INTERVIEW WITH CREATOR OF THE SCREENPLAY SHOW - RICK RAMAGE #3

This is the third and final instalment of an interview with Rick Ramage, the creator of The Screenplay Show. 

The Screenplay Show is a ten episode web series presented in a fun and unique narrative style. Crafted like no other writing series. Rick will expertly guide you through every aspect of the art, craft and business of screenwriting.

http://thescreenplayshow.com

Go ahead - check it out, and sign up to get updates.

Rick Ramage's Screenplay Show has an indiegogo campaign that's just been launched. 

Click here and get involved.

DtS: What's your writing experience with star power, where ultimately a project being green-lit hinges on a star saying yes or no.

RR: My first film, The Proposition got made because of Kenneth Branagh's willingness to do it. They went to him first and he said yes and therefore, green light. And by the way, Patricia Arquette for Stigmata, as soon as she said yes, the studio said yes. I don't write with actors in mind, so I'm always surprised when a director starts to put names up and I'm usually pleased, but it tells me a lot about how the work is perceived. When a producer or director says, 'what do you think about so-and-so for this role?' Because then it's like, alright, now I can tell how they're thinking about my material. Is it going to be a low budget indy, or is it going to go to a studio? And that's the difference, it's the name of the star that drives the film. 

DtS: Coming back to the notion of why bad films get made, there was a film that got made, without naming names, the room-mate of a famous actress' boyfriend wrote a terrible script. The boyfriend, said, hey, I'll direct this, so he convinced his famous actress girlfriend to sign on. When she signed on to it, she convinced a bunch of her famous actor friends to also sign on, and that's how this incredibly bad film got made. 

RR: That defines the indy market. The indy market is fluid, it's all about finding a package and money, and sometimes it doesn't work. The difference between a studio movie and an indy movie is that studio script is going to go through many machinations, and sometimes an indy feature can be as much luck and helter skelter as it can be a well thought out business plan. 

DtS: How many scripts did you write before you sold your first one?

RR: I had six short films made while I was going to the AFI. Which doesn't really mean anything, as they're student projects. At the time I was working on a thriller feature screenplay and a producer saw it and picked it up for $5000, and it wasn't the money, even though it felt like $5 million at the time, it gave me the confidence to keep going. Then six months after film school, I was running out of money big time, then a friend I was going to film school with managed to take a script of mine called Shakespeare's Sister into an exec at Disney, and Disney was never going to buy that script, but they ended up giving it really great coverage and word got out. I tell new writer's all the time who ask 'how do I get an agent?' I say, you write a script that people want, you get a script that will travel the town because it's well written, then agents will find you. 

The person at Disney said, 'this is great, you should show this to an agent,' and we said, 'we don't know an agent,' so she picked up a phone and that's how it went. Then your script has credibility. I call the process friendly eyes. You put a script out and someone likes it, and - you don't order spaghetti at McDonalds, some production companies get a script and there's no way they're ever gonna buy it, it doesn't fit their wheel house, but that's a valid come-back, because they don't sell that kind of widget, but if it's a great writing sample, they might just go, you know what, we're not going to buy it, but we have another project that we'd love for you to look at, because it needs a re-write. 

Now you're talking, now your name is getting out, your script is travelling and it's actually travelling in front of you, because there was no internet when I started out, and my script was getting around town faster than I was. So that's what I tell new writers all the time, take the time to get a really great writing sample, because even if they don't buy it, you might get a job with that writing sample. So -- Shakespeare's Sister went out, agents found me because of it, they put it out and there was a small bidding war, and I think I had $17 dollars of my $5000 option left, and it ended up selling for $400,000. 

DtS: Fantastic.

RR: Yeah, it was a dream, when I look back, all I can do is shrug my shoulders and say, wow, that was amazing. From there I never looked back, because suddenly everyone wanted to know what I was working on. 

DtS: Tarantino talked about when you do break through, be ready, because the first thing everyone asks, is what else have you got? 

RR: Yep, that's it, you better be able to pitch, or back it up with an outline, or let's hope you have other good scripts in your saddle bag, so you can pull them out right away, because you want take advantage of that heat. Most readers and producers are looking for a reason to say no. But when they hear there's a good writer and they've got good material, they want that next piece of material, so they'll lobby for it, they'll work your agents so they can see it first. 

DtS: On agents, have you had the same ones your whole career? 

RR: I'm only with a manager now, I could point to two or three agents that literally made my career, but now, without trying to sound arrogant, I don't really need agents. I now have a lot of contacts, and as a producer I can pick up a phone and pretty much talk to anybody. Having said that, I do, on occasion lean on a few agents when I really need something to go to someone, luckily I have those relationships, where those agents will do me that favor, but they're quick to point out that they're gonna make a fee, but hey, that's cool, it's a business.

DtS: Is your manager the first manager you started out with? 

RR: I've always been with her. She's phenomenal, and she's a producer too, so it's not like we have that daily grind, where we talk about what Universal's looking for, but I definitely count on her for her good taste.

DtS: The longer you've known someone, the more honest they can be, there's a certain friendship licence.

RR: There is. There have been times where she has picked me up and said, 'you can do this.' I reached a point in my career where I took a few years off, I really burned out. I had two TV shows go back to back and TV can be a meat grinder. It's not like the luxury of being a feature writer, where you're told I'll see you in six weeks with a first draft, and then everyone leaves you alone, in TV it's constant, it's turning a draft everyday with notes, there's pressure, it's a much different experience, and so I began to wonder if that was what I wanted, because, once again I got really lucky, the first TV pilot I worked on was picked up, filmed as a pilot, then we went to series, and before that series ended, I helped another pilot out, I did another re-write, well, I actually co-created it, then that went to pilot and then that got picked up, so then the pressure got even more intense, because people are like, hmmm this writer has something going - so here comes more projects, and I really began to wonder if that's what I wanted.

My son was in high school and I was missing soccer games, I wasn't living at home, I was in the Hollywood hills renting a house and I never left because I was doing most of the writing for the shows, and I wasn't very happy. So I said alright, I'm outta here for a while, and it was a big risk.

DtS: That's good that you value home life so much though. 

RR: My wife is my muse, my family is my sustenance, you reach a point where if you can't reach back in the well and rejuvenate then something's wrong. And the other side of it as well, is, that I used to meet these writers that were sooooo cynical, I mean, we make such a good living, if you're in the stream the money's so good and you're doing what you love and your dream is coming true, then I'd meet these cynical writers and I told myself, you know what, I'm not going to be that guy, and the day I start to feel that coming on, I'm not going to do that anymore. 

DtS: On pitching. What's been your experience?

RR: I had the worst experience ever in Hollywood with pitching. At my very first pitch I went brain dead. I even forgot the title of the film. I was shown out the door real quick. It took about 2 more years for me before I could even think about pitching. But I eventually figured out a method and I'm going to talk about it in my show, of getting through a pitch in a very systematic way. 

Going into TV you have to pitch. So you've got to get a method for your pitch that you can rely on. So from there, I pitched Haunted in the room at CBS and they bought it in the room, and the same with Peacemaker. Then I pitched another show that never got made, but they bought it in the room. 

DtS: What films of yours that haven't been made are gems in the rough waiting to be made?

RR: I've sold 10 or 12 specs' and I've setup or sold over 40 scripts. I sold a script for $2.5 million and it never got made. So you've got to keep that in perspective because in the grand scheme of things if someone pays that kind of money for a script you would think that they're going to follow through and find that other $50 million, but guess what, it's a long way from the cup to the lip, and people don't really think of that. People are like, okay, I sold my script, now it's going to be made into a movie, but Hollywood is a career charged place, the person that bought your script has moved on. So keeping your script aloft and in front of people becomes a real art form. So when you're working with that producer you have make sure he knows you're on his team. It's such a process from packaging to financing and now days, marketing can green light movies, if they don't know how to sell it, forget it. 

DtS: So the majority of your work that has gone into production has been writing assignments. 

RR: Yeah, book adaptations, re-writes, and I've had my spec sales. A writer is one cog in the wheel. You can deliver a really good script, but there's no guarantee it's going to get made.

DtS: We've been chatting for over an hour now, just one more quick question -- do you have a method for developing ideas? 

RR: Part of having a good idea is being able to discern whether or not it's a good one and if it's worthy of spending a year of your time on. I'm drawn to a premise where I don't know the answer. So I can work through the premise dramatically and arrive at an answer. The premise of my first film was based on the idea of a couple hiring a surrogate to give them a baby in the 1930s. A husband was sterile and so he hired the surrogate to impregnate his wife. And the question to me was, do I love my wife enough to let that happen? And I didn't have the answer to begin with. So that became a mission for me to work through that. This way I have my through-line. I know what I'm trying to solve. It was the same thing with Stigmata. I'm really drawn to movie premises that I don't automatically have an answer for. 

DtS: So your ideas are motivated by the unknown. 

RR: I write character pieces. I don't write the big action adventure scripts.

DtS: I think it's easier to learn how to write plot driven films than it is to write character driven pieces. 

RR: I would have to agree. If you can hook your reader in those first 8 pages to say what would I do here? Then you've got 'em, they're gonna stay with that script to the end. 

DtS: I talk a lot on this blog about how important it is to connect the audience to your characters via the use of empathy beats. Do you consciously do that? Or is that something you just find yourself doing? 

RR: I go out of my way to do it, because I want to hook my reader right away. How do you grab someone's attention? There's this great old saying that we write in search of ourselves, and I think new writers often try to invent a completely new person than they are, and if you begin with that initial question, if you're in search of an answer then 9 times out of 10 you'll hook someone because they identify with it.  

There in lies the end of a most insightful interview with screenwriter and producer Rick Ramage. 

QUICK SUMMARY OF THE TAKE AWAY... from this part of the interview.


1) Star Power. If you can write a script that a Star will love, you have a much better chance of it going into production. It doesn't matter if producers love it, ultimately it comes down to will a name actor will like it? With that in mind, look at the actors out there that get films made because of their name. Think about what films they're making, then write with them in mind. Don't just write a script that you love, then automatically think that the star will love it because you do. Look at the actor's most recent 10 films - what have they done? What don't they do? Then write with them in mind. 

2) Don't rush breaking in. When you do get your foot through the door, people will want to know what other projects you have ready. If you don't have any other scripts, you're going to lose an opportunity to cash in on the 'heat' you have as a hot new writer.

3) Pitching. Everyone gets butterflies. Don't worry if you screw up a pitch. Just practice and practice and work on developing a method for your pitches. 

4) Hollywood is career charged. Just because you sold or optioned a script, don't think it will definitely go into production. More often than not, it won't get made. It's up to you to do what you can to keep your script alive and in front of the producers - to try and get it green lit. 

5) When you have an idea, be critical of it, try to discern whether to not it's worthy of you spending a year working on. Is it a concept that could sell?

6) Go out of your way to hook your reader in the first 8 pages of your script. Go out of your way to create empathy beats for your hero. 

Rick Ramage's Screenplay Show has an indiegogo campaign that's just been launched. 

Click here and get involved.

CONCISE WRITING & THE CONCEPT

Just a short post today as I'm busy with projects...

I was reading a screenplay last night in which the writer was over-writing and over directing character movements. 

For example, the writer was micro describing movements such as - let's call the main character John - 'John's eyebrows lift in the middle, he lifts his hand to his neck, scratches nervously. '

Or, 'John takes out his wallet, he opens, it, finds $200 in mixed notes, then offers them to Michelle.'

There's far too much action being described and it slows the read waaaay down. 

This is something I see far too often in screenplays. If you're writing a novel and you want to get into describing micro-movements - go nuts - have at - it's a novel, there really are very few 'rules.'

But because screenplays have set page lengths - you have to use your writing real-estate wisely. 

Your feature screenplay should never come in over 110 pages. And really, if you're starting out, as in, you haven't even optioned a screenplay yet - then you really should bring your script in at the 100 page mark at the most. 

One of the very first things a reader looks at is page count. Why? Because a seasoned reader can tell from the page count what kind of writer they're dealing with. 

If an unknown writer has handed in a 123 page script to read - you know from the get-go the writer hasn't taken the time to edit their script back to a far more digestible 110 pages. 

If you, the writer can't be bothered to take the time to edit your script down, then why should the reader take you seriously?

They've got 100 other screenplays to read - literally. ANY excuse to start skim-reading and they will. 

Now, if there's anyone reading this right now and saying to themselves, 'that's not right, I see plenty of scripts that are over 110 pages'.

Yeah, you do, they're either major screenplay competition winners, or they're from writers that have managers, agents and have pre-existing relationships with producers. 

If you're not one of these, then do yourself a huuuuuuge favor and learn how to write concisely.

Using the second example above, let's look at how to trim down the writing. 

John takes out his wallet, he opens, it, finds $200 in mixed notes, then offers them to Michelle.

That's four beats -- 

beat 1 - John takes out his wallet.
beat 2 - he opens it
beat 3 - finds $200 in mixed notes
beat 4 - offers them to Michelle.

OR

A concise way to write this is - John offers Michelle $200 from his wallet.

This way, you have conveyed all the information in the previous sentence in one simple sentence and in one beat. 

THE TAKE AWAY...

Take a look at your screenplay you're working on. Do a pass where you focus solely on trimming down sentences where you direct the actions of your characters. 

CONCEPT -- 

I've talked about concept before quite a lot - but now I want to talk about it in relation to an actual film that came in February this year.

The film is TRIPLE 9.

I remember reading this screenplay way, way, back. Somewhere near 2011/12. 

It didn't strike me as a terribly interesting script, but quite a few people were going nuts for it. I never really got why?

It cost $20m to make, and has only done $20m at the box office. 

To the uninformed eye that might look the film broke even - but it's not so. To break even at the box office, you roughly need a 3:1 ratio. 

So if your film cost $20m to make - a box office take of $60m puts you in the black. 

I could write an entire post on why that is and the numbers that go into box-office break down of receipts... but for now, I'm in a rush, so do some googling about it if you want to know more. 

The Concept of Triple 9 is - Some nefarious cops conspire to kill one of their own.

That it in its simplest form.

It's a movie about cops killing cops. That's it.

That's not a terribly interesting or unique concept. There's nothing hugely new about that - and there's no new interesting angle to the execution of the concept. 

So you've got a film with really good actors throughout - and a decent budget - that is a financial flop. 

THE TAKE AWAY...

Look at your concept. What is the simplest way to sum up your film? Can you summarise it in a few words. How interesting does it sound when it's reduced like that? 

Be honest to yourself - would you want to pay money to see a film about 'X'? (X being the short summary of your film concept.)

If not - then do yourself a favor and move on - OR if you're married to the concept - at leat re-work it until the concept really pops. 

Remember, if you're working on something we've all seen before - you need to have a unique execution of that idea. What is the NEW ANGLE you're bringing to the tried and tested story. 

I'm out... 

Hope those two tad bits are helpful.... :) 

INTERVIEW WITH CREATOR OF THE SCREENPLAY SHOW - RICK RAMAGE #2

This is the second instalment in an interview with Rick Ramage, the creator of The Screenplay Show. 

The Screenplay Show is a ten episode web series presented in a fun and unique narrative style. Crafted like no other writing series. Rick will expertly guide you through every aspect of the art, craft and business of screenwriting.

http://thescreenplayshow.com

Go ahead - check it out, and sign up to get updates.

DtS: On method. Can you give us a concise understanding of your method?

RR: The screenplay show is for new writers. People who want to know if they're doing it right. When I started out I was fascinated by the method of writers, actors and even athletes. I wanted to know how they prepared. I deal with method in the screenplay show in two parts. 

One is the physical method. Most of us have jobs when we're starting out. Most don't have the luxury of being a writer all day. An uncle of mine told me the rule of one degree, which is, most people who are working have a routine. When I started out, I was coming home from being a salesman, driving my territory all day, I had a little boy, I'd come home, play with him, put him to bed, eat dinner, then I would try to get an hour or two of writing done before bed, but it was at the end of the day and I was exhausted. 

My uncle said to me, if a plane landing in Honolulu is off by one degree it's not just going to miss the runway, it's going to miss the whole island. He related that in terms of the way I was preparing to be a writer.

One little adjustment was going to mean the difference between hitting the threshold of opportunity or missing it completely. So I did it. I started to get up earlier in the morning and give myself that extra hour. And I'm not sure writers understand how protective they need to be of that one hour or two hours where they're not going to be bothered and they can really focus. I also have certain rules that I follow, that's my physical method, how I go about the business of making sure I get the work done. 

Then, I also think the method is intellectual, because if you have a consistent way to solve the problems you've got a really valuable secret. So, in part two of the screenplay show I talk about finding the way you solve problems when you're writing and that's the intellectual approach to method. 

DtS: It's interesting to hear you break it down into the physical vs the cerebral. I have many friends that work long hours while trying to write and force themselves to get up early to write before they have to go off to work. I know a lot of writers who I would call part-time writers, they love the idea of being a screenwriter, but I don't think they realise the dedication required. Do you come across many people like that?

RR: Yeah, and it always makes me sad when they have genuine talent but they don't have the discipline to stay with it. 

DtS: What's that maxim? 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. 

RR: Yeah. I have this saying, there's no such thing as a part-time producer, because when you have a project on the line you've got to give it 110%. I've always looked at my career that way too, the minute I could sustain my life as a writer, I treated it like a job. 

I was writing from 4am 'til noon. Because the other side that people don't realise is that writing is a business and once you get a manager and lawyers and agents and producers in your life your phone starts ringing. They don't care if you're writing, they'll call during the day at any time, so I would work the early hours, knowing that I was going to have a lot of calls in the afternoon. 

DtS: On the note of finding the time to work, how do people close to you deal with your dedication to writing. Are they understanding? 

RR: I took the time to explain why I was doing this. If you're living in a house with your partner and children, they need to understand. I used to have this joke where my son would walk into my writing room and say, 'Hey dad, I don't mean to interrupt, but...' and I'd be like, 'Well come on in, it's too late now...' But I never got shitty about it because that's stupid. Life happens. But for the most part, once people see the work happening, then they're respectful of it. 

DtS: Having people around you that understand how important writing is to you, is super important. 

RR: It's funny, because, I tend to watch the scene in my head, then write it down then I work with it from that point on. But you wouldn't walk into a theatre and tap someone on the shoulder, and say, hey, come outside for 5 minutes. 

DtS: Good analogy. 

On producers. A producer I work closely with loves meeting new people, going to events and rubbing shoulders and working the crowd, I'm a lot more introverted when it comes to that. Are you extrovert? Do you enjoy going out and meeting new people? Are you introvert? Where do you lie on the spectrum? 

RR: I'm shy. It's always very fun for me once the meeting begins, because I lose those nerves. I think the first producer I met, Richard Zanuck, (producer of Jaws) I was scared to death of, but he was so utterly welcoming it put me at ease. It's hard to explain to new writers, but these people really want your success. If you're in that room, there's a reason. You wrote something that intrigues these guys. 

DtS: And they read a lot of screenplays. 

RR: If you're there, they want you to succeed. And I think that once you accept that then working with them becomes easier. You see, I've always embraced notes, I've always thought of them as protection, because I want my work to be the best it can be. It can be pretty hard to look at someone like Richard Zanuck giving you notes and say, 'I disagree.' He's forgotten more than I've ever known. So I always embraced notes. And going into those rooms, once I got in there, I was always fine. It's like being an athlete, you better have a few butterflies, because you want to be at your best. 

DtS: If you're too confident about the meeting and you go in too calm and composed, you're not taking it seriously enough, that will come across. 

RR: Yeah, and the other thing is, these people are paying you a lot of money. I never wanted to let anyone down. Because if anything, after you sell a script, the pressure on you is greater. It doesn't go away. 

DtS: How do you deal with notes? I've had notes where I thought, that's a bad note, but I'm going to incorporate it to appease the producer that gave it. Have you had that situation?

RR: There's three phases, there's the honeymoon phase, where they've just optioned it, or bought it, and you need to ask questions in that room to find out what they like about it, because you know that what they don't like about it is coming. 

Then once I start hearing the notes -  I'm always very aware that I'm in a highly political environment. There are assistants, there are producers, executives, so I would never argue with a note. Not in that room. I would listen and say, 'okay, let me work with that, that's interesting.' Which really meant, 'that sucks and I can't imagine doing that,' -- and it's not kissing ass, because you've got to remember, these guys just paid a lot of money for your script, and to embarrass the executive is absolutely a mistake because they're going to remember it. 

Just be political, I'd say, 'yeah, let me work with that, I'll see what I can do.' And then I would go home, and as far fetched as some notes would be, I would actually try to see if I could get the note to work, and then I would make a private call and say, I'm working with the note you gave me, do you want to take a look at it. And 9 times out of 10, they'll admit, 'yeah, that doesn't really work does it.' 

DtS: That's a really great point you've raised. Bringing the producer that gave the bad note in to reject it, you've done their work, and you've shown it to them. Now let them make the decision to cut it. That's a really important thing. 

RR: I've sat down with some really smart story executives, and the really good ones will know when they gave you a bad note. And they'll be like, 'yeah, let's move on. But thanks for trying.' But you've got to give people credit. And I think it's important because they're in this business for a reason as well. Now, the key to all this, is that if you're not careful, you can write yourself out of a job on your own script very quickly if you're obstinate or hard to deal with. I work really hard to stay with my script. I want to make steady progress so I stay with it as apposed to them turning to someone else. 

DtS: I've seen scripts out there, that have started off in a great form, but for what ever reason, they've been handed over to a second writer, who has, not necessarily butchered the script, but taken it in a different direction and I've always felt sad, watching that, especially when I know the original writer, and even with people I don't know the writer. I'll read the original script and love it, then see the film on the big screen and it's completely different, and I wonder what the hell happened? It's very important to realise that you're working for these people -- I recall someone saying once that 'no one sets out to make a bad film' - everyone sets out to make the best film they can.

RR: I had a producer tell me something really interesting once, we were talking about how some of these films even get made, because there's these fantastic scripts circulating, but they don't get made, but instead, some idiotic film will get made, and we were going to one of the few Hollywood parties I've ever gone to, and he said, 'Oh, you want to know how that happens?' And I said, 'yeah, I do, how does it happen?' And he says, you're about to find out.' And we walked in the door of this fantastic mansion in Beverly Hills, and there was Salmon pink shag carpet with lime green drapes, and he said, 'you see Rick, it's a matter of taste.' And I'll never forget that, because I was like, 'Yeah, this is a subjective business and taste matters.' 

DtS: Talking about subjectivity, that's a really important note, I was in an environment recently where a guy was talking about the film John Wick, which I wasn't a massive fan of, and he turned to me and said, 'Hey man, have you seen John Wick?' And I said, 'sure I've seen it,' and he was like, 'How amazing was that film?!' But I didn't think it was great. Then I was looking at this guy, he was a 20 year old kid, to him seeing Keanu busting up some Russians was the greatest thing ever, but here's the thing, he's a vote - he's got money and he votes where he spends his money, to him, that was a great film, it is really important to be aware just how diverse tastes are. 

RR: Of course, there's the old axiom, what's the one thing you leave a movie theatre with? An opinion. Everyone is entitled to theirs. 

DtS: When I was in LA, at Universal Studios for Halloween night, there was thousands of people going to this horror event, and I suddenly understood why horror does so well in America. There’s this huge cross section of society that loves it. Horror doesn't play so well overseas, not compared to the US domestic market, and I was looking at this crowd of people going in to the Halloween night, and thought, wow, that's a demograph, they've all got money, and they all get to vote.  

RR: That's an interesting way to put it, 'they all have a vote,' because they're all buying tickets. And you've been in those rooms, it's about buying tickets. 

I'll leave the interview there for now... up next, Rick talks about the influence of STAR POWER.

A recap of some of the insights Rick has offered in this part of the interview and how to apply them to your writing... 

THE TAKE AWAY... 

1) Method. The break down into the physical Vs the cerebral. It's really important to realise just how much effort is required to become a successful screenwriter. There's no golden rule, but on average, most screenwriters don't find success until they've written 10 screenplays. That's not ten polishes of the same screenplay, it's ten original scripts written from scratch, each one with several re-writes. A major problem I encounter with screenwriting is - people spend their lives watching films, and there's this misconception that somehow by watching loads of TV and movies that is an education sufficient for you to then go and write your own movie or TV show. 

Let's apply that analogy to cars to show just how misguided it is. I've ridden in cars countless times. Driven for hundreds of hours. Does that suddenly make me an expert on how to design and build a car? The answer is obvious. The same applies to screenwriting. If you want to write scripts successfully, you have to study the craft, you have to get in and understand what STORY ENGINE is. What drives story. That's only the beginning. There are at least 20 other major elements of screenwriting that you need to become intimately familiar with before your writing will stand out. 

Rick's main take-away regarding the physical act of writing is to make time to write. If you're time poor, and you really want to write, it's on you to find that hour or two where you can put the words on the page. 

2) Explaining and communicating with those that are close to you. When you've made the decision to devote a large amount of your time to writing, it's important to make sure that those people close to you understand your decision. This note obviously varies greatly depending on each person's individual circumstance, but it's a valid note to consider, and not something that is discussed much in screenwriting forums. 

3) The visual writing process. Rick envisages a scene in this mind, then writes it down as he saw it, then uses that as his starting point to meld clay. This is a process I also use. You might think this is the process all writers use, but I have spoken with many who say they don't work visually. If you fall into this camp - try visualising a scene before you write it. 

Then even when you have visualised it once, try to address what didn't pop in that scene for you, then re-visualise it over and over until you feel you have it playing out as best you can in your mind's eyes. Then and only then write the scene down. But don't think that's your scene written to perfection. Good writing is good editing. Take your lump of clay and re-work it until it's as good as you feel you can get it on the page. Then move on. But also keep in mind, that you will come back to that scene and re-work it again, when you have the next scene written. Each scene before and after will shape the way your current scene will look. There is no scene that sits in isolation. Every scene lives within context. 

4) Notes, and the hierarchy of the producers. Rick raised a really important note that the majority of emerging screenwriters don't realise - once you have sold your screenplay - it is no longer yours. You really have absolutely no say what so ever in the direction the producers want to take with it. And if that means bringing in a different writer to re-work your script - they can do it. So as Rick said, it is incredibly important to appease those with the power to remove you from your script. Work hard to incorporate all notes, don't be obstinate.

5) Nerves. It's great to hear someone as accomplished as Rick say that he gets nerves going into an interview. In fact, it's a good thing, as it means the STAKES of the script meeting are high. If you're going into a script meeting and you're nonchalant about it, that's going to come across as arrogance. No one wants to work with an arrogant writer. 

6) Taste. It is important to understand there are a plethora of varying tastes when it comes to film. A lot of writers will get caught up in their one genre. "I only write drama.' Are you a stick-in-the-mud writer? Or do you embrace the challenge of writing outside of your comfort zone? Once you understand STORY, you should be able to write in any genre. The principles that make for a compelling story work across all the genres. Horror, thriller, drama, comedy, sci-fi... 

It's really important, especially when you're starting out, to be realistic about what scripts are likely to be picked up and made.

If you're focusing on a $100m sci-fi - odds are your script will never get made. But if you can re-write that same story for a sub $5m budget, suddenly you open up the playing field. Your chances of success have increased manifold. 

Perhaps you've been working on a rom-com for 4 years and over 10 drafts - but still no one is interested in it. Perhaps it's time to put it on the shelf and start working on another script in a different genre. It's important to be aware of what films do well at the box office. 

You can do an easy breakdown yourself. Go to a website like boxofficemojo.com and look at the films that had the highest profit to cost ratio then break down the genres. You'll see definite patterns emerging right away. From there you are aware of the market before you've written a word. You might just even save yourself 4 years and ten drafts of writing. 

More insightful knowledge soon from Rick Ramage - creator of The Screenplay Show.

http://thescreenplayshow.com

INTERVIEW WITH CREATOR OF THE SCREENPLAY SHOW - RICK RAMAGE #1

Last night I Skyped with Rick Ramage, the creator of The Screenplay Show.

http://thescreenplayshow.com

Go ahead - check it out, and sign up to get updates.

The interview with Rick was supposed to go for maybe 15 minutes, nail a few questions, then do a write up. But Rick is such a wealth of knowledge and so easy to talk with that the conversation went on for over an hour.

During that time Rick offered many fantastic insights into the world of screenwriting. Rather than condense it all into one post, I'll do a series of posts until I've exhausted the interview.

Rick is an accomplished writer. In his own words - 'Writing is the only job I've ever had.'

He has setup, sold or optioned more than 40 projects over the last 25 years. He's received pay-checks for spec screenplays to the tune of $2.5 million, and has worked with some of the best Hollywood has. 

The Screenplay Show is a ten episode web series presented in a fun and unique narrative style. Crafted like no other writing series. Rick will expertly guide you through every aspect of the art, craft and business of screenwriting.

DtS: What was the genesis of the concept for The Screenplay Show?

RR: A writer friend asked me to do a seminar, I was nervous about that because I don't do public speaking. I've been in the business for 25 years but I've never really done that. I thought to myself: what am I going to say for six hours? So I called in my editor and said let's do this visually. If someone wants to know about a character arc, we're going to show them what a character arc is visually, as apposed to just lecturing about it, I didn't want to just be a talking head. And the seminar went really well, but what really surprised me was that people had just as many questions about the writing experience as they did about the nuts and bolts. 

DtS: That's something I come across a lot as well. People want to know what it's like meeting managers, agents, lawyers, they want to know about the business end of it a lot.

RR: Absolutely. And so what I had sort of evolved. I thought what if I approach screenwriters in the medium that they're used to. I've met a lot of really talented directors and actors over the years that have informed the way I go about my screenwriting. They were generous enough to share their story with me for one purpose, and that's to get the story right. My approach to screenwriting has evolved over the years. It didn't come from books, or gurus, it came from doing it. I got into the business in a dream fashion, I sold a script right out of film school.

DtS: So you did do film school?

RR: I first wrote a book, and sent it to someone I really trusted, and they asked me if I wanted to be a professional writer or is this just going to be a hobby? And I said, no I'd love to be a professional writer, and he said okay, I'm going to treat you like one - unfortunately your book isn't very good. Which was like - damn - but then he said something really nice, you're a good writer, you write very visually, have you thought about writing screenplays?  So I turned my bad book into a bad screenplay --  

DtS: I've done that --

RR: So I applied to the AFI, which was great, because it wasn't so academic, you learned by doing. Making films. 

DtS: The process of learning by doing is a really important thing. I learnt how to write dialogue by seeing my badly written dialogue performed by actors on screen. And I think there is a huge difference between seeing an actor perform it in front of you, and seeing it played back on a screen. You see so much more on the screen.

RR: Absolutely. It was so powerful, you learn as you're watching, you learn as you're cringing, you know?

DtS: I do know...

RR: You know, it just didn't sound that way when I was writing it. And then I've also had these marvellous experiences where I would watch a rather talented actor take a mundane line and turn it into something fantastic and that's the serendipity of being a screenwriter, you can luck into some of the best moments. It's such a collaboration. A great actor can take a line and make it something special.   

DtS: Agreed. And taking your collaboration concept further, a great director can get a great actor to turn a lesser line into something more powerful. Have you ever found that you have respect for an actor because of a couple of their previous productions, then you see them in another production, but with a lesser director behind them suddenly the actor is not as good as you thought they were?

RR: Yeah, I have. Some of the most profound experiences I've had is that I have friends that are actors, be it theatre or screen,  and while they're performing I'll utterly forget that I know them. That's when I know it's really working. 

While I'm writing I really don't want to go to the movies. I watch a lot of sports, because watching films can turn into work. As I'm watching I start tracking the story, and my metaphor is that I bet a surgeon doesn't go to an operating theatre after work. 

DtS: I spent a lot of time writing music, and I find it difficult to listen to music without breaking down the song into its elements. And it's a similar thing when I'm watching movies now, I'm sitting there, very aware of the hero's journey, plot points, and formula. I find it difficult to disengage and step back and just enjoy a movie as a whole without breaking it into its parts. 

RR: Yeah, but then when it works and you find yourself really lost in a story, it becomes, like, wow! Then you know that something special is happening. If it can make you step outside yourself and literally get lost in the story, that's a pretty special moment.

DtS: So you've been writing 25 years, you've been on the production side of things for 25 years, are you less able to lose yourself in film because of that? Is that one of the reasons you love sports so much, because it is real?

RR: Yeah, I think so. I love my job, because it doesn't feel like a job after 25 years of writing, producing, directing, it's been my only job, and I feel really blessed even though that sounds really corny --

DtS: No, I get what you mean, you're appreciative of the position you're in.

RR: Exactly, because I live in Denver, so when I go to LA and walk onto a studio lot, it's special. I don't do it very often.  I'll do it 5,6,7 times a year, and every time I go, it's kinda cool, because it reminds me I'm in the business.  As a screenwriter, you spend most of your time alone in a room. 

DtS: On that note of the writer in the production process, one thing that I'm really coming to understand in the film industry from experience is that the writer is quite lowly, even though they are the one that comes up with the story. What's your take on that? What's been your experience? Have you found that you're not as respected and revered as perhaps you wanted to be? Or has it been a different story for you?

RR: You know, I've actually experienced both sides of that. My first movie, The Proposition, was absolutely the best experience. We went through 12 drafts in the development process. And by the time it was over no one recognised the story anymore. And in the end, the producer said we're either doing the first draft or not at all. So we went back to the first draft, and if the script said, 'Arthur takes the steps two at a time,' they did it. So from that respect, the script was really well treated, and I was a newbie, so while I was teased on set, I was also given a lot of respect professionally speaking. And I've been on sets where you could feel that they wished you would just go away. And that really comes down to a director that doesn't want a writer around, because of their unsolicited input. And I don't do that. I understand my role. If I'm on a set I don't give the director my notes unless they ask for them.  

DtS: I think that's a really important thing to learn, your relationship with the director. I've met writers in my time who have been happy to be hands off, then there are other writers who aren't aware of the writer's position on a set. 

RR: Yeah, and unfortunately, they're the writers that make it hard for everyone else, bad manners, there's a protocol on a movie set and if you don't take the time to learn and understand that protocol it's not going to go well. The psyche of the set really comes down to the mood and the attitude of the director. And if they're collaborative, then great, people are going to be loose and much more creative, and then there's those directors who are: 'it's either my way or the highway,' and those sets tend to be very tense. 

DtS: I've worked on both and know exactly where you're coming from. 

Tell me more about how people will access your screenplay show?

RR:  For now people can access it online through the website. We're currently working out the best distribution for the series. I have spoken with another outlet, another window, and I can't go into too much detail right now, but we may end up being on a cable network. We've captured something special with the show. We finished the first episode and I really wanted to test it - and the feedback I got was kind of shocking, they said that they got so into the story, we forgot that you're actually teaching us about method. 

DtS: That's a powerful compliment.

RR: It is, but at the same time I can't forget the mission, which is, I want to help other writers find their method. Which is covered in the first episode. So what we did was put bullet points up during the narrative so people would go, 'Ah, right, yeah, I'm learning.' 

I'll stop the interview there for this post. Much more to come in the following posts. Next up Rick talks about his writing method, both the physical and the cerebral sides of creating.

For now, I just want to look at some of the nuggets of learning Rick has shared to far. 

THE TAKE AWAY...

1) The first important take-away he's discussed is the learning process. 

Rick talks about learning via the visual medium. I know that's how I learn. I read several books on screenwriting as I was starting out, but it wasn't until I had screenwriting guru Karel Segers show me the hero's journey on a slide at a presentation that it really started to sink in for me.

If the hero's journey is something that you haven't nailed yet, I highly recommend taking some of the graphs that exist and creating your own graph. Something visual that is done in your own shorthand that you can understand. 

I found looking at Christopher Vogler's circular representation of the hero's journey to be no help at all. Confusing, in fact. But when I broke that graph down into a linear line with two seperate journeys running along the same time-line - one for the inner journey (the flaw arc) and one for the external journey (events that the hero goes through) - that I found the hero's journey much easier to understand. 

2) Writing can be broken into two main parts. The creative side, and the business side. 

The creative side is something that all writers experience first. Sitting and writing. But just as important is the selling of your work. The networking. The meeting people. It's important as writers to be aware of this second aspect of writing - the business end. As it doesn't matter how great your writing is, if you can't get anyone worth a damn to read it, it's not going to be made. 

How to apply this to your work? The best experience and relationships I've made have been working with people on projects. If that means collaborating for free, then it's worth it for the people you meet. 

There are good people to meet at writing events and seminars - but I've found personally that stronger relationships are built in the process of collaborating on an actual project than just sharing polite conversation at an event for like-minded people. 

Take yourself our of your writing bubble and get involved physically. Even if that means working for free just to make contacts. It's those contacts you'll be able to call on when your writing is ready to go out to producers. If you've already worked with them on previous projects, and you worked well with them, they'll be much more likely to read your work. 

3) Learning from others. Rick talks about learning from working with other talented people. Again, if you're on a set, even if it's not your film being made, you can see people in action. You can see the physical process of how a film comes together. You can also see what dialogue works, and what doesn't. Look at the script - compare what it looks like on the page versus the final result. 

4) Write a novel.

While writing a novel is a lengthy process, and odds are, your first novel will go nowhere, what writing a novel will do is teach you to use words. I've come across a lot of writers who think they can write, but their only experience with words have been high school or university level writing of essays. That is a world away from writing 100,000 words into a story. 

There is one caveat to writing a novel you must be aware of. That is the difference in style between novels and screenplays. With novels, there's almost no rules. You can write from anyone's POV, you can delve into any character's mind when you want - you can waffle on about any old thing and so long as the writing is engaging, you'll keep your audience. With screenwriting, it is all about brevity. Conveying your scene in the most vivid, yet concise way. 

So while you are writing that novel and leaning to play with words - be aware that when you come to the screenwriting medium, brevity trumps floral-writing every time. 

5) You don't have to live in LA to make it as a writer. Rick lives in Denver. Many screenwriters I know, live outside LA. While it is important to be able to go to LA to turn e-relationsips into real life relationships - with access to today's technology, living outside LA is no longer the hurdle to breaking in that it used to be.

6) Collaboration and understanding the writer's place on the set, and set dynamic and hierarchy. 

It is very important to understand that the first draft of your script that you write WILL NOT be the draft that goes into production. Even the draft of your script that you option or sell in most cases will not be 100% verbatim transcribed to the screen. There will be changes. 

The sooner the writer comes to understand this, the easier it is for them to let go of their babies and start to work collaboratively with producers, actors and directors. 

The more open to ideas you are was a writer, the easier the collaboration process will be. This can ultimately be the difference between people wanting to work with you or not. No one wants to work with someone who has no wiggle room, or someone who takes every note about their script as a personal affront to their genius. 

I'll leave the Take Away here... much more to come in the upcoming posts from screen writer and producer Rick Ramage.