Start with that picture in your mind

That’s how I begin writing; I have a picture that inspires me. It could be something like ‘three Knights on horseback on a hill overlooking a village’ or an ‘alien sitting in a restaurant looking at his watch as it countdowns to something.’ The point is, in the beginning there is very little to go on except this image but once I have it and it excites me enough I can start to ask questions about it.

Start asking questions

Questions are great for opening up the little material you have and expanding on it without you having to just think of stuff out of the blue.

Take the alien example above. I can ask questions such as:

• How did he get there?
• What’s his watch counting down to; is it the destruction of the earth?
• Does anyone recognise him?
• Where does he go after this?
• Is anyone chasing him?
• Meat or fish?

You get it anyway. What happens when I start asking these questions is that more images and ideas develop in my mind, some good, some not so good but a whole load of material will start to come together. It’s exciting at this point to think of the possibilities of the story; you can take it anywhere you want.

Follow the leads

Some of these new leads will inspire me again and form the basis of other scenes. At this point nothing should be discarded as it is too soon to decide or make judgements about what is relevant and not and what might be good in the long term. Later, much of this material may be discarded but for now every idea should be kept for possible eventual use.

Name the scenes

Now at this point I will separate what feels like different scenes and give them a short, one line description. Often they will not seem to link together in any feasible way but this again too early to question. If you try too hard to link scenes together before they are ready, you will only end up with a dull and ordinary script; due to the fact you are only using only remembered knowledge of how to write stories from what you’ve read, seen or done before. Your deeper mind will link your story together in far more interesting ways if you let it.

Don’t forget to start writing

The most important part of writing a screenplay is actually starting it! You have to follow an idea that excites you and that you feel you want to write about. It’s time to take that picture or line or whatever it is in your head and get it down onto paper. Don’t worry about a beginning, middle or an end just start with those images that inspire you and the rest will follow.

JAY: One of my major philosophies of directing is that, as a director, I should understand and be somewhat competent in any aspect of filmmaking. To that end, I started in the business as an actor. I was a professional actor for a few years, got my union card, and moved to the behind-the-scenes side. Transitioning from live theater (in nearly ever technical aspect) to film, I started professionally as an electrician (as lighting was a major aspect of my theater experience) and moved up the ladder. I found a secondary passion for lighting and cinematography and stayed as a DP longer than I had anticipated before “retiring” officially in 2005.

In addition to acting and cinematography I have professionally produced, written and edited films. I think, in the end, knowing and being somewhat competent in all of these trades makes me a much better director. I’m not a real big Star Trek fan, but I’ve often used the analogy of Captain Kirk as the epitome of what a director should be. Someone who is clearly in command, who has the mission objectives firmly in mind, who has the respect of all of those under his command and who knows enough about everyone’s job to be able to troubleshoot any given problem. Sure, Scotty is a much better engineer than Kirk, but when those warp drives don’t work – it’s usually Kirk’s out-of-the-box suggestion that gets Scotty going in the right direction…

That’s what a director is supposed to go: keep everyone moving in the right direction. All of that is a very long-winded way of saying my photography helps my direction by having an intimate understanding of how to tell a story visually – and the skills to understand clearly how to technically accomplish what I’m asking for.

HOW DIFFICULT OR EASY IS IT TO STAND BACK FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHY SIDE OF THINGS?

Surprisingly, not that difficult at all. In 2002, I directed the short film The Night Before and it was the first time I ever worked with another cinematographer – a good friend of mine (and a brilliant DP) Chris Probst. I was taking on a short film with three lead child actors, and I knew I’d have my hands full taking care of the directing chores without worrying about the photography. Keep in mind, prior to this film, I had worked solely as a professional DP for about five or six years. Prior to that I was a gaffer for a few years, an electrician before that and going even further back I was a lighting designer and master electrician in theater – so it’s safe to say for a decade and a half, at that point, lighting had been nearly my whole life.
It was the second day of the shoot on The Night Before and as we were doing a turn-around, I was looking over my script and I heard Chris tell the gaffer to put the “baby” (a 1,000 watt Fresnel fixture) on the other side of the room. I stopped, looked up and realized that I didn’t have any clue there was even a baby in the room! Here we were – a day and a half into shooting and I had NO cognizant idea at all of the lighting that was going on around me. At that moment I looked up and saw his fixtures hanging in the ceiling and saw how he was approaching things…
But prior to that moment, I hadn’t paid any attention at all. It was an extremely liberating experience to totally surrender that aspect of production to someone I wholly trusted. Of course Chris and I discussed the look before hand and I would often make adjustments to the shot just before we rolled (IE: Can we get a little more or less fill here?) but they were minor differences.
I still love shooting, but directing has been my passion my whole life and it was really wonderful to just concentrate on that and do the best job I could.

FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN IT, CAN YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR SHORT FILM “DESCENT”?

Descent is a short, fifteen minute, thriller about a woman trapped in an elevator with a killer. The official log line is something along the lines: Six weeks after secretly witnessing the brutal murder of her best friend, Andrea finds herself trapped in an elevator with the murderer.

YOU COLLABORATED CLOSELY WITH CHRISTOPHER PROBST, WHO WAS THE CINEMATOGRAPHER AND CO-WRITER ON “DESCENT”. HOW DID YOU END UP WORKING TOGETHER?

Chris and I met during my brief stint in junior college in Arizona. He was one of the filmmakers in the film program with me – and one of the few I saw passionate and dedicated enough to really have potential (IE he walked the walk).

Chris and I moved to Los Angeles together in 1995 and continued to work with one another and help build each other’s careers. Chris took the path to DP as a camera assistant and I took the path as an electrician. Whenever I shot something, Chris would be my 1st AC and I would be his gaffer when he was shooting. We taught each other and pushed each other. I had always shot my own projects until The Night Before, as I said above, when I asked Chris to be my DP. Chris is, in all sincerity, 100 times the DP I ever was – in addition to being a very good friend. It was easy to totally turn the job over to him and never give it a second thought.

When Descent came around, it was actually intended to be a test of the new Sony F950 HD camera for American Cinematographer Magazine, and he originally had another project he was going to shoot to do that test, but it fell through. I shared the idea for Descent with him and we inadvertently started writing it together. He was a bit skeptical about the idea at first, but when I sent him the first partial draft he got into it – did some re-witting and sent it right back to me. We did this ping-pong process through e-mail for six full drafts to come up with the final product; again – always pushing each other not to compromise and make the best product we possibly can. I had co-produced with Chris a couple times on spec commercials, but this was our first longer project together. All-in-all he was a key component to the whole project.

DO YOU ENJOY WORKING WITH PEOPLE YOU’VE WORKED WITH BEFORE? DOES THIS MAKE FOR A MORE SATISFYING, EFFICIENT PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE?

Absolutely. For years I’ve been building a certain collection of people that I love to work with. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me to discard great people and start anew on each project – I’d rather go back to people with whom I have had excellent collaborations in the past and build on that experience. Chris is one of those people, so is Dan O’Brien, my editor, and Buck Sanders my composer. All of these guys make major contributions to the work and they are always the first call I make whenever there’s a new project.

It does, indeed, make for a more efficient production experience. For instance, with Chris and I, we’ve been working together for so many years now – we’ve reached that cliche “ESP” kind of communication level. He can look at me and say “For this shot, we’ll do a little dot-dot-dot…” and I’ll know exactly what he’s talking about and nothing more needs to be said. That kind of shorthand only comes from years of working with someone. If I had a totally new DP on a film, someone I had never worked with before, I’d have to be much more involved, communicate much more clearly and keep a tighter eye to see if/how he/she was interpreting my needs. With people like Chris and Buck and Dan – I don’t have to do that at all.
Generally I get along with people very well and, mostly, I’m happy to work with them again – but I am very critical and I’m mostly looking for the best people I can find who also work well with my style of filmmaking. There’s a short list of people I’ll never work with again – but it takes a lot to make that list.

HOW DID YOU FIND APRIL ADAMSON AND ROB MCLAUGHLIN, YOUR MAIN ACTORS FOR “DESCENT”? DID YOU HAVE A LENGTHY AUDITION PROCESS?

There was absolutely no audition process for Descent at all. Just prior to Descent I was working as a producer on two feature films and a short film. In a six month period I, literally, saw over 2,000 actors in auditions and I was DONE with the audition process for quite a while. I had originally worked with April on The Night Before and then a good friend of mine, Jamie Neese, cast April as the lead in his short thriller, which I co-produced and photographed for him. Having worked with April on both those projects, seen her incredible range and what a joy she is to work with – there was no question who I went to first for Descent. It was purely a situation where I sent April the script and said “Do you want to do this?” and she said “Yes” that was the whole casting process with her.

Rob was a friend who I had known for a few years. I knew he was getting more and more roles and he had the perfect look I wanted – so I asked him to read the script and meet with me on it. We sat down for an hour or so one afternoon, talked about it and I cast him there. Anthony Backman and I were actors together back in the day. In high school we competed against each other in Speech and were both on a TV show called T.V. or Not T.V. together. I re-connected with him and cast him in two shorts I was doing for Group 101 (a collective of filmmakers in Los Angeles who each make one film a month for six months) and cast him the same way I did April. Finally, Renee, who played the unfortunate victim, had foolishly offered her apartment to us for a location. I was originally considering another actress I had worked with before, but when Chris and I talked to Renee about her apartment we both looked at each other and said “Vanessa?” – Renee was game – and casting was done.

WHEN AN ACTOR COMES TO YOU TO AUDITION, WHAT DO YOU HAVE THEM DO?

That depends greatly on the project and the role. Generally the actor will read with a casting director or assistant from the script for that project. We videotape the actor for reference. I like to talk to them just a little bit before and after their reading, maybe give a little direction and have them read again – but it’s often very clear who is right for the role. For one of the features I was casting in the big six-month span, we did all improve auditions; nothing prepared, nothing scripted. That was a fascinating process.

For The Night Before we didn’t really have an “audition-able” scene in the script, so I decided to give the kids scenes from Stand By Me for their first audition. In the end, that wasn’t the best idea as it showed us who really had acting chops – but not necessarily in good context to the piece we were doing. For callback auditions we switched to the actual script. For more established actors, they rarely audition. We’ll generally sit down with them and have a meeting, discuss the project and character and make a decision from there.

When actors do audition, I’m looking for someone who embodies the role and transcends expectations. It’s amazing when it does happen. You can be sitting through reading after reading after reading, day after day and suddenly someone comes in – and your jaw drops to the floor. When that happens – there’s usually very little discussion – it is simply that person IS the role and they get the gig. It isn’t always that clear cut – but when that happens it can be pretty magical.

Actor’s reputations really make a difference, too. How they are to work with is a big factor in my considerations – do they make for a good set environment, or will they be difficult and put everyone on edge. I prefer to have a comfortable set. Work is fun – we should all enjoy the day (even though it’s hard work) and one main sour apple can ruin the barrel quickly.

WITH A FILM LIKE “DESCENT” WHICH FOCUSES ON THE MAIN CHARACTER’S INTERNAL FEELINGS AND FEARS, HOW IMPORTANT IS A GOOD AMOUNT OF REHEARSAL TIME FOR DEVELOPING THE PERFROMANCES YOU WANT?

We didn’t do any rehearsal for Descent, and I wish I had. What wound up happening is that we did quite a bit of rehearsal and discovery on-camera the first day of shooting. It was a little challenging to “dial-in” Rob and April’s performances to what I was looking for while “on the clock” that first day, but we got through it. Rehearsal is often a luxury that you don’t get. Schedules get in the way and so many factors can’t really be rehearsed – especially for something like Descent where most of the film has no dialogue at all. I would have liked to work with both of them a little bit more in prep, however, but in the end it turned out great.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO CHANGE THINGS WHEN YOU’RE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM AN ACTOR’S PERFORMANCE?

That varies considerably depending on the actor. A director once told me, many years ago: ‘There are three types of actors: the kind you need to baby, the kind you need to kick in the ass and the kind you need to leave alone. A good director knows the difference and works with them accordingly…’ That’s an over simplification, but it’s very true. Generally when something isn’t working right I’ll usually ask the actor what their intention is – where they’re going with the performance. We discuss it and I’ll offer adjustments to their line of thinking that gets it back on track – sometimes that can just be a verb (no, you don’t want to punish him here, sooth him…) sometimes it’s about motivation (this is NOT when she reveals her secret… She’s still scared and it’s haunting her here…) sometimes it’s merely a fact of breaking through the barriers keeping the actor from the good performance. Breaking through the barriers can be tough – and it all depends on the situation.

SOME DIRECTORS ARE MORE COMFORTABLE FOCUSING ON THE TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF A FILM THAN ON THEIR ACTOR’S PERFORMANCES. WHAT’S YOUR VIEW?

I think they’re both equally important. For the moment, for the scene, the actor’s performance is everything. The nuance of their performance drives the film and engages the audience. People go to see people. BUT the technical aspects are what sets the tone and arch for the bigger picture – the whole film. Visual story telling is a major part of the audience’s journey and not focusing on that aspect is missing a big piece of the pie.
I’m very comfortable working with actors, primarily because I understand where they’re coming from. Having been an actor, I can speak their language fairly well. It’s a relationship built on trust – they have to trust me completely to really let go in their performance and trust that I will guide them in the right direction. At the same time, I can speak the technical language. I understand very well the differences between a close up and a medium shot – when to move the camera, when to block actors to camera and vise versa. Both aspects are equally important, in my view.

THERE IS ALWAYS THE UNEXPECTED ON SHOOTS, EQUIPMENT FAILS, ACTORS FREEZE, LIGHT FADES. WHAT PROBLEMS HAVE YOU ENCOUNTERED AS A DIRECTOR THAT YOU’VE MANAGED TO OVERCOME?

Oh, there are problems every day. There are major obstacles every scene, every setup – that’s all part of the job. Overcoming those obstacles is what directing is all about.

I have a personal obstacle that happens once every production. There comes a time, usually a couple days in, when things go wrong – things have to change and my entire plan goes out the window. Suddenly I’m at a loss. What do we shoot? where do we start? what’s the point of view for this scene? How do we overcome this blocking problem? I get overwhelmed, my mind feels like a stripped gear – spinning and getting nowhere. I used to kind of sulk off and try to desperately work out the problem, but I’ve found a better solution. I just dive in and start shooting. I’ll pick a camera position – almost totally randomly – get the actors in and start shooting the scene.

As soon as I do that – it all becomes clear and I can make the necessary adjustments to the current setup to get us back on track. I’ve run into this “moment of doom” once on every project – but now that I know how to deal with it, I’m much less overwhelmed by it. Just dive in and start rolling and figure it out as you go.

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED AS A DIRECTOR SINCE YOU SHIFTED YOUR FOCUS FROM CINEMATOGRAPHY?

There’s a lot more responsibility riding on my shoulders for each project. In addition – there is a LOT less work for me, overall. As a DP, I could easily do 5-10 projects a year – if it got slow, I could find a commercial or music video or short film…As a director, I’m LUCKY to do one project a year. It means I have to really focus on trying to develop as much material as I possibly can in the hopes that one will succeed and lead to the next. It’s a much different business and lifestyle paradigm that I’m still getting used to. I also have a much more direct line to the equity investors and their demands – and that puts a much different perspective on your work, not always a good one. You have to balance all that as a director and I have to balance out a LOT more “down” time than I did when I was a DP – that can be very hard on the spirit, for sure.

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE FUTURE FOR FILM? IS IT “DEAD” AND IF SO DOES IT’S DEMISE MAKE YOU SAD OR HAVE YOU EMBRACED THE HD REVOLUTION?

Well – I don’t see the demise of film anytime soon. I, honestly, don’t feel that film will “die” in my lifetime. By “die” I mean will be primarily replaced by digital technology. Film will never completely “die” as we have a 100+ year heritage with film and no one is ever going to digitize Citizen Kane and destroy the film prints.

At the same time, digital technology is in its infancy and it’s fantastic. I tell filmmakers all the time, if your feature budget is under $5,000,000 – $10,000,000 there is no reason to consider film. Digital technology is the way to go for those kinds of budgets. If you’re above that, then film is more the way to go.

Without getting into a HUGE diatribe, there are four aspects of digital technology – digital origination, digital postproduction, digital exhibition and digital archiving – that need to be firmly in place before the “death” of film. Right now we have digital postproduction firmly in place and a vast majority of projects do not touch film in postproduction at all. Digital exhibition is coming into it’s own – but it still accounts for less than 5% of all theatrical exhibition around the world (in the US we’re seeing just under 2,000 screens digital compared to 37,000 screens film). Digital origination is starting to catch on a little more – but its’ still minor. In 2006 9% of all films released theatrically in the US were originated digitally (excluding animation and documentary) – so we’re still a ways off from digital replacing film in that category.

Where digital is at a COMPLETE loss is in archiving. No one has devised a fool-proof digital archival system that is guaranteed to last 100+ years. Some media can claim to last that long – but no one can know for sure if we’ll have the hardware/software necessary to read that media in 100 years. Film requires only the light and the human eye to see – digital requires much more and the technology evolves so quickly, it is often obsolete before it is even close to seeing full adoption as a standard medium.
So… No. I’m not sad – and yes, I have embraced digital technology.

JAY, CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DOCUMENTARY “CAM GIRLS”

CamGirls is an introduction to the cultural phenomenon of web cams and, specifically, women running amateur web cam sites from their own homes. I was fascinated by this expanding culture and started looking into why anyone would do this – especially those who are not necessarily porn sites and those who do not necessarily cam for profit. What I discovered is quite surprising – the reasons are just as diverse as the women themselves. CamGirls introduces the audience to the real women behind the cams, what their lives are like, who they are, and tries to get behind why they do what they do.
I’ve been working on this for nearly four years now – much longer than I ever thought I would – but we’re seeing a potential light at the end of the proverbial tunnel – so I’m happy about that.

WHEN AND WHERE WILL WE BE ABLE TO SEE IT?

Damn good question. Hopefully we’ll be completed with it by fall 2007, so we could potentially have a release in place by early 2008.

IS THE BEST PART OF BEING A DIRECTOR HAVING YOUR OWN CHAIR?

LOL… I actually rarely ever sit down. I’m not a big fan of director’s chairs – although the older I get the more that will probably change – I’m more comfortable sitting on an apple box or camera case close to the action than kicking back in a director’s chair out away from where the magic is happening. The best part of directing, for me, is when I get to see the final work with an audience and they ride on the emotional journey (whatever that may be) with all the right turns – just as I intended. THAT’s what makes it all worth it.

OK, WHAT’S THE BEST PEICE OF FILMMAKING ADVICE YOU’VE EVER BEEN GIVEN?

Steven Spielberg said it – and it’s VERY true: “Wear comfortable shoes.”

THANKS JAY!

JAY HOLBEN is Director, Writer and former Cinematogrpaher.

Lie Still is a psychological ghost story, with the emphasis placed on mood and atmosphere rather than gore and jump scares. It really comes out of my admiration for older films such as The Innocents, The Haunting, Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, Polanski’s early work, and more recently, J-horror films such as Kairo and Ringu.

HOW LONG WAS THE SCRIPT IN DEVELOPMENT BEFORE IT WAS READY TO SHOOT?

Whilst the first draft was written relatively quickly, it took a while to make the film happen and the script was being worked on the whole time, so I’d say about three years.

YOU COLLABORATED WITH PRODUCER NAVIN CHOWDHRY ON YOUR SHORT FILM “THIS BASTARD BUSINESS” AND THEN “LIE STILL”. HOW DID THE TWO OF YOU MEET AND START WORKING TOGETHER?

Just a coincidence, really. I met him though a friend of mine who he was seeing at the time. He’d written a short script, his first (This Bastard Business), and she suggested to him that he give it to me for advice. Not knowing him that well at the time, I was fairly merciless with it and I’m surprised he stuck with me! However, we ended up working on successive drafts together for a year or so. Eventually he decided that he wanted to produce it and asked me if I wanted to be involved.

The film turned out well, played festivals and won some awards. From there, we ended up doing some corporate-type video work together. However, we also used to sit in the pub and hatch schemes about doing a low-budget feature film. Eventually, we stopped talking about it and went and did it…

CAN YOU TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT THE FINANCE FOR THE FILM, HOW THE MONEY WAS RAISED AND ANY DIFFICULTIES THIS INVOLVED?

Raising money is always difficult. I think one of the main problems we had is that people didn’t believe we could do it for the budget we were proposing. Also, there are always issues of control, and we were determined to maintain that for ourselves. We raised a portion of the budget from doing the aforementioned corporate work, and then Navin managed to put the rest of it together, probably by selling various internal organs on the black market.

HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CASTING THE FILM? WHERE DID YOU FIND YOUR ACTORS?

We had a casting agent advising us, and then of course Navin is himself an actor, so he knew people’s work and had various contacts. He suggested Stuart Laing to me for the main role of John, and after looking at some of his work, I completely agreed. He also knew Nina Sosanya personally, and being a great admirer of hers, I thought she’d be perfect.

Of course, none of this means that people will necessarily be interested, but luckily, most of the actors we approached genuinely liked the script. I think it’s true to say that most actors are always looking for good material, regardless of how much money is involved. If you’ve got an interesting project, I don’t think you need have any problem finding quality actors.

IN GENERAL, DURING THE AUDITIONING PROCESS, HOW DO YOU WORK WITH YOUR ACTORS, WHAT DO YOU HAVE THEM DO? WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

A lot of our so-called auditioning process simply involved me looking at examples of people’s previous work and making judgements based on that. We simply didn’t have time to get into a lengthy casting process.

In general however, I’d say it’s important to get a sense of how the actor works and how that would mesh with your own process. I’d be mainly interested to see what their understanding of the character and material was, and what they were going to bring to the table. It is a collaborative process, and I want people who are going to run with what’s on the page. Stuart, for example, ended up completely owning that character, and added shadings to it that were only vaguely there in the script.

I’m therefore usually not so interested in script readings in and of themselves (although they have a place). Some people read well, others badly. It doesn’t necessarily reflect on their ability as an actor.

I’d also say it’s important to make people feel comfortable during the audition process. I’ve heard horror stories about castings you wouldn’t believe, and quite how that benefits anybody’s work I’m not certain.

HOW IMPORTANT IS A PROPER AMOUNT OF REHEARSAL TIME FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR ACTORS AND DID YOU GET ENOUGH BEFORE THE SHOOT?

I generally like to have a decent amount of rehearsal time, especially when you’re working with a tight budget/schedule. However, I do think it’s important not to over rehearse and deaden the material. I’m more concerned with making sure that everyone at least understands the intent of what’s on the page than getting perfect line readings.

Our pre-production time was extremely limited because of scheduling factors beyond our control, so we ultimately only had a weekend of rehearsal time with the actors. However, this was enough to at least run through the major dialogue scenes and make sure that we were all in tandem on issues of character and motivation.

WHAT DO YOU DO TO CHANGE THINGS WHEN YOU’RE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU WANT FROM AN ACTOR IN TERMS OF PERFORMANCE?

It depends. Sometimes it might be because I’ve not been clear enough in what I want, or a lack of understanding on their part. In which case it’s my job as a director to clarify, and I always maintain that the best adage is K.I.S.S – Keep It Simple, Stupid. As a director, I’m very text-orientated, and don’t go in for windy metaphorical speeches as to what an actor should be doing. It often comes down to what the character wants, which should be there in the subtext of the script.

Of course, it may be that the script itself is lacking (In my case, I can say this without causing offence to anyone, because I generally write my own stuff!). In which case, I don’t hesitate to throw things out if they’re not working. It might be that I have to come up with something else, or else the actor might suggest ideas. Whatever works for the best of the film. You can’t be overly precious about the words on the page.

It’s always a learning process. Actors are all different, and I’m there to help them give the best performance possible. Establishing trust is a big part of that, but sometimes you just have to know what the right thing to say is. I hope that I’ve managed to say it at least some of the time so far.

HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO PUNCH AN ACTOR IN THE FACE OR OTHER BODY PART?

Not whilst working with them, no. I’m sure there are difficult actors, but sometimes people will be difficult because they’re in the hands of a bad director. I’m trying not to be one of those. A lot of it is in casting. You look for people that you can work with. Some people think fighting on a set is somehow a creative process – I’m not one of them. There will always be disagreements, but I think it’s helpful to like and respect the people you’re working with. Of course, it doesn’t always happen that way, and there are a few people I’ve crossed off my Christmas card list (and vice versa), but no actors as yet. It’s often considered normal for directors to complain about them, but I do like and respect actors and their work.

YOU CHOSE TO SHOOT ON FILM RATHER THAN ON A DIGITAL FORMAT. WHAT WAS THE THINKING BEHIND THIS DECISION AND HOW INVOLVED WAS YOUR D.O.P. PETER SINCLAIR IN THIS?

I think we convinced ourselves fairly early on that we’d shoot on film. (Of course, my original intent was to shoot black and white, but I was quickly shot down about that!) The quality of HD just wasn’t there when we first started planning, and we wanted to make the best-looking film possible. It cost us, both in terms of time and money, but I believe it was worth it. It’s very possible that the next thing I do will be HD, but I think there are greater possibilities there now.

Pete came onboard very late in the game, so he wasn’t involved in those discussions, but I don’t think he would have been happy shooting it in High Def. He knew precisely what the film required and did a fantastic job of achieving that in the Super-16mm format we ultimately went with.

DID YOU HAVE A CLEAR IDEA OF HOW YOU WANTED THE FILM TO “LOOK” VISUALLY AND DO YOU FEEL YOU ACHIEVED IT?

I did have a clear idea, and certainly had a number of elements I wanted to achieve, but I don’t think it’s good to be too restrictive about these things. I told Pete early on that I wanted a moving camera, muted colours and deep, dark shadows. From what I’m told, this seemed to mesh pretty well with his overall style anyway, so he seemed perfectly happy with that!

On set, I’d prepared a comprehensive shot list, but you have to be flexible. Sometimes what you’ve planned just isn’t possible because of time restrictions, and sometimes the D.P simply has a better idea. Pete Sinclair is a very experienced and talented guy, and I’d be an idiot not to listen to him. So some sequences in the film are precisely as I’d envisaged them, others I went with Pete’s ideas. It’s a definite collaboration.

So yes, I’m very happy with the visual look of the film. It’s one of the things I’m proudest of, especially given the budgetary limitations we were under.

WHAT OBSTACLES/CHALLENGES DID YOU ENCOUNTER WHILE SHOOTING “LIE STILL” AND HOW WERE THEY RESOLVED?

Not to sound like a broken record, but the main obstacles were time and money. A rushed pre-production schedule didn’t help (we only had a limited window of time to shoot in the main location and had to accelerate things because of that). We had a couple of crew members drop out at the last minute and had to scramble to replace them, which led to a lack of planning in some departments.

Sometimes you just have to improvise and go with what’s possible on the day. I’ve made a lot of low/no budget shorts, so I was reasonably comfortable doing that, but it’s not ideal. There were a couple of days where it was definitely seat of your pants time. For me, a lot of the things I wince at in the film are due to lack of prep time and resources.

It does help if you have a plan, because at least you have a foundation to work from when things go wrong. And we were gifted with a very dedicated bunch of people who believed in what we were doing, which certainly got us through the rough spots.

WHEN THINGS DON’T GO TO PLAN, WHAT DO YOU DO TO REMAIN CALM IF YOU FIND YOURSELF BECOMING FRUSTRATED OR STRESSED WHILST SHOOTING?

Throw things at the production assistants.

Not really. There will always be frustrations and stress, and if you can’t deal with that you’ve got no place on a film set. I’m not a shouty kind of director; I just don’t think it helps. I’ll generally skulk off into a corner and stew for a while. (I always start smoking again when I’m filming.) Like I said, always have some kind of a plan. That way, if things go wrong, you still have something to work from. A shot list always helps me. Even if you ultimately have to drop or combine shots, having something down on paper at least gives you a way forward.

A couple of beers at the end of the day work wonders too.

HOW CLOSELY DOES THE FINISHED FILM MATCH YOUR ORIGINAL VISION/EXPECTATION?

In some ways, it’s very close. The performances, visuals and sound are all what I wanted and more. I don’t think any film can ever live up to the ideal in your head but I’m very proud of what we have.

The film changed from the original script to some extent, but that’s just part of the process. Things were dropped and restructured in editing, and we ended up doing a bit of rewriting and reshooting, to augment certain elements and replace others that didn’t work. You’re always learning, and some things that seem to work on the page don’t always in practice. However, the film is basically the same story I conceived of originally, and the initial approach I had in mind never changed. I wanted a dreamlike, subtle horror film with strong characters and performances, and I believe that’s what we managed to get.

IF YOU COULD DO IT ALL AGAIN WOULD YOU DO ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY?

There’s no doubt, but it’s my first feature and I’ll know more about certain things next time. You’re always trying to improve, and I certainly think I’m a better writer/director now than I was then, simply by virtue of age and experience. So yes, there are things in the film I’m uncomfortable with, but they’re my mistakes and I’ll learn from them. (Judging from what I’ve heard from distributors, I should have put more tits and gore in there too, but this is the film we wanted to make and I’ll stand by that.)

And although it was really no-one’s fault, I’d certainly want more prep time if we did it again. And a lot more money.

And a nice trailer, and a personal assistant…

AT WHAT STAGE IS THE FILM AT NOW?

It’s done the festival circuit and is hopefully starting to get sold to various territories. It’s meant to be getting a DVD release in the US and South America sometime soon. No news on the UK alas…it’s a tough market over here.

OK, TIME FOR A SERIOUS QUESTION: IF YOU WERE A SUPERHERO/VILLAIN WHAT WOULD YOU BE?

Wolverine, because that healing factor must come in handy for hangovers.

WHAT POWERS/COLOURED TIGHTS WOULD YOU HAVE?

I wouldn’t look good in tights, trust me.

WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF FILM MAKING ADVICE YOU’VE EVER BEEN GIVEN OR HEARD ABOUT?

Get plenty of sleep. Hire people who are more talented than you. Don’t hire Lindsay Lohan.

FINALLY, WHAT PROJECTS ARE YOU WORKING ON AT THE MOMENT AND WHAT’S IN THE FUTURE FOR SEAN HOGAN?

I recently signed to do a project in Ireland that has since been delayed due to legal difficulties. As it stands now, I’m not sure the original script I wrote will ever be made, so there’s not much I can say about it other than the fact that it was a larger scale supernatural noir/horror film that would have been a lot of fun to do. Something may yet happen with the same producers but I’m not sure what as yet…

So in the meantime I’m going to go back and try and raise some money independently and do another small scale film. I’ve just started writing the script, so it’s early days, but it’s called Corpses for Dogs and will hopefully be a nastily twisted little exploitation piece, with some black humour.

And tits…And gore.

THANKS SEAN.

Sean Hogan is a London based Director and Writer.

Again, dialogue is as much about what you omit as what you put in. It’s important to remember that in real life, very, very few people vocalise their thoughts word-for-word. Speech is a contraction of a thought process, often designed to evoke a response as much as it is to impart information; often speech is about disguising a thought process, diverting people away from what we think we may have given away with our eyes.

Which leads me to another point about being economical with dialogue: you need to LEAVE SPACE FOR THE ACTORS. Most writers are compelled to put every bit of information into the dialogue because they think in terms of the action having to be complete on paper, but this is simply not true. Think about the following:

Say two characters – who know each other well – are waiting for an important piece of plot to telephone them (another script-writing mistake, but we’ll come to that). When the phone finally rings, there’ll usually be a bit of dialogue along the lines of. “That’s our boy”, or something as one of them approaches the phone. It’s simply redundant (and stupid). All you need to indicate is that the characters exchange a look. If the actors are any good, the audience will know exactly what that look is communicating.

It maybe an old cliché, an actor saying he wants to cut a chunk of dialogue because he can say the same thing simply with his face, but like most clichés it’s actually true, a good actor really can impart a line or two’s worth of information with just a look – and doing it visually is always the better way; it is, after all, a visual medium. Now that may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many scripts don’t appear to reflect this.

And another cliché about dialogue is you should speak it out loud. This cannot be emphasised enough, because it’s the only way to work out if it has the correct rhythm to it. After all, if the writer can’t speak his own words comfortably, how the hell can he expect the actors to?

‘Mike Johnson’ is scriptwriter…yeah, he is.

On Writing (which is well worth a read) on the subject of story. He likens the process of fashioning a story to that of uncovering a specimen in archaeology, that you chip and brush away at the tiny fragments until finally you have uncovered a complete entity. I think he’s really right about this, because ALL STORIES SHOULD ADHERE TO THEIR OWN INTERNAL LOGIC. It’s one of the most widespread mistakes in script writing, and it largely involves making characters do things that they clearly wouldn’t do in reality (or even worse, in the reality you’ve set up).

You know what it’s like, watching a crap film, when a character suddenly does something outrageously stupid or completely out-of-character, and it’s all because the writer suddenly makes them do something for the sole reason that that the plot requires them do it – it is sheer laziness. This is what I mean about writing being a craft. If you want to do it, you have to adhere to the internal logic; and if you want a character to do something, you have to make it believable for him or her to do so.

I’ll make the example very basic. Say, at a particular juncture in the events, that your main character has a choice of three different avenues to pursue: now the lazy way is simply to have him choose the route – avenue 3 – that leads him to the desired climax of the story, but in real life (i.e. internal logic) it’s not so simple, there may be a variety of reason why avenues 1 or 2 may be taken. The best way to adhere to logic is instead of making him decide which route to take, find reasons that actually prevent him from taking avenues 1 or 2.

Just remember to listen to your characters, if you understand them enough, they will tell you which way the story is going to go next; and be prepared, because it’s often in an entirely different direction to the one you thought you were taking. This is one of the reasons why the rigidity of the “three-act structure” or the card system can work against you, because sometimes you need to hear your characters speaking before you know what will happen next.

To be fair, a lot of this can be worked out when your first draft is complete and you’re going back through it.

As your first draft will more than likely be from the point of view of the main character, it’s important to go through it again making different “passes” for different characters. By that I mean going right through the script and looking at the all events from the point of view of each minor character. This is the best way of finding out whether or not they’re behaving realistically; finding out if – when someone responds to the hero with the reply “yes, that’s not a problem” – the real response is actually, “are you crazy? They know where my wife and children live!”.

A lot of this comes down to really getting to know your characters and the worlds they inhabit – in their own heads and beyond. Most of them are simply versions of you who have been through different experiences. But don’t mistake this difference. Say, for example, you have a character who suddenly gets a gun pointed into their face; if that person is a soldier, or a bodyguard or an armed robber, they’re going to act differently than if they are a teacher or singer; and if they are the latter, they’re going to turn cold, feel faint and possibly shit themselves. Just because they are your heroes, you can’t fake bravado in the face of cold reality, it just won’t wash.

Mike Johnson is a scriptwriter

Now there are plenty of books on the market which will tell you the right and wrong ways to write a script; this is a fallacy –

-THERE IS NO RIGHT OR WRONG WAY TO WRITE A SCRIPT (other than “on time” if you’re being paid).

Every tutor or manual in the world spends half its time banging on about the three-act structure, in such a fashion that I believe it has now become detrimental to creative script-writing. “Three act structure” is just another way of saying every story needs a beginning, a middle and an end, which every good story achieves, usually without requiring that such-and-such piece of information has been imparted by page 35, and so-and-so a character has reached the peak of his arc by page 68. Knowing that a story needs a beginning, a middle and an end is just common sense, and so writing a good one is much the same.

Basically, whatever works for you is the correct way to write, be it a system of plot-points on cards, a huge wall chart filled with characters and arrows, or simply an idea for an opening line on page one that spurs you onwards. This last approach may seem like madness, but that’s exactly how the Coen Brothers write scripts – almost blindly, without any real inkling of the outcome of events.

One of the first and easiest traps to fall into when writing is to constantly re-write. On your first day you may write, say, six pages, then on day two you’ll fiddle with those pages before you continue, thus getting sucked into the trap, and what you’ll find, a week later, is you’re still re-writing those same six pages with nothing else to show for it. On the first draft,

-RESIST THE URGE TO FIDDLE.

The best way to write a first draft (in my opinion) is to start and simply not stop; now a lot of what you write will probably be sub-standard but that’s what first drafts are for – getting to page 100 and typing “Fade Out”. At that point you can then go back and start making it all good (or even better – as Stephen King suggests – put it in a drawer for four to six weeks and then come back to it, with a far more balanced eye for what works and what’s bullshit).

It can be a hard discipline to achieve but it’s well worth it, and all it really requires, when you become stuck on how to start or what to do in a scene, is the ability to come up with something, anything, that fits the bill enough to allow you to progress – and you’ll be amazed how much stuff you’ll eventually keep by working this way, because it’s coming from a gut level. Learn to rely on your gut, because trusting your instincts instead of a manual is how you will find your own voice.

Don’t be precious about you work, the only way to develop any sense of self-criticism (which is vital) is to approach re-reading your script as though someone else has written it. If things don’t work, you must be able to recognise that or you’ll never improve.

And even if something works, you may still have to bin it. It’s just words, they can be changed – serving the story is the important thing. As William Goldman says, you must learn to

-KILL YOUR BABIES.

You might have written the greatest scene you ever wrote, but if it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the script, it has to go; if it contains information that’s redundant, or has already been imparted, it has to go;

-IF IT DOESN’T SERVE THE STORY, IT HAS TO GO.

Don’t be afraid to gut your script, it might be the only thing that saves it. And don’t mistake homages for theft. Most so-called homages, if you removed them from the scene, would leave the scene with no reason to be there. Remember, don’t write it a certain way because you’ve seen it done before, write it because you haven’t seen it done before.

‘Mike Johnson’ is a scriptwriter held in the highest esteem and not just by his mom and pop.

A lot of people have a desire to write but just don’t know where to begin.

1. I’m not ready.
2. I’m too busy.
3. I don’t have all the answers yet.
4. I’m not a writer.

Well if you have had an idea swimming around inside you for a while then you are definitely ready, so that’s no 1 gone.

Being too busy is a reality for many of us but we could probably all find a little time each day; there are plenty of books available on time management.

You’ll never have all the answers at the start and this is true of any new task or skill you want to learn. It’s called the fear of making a mistake, wanting it to be perfect, wanting not to fail. If we give in to this one we will never start anything.

Do you think you’re not writer? Well maybe so because not everyone can be but have you tried yet? Or is it just another way of not starting? You won’t know you’re a writer until you’ve written lots and lots. And here’s the rub – the more we do something, the better we get at it: so you can scrub number 4 too.

Let’s look at ways to begin at the beginning.

Have you heard that old chestnut, “a thousand mile journey starts with a single step”? I’m sure you have. Writing is just like that. You can dance around the issue for years but until you sit down and write the story you’ve always wanted to write, it just won’t happen.

The best place to begin is wherever you are now. Make some space in your life and dedicate it to your writing. Find a physical place to work where you won’t be disturbed and begin to make it a habit to go there and write, even if it’s only half an hour a day. Have a pen and paper waiting there or set up your computer so it’s ready to go.

Write constantly for that period and don’t worry if it’ not great quality material. We want to write a first draft, not a finished masterpiece.

If you write a page a day that would be 365 pages a year and that’s a good sized novel! A screenplay is much shorter than that. Half a page a day would hit around the 180 page mark. That could be two first draft screenplays! Can you imagine how satisfying it would be to have 180 pages of your own writing sitting on your desk?

Well, at the start, aim for a ninety page script. With motivation, you can probably write three to four script pages a day. Then you could have a screenplay drafted in one month!

What if you don’t have a story yet?

If you only have one scene in your head, then write it down. Do not wait for inspiration to give you the rest of the story before you write.

Once you begin writing with excitement and enthusiasm you will be desperate to get this story out of the dark recesses of your mind. You will find, with uncanny regularity, different and usable ideas popping into your head. Creativity begins to work when you do. Once you commit yourself to the task in hand, your intuition will begin to nudge your consciousness with mysterious and connected notions. Only when you start to move forward, will your best script ideas follow. The good stuff never makes an appearance while you carry around a lukewarm desire to write something.

Persistent focus on writing will pay huge dividends and it won’t feel like work. Once that story takes hold, you will be excited and passionate and have a keen edge to your thoughts and your ideas. Put pen to paper today!

Check out these posts: How to write a screenplay: Start with the picture in your head, How to write a screenplay: Kick start your script, How to write a screenplay: Freewriting to unleash your creativity and How to write a screenplay: 7 tips for writing a great screenplay.

Log line

A log-line is a single line summarising the entire script or story. It should be dynamic and pack a punch for listeners. This is the ‘big concept’ moment. If someone likes this first pitch they’re likely to want to hear more so make sure it has the ‘wow’ factor.

Synopsis

Summarising the story in present tense is the purpose of the synopsis. It consists of anything between one paragraph and one or two pages. It is good practice to have different versions available, not only for pitching to others but also for yourself; there’s nothing better than being able to rattle off different length versions of your own story without the ‘ums’, ‘errs’ and ‘well it’s kinda like this’.

Step-outline

Here, your story is told in a series of steps. You describe each scene and its action in one or two sentences. Step-outlines are terrific for building up the stages of your story without yet having to fill in all the details. You can then shuffle your short scenes around endlessly as you progress.

Step-outlines are often written on index cards which gives you the advantage of being able to lay them out in front of you and re-arrange scenes at will as new scenes are created. This physical accessibility is often an extremely helpful and freeing tool for the writer at the point when the monitor screen has become an unforgiving and unimpressed tyrant.

Robert McKee, in his classic book ‘Story’, states that ‘the writer never shows his step-outline to people because it’s a tool, too cryptic for anyone but the writer to follow’ (Story, Methuen 1999, pg.413). Once you have the entire script in this format it is a great foundation from which to pitch your story to any interested parties.

Treatment

Every scene is developed into paragraphs and told as if it is happening in the present tense. The action is expanded and described in more detail than the one or two sentence step-outline but only what the audience would see and hear. Dialogue is summarised or excluded, except for occasional important lines.

A treatment will generally be between ten and twenty pages and is often used as a tool for raising financial baking and/or interest in the future film.

If you are ambitious and thorough, a treatment can be anything up to one hundred pages of fully fleshed out story, covering all the elements of the plot or idea. This is a short story format, almost the beginnings of a novel. If you go down this route, you can bet that any script developed from a long treatment will be a good deal more solid, coherent and thought-through.

‘Free-writing’ is one technique that should be used by the screenwriter on a consistent basis and not just for those moments when you are absolutely stuck or desperate.

What is free-writing?

Free-writing is the very simple technique of writing down whatever comes into your mind for a set period of time, say, about five minutes and no more. You do this without censoring yourself, which means you don’t stop after one sentence and make a judgement about how good that sentence is or whether it is worth continuing with. Forget all that until you have filled up half a page, or better still a page.

• Take an idea that you have in your mind; maybe about a scene or a character.
• Pick several keywords that relate to the idea or concept that you want to write about. For example, you have a sci-fi concept, so you decide on: planet, ship, and turbulence. It could be anything.
• Pick something that excites you. Remember we are trying to get those creative juices flowing so it has to be something that you can feel motivated about and this exercise is all about getting past your own critical censor. It is a good idea to incorporate the keywords into sentences when you start the exercise. Even though you have just plucked them from the ‘Ether ‘, using them somewhere in your following free-write will give you the initial direction you need.

So now you start writing and don’t hold back and don’t worry about the words coming out. How hard is that for five minutes?

What if everything I write is gibberish?

Just keep on letting all that subconscious material tumble out. Don’t judge your work or apply any critical process to what you’re doing until the end of the exercise. The idea is that letting this constant flow of words and ideas spill out onto the page is a way of bypassing the conscious, critical mind and letting the creative imagination have full reign.

Don’t be tempted to write for longer periods like this. Free-writing is a short burst activity which you can do over and over again, as often as you want but just make sure you have a break in between sessions.

Often, when we have been sat at our desk or computer most of the day and have written one paragraph, it is because we are putting too much pressure on ourselves to come up with perfect material and the perfect script from scratch. This is an easy trap to fall into and one of the main reasons for it, is the belief that the harder we think with our conscious mind, the better the lines will be. But, there is no point in spending hours or days on a few lines when we have the rest of the story to write. Of course, we will need our brilliant, critical faculty for those times when we have written tons of material that then needs pruning and shaping but you can’t be a perfectionist with the first few drafts of a screenplay. You have to get it written and fleshed out. If you take too long about it, the original and fresh idea you had may start to seem stale and lacking in life. Once the majority of your film is written and the big picture is in place then all those smaller details can be attended to.

Here is a list of some of the important aspects you need to think about when writing that killer script:

1. Originality.
2. Opening with a bang.
3. Believable characters.
4. Emotion.
5. Real dialogue.
6. Pace.
7. Trim the fat.

Now let us look at these in more depth:

Originality

What is this story? Are zombies taking over the world? Is a super-spy taking on mastermind criminals? What about high school kids dancing and singing? Is your story original? Now, this is a big ask as originality is hard to do. Most stories are familiar in some form or other due to mythical and legendary archetypes, legends and outlines. Heroes and villains, ghosts and demons pervade our unconscious. It’s in our DNA and race memory from all those years of sitting round a camp-fire eating woolly mammoths drizzled with berry juice.

Most new stories fit into a pattern of sorts. This is fine. We are never going to run out of new ways to construct stories. But how do we add new elements, twists, differences that give us something fresh? That depends on you and your idea. Just don’t do a rehash job but try and bring your own voice to whatever story you are telling. Everyone has a unique perspective and has experienced the world in a singular and original way since birth, so use that.

Open with a bang

Let’s imagine for a moment that by some stroke of luck your 90 pages have landed in the lap of a producer who can make it happen. None of his or her lackeys are available to read it as they’ve all been fired due to the economic crisis or moved to Bollywood or into the porn industry. So now the boss is about to read your script. Will they read a page or two at the beginning? Maybe a few pages more? Will they go to the middle read some there or maybe flick through, getting an idea about the script and whether it is worth spending more time on? Perhaps they will just flick to the back page and read the ending.

The key is to grab them in the first few pages. This will engender a small amount of latitude and goodwill which will raise expectations and keep the producer motivated, hoping to find some more good stuff. So if you can, open with a bang. That means drama, violence, emotive situations; anything that will engage a reader. Of course, with such a great start, you will have to keep up the standard up all the way through!

Believable characters

Is it a cartoon? Well, even a good cartoon has believable characters that are ‘believable’ within their own world. That is the world we buy into and we will only buy into it if we feel these people and characters are realistic. Let’s say you want to write a gangster film. Do you know any gangsters or does everything you know about gangsters come from watching gangster films? In this case, I’ll bet that the final film won’t be very good or original. What if you don’t know about aspects of your character’s lives? Whatever your subject, a little bit of research can go a long way. Research is easier than ever to do now thanks to the god-like presence of the search engines. There are no excuses for failing in the quest for believability. Believability comes through three-dimensional characterizations that have strengths, flaws and everything in-between. Make sure your important characters are fully fleshed out. Following on from this is:

Emotion

We need to care about someone, anyone. An audience or viewer or reader wants to be engaged in a story. This cannot happen through events or action sequences alone. It can only happen through characters that we care about. A character whether they are good or bad, hero or anti-hero, must engage our emotions and our feelings. It can be a character that we dislike or love to bits. They just have to make us feel something! Aim for this in your story and you are half way there. Real emotion can come through:

Real dialogue

Make it real by transplanting how you would speak with people you know in real or imagined situations. This doesn’t mean put in ever ‘um’ and ‘err’ or every one speaks with your local accent. It means remembering that real people are feeling something all the time when they are interacting with other human beings. They don’t necessarily say what’s on their mind either, in fact they hardly ever do. A lot of things are left unsaid. Are you writing a cartoon? If not then avoid cartoon-ish, clichéd and one dimensional dialogue.

Pace

Readers want to turn the page. Is your script dawdling like a fat, limping tortoise when it should be up and running like a hare with a jet pack? Pace is created by organizing your scenes in the right order and increasing the energy of the story toward the climax. Cut dialogue that isn’t needed. Cut all superfluous description. Let the readers’ imagination do the work spurred on by your brief but highly efficient and perfect scene setting. Don’t be tempted to put in any film or stage ‘directions’ it’s a mistake; they are not needed at all and can be added later.

Trim the fat

Get rid of scenes that don’t need to be there. They may be great scenes on their own or perhaps part of another story altogether, but if they don’t move the story forward in any way – they must go. If you were writing a novel you might be able to leave them but you’re not writing a novel. A screenplay must always be ‘efficient’. Unnecessary scenes will only slow you down, like carrying extra baggage when running a marathon. Often there are scenes which may have had a point in the early draft stage but now just fester and lie there doing nothing and all you want to do is say ‘hey get the f**k out of here, I’m working my ass off and you’re doing nothing!’ Be strict with every scene that you have written.

Bear in mind these tips and you should be on the way to writing a killer script.