Now, before I started this studio, I had almost no idea about script writing. I came from a performing arts background, so I do have a general idea of what a script looks like, and how to translate the script onto stage or screen, but when it came to creating one, I was almost clueless. All I knew was that it involved telling a story, and that that is definitely what I could do. I wrote my first and only script so far, ‘DISPOSAL’, in the second semester of 2017 for Paul Ritchard’s studio, Box. Even though it was clear enough to translate onto the little screen, I realized when writing it, that there was so much I didn’t know. We’re already two weeks into Staci’s ‘Picture This!’, and even though I could always say that the script for Disposal was heavily flawed, I can now even give you a list of reasons why! Which brings me to the point of what we’re actually supposed to be discussing in this blog post.

The main issue I had when writing DISPOSAL, was that being someone who enjoyed writing and telling stories, I struggled with the format of the script. It was as if I was trying to get the actors who were reading the script involved in the story in the same way that the audience who would be watching it would be. In doing this, I’d reveal certain details halfway through, as opposed to establishing every detail at the start. I still have this problem, but at least I know it’s there. For example, in class the other day, we had to translate short story paragraphs into script form:

Rinaldo can’t take it anymore. With dirty facial hair, and a tired look in his cold dead eyes, he stands in the doorway behind his bickering children holding bottle of whiskey in one hand, and a Glock 19 in the other. He holds the gun up to his children before hesitating and pointing the gun to the side of his head. He pulls the trigger.

A couple of problems with this. The first was that rather than establishing the fact that Rinaldo is standing in a doorway behind his three children, I left it until after the description of Rinaldo’s image. And so, for the first line of the script, besides dirty facial hair and cold dead eyes, the actor reading would be completely clueless of what to imagine.

There were heaps of other details we went over in the past couple of weeks, but they generally fall into the category of “YOU NEED TO ESTABLISH EVERYTHING ABOUT THE SETTING FIRST”. I guess, if I had to summarize what I have learnt so far over the past couple of weeks, it’s that I’m not supposed to be telling you a story, but rather telling you what you’re supposed to be seeing.