August 2012
6 days ago
0
About Richard
Author of numerous screenplays, several stage plays, a novel, and a sitcom pilot about a group of young people at a celebrity incubator.
Energize. Energize. Energize. These are my three cardinal rules for writing. I'm obsessed with assembling that special creative energy that makes a story come alive. It’s this energy that gives a script its life-force. It's the difference-maker. It’s what separates a competent script from one that really resonates.
My focus on energizing my writing comes from the audience. They don't care about checklists. They want material that has creative energy and they don't want any excuses for why it doesn't. So that's what I aim to do as an audience-oriented writer.
Energizing a script is far from a straightforward process. The creative energy is the part of the story that the audience reacts to. It doesn't make up the bulk of a story but it's the part that makes a story special. It transforms the ordinary. And it's elusive. Anyone who thinks that creative energy is an easy quality to infuse into a script doesn't understand the concept. But there are some tactics which can facilitate attempts to capture this magical quality.
One key tactic for energizing my writing involves employing a nuanced depiction of the interactions between the characters. In life, relationships tend to be conducted in large part below the surface. People commonly mask their true feelings. It’s in this interplay between revelation and obfuscation where I focus my attention.
Differential access to information is another important tool I employ to keep a script energized. This practice applies to both the differences between characters as well as the differences between the characters and the audience.
I tend to keep the audience in an informationally-superior position to the protagonist which facilitates building the expectation that the protagonist is heading for some kind of crisis event. The creation within the audience of expectation, or anticipation, sometimes referred to as dramatic tension, or narrative drive, is critical to avoiding a stagnant script.
Along with building dramatic tension, my other point of focus is providing the protagonist with a difficult decision, usually in the form of an emotional obstacle they need to overcome. The idea is to entice the audience into participating in this dilemma through privileged information that is available to them but not to the protagonist. I sometimes refer to this as my “shared quandary” approach.
And then of course there is the obvious tactic of avoiding the obvious. But there's really no need to discuss this one because it really is so ... obvious. Or at least it should be, but ...
Ultimately my goal of energizing my stories cannot be achieved through the implementation of any technique, no matter how sophisticated. “Creative energy” is a criteria that defies definition and so a writer has little choice but to be guided by feel, based on their own experience. It’s the key to a writer’s magic. It comes from a highly developed sense of what will strike a chord in other people. It’s empathy on the page and really needs to come from an ongoing orientation in a writer’s life.
When asked where I’ve derived my writing technique from, I can only reply that it’s come mostly from codifying the instincts that I’ve had all along. I haven’t always been aware of how it is that I construct a story, but I’ve always had a feel for creating emotional engagement with the audience.
Audiences are looking for something special that’ll make them feel more alive, and that’s exactly the same thing I’m looking for when I’m writing. This is why I feel so in sync with the audience. We’re on the same mission. As all writers should be.
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Loglines
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The Dating Doctor Budget: $1M - $5M | Romance ⋄ Comedy In this nuanced take on the difference between genuine and self-serving relationships, a woman recovering from a recent breakup starts a business as "The Dating Doctor", but then accidentally becomes involved with one of her client's dates.
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Cage Trap Budget: $1M - $5M | Sports ⋄ Drama In this inspiring drama about how we cope with fear, a successful Latina cage-fighter wants to leave the sport to pursue her dream of becoming a singer, but she finds that getting out is harder than she thought.
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Robot Love Budget: $1M - $5M | Sci-fi ⋄ Drama In this cautionary tale about the emotional hazard that AI will present in our lives, a man messes up his romantic relationship by becoming emotionally involved with an artificially-intelligent erotic robot.
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No Shelter Budget: $100K - $1M | Thriller ⋄ Drama In this disturbing story about consensus, coercion, and control, a man who takes three people into his underground shelter finds himself embroiled in a power struggle as his guests come to question his motives.
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Celebcubate (Sitcom) Budget: $1M - $5M | Comedy A group of young people at a shared workspace that operates as a celebrity incubator work together to try to crack the code to achieving celebrity.
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Washed Up Budget: $1M - $5M | Comedy In this comedic take on inter-generational conflict, a mature filmmaker, once at the pinnacle of the business but now fallen on hard times, and desperate to finance a comeback project, secures funding from a crypto-cash billionaire, with the condition that the billionaire’s egotistical son be the co-director of the film.
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That's Just Who I Am Budget: $1M - $5M | Family “That’s Just Who I Am” is a comedic drama in which eleven-year-old Thomas has to struggle for acceptance when he finds that the only way he can successfully shoot a basketball, is with his eyes closed.
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Your American Cousin Budget: $1M - $5M | Romance A spoiled egocentric Indian-American young man gets booted out of college and his parents send him to visit his cousin in India in the hope that connecting with his roots will somehow straighten him out.
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Revenge Of The Robo-Writers: Mentors Not Masters Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy A writer discusses the experience of losing the best screenplay Oscar to an AI called the Robo-Writer 3000.
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Gender Anxiety Budget: $100K - $1M | Sci-fi ⋄ Drama A man and a woman join forces to oppose an impending gender dystopia scenario.
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I'll Have Your Heart Budget: $100K - $1M | Thriller A woman holds a former lover captive and tries to convince him that he's still in love with her.
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Listen To What I Mean Comedy A single woman in her late thirties wants a family before it's too late. As she becomes increasingly desperate, she manages to discover love where she thought it had been lost.
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Time's Up For Slam Budget: $1M - $5M | Comedy ⋄ Drama A young woman is forced to deal with sexual harassment when she gets a bit part in a movie with a famous comedian.
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Intervention Me Budget: $100K - $1M | Comedy ⋄ Drama A woman seeks out an intervention to help her deal with an unusual form of sexual addiction that she believes she has.
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Drone Games Budget: $1M - $5M | Drama A brat-pack of drone paintball competitors must overcome their differences in order to save their group which has become a lifeline for them all.
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Danger Cave Family Two twelve-year olds lead the hunt for mysterious cave dwellers hiding out in the desert. In a race against local authorities, the kids confront their fears in different ways and discover their inner hero as they save the day.
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Bringing Pussy Riot To America Comedy ⋄ Drama This is a short script (14 pp) in which two students clash over a Pussy Riot tribute band entered in the school's talent contest.
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Revenge of the Robo-Writers Budget: $0 - $100K | Fantasy ⋄ Comedy The introduction of the Robo-Writer 2000 to the film industry turns out to have un-expected consequences.
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Revenge of the Robo-Writers: The Franchise Continues Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy The Robo-Writer franchise continues with the introduction of the character of Redundant Writer.
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Look Booker Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy A man makes a fortune in the look-book business, and then it all goes wrong.
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Celebcubate - Webisode #1 Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy Kassidy and Sharyn stumble into taking the Syphilitic Monkey Pledge.
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Celebcubate - Webisode #2 Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy Sharyn gets a job prospect but it would involve working for one of the industry's leading sex-rassers.
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