene ends with Chaney and Ned escaping.

Cogburn knows where they are going. Mattie and LB leave with him to find them.

The Big Gloom—They get to where Cogburn thought Chaney was. He’s not there. LB and Cogburn fight. Cogburn wants out. He says, “I’ve been drawn into a wild goose chase with a harpy in pants and a nincompoop.” Mattie is disgusted with Cogburn, asks to go with LB, but he’s giving up on finding Chaney too. It’s not worth it.

No one will help Mattie go after Chaney. She has to do it on her own. The next morning, while bathing, she runs into Chaney. She manages to shoot him in the side, but is taken captive. Now she’s in the clutches of Ned Pepper’s gang.

Chaney tries to kill Mattie. LB rescues her.

They hear something and look down from their high ridge. Cogburn rides his horse straight into a standoff with Pepper’s gang. It’s 4 against 1. Cogburn manages to kill a couple of guys, but falls off his horse. Ned rides up, is about to kill him, when LB shoots Ned from their high perch.

ACT II Turning Point—LB and M ride down to help Cogburn. Again, Chaney tries to kill Mattie. She shoots him but falls down a hole and gets bitten by a snake. Cogburn tries to suck the venom out, but she’ll die unless he gets her to a doctor.

ACT III

Race to the Climax—Cogburn literally races on Little Blackie to get her to the doctor. When the horse fails, he must shoot the animal. Mattie is distraught. He runs with her in his arms.

Climax—Cogburn fights to keep going over difficult terrain. He makes it. He has done something he never could have done at the beginning of the movie-- cared for the girl so much that he risked his own life to get her to safety. He falls to his knees.

Brief Resolution—It’s 25 years later. We find out Mattie lost an arm, but is alive. Cogburn travels with a Wild West show. She goes to see him, finds out he died. She has his body moved to her family plot.

The end.

What’s truly interesting about this movie is how the main character shifts from being Mattie right up to the ACT II turning point, to Cogburn in ACT III. While Mattie drives the action in the early story, Cogburn is the one who almost kills himself to save her in the end. He’s the one who is transformed.

There are also some amazingly well done expositional tricks at play in this film.

Definitely worth a study!

The Company You Keep

Chris Matheson, Ed Solomon, and Ryan Rowe (my husband) have known each other for many years. They met when they were undergraduates at UCLA and all went on to become screenwriters. Ed wrote Men in Black, and worked on the upcoming Hardy Men for Ben Stiller. Chris wrote Evil Alien Conquerors, and Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (with Ed.) Ryan wrote the first Charlie’s Angels movie (with Ed) and worked with Chris on the story for Evil Alien Conquerors.

They’ve all worked steadily as writers, separately and together, throughout their careers.

When they were in their twenties, they took annual road trips in Chris’s dad’s dirty camper. This interview was done earlier this year, right before they left on another road trip for Vegas. They are all pushing fifty now, took my minivan and had to stop three times on the way to pee.

The reason I wanted to interview them was to explore how you meet your writing mentors and friends, and how influential they can be on your life and career.

So, how did you guys meet?

Ryan: I met Ed in 1979 as a freshman at UCLA… uh, I mean in some undetermined year. (laughter) And we became friends from doing stand-up comedy on campus. Then I met Chris through a play that I auditioned to be in, that Chris wrote.

Ed: Chris and I and Shane Black met in a playwriting class at UCLA in Jan 1981.

Ryan: So you guys are very old.

Ed: It was weird because, Chris was there in ‘81 and I was there in ‘91, it was a strange kind of time warp.

Ryan: People told me about you guys when I was there in ’95.

Chris: So you must have graduated in ’99.

(laughter)

How have you worked together?

Ed: Everyone in this triangle has worked together numerous times, although not all three of us together.

Have you influenced each others’ careers?

Chris: That’s a big answer. Very much so.

Ed: I would say the prime influence is not just on my career, but what was under the career, the whole comedic point of view. Not just an influence of the two of you, but the whole point of view was essentially created by my interactions with you guys. You two are like the fusion of the sense of humor that the three of us shared, and it created what ever it was that launched my career. And then within that career, to both larger and smaller degrees, it’s been influential.

Ryan: You guys taught me how to laugh, what was funny, thinking about what was funny, and just going places comedically that I hadn’t gone to yet until the three of us went there. Sometimes on trips we took together, or just hanging out…. It seems like the work we did together sprang from the time we spent together socially.

Chris: When I was in my early twenties I hadn’t met anyone yet who had the same comedic bent, and the validation that came out of that was really powerful, and it gave me a lot more confidence. It was, well, “Shit, these guys are unbelievably funny, and we’re all laughing together. I think it maybe is actually funny. Maybe it’s just not me.”

Ed: One thing I would also mention. The only time in my life where, and it was the smartest thing I ever did at that early stage in my life, and if I could, I would have done a lot of things differently, was… One thing was when we said, “Let’s rent a theater for twenty bucks a night, once a week, go there with no audience, and work out for the sake of working out.” Remember that? We did improv at the Gardner Stage on Sunset Blvd. How long did we do it for?

Ryan: We did it for a long time. After that we got a room at UCLA, then we got another stage, we did it for a few years. And none of us had any intention of being improv performers, or trying to get on SNL or whatever.

Chris: One of us should have….Ryan.

Ed: One thing you implied Ryan, is that you appeared without a sense of humor. When I met you, you were the funniest person I’d ever met.

Ryan: Well, nice of you to say. That’s how I feel about you guys. I never turned an eye on myself to think about it that way, because that’s dangerous.

Chris: I sort of… there might have been a little part of me that thought I might be actually funny. But until you meet somebody, and you go, ok, I know they’re really funny because they make me laugh. They’re hilarious. And they think I’m funny. And it’s a validation of that.

Ryan: Finding people around you that are like-minded, is big.

Ed: What drew us together was not this ravenous desire for a career in Show Business. What drew us together was a much purer thing, which was that we loved to laugh, and we made each other laugh. Ryan and I met in the comedy club in UCLA, so I guess there’s a vague, slight career lean there, but our friendship was more important. The fact that we’re all screenwriters now, that was never the intention. It was a much purer thing.

What’s the most valuable thing you’ve learned in show business?

Ryan: Perseverance. The tenth time you’ve done something is maybe much more important than the first time you’ve done something. The tenth time you’ve tackled a scene, or the tenth screenplay you’ve written, or the tenth job you’ve gotten. It seems like it’s important to continue to try and get better. For me, that’s the most important thing, to keep trying to do better. There’s a Beckett quote I love, “No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Unless it’s really not working, then quit. (laughter)

Chris: For better or worse, trust your instincts.

Ed: Never let two smart people go before you (guffaws.) I agree with both you guys. I guess for me then, there’s a profound difference between how you perceive yourself, and your own experience of your life, and how others perceive it. And that it applies on so many different levels. For example, there’s the act of creating something which is so wonderful…. (laughs) Pat, please erase that…

Ryan: No, keep going, I think you’re onto something…

Ed: What I mean is that what other people make of your work, and what you make of it, will be very different. You have no control over the results of your work and what other people think of it. And if you’re going at it for accolades, you’re going to have a less fulfilling time, than if you are just going at it for the experience of what you’re creating. However, you have to be careful of being too wrapped up in what you’re creating because then you lose sight of the fact that you’re communicating with other people. So please Pat, erase all that too. (laughter)

Ryan: I read something once, that it’s important to just continue to do the work. And the second part is difficult, but lands, “Without fear of failure or hope of success.” Just do it. Just do the work.

Ed: There was an interesting interview with Phillip Pullman who wrote The Golden Compass and a bunch of other novels. Someone asked him, “Do you write when you’re inspired? When do you write?” He said, “My job is to write good stuff whether I’m inspired or not. Just to do my job.”

If you could pick one movie to take to a desert island, what would it be?

Ed: “Bananas?” “Manhattan?”

Chris: “Manhattan Murder Mystery?” No… Probably a Lynch. “Blue Velvet” or “Eraserhead,” one of those two.

Ryan: I’ll be the sappy, doughy one. I’ll take, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Because ultimately, “It’s a wonderful life.”

Ed: “Freddy Got Fingered”

After the interview, they pile into the mini van and head out onto the road. They have a great time. They hike at Zion National Park, eat good food, play blackjack.

They lose money. But Ryan, the sappy, doughy one, still insists, “But we could have won!”

Why Do We Need Stories?

We don't eat them, we don't drink them, we don't need them to survive. Or do we?

Special thanks to Howard Suber (best film professor in the universe) for passing along this fantastic article on why human beings need to imagine.

http://chronicle.com/article/The-Pleasures-of-Imagination/65678

The Power of Music

Time and time again, when my motivation is gone, and I believe I’ll never be able to write another word, music comes to my rescue. Just hearing a song that could play as score under my story, all of a sudden inspires so many ideas I can’t write them down fast enough.

For a 1940’s prison escape movie I wrote, I listened to the soundtrack for Brokeback Mountain over and over again. A couple of the characters were from the south, and the haunting guitar helped me come up with images (a boy on a swing, a woman jumping on a bed throwing money up in the air,) that I never would have found on my own. One song on the CD, by the composer Gustavo Santaolalla, inspired the entire climax of the movie, in which the doomed men trying to escape are overcome. Every time I hear that track, I see the scene in my head.

For a project I’m finishing, which is set in the desert, I listened to Eddie Vedder’s score for Into The Wild. Again, his music inspired scenes, helped me add depth to the characters, and allowed me always to reconnect to the emotions in the story when my well ran dry.

I’m starting a project and looking for a new soundtrack. Something spooky, and Irish, and dark.

I hope I find it. I’ll need it to help me when I’m lost.

What do you listen to when you write?

The Wings (Brokeback Mountain)

Great, Another Death Blow to Indie Films

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118020136.html?categoryld=13&cs=1

In Praise of Movies About Real People

Going to the video store used to be a big treat for me. What would I find on the shelves? What had just been released? My heart literally used to race, and it would make my day—knowing I was going. Now, I find (yes, I still have a local dvd store that I patronize whenever I can) I just get depressed. Most of the shelves are filled with huge event movies. Spiderman this, or Bourne Identity that. What Marvel Comic can they trot out next?

I love big tubs of popcorn and summer movies as much as the next guy, but where are the little films about people I can recognize? Stories about actual human beings who live lives like mine? They are getting harder and harder to find. An exploration of the reasons behind this, could fill its own blog site. But that doesn’t mean we can’t sing the praises of independent films starring authentic human beings when we see them.

Here are few indie releases that have made my trips to the video store (or theater) worthwhile.

Mother and Child: Annette Bening, beautiful Annette Bening, who hasn’t felt compelled to mess with the structure of her face. A wonderful film that intersects the stories of three women and their complicated relationships as children and mothers. Directed by Rodrigo Garcia. Go see it.

Let the Right One In: I am a horror film freak. Those of you who know me, know that the quickest way to my heart is through scaring the hell out of it. This Swedish film is one of the best vampire movies ever made. And I think I’ve seen most of them. Small, terrifying, poignant. Yeah, ok, one of the characters is not an actual human being, but that’s what makes it great.

Lovely and Amazing: Nicole Holofcener is a wonderful filmmaker. She captures women, and in particular, Los Angeles, with perfect pitch. This is a lovely and amazing movie about a mother and her three daughters, all trying to find their places in the world. Starring Catherine Keener and Emily Mortimer, there are several scenes that are unforgettable.

The Ballad of Jack and Rose: Let me start by confessing I have a huge crush on Daniel Day Lewis. I pretty much faint and fall over whenever I see his face. He’s fantastic in this film about a father and daughter who face the shattering of their isolated hippie existence, when he’s diagnosed with a heart condition. Not one ounce of corny-ness in it. Directed by Day Lewis’s wife, Rebecca Miller, this film is a stunner. Get ready to cry.

Mysterious Skin: A disturbing and deeply felt film by Greg Araki about kids living on the margins. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as a gay hustler, is unbelievably good.

The Lookout: Again, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a high school athlete whose life is altered by a car accident. He now has no short term memory and is forced to take a job as a janitor at a bank. He’s targeted by criminals, and gets pulled deeper and deeper into a robbery. Riveting.

Limbo: Does anyone else miss John Sayles? I do. This film stars David Strathairn and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as a couple targeted for murder by drug dealers. They are trapped on a wild Alaskan island with her daughter and their survival is in doubt. The daughter finds the journal of a young girl left on the island years before and reads it every night. Independent filmmaking at its unresolvable, human best.