Movie Outline Screenwriting Blog

Constructing an original, entertaining and intelligent plot is hard work, but that should not mean you should settle for the easy option when writing a screenplay.  In fact, the opposite should apply.  If it’s difficult to come up with something original then push yourself as a screenwriter that much harder.  Force yourself to be innovative because if you do you will undoubtedly produce something much more engaging and satisfying for an audience in the process.

Many writers of fiction, especially crime fiction, use a MacGuffin in complicated plots to drive a story forward, and Alfred Hitchcock (who coined the term) was one of them.  The whole point of the MacGuffin is that it is irrelevant. As Hitchcock himself explained, the MacGuffin is: “the device, the gimmick, if you will, or the papers the spies are after… The only thing that really matters is that in the picture the plans, documents or secrets must seem to be of vital importance to the characters. To me, the narrator, they’re of no importance whatsoever.”

In the golden era of Hollywood, writers and directors were never always as concerned as their modern day counterparts to get all the facts straight.  So long as the women looked sexy, the men looked rugged and there were guns and chases the Hollywood Execs were happy.  To illustrate the point, you may have heard about the classic Howard Hawkes movie The Big Sleep with Bogart and Bacall, based on the novel by Raymond Chandler.

In the story there was confusion surrounding the death of the Sternwood family chauffeur, a character named Owen Taylor. Apparently somebody sent a telegram to Raymond Chandler asking him “Who killed the chauffeur?”.  He replied “Damned if I know.”  It’s an amusing anecdote but I know that from my experience when developing a screenplay with producers and development executives that you must have an answer for everything and that nobody would be impressed with a reply like that.

So to avoid such professional faux pas and to make  sure the logic of your crime thriller is coherent I suggest you do your utmost as a writer to iron out all the creases in your plot BEFORE you present it to anyone.  And most importantly, do not rely on coincidence to be the solution.  If you hero just happens to find a gun under the bed during a frantic struggle with his nemesis then that’s poor penmanship.  If your heroine loses her job and then just happens to bump into someone who offers her another, that’s lazy.

As always, there are exceptions to the rule and sometimes a particular story or genre can get away with it so long as it’s an intentional screenwriting choice and clear to the audience as such.  But generally you should set up events so they do not seem coincidental.  If it strikes you as obvious then try to figure out another way around revealing a crucial piece of information or engineering a chance meeting without it being too contrived.  If that fails, you could always try to conceal your coincidence behind a powerful moment of action or drama and hope the audience don’t notice!

Writers’ Block.  It’s a killer.  We’ve all been there, happily tapping away at the keyboard at our latest and greatest movie script in a creative stream of consciousness when suddenly we reach a dead end. A brick wall faces us and we have nowhere to turn.  We try idea after idea but nothing makes any sense.  We start to get frustrated but can’t give up because it’s such an important scene.  Damn!  We have to solve this.  The pressure mounts.  And mounts..  But nothing.  Nada.  Zip.

“What am I gonna do?!” we think or perhaps exclaim out loud.

The whole script hinges on this particular plot point or piece of dialogue. If we can’t solve this we might as well trash the script.  Oh my God, I’m never gonna get that friggin’ Oscar! Okay, okay, calm down. Really, dude.  Take a breath.  It’s not that bad.  There is a solution.  All hope is not lost.. even though it may feel like it.

So, the solution.. what is it?  Simple. Actually, there are three:

1.  STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER!

That’s right, folks, sometimes we get so caught up in the moment and our own self-imposed frustration that our mind ceases up and can’t process clearly.  The best thing to do in those situations is to take a break and do something else.  The script’s still going to be there when you get back.  I usually make myself a coffee and watch some TV.  Other times I take out the trash or put the washing on.  Whatever.  It doesn’t matter.  It’s simply the fact that you focus your mind on something other than writing for a while and this unclogs everything and gets the creative juices flowing again.

It works.  Trust me.  Been there, done that.  In fact, most of my best creative writing ideas have come away from the computer.  It’s the same principle as setting yourself a problem to solve as your head hits the pillow at night and then waking up the next morning with a clear head and 90% of the time a solution.  Somehow our subconscious brains keep on working behind the scenes and help us out.

2. MOVE ON TO ANOTHER SCENE

That’s right.  If you can’t figure out the solution just move on to the next scene or rewrite an earlier scene.  It’s the same principle yet again. By doing this you will be opening your mind to new ideas which will undoubtedly present themselves once you have disengaged from the stumbling block in question.  Sometimes focusing on another issue is the answer. Sometimes you may not get an answer right away but don’t stress yourself out by creating even more pressure, that’s just counterproductive.

3. REWRITE THE SCENE FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE

Your third option is to rewind a few pages and then attack the troublesome scene from a new angle.  If the hero in the original draft jumps into his car and goes to the bank in order to confront his adulterous wife, maybe he is forced to take the bus because his car won’t start.  Maybe he has an accident on the way and ends up in the emergency ward.  Maybe he gets to the bank and she’s not there.  You see where I’m going here?  All of these ideas will give you new avenues to explore and whether or not they will end up in the final screenplay is not the point, it’s the process that is important.