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My mind wanders. Not really going anywhere.

Inside my head I knock about

like a guy waiting outside a dressing room at a department store for his girl

Feelings and memories

The past and my issues

All sit around the dinner table and play nice

It's a crazy world we live in, with so much at stake

Shattered dreams and plastered smiles

and miles of piles turning into smiles

all the while

after the paper work has been filed

and the party was wild

this writing is mild


INT. Tom's Mind - Dark echo

Coming up through the spinal cord the image rotates as it enters the brain.


What the fuck is all this mess!?

I take a broom and sweep cobwebs out of the corner of darkness

I look for the light switch but there isn't one. It's not totally dark, but not that bright.

A sound off in the distance, familiar

I walk towards the music. It's Jim Morrison singing LA Woman. Being played on a cassette in the tape deck of my first car, a 1976 Rally Nova. Puke green with bullet holes in the door. I called it the Funmobile.

I loved to drive fast to that song

The part where he goes

Mr. Mojo Risin'

Got to keep on risin'

that's where I would slowly but steadily start mashing the gas pedal

I'm gone risin', risin'

I gotta risin', risin'

Going faster 80 miles an hour, 90 miles an hour

Well, risin', risin'

I gotta, wooo, yeah, risin'

Woah, ohh yeah

Fucking pedal to the medal, balls to the wall

Speedometer buried as we get to this point in the song

Well, I just got into town about an hour ago
Took a look around, see which way the wind blow
Where the little girls in their Hollywood bungalows

STORY SEMINAR AGENDA • Sounds Interesting

DAY 1

The writer and the art of story
The decline of story in contemporary film, television, theatre and literature
Story design: the meaning of story, the substance of story, the limitations and inspirations of story structure and genre, the debate between character versus story design.
Premise Idea, Counter Idea, Controlling Idea
Story Structure: beat, scene, sequence, act, story
Mapping the Story universe: Archplot, Miniplot, Antiplot
Shaping the source of story energy and creation

DAY 2

Act design: the great sweep and body of story
The first major story event (the inciting incident)
Scene design in Story: turning points, emotional dynamics, setup/payoff, the nature of choice
Ordering and linking scenes
Exposition: dramatizing your characters, the story setting, creating back story
The principles of antagonism
Crisis, climax and resolution

DAY 3

Putting the elements of story together
The principles of character dimension and design
The text: description, dialogue, and poetics
The spectrum of story genres
Story adaptations
Scene analysis: text and sub-text; design through dialogue versus design through action
The writer's method: working from the inside out; the creative process from inspiration to final draft.
How it all works: the principles of the previous 2-1/2 days applied in a 6-hour, scene-by-scene screening and analysis of Casablanca

Glossary of Script Writing Terms

Here is a list of script writing terms & phrases one might encounter working with and in the industry as a writer.

action - the movement in a scene which pushes the story forward towards its ultimate conclusion.

adaptation - a script which is based on another medium such as a novel, a short story, a play, an article, a comic book, a video game, etc.

ambiance - the feeling or mood of a particular scene or setting.

angle - the point of view/point of direction the object of attention and or action is observed from.

antagonist - the character or force is main objective is to stop the protagonist (hero) from reaching their goal.

backstory - action and events that took place in a character's life before the present events of the story.

beat - 1) a one count pause in speech or action. 2) a plot point within a story structure.

b.g.- an abbreviation for word background. Refers to action, people or a general area happening behind the main action.

character - 1) the fictitious or real individual in the story. 2) the change and evolution of a character (usually the lead character) in a story. It is in most cases a distinct alteration of the way they think, act, and or view their life and the life around them.

character arc - the line tracing the changes and development of a character through the entire story.

climax - the point in a story or film in which the central character/protagonist faces and deals with their consequence of all their actions.

close on - indicates a focused, tight view on a particular object or character.

complication - an incident which further complicates the plot.

conflict - the interaction and clash of actions, goals, and desires in the story.

crisis - the highest point of tension before the climax in which the issues at hand hang in balance before the protagonist decides to act.

cut to - an abrupt change to a different view, location, time, character, etc. It frequently refers to an immediate change/transition between scenes.

deus ex machina - a resolution or end to a plot problem which is too convenient for the characters and generally seems unbelievable or forced particularly to an audience. It literally means "the god from the machine."

dialogue - the words spoken by the characters in a story.

dilemma - a moment or situation in which a character must chose between two different paths of action which are undesirable.

dissolve to - a slower change in which a one image fades out and another image fades in to. Used to generally show a transition in time from hours to days to even years. It's a less abrupt change between scenes than a cut.

draft - a completed version of screenplay in which then may be rewritten, revised or polished.

establishing shot - an image/shot that indicates the location and setting of a scene or story.

exposition - important background information for the events of a story.

ext. (exterior) - indicates in the scene heading that the action is taking place outdoors.

fade in (fade from black) - when the image slowly appears from black. It generally indicates the beginning of a film, though it is sometimes used to show time between scenes or points in the story

fade out (fade to black) - when the image slowly disappears until only black is scene. It generally indicates the end of a film, though it is sometimes used to show time between scenes or points in the story.

f.g. - used in descriptions to indicate an object or character is predominate in a particular scene or close in the indicated shot.

flashback - when action from the past is intermixed with action in the future; events that took place before events in the story.

genre - the type of story being told which encapsulates particular rules, styles, definitions, etc. of the style of the story.

high concept - a premise or storyline that is easily described in one sentence and seems to be especially unique and even commercial.

hook - the inciting incident that grabs the attention of the reader or audience.

inciting incident or scene - an event at the beginning of story that serves as the catalyst for the main action of the script.

insert - a shot with in a scene in which a certain specific piece of information is indicated such as a watch face, a door bell button, a bomb under a desk, etc.

int. (interior) - used in the scene heading to indicate a scene is taking place indoors.

logline - the storyline of a script described present tense in essentially 25 words or less.

montage - a series of shots which shows moments in various events quickly. Generally used to convey a great deal of information or to condense a long time period into a much shorter version.

motivation - the reason(s) behind a particular character's actions which causes them to react or act in the way they do.

m.o.w. (movie of the week) - a feature length film made for television.

obstacle - a hurdle the protagonist must overcome in order to achieve their goal.

on the nose - dialogue which too clearly indicates what a character is feeling or thinking or wishing; in other words exactly what the author is intending for that moment and scene.

o.s. (off screen) - sounds or dialogue that take place out of view. Most commonly used when a character in another room calls to a character in location the scene is currently unfolding in.

over the top - an expression which describes an action or scene which goes too far in one direction or another and pushes the bounds of believability.

pace - the speed or rhythm with which a story is told.

payoff - the result of certain actions or information that were set up early in the film via planting which then take place or culminate in a way the reader or audience would find most believable or be prepared for.

planting - setting up a particular bit of information that will later payoff in the story.

plot - the events that drive a story forwards towards its conclusion.

plot point - a key turning point in the events of a story.

polish - to change certain elements of a script but not dramatically so. It usually refers to changing dialogue to better suit a director's, producer's, and or actor's needs.

p.o.v. (point of view) - the perspective from a particular character in the story.

premise - the question or problem that is the basic idea of a story.

protagonist - the main character or hero of a story whose actions and goal drive the plot forwards.

rising action - events which build upon one another with increasing momentum.

scene - the basic unit of drama in a script in which an event occurs in one specific location generally during a specific amount of time that moves the story forward.

scene heading - contains the information pertaining to the location and time of the scene.

second act curtain - the point or moment of greatest conflict in a three act structure story.

secondary characters - people in the story with whom the main character(s) is involved or interacts with.

sequence - a group of scenes generally connected by a particular problem or event in the story.

series of shots - a series of images/snippets of action that show condensed passing of time or actions.

set-up - the establishing of the characters and problem(s) in the first act which will be resolved or paid off in a story.

simultaneous dialogue - when two or more characters talk at the same time.

spine - the basic or essential plot of a story.

step outline - the scenes in a story laid out in the order they occur.

subplot - the secondary events in a story that mix with the main storyline in which the key characters and or theme is more fully explored.

super (superimpose) - in screenwriting when titles are superimposed over the scene; generally used to identify the location and time of a scene or story.

synopsis - the brief summary of a story told in present tense prose which is usually two to three paragraphs in length.

theme - the central idea and what the story is about.

three act structure - the sequence of events in a story which are made up of the set-up, the complication, and the resolution.

tone - the quality, feeling or mood of the plot.

too much black - an expression or description given to a script page(s) which has too much description or too much dialogue.

treatment - the detailed summary of story told in present tense which is generally five to twenty pages in length.

twist - an unexpected turning point in the story.

voice over (V.O) - a character's voice over heard during a scene in which generally the character is not shown.

wrylies - parenthetical cues placed before lines of dialogue to indicate emotion, volume, side-action, tone etc.