Screen writing workshop presented by Denny Lawrence
There are two key people in writing process
The writer and actor.
The actor is the face of the writing and as a result gets credit for excellent writing or also gets blamed for bad writing.
Writing is/involves collaboration. A collaboration between writer, director and actor. The script is really just a blueprint, not a specific guide
The challenges of collaborating with other people in the film process improves you. You need equals (if not betters) to build you up. Working with someone that perhaps isn’t at your standard won’t push to create something as good as if you were working with someone equal or better
A writer is like an architect, not the interior designer. They create a structure for a film, the skeleton of it.
Avoid using dialogue to push story. Use pro-filmic techniques.
The 5 Questions – relating to actors
-Where am I?
-Where did I come from?
-What am I doing?
-What is my relationship to person/people?
-What do I want? What’s my objective?
To write an effective scene consider these for central characters
To create conflict have something block what they want/their objective.
Nobody made a great film from a bad script.
Had to eave the workshop early