I'll have eight hours to write a screenplay from start to finish. Help!

October 19, 2009 5:23 AM

Screenwriters - advice for coming up wirth effective short film scripts QUICKLY!

I'm involved in a 48 Hour Film Challenge at the weekend. On Friday at 19:30 we will be given:

1) a genre
2) a prop
3) a line of dialogue that must appear in the film

(All teams have the same prop and dialogue line. Each team has a different genre, picked out of a hat.)

We have to submit an edited short film by 19:30 on Sunday evening.

The plan in the past has been: write on Friday, shoot on Saturday, edit on Sunday.

As you can imagine, going from a first concept to a shooting script in one evening, after a day at work, can be a challenge.

Any advice from people experienced in this would be gladly received. Length, drafting, idea creation, etc etc.

What can I do to prepare before the day? What things should I have at the front of my mind? There's obvious stuff - don't include expensive props that we don't have etc. What are other things that should be written on a piece of A4 and stuck above my monitor as I'm writing?

posted by Cantdosleepy to writing & language (11 comments total)

Location, location, location. If you can get that worked out beforehand, or at least select a few candidates from which you can then choose based on the genre, you'll save yourself a lot of precious time. Good luck.
posted by Faint of Butt at 5:38 AM on October 19

I think a key element may be not over complicating the idea, which is general good advice for shorts anyway.

It would be very easy to get drawn in to an extended, deep, multi-layered plot, which while it would be physically doable wouldn't be 'complete' or finished. For example, if you were to get:

Mystery
Lead pipe
"That's just the way I role"

It would be very easy to get sucked into a faux-reality based on Cluedo where characters move from room to room with various cards testing and trying them out to see if they 'fit'. But would it be possible to write, film and edit this in three days? Probably not; not well anyway.

Easier to do something simpler involving a couple of characters and one location.

---

On another note, where is this happening? Sounds right up my street.
posted by Nufkin at 5:50 AM on October 19

Thanks Faint. We've actually got a visually-interesting room ready to use. It won't work for a couple of genres, though, so I'll see if I can get another place to act as backup.

Thanks for the tip!
posted by Cantdosleepy at 5:51 AM on October 19

Nufkin - it's in that London.
posted by Cantdosleepy at 6:10 AM on October 19

Idea #1: Christopher Guest style: Write out a few short scene descriptions and let your actors improvise within that framework. It keeps you from having to agonize over dialogue while concentrating on shot setups, location, and action sequences.

Idea #2: Write as on-the-nose as possible, then do a quick read-through to hear what your actors do with the situation, then re-write on the fly while scenes are being shot. This will free you from trying to be clever while moving production along. These short-short writing competitions can be hell if you hit writer's block over finding one perfect piece of dialogue.

Idea #3: Write a silent film, using only action blocks, and see where the dialogue comes from.

Idea #4: Write only dialogue blocks, and have your actors work with the prop(s) in a way that suggests the genre you've been given.

(#3 and #4 depend on where you usually wind up hitting blocks while writing.)

Good luck! Those kinds of festivals/contests are crazy, but really fun.
posted by xingcat at 7:05 AM on October 19

I did the 48 Hour Film Challenge a few years back and it was great (and exhausting, of course).

I second the advice that you keep things as simple as possible. Your script needs a protagonist. Your protagonist needs a goal. There need to be one or more related obstacles to achieving that goal. And at the end, your protagonist needs to succeed or fail. Aim for those things, and if you end up with a script that also has humor or subtext or pathos--well, that's a bonus.

Also, use your prep time to think about (and probably write down) all the resources you know you'll have--cast, locations, etc.
posted by yankeefog at 7:51 AM on October 19

"Idea #1: Christopher Guest style: Write out a few short scene descriptions and let your actors improvise within that framework. It keeps you from having to agonize over dialogue while concentrating on shot setups, location, and action sequences."

Following from this, one of the keys to making great things in a very short timespan is to have a group of people who know how to think and brainstorm and evaluate ideas together, and how to quickly find a good idea and run with it as an ensemble. This is something you can build with creative exercises, and will be applicable no matter that particulars of the assignment. The one thing you know before the whole thing starts is your team, right? If that is the case, putting work into the team is one of the things that is most likely to pay off.
posted by idiopath at 8:01 AM on October 19

I was just paging through The Portable MFA which suggested some handy ways to open short stories, with a disruption of a character's regular routine.

- Long-lost friend or mysterious stranger enters the picture.

- Someone close to main character reveals a shocking new truth.
posted by johngoren at 8:34 AM on October 19

Amplifying one of xingcat's points above: simultaneous writing and shooting. Working through with the actors improvising, and/or shooting one already written scene while writing the next, both processes continuing throughout the forty-eight hours.
posted by zoinks at 8:52 AM on October 19

Just a rider to idiopath's comment about working in an ensemble - I've done the 48hr comp in Edinburgh a couple of times, both time working in a team of writers. When it goes well, it's a hoot, when it doesn't, it's hell. However you're working, make a decision before you start about who calls the shots. If you're brainstorming ideas, make sure you have one person whose job is to take the lead and say "Right, it's midnight, we're going with idea A". If you're the only writer, you might want to check ahead of time with your team - who gets to make a final call on the premise/outline/dialogue, you, the director, the producer? These things can get blurred if you're working with friends and asking them for advice, which can lead to an endless cycling of ideas, which you don't have time for. Much easier on everyone if you agree ahead of time who makes what decisions.
posted by penguin pie at 9:50 AM on October 19

I like hyperbole. Escalate, escalate, escalate. Draw em in quick with something that can easily escalate to a suitable 48-hour entry's climax. Then use irony, metaphor, similie, paradox for your climax and end strongly. Nudity helps too.

I'm a sucker for old fashioned humor, but "Simple task goes awry" doesn't win contests very often.
posted by Khazk at 11:34 PM on October 19