• About and Contact
  • All Recommended Books
  • Favourite Screenwriting Books
  • Pitching Tips
  • Police Slang Book

ScreenLab: Charles Harris' Screenwriting Blog

~ Practical advice for film and TV screenwriters

ScreenLab: Charles Harris' Screenwriting Blog

Monthly Archives: January 2011

Canaletto, Gaugin, Cezanne, Dickens and Screenwriting

26 Wednesday Jan 2011

Posted by Charles Harris in Novel writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

action, character, cinema, novel, Screenwriting, structure, writer

I managed to get to three  of the biggest exhibitions in town this January and took time off to read a great novel. It wasn’t easy. There’s always a reason for not doing the things you enjoy. And you know the strange thing: whenever I fight the urge to work and do instead the thing I enjoy, I get an insight that feeds straight back into my work.

This time it was the same insight four times.

The first time was Canaletto and his Rivals at the National Gallery. I always liked Canaletto but tended to think of him as rather picture postcard. Not a bit of it. When you see him close up, you realise how strong is his sense of structure, how daring his compositions.

But what I saw most of all was his use of gesture. How he could create the sense of a real human being simply through the way a tiny figure stood, threw out an arm, or hunched over a basket.

Gaugin and Cezanne had the same ability to create a character in a simple posture or frozen movement. Dickens, maybe the most cinematic of novelists, had a similar flair for finding just the right actions to immortalise a human being before your very eyes.

How could this apply to screenwriting? How could it not?

Look at the way a great writer can introduce a new character with a simple action. Bonnie Parker putting on make-up. Scarlett O’Hara refusing to talk about war.

Not for them, lengthy descriptions, details of age, and so on.

Back to the easel…

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

How not to sell your script

14 Friday Jan 2011

Posted by Charles Harris in Selling

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

cinema, drama, film, movie, pitch, screenplay, Screenwriting, scriptwriting, selling, success, tip, TV, writer, writing

Last night I got a call from a company who I’d bought from before.

The previous time, I spent good money with them – this time I put the phone down after a minute.

What was the difference?

Last time I wanted what they were selling me. It was an upgrade to some software that was causing me problems. They offered to solve my problem. I bought their product.

This time I didn’t have a problem – or rather I didn’t have a problem that was appropriate to what they wanted to sell me.

The same happens with scripts. If you want to make sure I don’t buy your script, make sure it doesn’t solve my problem.

What’s the problem you need to solve? My problem is that I need scripts that I can make. Stories that fit my style and my budget and that I can take to the financiers I have contacts with.

The same goes essentially for every single producer, director, agent, big and small, and also to any actor or crew that you are trying to get on board.

They will buy it if it solves their problem.

Thus they will solve your problem (selling your first script.. and your next).

So today’s tip for selling your first script (and your next) is:

Find out what their problem is.

How do you find out?

Research.

You read the trades, study the newspapers, search the Internet, check out all the films and TV programmes that are in your genre, go to festivals, panel events and workshops. And you talk to everyone you meet.

This is not about selling out to the market – it’s about selling your script by knowing the market.

The information is out there, if you look, and listen, for it.

So, there’s no excuse. Start looking.

And if you want to give yourself a head start, and spend a day learning the tricks and techniques of selling your first script (and your next) I’ve got a workshop on Saturday January 29 that will give you loads of solutions!

See you there.

Click here to find out about Selling Your First Script (and your next… and your next…)

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Categories

Top Posts

  • Are you getting my articles on screenwriting?
  • Resubscribe for new screenwriting articles
  • Moving home, do join me
  • Automatic screenplay query letter generator for screenwriters
  • How do writers come up with character names for their scripts?
  • Can porn be art? How do you write sex and do it well?
  • How to write a script report, and why it's good for your writing
  • How to express yourself without killing your screenwriting career
  • 12 essentials for writing a film or TV treatment
  • Two simple ways to add power to your pitch

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,376 other followers

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Charles Harris' Blog - Making A Scene

Review: The Portrait of a Lady

Review: Making a Good Script Great

Review: Joe Bob Goes To the Drive-In

Sugar – an apology from Charles Harris Enterprises

A stocking filler for the criminal in your life

Blogroll

  • AFFEKT links about film and screenwriting
  • All About Flicks
  • Charles Harris Home
  • Drew's Script-O-Rama
  • Euroscript
  • Excuse Editor
  • Footloose Films
  • Linda Aronson – 21st Century Screenplay
  • Ron Aberdeen's blog
  • Scriptadvice.co.uk
  • The Writer Type
  • Tom Williams screenwriter blog

Charles Harris

  • How to ask is.gd/gQVLSQ 36 minutes ago
  • Writer’s Voice is.gd/HG1IUs 6 hours ago
  • #Cheltenham Fun and Danger is.gd/0rb5kh #bbc #euroscript #film #movie 12 hours ago
  • What was I when the cat needed letting in? is.gd/dXpcxv #bookshops #morecambevice 18 hours ago
  • Ukraine elected a comedian president – so what do politicians think of voters? is.gd/tGIfeF #politics #satire #tv #tvdrama 1 day ago

Archives

  • August 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • November 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • October 2009

Recent Posts

  • Are you getting my articles on screenwriting?
  • Resubscribe for new screenwriting articles
  • Moving home, do join me
  • Automatic screenplay query letter generator for screenwriters
  • How do writers come up with character names for their scripts?
  • Can porn be art? How do you write sex and do it well?
  • How to write a script report, and why it’s good for your writing
  • How to express yourself without killing your screenwriting career
  • 12 essentials for writing a film or TV treatment
  • Two simple ways to add power to your pitch
  • How to ask experts to help research your script
  • How to make your script editor-friendly
  • If you want to write for cinema, learn to multi-task
  • 6 techniques for making your writing visual
  • 8 ways to make your characters come vividly to life

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • ScreenLab: Charles Harris' Screenwriting Blog
    • Join 1,376 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • ScreenLab: Charles Harris' Screenwriting Blog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
%d bloggers like this: