Script 5 of 14:Dead Poets Society

Oh dear. I’ve been putting this off. Look, Dead Poets Society is a very nice film. Very inspirational. Very Robin Williams. Very Carpe Diem.

But the script is just so dull! It’s just a big pile of disjointed dialogue, a series of vignettes vaguely unified by one or two faint story threads.

I think the problem is that I just never cared that much about the characters. I’ve been wondering why that is, because they portray some pretty fundmental behaviours: heroic inspiration, railing against authority, thwarted love, treachery and betrayal and – ultimately – self-slaughter.

But my question throughout was always why? Why are you behaving like this? We’re given few clues. There are one or two big signposts: the stern father, the nice-but-unavailable girl. But subtlety? No. None of that.

I finally worked out why. What we’ve got here is a case of implicit characterisation. We’re meant to know and understand these young people and this teacher because, hey, that was us back at High School. Remember those New England autumns? Remember those pacts we made at graduation? Remember our authoritarian fathers who demanded that we become lawyers?

No. Sorry. I’m English. I mean, I get what you’re saying here, but it’s not my experience. That’s not where I’m from. I’m understanding it second hand. I appreciate it, but I don’t grok it. Get where I’m coming from?

So is it lazy scriptwriting to rely on the audience’s collective experience to illuminate the story? No, it’s not. In fact, it’s very smart indeed. Great storytellers tap into the psyche of the audience. They know what scares you. They know what inspires you. They know what disgusts you. They know what makes your heart melt. And all they have to do is hint at it and point the way. You make the journey at their behest.

So Dead Poets Society is a classic example of a story that surfs on the collective memory of the United States of America. It probably inspired a whole generation of Americans.

It just doesn’t inspire me. Sorry.

The One-day Script Challenge

Here’s an ongoing challenge. Pick it up and have a go whenever you want.

Write a script in one day.

The Rules
* Any medium: stage, screen, radio, telly, web
* Any genre
* Any duration
* The script must have a beginning, middle and end
* Don’t hassle over the formatting and spelling, just make it readable
* One draft only, no rewrites
* The thing must be readable and performable within 24 hours

The Guidance
* Be happy
* Be brave
* Trust your gut instincts
* Let the story lead you

Writing like this is a bit like dowsing, I suppose. Just wander around waiting for the hazel twig to twitch, see what you find. It might be nothing at all. It might be nonsense. It might be a gem.

Just like you don’t have to have an objective when you go out for a stroll in the countryside, you don’t have to have a reason to write a script. The journey is the destination.

Now my side of the bargain: you write it, I’ll read it. I’ll give a summary script report for every script sent to me, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the story, potential areas for development and an overall assessment. This offer is good for as long as this blog post remains visible within my blog.

Disclaimer: I’m not a professional script reader; I read scripts in order to improve as a writer. But I have had excellent responses from people whom I have read scripts for.

Course, if you don’t want me to read it then fine. Keep it to yourself. Your call.

Whatever you do, have fun with the process.

If you want to Tweet this blog post, here’s the short url for it: http://is.gd/4QKgx. Cut and paste, baby. Cut and paste.

Twitter Mini-break

As I just tweeted, I’m taking a Twitter Mini-break. No more twaddle till Friday. Got things to do, people to see, scripts to read, nonsense to write.