by Jim Mercurio
Transitions such as match-cuts and match-dissolves take advantage of the pictorial similarity between two images. They can create clever, comical, or thematic associations. Look at the border between two scenes and search for nearby images that resemble each other graphically. You can also look for images or actions that resemble each other in theme, content, or ideas, too.
If the cut from the airborne bone in 2001: A Space Odyssey to the spaceship is the most famous match-cut in the history of cinema, the most famous match-dissolve might be at the end of the famous shower death scene in Psycho in which Marion is stabbed to death. The film dissolves from a shot of blood swirling counterclockwise down a circular drain to an extreme close-up of the round iris of Marion’s lifeless right eye. The camera rotates clockwise as it pulls back to reveal Marion’s corpse. The association is powerfully creepy beyond words. If the eyes are windows to the soul, then we see hers fade away as her life-force whirls down the drain, taking her entire storyline with it as her eye punctuates the shot.
LIFO—last-in and first-out—is a term I am borrowing from film financing. In this context, this describes the principle of coming into a scene as late as possible and getting out as early as possible. This concept applies to your scenes, sequences, acts—basically your entire script.
As your movie approaches its end, scenes will move faster, and the accumulated setup of characters, locations, and the story’s context will permit or require that you start a scene in media res, which means “in the middle of the action.”
In a sports movie, you might cut to the scoreboard that sets up the context—it’s the ninth inning with two outs—and then reveal your protagonist on the mound or at the plate.
If you can start a scene in the middle of the action and everything’s completely clear, you are going to need a very compelling reason for choosing not to.
14) Embrace brevity.
Shakespeare said, “Brevity is the soul of wit,” and that is an essential lesson to learn.
Shakespeare said, “Brevity is the soul of wit,” and that is an essential lesson.
“Brevity is the soul of wit” is an essential lesson.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
Brevity is the soul.
Brevity is.
Brevity.
Got it?
Good.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I encourage screenwriters to challenge themselves by aiming for the script that they aren’t quite ready to write. Apparently, I practice what I preach. And boy, did I need a lot of practice. Only with incredible support was I able to achieve the growth necessary to complete this journey.
My family has been a constant source of strength because of their (often blind) faith in me.
My agent Jessica Faust—a beacon of reason and guidance—took a chance on me. Thank you to her and BookEnds literary agency.
Kent Sorsky, the publisher, displayed boundless patience while I figured out this whole “author thing,” and, you know, wrote this book. I have so much appreciation for Linden Publishing, its imprint Quill Driver Press, and their publicity guru Jaguar Bennett.
With my prose, it takes a village. Infinite gratitude goes to my personal group of Olympian copyeditors for their heavy lifting: Anthony Buono, Stephanie Kraner, and Joel Z. Rosenthal. In addition to copyediting, Julie M. Marsh challenged me with insights that made me look much smarter than I am. These word warriors shepherded my chaos to intention and clarity.
In addition to the heavy lifters above, I had several “spotters” who made sure I didn’t hurt myself along the way: Minda Briley, Chris Donnelly, Bruce Gordon, James Kenney, Laura Harkcom, Kate Sobol, and Misti Wolanski.
I was fortunate to make my first feature film with two childhood friends. Dean Morini made my attachment as director part of the deal for his script, March. He is the purest writer I know. Sean Kanan, lead actor and producer, pushed me to understand the language of actors. He created a watershed moment for my mind-set that full awareness of the other film artisans’ craft is essential for mastering cinematic storytelling.
I appreciate that Willie and Lizzie perpetually remind me of the dramatic power of choice, not in drama and storytelling, but in life.
Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to have two perfect teachers, Alice Otto and Terri Sarris, plus a transcendent one: Frank Beaver at the University of Michigan. Frank’s magical blend of love for film and his passion for teaching instilled in me a mystical reverence for both. My love for film fills me with gratitude.
I find plenty of truth in the adage that you don’t really know something unless you can teach it. My clients and students have pushed me to a deeper understanding not only of craft, but of my idiosyncratic skill set. I value their role as serendipitous mentors, helping me to grow in my story as teacher, coach, and champion.
INDEX
The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
A-list actors; clichés
Academy Award
Accidental Billionaires
Action scenes; blocking; context; cutting; density and detail; description; initial function of; locations; reframing; setup
Adaptation; concept
Affleck, Ben
After Hours
Aiello, Danny
Air Force One: cheat; facial expressions
Aykroyd, Dan
Ali, Mahershala
Alien; opening; script draft
Aliens
Alien series
All the President’s Men
Allen, Woody
Alley-oops
Alonso, Laz
Altman, Robert
Amadeus
Amazing Spider-Man, The
Amelie; location
Anders, Allison
Anderson, Paul Thomas
Animal House
Annie Hall; concept; exposition; subtext; subtitles; Apartment, The: dialogue; final scene; subtext
Apocalypse Now
Argo, Victor
Arquette, Patricia
Arrival, The
Artist, The
Asner, Ed
Atlantic City
Avatar: action descriptions; alley-oop; casting; characters, supporting; rock bottom; “same” versus “different; scene; supporting characters; theme
Avengers, The
Babel
Baccarin, Morena
Bacon, Kevin
Back to the Future
Baise Moi
Baldwin, Alec
Bale, Christian
Barkin, Ellen
Basinger, Kim
Batman
Battleship Potemkin
Bean, Sean
Beat; as action; definition of; as dialogue; escalating; goal; infinitive; labeling; outline; participle; potential; repetitive; replacing unpromising with promising; strong and clear; structuring; subtle; subtext; visuals, expressing through
Beautiful Mind, A
Before Sunrise
Being John Malkovich; concept
Bell, Lake
Bergman, Ingrid
Beverly Hills Cop
Bicycle Thieves; ending; reversals
Big; concept; setup
Birdman
Blade Runner; concept; ending; theme
Blades of Glory: characters’ emotions; concept
Blair Witch Project, The
Blocking; animated films and; character; definition of; opportunity for; soap; opera; visuals; writing
Bloom, Orlando
Blue Velvet
Bogart, Humphrey
Bordwell, David
Borgnine, Ernest
Bourne Identity, The; action descriptions
Boys Don’t Cry
Brakhage, Stan
Brando, Marlon: Last Tango in Paris; On the Waterfront
Breaking Away;
motifs; props; subplot; title; visuals
Bridesmaids: rants; rhetorical questions
Bringing Up Baby
Brokeback Mountain; setting
Brolin, James
Bronson, Charles
Brood, The
Brown, Joe E.
Brosnan, Pierce
Budgets
Buñuel, Luis
Buried
Burstein, Ellen
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Byrne, Rose
Caan, James
Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, The
Cabot, Bruce
Caddyshack
Caine, Michael
Call Me by Your Name
Carol
Carrey, Jim
Casablanca; characters’ emotions; dialogue; end; props; rock bottom; subtext; theme
Casino Royale: action; clarity; dialogue in; end; expectation
Casting
Cazale, John
Cera, Michael
Changes: character; definition; surprise; two
Character; in action; blocking; body language; change; climax and; dilemma; double-dash in script; emotional state of, tracking; emotions; facial expressions; gender, assumptions regarding; introduction to; love interests/meet-cute/best friends; mining the depth of; movement; names; need; orchestration; questioning; props and; rants; structure and; supporting; versus characterization; wardrobe; wound
Character arc; definition of; frustration; rock bottom; surprise
Character, foil
Character, mirror
Characterization: expectation; setup; versus character
Charging
Chayefsky, Paddy
Cheats; cardinal sin of; contextual; managing; promoting your
Chinatown; motif
Christie, Julie
Christopher, Dennis
Chronicle
Citizen Kane; characters; props; story structure
City Lights
City of God
Clancy, Tom
Clear and Present Danger; beat; climax; exposition; music; pacing; scene analysis; scene description; tone; transcription
Clerks
Climax; character and; definition; reversal in; surprises in
Clurman, Harold
Clurman Breakdown
Color of Money, The; beat; visuals in
Commercial breaks
Concept; compactness; exploiting; high; logline; low; reverse-engineering; at the scene level
Conflict
Contrast
Cooper, Bradley
Coppola, Sofia
Cotillard, Marion
Coyote Ugly
Costner, Kevin: For Love of the Game; Tin Cup
Craig, Daniel
Crash
Crazy, Stupid, Love; expectation
Creative counterpoint
Creed: foreshadowing; visuals
Cromwell, James
Crowe, Russell: Gladiator; L.A. Confidential
Cruising
Crying Game, The
Crystal, Billy
Curnen, Monique Gabriela
Curtis, Jamie Lee
Curtis, Tony
D’Onofrio, Vincent
Dafoe, Willem
Dale, James Badge
Damon, Matt: The Departed; Good Will Hunting
Daniels, Jeff
Dark Knight, The: dialogue; dilemma; final voice over; foil characters; theme; wardrobe
Dark Knight Rises, The
Dawn of the Dead
De Sica, Vittorio
Dead Poets Society: alley-oops; character growth in; characters, supporting; creative counterpoint; dilemma, externalization of; first words of script; opening scene; props in; theme line; wardrobe
Dead Ringers
Deadpool: meet-cute; set-piece scene; tone
Dench, Judi
Departed, The: charging; dilemma; parenthetical; scene analysis; setup; subtext
Dern, Laura
Deschanel, Zooey
Dialogue; action as; as action; assumptions about; battle of; beats as; brevity; cool and surprising; diatribes; eliminations; genre-appropriate; image systems, within; key characters of good; last line standing; length in scene; location and setting; long stories spoken as; monologues; narrowing down your lines; nonverbal; on-the-nose; purpose of; questions to ask your dialogue; rants; rhetoric; strengthening; succinct; telling jokes; theme and; visuals, translating into; voice drafts
Díaz, Cameron
Die Hard; hook; hostages in; perspective; set-piece scene
Dilemma; externalization of
Dirty Harry
District 9
Dixon, Leslie
Django Unchained
Do the Right Thing; case study; concept; stereotypes; theme
Dog Day Afternoon
Don’t Look Now
Dooley, Paul
Dracula
Dramatic intentions; characters and conflicts
Dramatic irony
Duvall, Robert
DuVernay, Ava
Dunst, Kirten
Duplicity: location; setting
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Eastwood, Clint: Dirty Harry; Gran Torino; Unforgiven
Eckhart, Aaron
Edge, The: dialogue; telling jokes
Edward Scissorhands
Edwards, Stacy
Eisenberg, Jesse
Eisenstein, Sergei
Elam, Jack
Elizabethtown
Ending: climax; crisis; killer; resolution/aftermath
English Patient, The
Ephron, Nora
Erin Brockovich; action descriptions; beat; beat, reaction to; dialogue; dilemma; exposition; goal of scene; scene analysis; setup; subtext
Escape from New York
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; characters’ emotions; concept; setup
Evans, Chris
Event
Everett, Rupert
Exaggerated importance
Expectation; establishing; genre; realistic; surprise and; “yes to sex”
Exposition; definition of; difficult; eliminating; leaden; on-the-nose; shortcuts
Expressionistic style
Facial expressions
Fantasia
Far from Heaven
Fargo
Farrow, Mia
Fast Times at Ridgemont High; mood and tone
Ferrell, Will: Blades of Glory; Step Brothers
Fiennes, Ralph
Finney, Albert
First-person style
500 Days of Summer; characters’ emotions; MPDG in; narrative
Flashbacks
Fonda, Henry
For Love of the Game
Ford, Harrison; Air Force One; Blade Runner; Clear and Present Danger; Patriot Games; Star Wars
Forrest Gump; theme
40-Year-Old Virgin, The
48 Hours; end; stumbling in
400 Blows
Foster, Jodie
Foucan, Sébastien
Fox, James
Freaky Friday; concept; foreshadowing; hook; scene analysis; setup
Freeman, Morgan
Freeze-frames
French Connection, The
Friendly, Johnny
Frost/Nixon; dialogue as action
Frozen
Frozen River
Fruitvale Station
Frustration; surprise and
Gadot, Gal
Gallagher, Peter
Gallipoli
Gas, Food, Lodging: concept; narrative
Gattaca: casting; character insight; character names; concept; theme
Genre; dialogue appropriate to; expectations; gender stereotypes
Gere, Richard
Get Out; concept
Ghostbusters: climax; setting
Giamatti, Paul: Duplicity; Sideways
Gibson, Mel
Gladiator
Glengarry Glen Ross
Glover, Danny
&nb
sp; Godfather, The
Godfather II, The
Godfather trilogy: ending; theme
Godzilla
Good Will Hunting: alley-oops; blocking; character insight; dialogue; final story question; Harvard bar scene; location; props in; scene, brunt of; scene, 5.5-page; set-piece scene; setup; telling jokes; therapy scenes
Goodbye Girl, The
Gordon, Leo
Gosling, Ryan
Gossett, Lou Jr.
Graduate, The
Gran Torino
Grant, Cary
Green, Eva
Groundhog Day
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
Guinness, Alec
Gyllenhaal, Jake
Gyllenhaal, Maggie
Hackman, Gene
Hall, Jerry
Hamill, Mark
Hamlet
Hanks, Tom
Hansen, Gale
Happy endings
Happy Together
Harmon, Mark
Harold and Maude; characters; logline
Harris, Naomie
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
Hathaway, Anne
Hauer, Rutger
Hawke, Ethan: Dead Poets Society; Gattaca
Heat: exposition; heist sequence; verbal reveal
Heder, Jon
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hepburn, Katharine
Her; characters’ emotions
Hershey, Barbara
Hibbert, Alex R.
High Noon
Hill, Jonah
Hill, Walter
Hitchcock, Alfred
Hoffman, Dustin
Hoffman, Philip Seymour: Moneyball; 25th Hour
Holden, William
Hollar, Steve
Hook
Hoosiers: characters; expectation; frustration; reversal; scene analysis; surprise
Hopkins, Anthony: The Edge; The Remains of the Day; Silence of the Lambs
Hopkinson, Peter
Hopper, Dennis
How to Get Ahead in Advertising
How to Train Your Dragon: climax; division of information; end; expectations; setup for ending
Hunger Games; costume and wardrobe; setting; stumbling in
Hurt Locker, The
Hustler, The
I, Daniel Blake
Ideas
Ilfans, Rhys
In the Mood for Love
Inception; concept
Incredibles, The
Inglourious Basterds: dramatic irony; “I drink your milkshake” scene; opening scene; motifs and props
