DOA?
Flashback advice. Page 2
Yeah sorry wil edit. DOE was nowhere near as good lol.
I don't know - the Department of the Environment can be pretty scary.
DOE is dear to me.
Fah!
So?
I wouldn't use to many "FLASHBACKS" as this is deemed as lazy and a serious lack of thought to find another way around the situation you are trying to write.
There should only be one or two flashbacks in any script if it's absolutely necessary.
Quote: Mr Darkly @ 5th February 2014, 7:48 PM GMTI wouldn't use to many "FLASHBACKS" as this is deemed as lazy and a serious lack of thought to find another way around the situation you are trying to write.
There should only be one or two flashbacks in any script if it's absolutely necessary.
Ahem.
Bollocks.
If I read a script and it was all, flashback this and flashback that it would go straight in the BIN! The person might aswell gather all the flashback scenes up and use that as their film.
As I stated in my last post. There is no problem with one or two if it's important to the story, but after that it's in the shredder!
Quote: Mr Darkly @ 5th February 2014, 8:38 PM GMTIf I read a script and it was all, flashback this and flashback that it would go straight in the BIN! The person might aswell gather all the flashback scenes up and use that as their film.
As I stated in my last post. There is no problem with one or two if it's important to the story, but after that it's in the shredder!
Do you actually have a shredder?
Thank God you never read Citizen Kane
Or...
The Godfather
Inception
The Silence of the Lambs
Casablanca
The Usual Suspects
Memento
Gladiator
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Rashomon
EDIT: I meant The Godfather 2, of course. Sorry
Quote: Lazzard @ 5th February 2014, 10:10 AM GMTSo what you have is a fish-out-of-water story.
City living guy finds himself in the boondocks doing all sorts of shit he'd never thought he'd have to.
So you need to show him in his favoured environment to make the story work.
But it's just a means to an end - the bulk of the fun - and the remaining episodes I should imagine, are set in the out-of-water setting.
So pare it down to the bare minimum - what's the least you can get away with to make the story work.
Classically in film scripts it happens at the end of Act 1 - about a quarter of the way in to the story.
So, I guess if you are writing a TV hour you could afford max 10-12 minutes of set up.
But that, as you say might give readers/viewers the wrong impression of where the thing is meant to end up.
A classic way of doing this is a sort of "how did I get here?' opening.
Bloke doing barmy thing in scotland - up to his neck in pig-muck, holding onto a bull's tail whilst being chased by a swarm of bees.
Freeze frame, or wind-back or some other such device to same bloke smart suit, strolling into smart office block etc etc.
Then you have to very quickly explain/show how he ended up in Scotland or wherever
That way, the tone of the thing is established up front.
It doesn't matter how much funny stuff you have written in the set-up - chuck it out, cut it down.
The only other thing you might want to include in the 'flashback' is what wants 'fixing' in the character i.e. he won't commit, or he's uptight emotionally - stuff that unravels during the telling of the story.
Also any stuff that might be relevant to the fish-out-of-water bit - things that exacerbate it i.e. he's afraid of heights and end up a mountain.
Terrifically helpful - just the phrase "how did I get here?" crystallises what I guess I was trying to get at.
BTW in the elevator pitch I was (or at least I thought I was) using the clichés ironically - which I could hear clearly nuanced in my head but of course a cliché is still a cliché and doubly so when just written. I will rewrite that as well.
Thanks Lazzard and the others who posted.
Quote: Mr Darkly @ 5th February 2014, 8:38 PM GMTIf I read a script and it was all, flashback this and flashback that it would go straight in the BIN! The person might aswell gather all the flashback scenes up and use that as their film.
As I stated in my last post. There is no problem with one or two if it's important to the story, but after that it's in the shredder!
Hi Mr Darkly
Interesting that you could be put off. Do you read scripts professionally?
Quote: Tim Azure @ 6th February 2014, 12:31 PM GMTI remember it well...
SOUND OF A HARP STARTING UP
Surely the last post would be a trumpet?
Quote: Tim Azure @ 6th February 2014, 5:05 PM GMTA bugle even?
I stand corrected...and might just go into a flashback and there re edit my post...
Quote: playfull @ 6th February 2014, 5:45 PM GMTI stand corrected...and might just go into a flashback and there re edit my post...
Careful - you could end up in the shredder.