Here's how I would go from chart to script. Remember that our paradigm chart has this:
Two strange characters are tailing the First Lady as she tours a children's hospital, a retirement home and a library dedication during a busy day.
One way to write this would be this way (and I consciously am avoiding a duplication of what I've already written as a forest person [go there]):
FADE IN: EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - WHITE HOUSE - DAY A Presidential limo comes out of the driveway, pulling onto the street. As it moves away, an older car pulls in behind it. INT. WHITE HOUSE - ROOM - DAY Looking down at the driveway below is the PRESIDENT, 50s, a handsome man who looks like he belongs in a commercial. He is holding a cell phone as he watches the limo pull off. PRESIDENT She just left. I'll be there in an hour. INT. OLDER CAR - DAY Behind the wheel is KARL, 30s, bohemian-looking in his beret. Beside him sits EMIL, 50s. KARL What do you think? This our lucky day? EMIL I'm tired of waiting for luck. We got to make our own luck. KARL Emil, I got a feeling this is the day. Don't lose the faith on me. Not when we're so close. EMIL I don't want faith, I want action. If we're gonna do this, then let's get it done. KARL I got a good feeling about today. Very good feeling. EXT. HOSPITAL - COURTYARD - DAY The FIRST LADY, 40s, is visiting patients at a hospital. She goes from one wheel chair to another, bending down to greet each patient personally. EXT. HOSPITAL - STREET - DAY Karl and Emil watch from across the street. Emil has binoculars focused on the First Lady. KARL You ever see anyone spend so much time on charity? EMIL What if we took her right now? How a bunch of cripples gonna stop us? KARL Lady's got a heart of gold. EMIL For Christ's sake, Karl, this is as good as it gets. Let's make it happen. KARL We'd be too much in the open. He stares at Emil and raises a finger. KARL We've been through this a hundred times. The right time will be obvious when we see it. This isn't it. INT. HOTEL - BEDROOM - DAY The President is making love with THERESA, 20s, his young and beautiful mistress. EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY The limo is in traffic again, followed by the older car. INT. RETIREMENT CENTER - DAY The First Lady is posing for photographs with a group of senior citizens. An AIDE moves her away, pointing at his watch. EXT. RETIREMENT CENTER - DAY The First Lady and her party get back into the limo as nurses and senior citizens wave goodbye. Down the street, Karl and Emil watch from their car. INT. HOTEL - BEDROOM - DAY The President is getting dressed. Theresa is stretched out on the bed. PRESIDENT How'd you like to spend a couple weeks in South America? THERESA When? Not during-- . . . The President nods. Theresa bolts from the bed and moves quickly into his arms. THERESA Jack, of course I'll be there. She looks up with sudden caution. THERESA What about Barbara? PRESIDENT The First Lady declined to go. Her loss is our gain. Theresa kisses him with youthful passion. EXT. VACANT LOT - DAY The First Lady cuts a ribbon, dedicating a new library. Across the street, Karl is surveying the scene with binoculars and great interest. KARL Emil, this is it. We get a tire and move in while they're changing it. Emil fetches a rifle. The limo is parked on grass near the dedication. Leaning against a fender is the CHAUFFEUR, 30s, who hears a sudden "pop" sound. He looks down to see a front tire quickly deflating. Across the way, Emil lowers a rifle, which has a silencer attached. Karl and Emil move quickly into their car. The chauffeur and an aide start preparing to change the tire. The First Lady, looking for shade, moves to a tree near the curb. Suddenly the older car swerves alongside her, the rear door of the car swings open, and Emil grabs the First Lady, pulling her into the car. Karl speeds off, and it takes a moment for the First Lady's party to understand what is going on. And then the most they can do is put in a call on a cell phone. INT. OLDER CAR - DAY Karl is speeding through traffic, looking in the rearview mirror as: Emil has a small pistol pointed at the First Lady's head. She is in absolute terror. KARL It is not our intention to hurt you. Do you understand me? You cooperate and nobody has to get hurt. EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - STREET - DAY The older car is moving through traffic.Remember the complication from our paradigm chart?
At the same time, the President is having a rendezvous with his lover.
What I've done here is intertwine the hook and complication. That is, the hook is a sequence with the complication developed as a smaller sequence within it.
But I've also done something "most un-treelike" here: I've shown my true stripes as a forest person. That is, I ignored my paradigm chart and let the story take me on my merry way! And as a result, look what I've missed:
At the end of her busy day, the First Lady meets with her lawyer. She knows her husband is having an affair and wants a divorce - political consequences be damned. Against her lawyer's advice, she decides to file.
I've neglected the thread that has the First Lady taking charge of her life to get out of a bad marriage. This is important, I see now, so let me rethink what I've written and see the best way to fix it.
And an even better hook comes to mind, that will include this thread of the story nicely, and intertwine the hook, complication, and call to action in one compact weave of narrative. Or so it seems to me.
Here's the revision:
FADE IN: EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - WHITE HOUSE - DAY A Presidential limo comes out of the driveway, pulling onto the street. As it moves away, an older car pulls in behind it. INT. WHITE HOUSE - ROOM - DAY Looking down at the driveway below is the PRESIDENT, 50s, a handsome man who looks like he belongs in a commercial. He is holding a cell phone as he watches the limo pull off. PRESIDENT She just left. I'll be there in an hour. INT. OLDER CAR - DAY Behind the wheel is KARL, 30s, bohemian-looking in his beret. Beside him sits EMIL, 50s. KARL What do you think? This our lucky day? EMIL I'm tired of waiting for luck. We got to make our own luck. KARL Emil, I got a feeling this is the day. Don't lose the faith on me. Not when we're so close. EMIL I don't want faith, I want action. If we're gonna do this, then let's get it done. KARL I got a good feeling about today. Very good feeling. Emil sees something strange ahead. EMIL What the hell? EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - STREET - DAY Suddenly the limo pulls to the side of the road, then backs into an alley. The older car passes slowly. INT. OLDER CAR - DAY Emil is looking back at the limo. EMIL They goddamn see us. KARL Not necessarily. EXT. STREET - DAY The older car pulls to the curb and parks. INT. OLDER CAR - DAY Karl and Emil look back over the seat, at the limo in the alley. INT. LIMO - DAY In the back of the limo sits the FIRST LADY, 40s. She looks very stressed about something. EXT. STREET - DAY The limo is in the alley. The older car is parked down the street. Suddenly a second Presidential limo comes down the street. When it passes the alley, the First Lady's limo waits for a couple of cars to pass before moving into traffic. INT. OLDER CAR - DAY The first limo passes. Then the second limo passes. KARL I'll be damned. She's tailing the her husband. EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - STREETS - DAY The President's limo is being followed by the First Lady's limo, which is being followed by the older car. All keep a safe distance. EXT. HOTEL - DAY The lead limo stops in front of an obscure D.C. hotel and the President gets out, moving quickly to a side entrance. The second limo stops down the way. INT. FIRST LADY'S LIMO - DAY The First Lady is on a cell phone. FIRST LADY I'm in front of the sleazebag hotel where he's meeting her, that's where I am. ... Look, if you don't want to be my lawyer, I can find another. ... You've given me that advice more than once, Harold. What I'm telling you is, file the papers. ... What is it we say in Washington? Read my lips? File the goddamn papers! INT. OLDER CAR - DAY Karl and Emil are parked, watching the action ahead. KARL He's cheating on her. The President of the United States has a two-bit hooker in there. EMIL They're moving out. EXT. HOTEL - STREET - DAY The First Lady's limo moves on, passing the hotel. The older car pulls into traffic to follow behind.Now I can pick up as before, being sure to revise the dialogue to reflect what Karl and Emil now know. Karl especially would be sensitive to this - he is the one who says the First Lady has a heart of gold, and now he also knows that she has an unfaithful husband. It is Karl, of course, who will begin an affair with the First Lady later.
Now maybe you like what I've written so far and maybe you don't. Neither is the point. What I hope to do here is to give you an example of how one screenwriter, myself, turns a paradigm chart into script - and how dynamic a process this can be, especially to a borderline forest person like myself who is always getting carried away by the story and going in directions I never dreamed of when I started writing.
Sometimes this is good, and often this is bad. When it's bad, I go back and fix it, as I've demonstrated above.
Give yourself the same kind of slack when you write - or at least do so if appropriate. True tree people, which I am not, adhere very strongly to their left-brained story foundations.
In fact, the surest way to stay "on track" is to have a step outline of index cards. Then one has already broken Act One into its scenes, and writing the script is merely moving from one index card to the next.
It does not matter in the slightest how you do it. That's why teaching writing is so difficult - what works for me may not work for you.
Until you find what does work for you, try everything. Keep trying new things until you do find the writing method that works for you - and "working" means that you end up with pages of script that you can keep.
When you find the method that works for you, patent it. Lock it away in a safe place. Insure it with Lloyd's of London. Treasure it. Nurture it.
Your own way of writing a script is worth its weight in gold.
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