Catalano: “No, you know I took my kid… I’m not supposed to have him. My wife doesn’t even know I have him and he’s very upset… if you could just help me out.”
Audience #1: “Okay… is he allergic to nuts?”
Catalano: “You know, I don’t know… just give me a little cherry… I tell you what… give me two cones… one cherry and one vanilla and I’ll put them together myself. Okay?”
Audience #1: “All right, I’ve got some cherry here… and how about a vanilla bean?”
Catalano: “Great… how much is that… here… I’ll give you twenty bucks.”
Audience #1: “Twenty bucks… sure!”
Catalano: “Thanks a lot.”
Audience #1: “Sure you don’t want any walnut?
Catalano: “No, listen I gotta go… I gotta go.”
Improvisation ends.
And so on… what you can see is, that you can have comedy, you can make what is said into something else. You don’t have to be literal. The “Hello Frankie Angel” line does not always have to be comic. It also depends on what is added to by the other actor. You can use dialogue totally against the literal meaning or character. You can give them any meaning you want them to have within the reality of the scene. There could be an assassin and this character could be a stand up comedian. I mean it could be that kind of a thing. It doesn’t always have to be literal. It’s not like playing the piano where the dark lower notes are here and the higher notes are here… you can mix these elements to create your characters and story. You have to remain open and let the improvisation take you to wherever it takes you. Okay, let’s try something else. Let’s all sit down… you can rest now. And what I would like to do is create a scenario… without being literal.
14
FINDING THE METAPHOR – HOW NOT TO BE LITERAL
Writing on your Feet
OKAY. I WANT to create a scenario where there is nothing and try one or two with an actual framework given… like a break up or something like that where you can actually work within a narrative framework. But I want to try this exercise first because it will be fun… and you can sit down on this one, which will be great. Right?
(Audience laughter.)
This is not a “tag” scene and I will need two volunteers. Great! Thank you.
(Catalano pulls two people from the audience.)
(Audience laughter)
You are so kind. Great. Frankie Angel, I knew I could count on you. That’s such a great opening line. Please come and sit down. So what we are trying to do here, if we may, and again what we are about to do is a “conceit” a bit of a trick. Let’s say you are sitting in front of a blank page and you have absolutely “zip.” What if we just had two characters, just like the two people sitting here today… and we have nothing but a blank page? What I want to do is start with a single word which one of you sitting here will say and one of you in the audience will give me in a minute. The word we start with will be a random word that the audience will give us.
Now before we begin, let me remind you (we are kind of there already) that whatever the word is, we do not have to stick to the literal meaning of that word. The word could mean something else entirely. For example, if we started with the word “brick,” the entire scene would not have to be about construction materials. A “brick” could mean anything… what are some things a brick could mean?
(Audience members speak.)
“Something heavy.”
“Bulky”
“A person’s name.”
“A blockage of some sort.”
“A part of something.”
All possible. So I don’t want you to get tied into being literal. Use your imagination and see where the word you start with takes you and remember, don’t go crazy trying to think of something funny. Just be in the moment. So, if we start with a word like “anchovies” the scene doesn’t have to be about fish. The word could mean anything… it could act as a metaphor for your life. So, you can take it to another level or in some cases you might want to use the literal.
(Audience member: “How you hear it.”)
How you hear it… the way it is spoken… the context it is given within a scene. Now for our exercise, we are going to start you with a single word. All I want you to do is say that word and you will respond. Don’t add any other word to what you say. Don’t say, “Anchovies, I hate that restaurant.” Just start with the word and don’t try to define it. Let it define itself through the exchange of dialogue. Allow your partner to hear the word and then respond and then you respond to that line and so forth. The meaning and direction of the scene will happen on its own. It’s a give and take kind of a feel. Now, I’m not going to let this scene go on forever, just a couple of lines to see what emerges out of it. Okay? Ready? Go…
Audience #1: “Cumquat.”
Audience #2: “Would you please?”
Audience #1: “Isn’t this a nice restaurant.”
Audience #2: “(laughter) This is our third date.”
Audience #1: “You know, the funny thing about that is… I wasn’t sure there would be a third date… and I figured, well if there’s going to be a third date I’m just going to be who I am.
(Audience #2 gives Audience #1 a strange look)
(Audience laughter.)
Audience #2: “Do you know that I could have been out with this other guy. But I thought you were nice. My mother recommended you.”
Audience #1: “Well, I never actually got to the third date with your mother. But…”
Audience #2: (Gasp)
(Audience laughter.)
Audience #1: “The cumquats she gave me in appreciation for the last time we were out… were sort of appropriate.”
Audience #2: “My mother has lived with my father for forty years. You screwed my mother.”
Audience #1: “Oh no… I got as far with her as I am with you right now.”
(Audience laughter.)
“Now, I have more cumquats back at my place.”
(Audience laughter)
And cut. Let’s talk about this. We started with cumquat – a very simple concept and it became this whole thing about infidelity. The challenge here is to go beyond the word cumquat. I mean the literal word and make it take you to somewhere else. I think both of you did a great job listening to one another. That is an important element that must be present if the creative arc is to be achieved. Sometimes in improvisation, the people working don’t listen to one another. Instead, they just try to push through their own idea for the scene no matter what the other person is doing or saying. It makes it very difficult for the scene to progress when this happens. You want your improvisation, not matter how it starts, to be engaging to the participants and the audience alike. Now let’s have two more volunteers.
(Two new but reluctant audience members come up on the stage.)
Come on, you can do this.
(A totally new person enters the room and comes up upon the stage.)
Okay, I’m going to set you up on this because you are coming in cold. We are going to give you a line – one of the audience members is going to give you a line. This gentleman here has volunteered to give you a line.
(Audience laughter.)
Now we want to give you a whole line (not just a word). So, think of something good. We will do two of these. The first, we will start with just one line and we will see what evolves. You may get up and move around if you want. Now for the audience here, let’s bring it back home to where we started. We are writing and we have nothing more than a blank page in front of us.
(Catalano is given the ten-minute signal.)
Ten minutes? Great. The first time we did this we put the word cumquat on a blank page, then we added to characters and we watched what evolved. Now, we are still on a blank page, we have two characters and in a moment one line. But we are not providing any of who, what, when or where. Visualize what is about to happen as a single line on a blank page. And now the line is?
Audience member: “I thought my turrets was cured.”
(Audience member on stage looking out at the suggested first line says “I’m going to kill you for this.”)
(Audience laughter.)
Audience #1: “I thought my turrets was cured.”
Audience #2: “I did too… but it sure isn’t.”
Audience #1: “No, it isn’t.”
Audience #2: “I guess you’re mad.”
Audience #1: “I am… it comes out all the time.”
Audience #2: “You’re really an embarrassment to the family.”
Audience #1: “Oh, well? I can handle that.
Audience #2: “Why don’t you get a handle on it?
Audience #1: “It’s just…”
Audience #2: “No, it’s weakness. You’re just a weak person.
Audience #1: “Well, it’s really…”
Audience #2: “You’re just an embarrassment to the whole family. We are all successful and you sit around with this… this”
Audience #1: “Well…”
Audience #2: “It’s not that… It’s just like this, fuck, shit damn get out of my face.
Audience #1 “I can imagine that it would be an embarrassment to everybody, but I kind of like that.”
Audience #2: “You like it? You like embarrassing all of us? We all have doctorates and masters and you’re going to embarrass the family.”
Audience #1: “Well, I have a doctorate but…”
Audience #2: “Then why don’t you go live in a cabin somewhere in the woods?”
Audience #1: “Well, I’m looking for one.”
Audience #2: “Well, I hope you find one.”
Audience #1: “Okay, I will.”
Audience #2: “If you’ll just go live there and stay away from the rest of the family and quit embarrassing us.”
Audience #1: “Okay.”
Audience #2: “Okay.”
Okay, cut.
(Audience laughter.)
Okay, think of a line.
(Audience member “Did that improvisation have to be so mean?)
No, but it kind of went that way. But did you notice that the characters had a particular physicality and sound to them? Now for this next exercise we’re going to think of a line and we’re going to end it in that line. Let’s call it “Last Line.” We are just going to start cold and develop the “who, what, when and where,” but as the scene progresses at some point (when it reaches a natural climax) we will end it with this line. The scene is not over until the last line is spoken within the context of the scene.
(Audience member asks: “Are we continuing the turrets scene?)
No, this is a totally new scene where we will create a totally new who, what, when and where. What I would like you to work on and think about is who you are and what is happening. Then as the scene comes to a natural conclusion, you will end it with this last line. We know it’s over when the last line is spoken. So, if the last line given were “Merry Christmas,” the improvisation is not over until that line is spoken.
(Audience member: “Does it matter who says the line?”)
No.
(Audience member: “So it’s over whenever that line is spoken?”)
Right.
(Audience member: “So, how do you get started?”)
You just start with in this instance two characters in the room. Let me help you out a little bit. You’re sitting in a waiting room for a job interview and the last line is? “So why is the lowest grade you got in ballroom dance?”
Audience #1: “What are you waiting for?”
Audience #2: “I’m interviewing for a part time position as an editor.”
Audience #1: “Oh, I’m interviewing for the full time as an editor.”
Audience #2: “Well, good. Then we’re on different tracks.”
Audience #1: “I think there’s only one position though…”
Audience #2: “Do you think they made a mistake. I mean part time? Full time? You know?”
Audience #1: “As far as I know there is only one position and if they can get somebody to work full time with part time pay.”
(Audience laughter.)
Audience #1: “They would rather have them… than a part time.”
Audience #2: “Well, we will just have to see. How did you get into this business?”
Audience #1: “Went to school… then just did some writing… then some editing. What about you?”
Audience #2: “Well, I just need some money. So I do whatever I can. I hope it’s part time – I really don’t want to work full time. Well, we will just have to see. But… what else to do you do?”
Audience #1: “Well actually… I don’t work at all. In fact, I just came into this room by accident. I’m a student.
Audience #2: “College?”
Audience #1: “You’re probably thinking I’m way to old to go to college… but actually, I do very well. I have almost a 4.0 GPA.”
Audience #2: “Really? Why almost?”
Audience #1: Well, all can’t be good at everything. I got a “D” in ballroom dance…”
Audience #2: “So why is the lowest grade you got in ballroom dance?”
And cut. Tune in next week to find out “why” her lowest grade was in ballroom dance. Perhaps she was doing a bit more than ballroom dancing with her partner Renaldo!”
Out of this scene, maybe two characters would evolve. Maybe they would become friends, leave the job interview go on an adventure. Maybe they decide to rob a bank or go on a spree… two women meet and want to change their boring lives. What do we have Thelma and Louise (1991). And it all starts with two people meeting at a job interview and from that point the characters and the story evolve. Remember we started with a blank page and now we have three pages of dialogue. We may use very little of it or all of it… but we have now progressed off of the blank page to an idea. An idea that will evolve on it’s own rather than be artificially crafted. We now have the beginning of our story and we have begun our journey on our feet!
I want to thank all of you for getting up here on this stage today. Let’s all give one another a big round of applause for doing such a great job today!
Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the rest of the conference. Thank you.
(Audience applause.)
START YOUR STORY AT THE END
SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
25th Annual Writers Conference
HOW TO ADAPT YOUR NOVEL INTO A SCREENPLAY
BOOK 3
Frank Catalano
15
WHAT I LEARNED WORKING AT A MOTION PICTURE STUDIO
Start Your Story at the End
IT’S BEEN A great opportunity for me to have been able to spend time working at both motion picture studios and academia. You learn a lot when working at a motion picture studio. How films and made and more importantly how films are marketed to the public. One of the things I learned very early on is that motion picture companies are creative places to work, but they are also businesses that have to make a profit. Very much like an automobile company or any factory has to make money on what they sell.
It reminds me of the famous Garson Kanin quote about making movies:
“So it can be seen that the trouble with the motion-picture art was (and is) that it is too much an industry; and the trouble with the motion picture industry is that it is too much an art. It is out of this basic contradiction that most of the ills of the form arise.”
So while, you may have the most wonderfully written novel or screenplay in your back pocket that you are trying to get produced, inevitably questions are going to be asked like who is directing and who is the star? They will want to know: “Who is attached to it?” What does that mean? It means what marketable entity (actor, writer, producer) is attached to your project that will ensure its success at the box office. We all like to see recognizable names attached to what we see in the movies. Why, because it gives us an idea of what we can expect to see.
So, if the name Brad Pitt is above the title as actor, or Steven Spielberg as director, we will have a certain expectation of what we will experience. The creation of motion pictures and television is an art but it is equally a business. Working at a movie studio taught me a lot about that. But really, this idea of attachments is really another topic.
Someone should do a seminar entitled HOW TO GET BRAD PIT IN YOUR MOVIE.
(Audience laughter)
Once, you have that level of attachment, the doors start to open. And, if I might say, that has nothing to do with the writing – which is why we are here today.
The second thing I learned, really very early on is “no matter how wonderful your idea is…” And I’m sure you all have intriguing subjects and characters in your work. But, no matter how wonderful your idea is, they will want to know if your work will able to appeal to a segment of the market. Any many many times, you will get these two criticisms of your work – “You have a wonderful idea… but it doesn’t fit the market we are trying to reach.” The second criticism or negative statement is perhaps your work is too much like one they already have in the pipeline. So you are stopped cold right at the start. I haven’t even mentioned the word script, but you may not even get that far… your script could be in your back pocket. They will say you have a wonderful idea but it will not do very well in the particular market in which they produce or they may view your creation to be marketed to a specific market segment. You may believe, as you sit here this morning, that a film or book for that matter should just be “general” so that the highest number of audience will buy it. But it doesn’t work that way. It’s the exact opposite. We, all of us, are broken down into demographic groupings and separated by gender, age, income, where we live and educational levels. So if your idea is general, they may not know where or how to market it. Please remember, that this has absolutely nothing to do with the quality of your writing or idea. You may have a wonderful story that you feel needs to be told, but in todays’ marketplace it is not enough. There needs to be a correlation to what you have written directly to a specific market or it must have a well known talent attached to it. That well known talent will provide a producer with a measurable way to estimate how your script will do if it is produced.
Book to Screen Page 7
