100 Percent Rule In Film
KILLING YOUR BABIES
It sounds horrible: “Kill your
babies!” But please understand that I am not advocating the genocide of newborn
infants.
Your babies are your ideas. You gave
birth to them. They’re yours. And sometimes it’s extremely difficult to let go
of those fun, fresh, and fantastic thoughts.
But if I instructed you to “Kill
your ideas!” the point doesn't hit home quite the same way. So “Kill your
babies!” it is.
And you must be vicious. You must be
lethal. You must have no mercy. If the pen is truly mightier than the sword,
use it to snuff out any idea that you’re keeping around for the wrong reasons
or forcing into the script just because you like it.
But how do you know when to kill or
not to kill? This is a very difficult question, and the best way I have been
able to illustrate is through the just as frustrating 100% RULE.
The rule is simple: you must be 100%
confident with your script decisions all the time, every time.
When it comes to screenwriting 99%
just doesn't cut it, because if you’re only almost sure - even 99% confident -
that your great, new idea is going to work, than that means some of your
audience - even just 1% - won’t believe it.
If you aren't completely sold
yourself, you should never expect your audience to buy what you’re selling.
But don’t be premature with your
attacks either. Just because you don’t have complete confidence that one of
your babies is going to work, start asking questions to see if you can solve
any lingering problems or concerns. Use the CHARACTER and STORY QUESTIONNAIRES.
Put your characters in SCENE EXERCISES. See what you discover. But whatever you
do, find the answer, because just hoping that your ‘baby’ is going to be self
sufficient is simply never enough.
And remember, you can always kill
that baby for this script, file it away, and pull it out again for another
story for another time. Nothing truly dies.
There
comes a time in the creation of your script when you're going to have to cut
out some of your favorite ideas. It's a tough job, but one of the most vital in
the process.
It
sounds horrible: “Kill your babies!” But please understand that I am not
advocating the genocide of newborn infants.
Your
babies are your ideas. You gave birth to them. They’re yours. And sometimes
it’s extremely difficult to let go of those fun, fresh, and fantastic thoughts.
But
if I instructed you to “Kill your ideas!” the point doesn't hit home quite the
same way. So “Kill your babies!” it is.
And
you must be vicious. You must be lethal. You must have no mercy. If the pen is
truly mightier than the sword, use it to snuff out any idea that you’re keeping
around for the wrong reasons or forcing into the script just because you like
it.
But
how do you know when to kill or not to kill? This is a very difficult question,
and the best way I have been able to illustrate is through the just as
frustrating 100% RULE.
The
rule is simple: you must be 100% confident with your script decisions all the
time, every time.
When
it comes to screenwriting 99% just doesn't cut it, because if you’re only
almost sure - even 99% confident - that your great, new idea is going to work,
than that means some of your audience - even just 1% - won’t believe it.
If
you aren't completely sold yourself, you should never expect your audience to buy what you’re selling.
But
don’t be premature with your attacks either. Just because you don’t have
complete confidence that one of your babies is going to work, start asking
questions to see if you can solve any lingering problems or concerns. Use our CHARACTER and STORY
QUESTIONNAIRES. Put your characters in SCENE
EXERCISES. Explore our STORY
SCENARIOS. See what you discover. But
whatever you do, find the answer, because just hoping that your ‘baby’ is going
to be self sufficient is simply never enough.
And
remember, you can always kill that baby for this script, file it away, and pull
it out again for another story for another time. Nothing truly dies….
0 comments:
Post a Comment