The One Scene A Writer Should Never Delete - Andy Guerdat
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Andy Guerdat has been a working writer/producer in film and television for the past 45 years, with hundreds of credits in movies, half-hour comedies, hour-long dramas, theater, and animation. He is currently a consultant at Disney TV Animation.
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I had a dream in which a character in my dream pitched an idea. I asked if I could use the idea and the dream character said yes. I woke up and realized the idea was actually good (often, ideas in dreams fall apart on waking, but not this one). I shared the idea with everybody in my house and nobody liked it. I decided to write it anyway. I'm currently analyzing what I learned from the first draft and after my next draft (if it's good) I'll have my wife read it.
I wanted to hear others say it was good. It turns out I only needed to believe it was good.
Congrats and good luck. You'll know when it's ready. Just keep pushing.
Good story Lon! Best of luck as you move forward with this idea!
A lot of my ideas come from dreams I have a whole list cause of dream ideas, the hardest part is fleshing them out and making them real, and once I do that it drastically changed from the original dream give or take a character. The one I’m writing now is based off a dream
Oh! so you get things revealed to you in dreams too?!
Can I steal your idea? I promise I'll only use it in my dreams😏
Really solid advice about not sharing it until you are sure it's your best final draft. Being rejected is disappointing, but being rejected for something you know you did not put 100% effort into is the pits
Cheers Olga! Happy New Year!
I think he’s exactly right. Those sparks are absolutely on target. That American Beauty scene with the bags-just genius. I didn’t realize that was the spark for that amazing film.
We appreciate you commenting Kathy!
While the bags scene is wonderful and memorable, I have no doubt the whole of the American Beauty story / script came from some other place in the writer's mind and experiences, and not simply inspired even in part by that bit at all. But it's nice to imagine an Oscar winner could come right out of a paper or plastic bag blowing around.
😊😂😅❤
I agree with Andy that you should never "delete" that "ember scene". But it's also important for a writer to do a deep dive in order to figure out WHY that scene is so important to him and then to figure out how be to articulate its importance to others. Then he will know what his theme is. Also he should figure out WHY it's an important enough theme (to him) that he feels he needs to write about it.
I remember Peter Weir talking about when he was first brought on to direct _Witness_ with Harrison Ford, in the middle of the first meeting he got the idea that the movie begin with the Amish folk walking up at the crack of dawn, working together, and that's when he knew he _needed_ to make the movie. The Amish aren't just random set dressing and side-characters to be gawked at; they're a unique culture and Harrison Ford is the side-character in THEIR movie. If he just stuck with the basics and cut it down, the movie wouldn't have hit the same way
I figured that out early on. Being happy with your own work is all that matters. If you write to please others the words are no longer yours.
And that’s me folks, over sharing. I get excited about some new idea and share it with family and friends and talk myself right off it. Over sharing - Thanks Andy.
he is right, you better not tell your story to others before it finished. first finish it and then you can share.
I have a story I know is good, but it's a very challenging subject matter concerning abuse and trauma responses, that can do a lot of damage if my phrasing isn't well thought-out and people take it the wrong way. The last thing actual survivors need is _another_ god-awful victim-blaming or subject-hijacking ego piece. I want the story to actually help people, not just serve my politics or make me look charitable. And that means being a real asshole to my writing, making sure I'M getting the subject right and doing it for the right reasons.
I keep the story to myself _not because I'm scared of rejection,_ but because I know I haven't figured out the right version of this story yet.
I remember the times that I was one of the coupple of dozens views of this channel. Now it has over 12.000 in less than 20hs! I'm so happy the message of this content is getting to so much people. Maybe the audiovisual industry is not doomed after all! Cheers for another great year Film Courage!
Oh I am so glad you said that about not sharing anything about your story ideas. I made the mistake of telling someone I thought would be happy that I want to write a screenplay that included ww2 - of course I hadn't taken into account the fact that his brother had been killed in Vietnam so his response was a very angry: "why do you want to glorify war?" And he was obviously dead set against my idea for his own reasons. That has put me off writing it so my spark has dimmed somewhat and I'm trying to rekindle it.
This is very interesting! When I was kid beginning to write, I always had one certain scene or a gag in my mind that inspired me to write a whole movie-lengh story around. My mom who had started writing theater plays as a teen, had told me, that this is an odd way to start a story. That made me unsure about myself and my work. Now I'm happy to that some of the best writers started their works the same.
great advice. great video. no nonsense
This is so true. And my other advice is to ensure you capture it in as I have detail as possible. That way if you’re working on something else, you’ve kept it to build upon.
That was great!
Really appreciate this. Thank you
Cheers Sean!
Good advice! Thanks! Haooy New Year!
Happy new year!!
Thank You… Thank You✌🏽🔥🎭
More to come Faiba!
Good job
Thanks!🙏
Thank you so much iz7y! Great to read your other comments and you make a great point. Agree with you that party pitch is a much better way to look at it. Love to see you extract value from this video. Thank you for supporting and giving back to this channel! Happy New Year!
My "party pitch" never translates to paid work. They say not interested. Then they just make the film without me. Seams to be a recurring theme. However I am proud to have giving them the spark to make the film so I don't have to.
Taking the risk here of appearing either really dense or possibly not observant:
The title of this video is "The One Scene a Writer Should NEVER Delete"....
I've watched it twice and listened carefully and at no time did i hear him advise against cutting a scene. 🤔 Maybe i missed it, but it's bugging me.
Aside from that, his advice comes across as very genuine and heartfelt. I suspect he (like many of us) has learned these things the hard way. There's nothing like that "unprepared moment" to make you realize the importance of preparing!
Review 3:00-4:00
@@jmpstrnl2007 ok so the title is referring to the spark or INSTIGATING IDEA which gave you the overall idea for your treatment.
I'll own half of that: when I read (past tense) the video title, I was expecting him to relate an instance of him deciding to retain a particular scene while he was in the editing process or during a rewrite.
@ColdWarAviator I happen to agree with you about the misleading title. I thought it would speak of a core or required scene in a film, and not the spark that created the idea for the film. To me that's two different things. However, I agree with what he had to say about maintaining the scene that ignited the idea. But that's not what the title suggested.
@@Omnicient. I have this conversation with my girlfriend all the time... I guess it's from being in the military,I just want the main points: who-what-where-when.
Like you said, give me the summary in a paragraph, not a short story. 😁
He's talking about the first scene you thought of that made you think ". . . Oh shit. I *_NEED_* to make that movie."
For Tarantino, he was traveling Europe to promote Reservoir Dogs at festivals, and he got to thinking about how French MCDonald's has slightly different names for all their menu items.
And then he thought, "What if you have these two guys, talking about travel experiences while they drive to work, just like regular guys; not really friends but co-workers and they know each other pretty well, they have some rapport and can get along well enough, talking about how the Dutch dip their french fries in mayonnaise; *and then they get to "work" and pull out their work pistols, discussing how they're gonna shoot 3~5 guys upstairs."*
That scene was the scene that made him and Avery NEED to write Pulp Fiction, and even as the story morphed and expanded, that scene was the anchor point that was enough to motivate them hardcore for multiple years.
4:05 I've always felt that this is what the logline is for, initially anyway it's only for me and only to capture the feeling I had in the moment it came to me + the intention. That's why the logline comes first for me and I will chop it down later to the essential elements for marketing and pitching purposes.
Very interesting, because the logline is dead last for me; to encapsulate everything now written in a sentence.
@@nerdock4747 I have another friend who is a writer that says the same thing but for me it's essential in order to capture the inspiration I felt. Plus if your story is muddled and confusing at the logline stage it's probably not going to get any clearer by the time you're writing the third act but of course every writer has their own process. For most it's only used as a marketing tool but for me it helps to stay on track with my original intention. Kind of like the "seed" of a story; once that seed is completed/planted it's just a matter of unpacking it later.
Of course everyone has their own process and if your process works for you keep using it. Some writers (like Stephen King) don't even do an outline. He starts with a single "what if" question like "what if a woman was trapped in a car because of a crazy dog" (cujo) and just starts writing from there. For him the writing process itself is an exploration but I need to know the whole story inside and out; my intention; where I want it to end before I start writing the screenplay. I've tried doing it the other way and made no progress. I get 10-20 pages in then hit roadblocks. I really wish I could write like you do because writers who work that way usually work a lot faster and can finish a story quickly but I need to have a clear and concise roadmap before I begin.
Oh yeah - also, you can pitch a logline without having a screenplay if you already have a good working relationship with development executives (one of my mentors pitched a logline without having a screenplay and sold the story; wrote the screenplay later). And you can register a logline with the WGA.
Great Story and advice.
Thanks for watching Jacob! Happy New Year!
This test works if you know what you're doing. Very amateur writers are just glad to have finished a thing.
I have a question, why is it all these writers don’t have many credits? Do they create stories and others take the credit?
Check the dooblydoo...and IMDb...this one's got a boatload, all the way back to The Jeffersons.
Andy has written for 30+ television shows including being the co-creator of one and has been a working writer for over 40 years.
@@filmcourage I just kept scrolling and scrollllllling 😂 Truly impressive.
Not necessarily, although this can happen too. Some concept creators and writers have shared stories in which they felt their work got stolen by others within Hollywood. That’s partly why this writer said be careful who you share your story with outside of professional need to know circles, without admitting it. But if you ever pay attention very close to the credits of a show or movie, it’ll say written by, or created by. Those are the names of who wrote the story and/or its concept. Scriptwriting can be different from the creative or concept writing in the sense they’re the team that polished up the idea and lays out or polished up the dialogue and story details. They often work together with the concept creator. It’s a whole process that happens behind the scenes. They don’t get as much attention as say the actors, directors and producers do.
A lot of the writers had their screenplays bought by studios, but for various reasons the film hasn't gone into production yet, and it may never be made. Even so, I would consider that a success but without the best end result which is a successful film at the end of it.
Even though this is about Craft, it’s so business oriented, in that it’s really about keeping the sizzle front of mind and ready to recall
When I first thought about my story I thought about some key imagery, as well as beats I wanted to hit.
1. It needs to have the main character specialize in barrier magic
2. The main character has to be put in a situation where they can reasonably die then be replaced as a main character by someone somewhat unexpected(ie. betrayal or a trap)
3. A wall of fire engulfing the main character as they block with a barrier(camera shot behind the character as fire sprays off the sides of the barrier)
These were the big 3 I first thought of as writing challenges when writing. Justifying these elements and moments in a reasonable way within the narrative becomes the most fun part about writing for me. Of course I've thought of more key moments since I began, but these take priority and I will not be letting the world and the narrative be contradicted in order to get to them.
I always liked the idea of writing a story as if the character "will die" and "will live" simultaneously, so when that moment comes you genuinely can't tell which way the story's gonna go.
Instead of having side characters there to be threatened and killed, have them be _good enough_ to "secretly have been the main character the whole time" so that the _main_ character dying is a valid possibility.
Another thing about consistency and plot-justifying your key scene, just remember; coming up with a compelling fix for a plot hole makes the scene _better_ not worse.
In LOTR, Frodo having a magical shirt that's everything-proof with no drawbacks is a HUGE problem for the plot consistency. If he just randomly found it, _how lucky is that._ And how come _no one else_ has this super useful armor?
So what does the story do? Instead of ye old "logic is hard" excuse, they go through the trouble of establishing that this material is ULTRA-expensive and rare, and having enough of it to make a whole shirt is almost unheard-of. So that's why no one else has it.
And then that connects back to where Frodo gets it in the first place; he didn't just randomly find it in a ditch or steal it from the Elves and not share it with anybody; it was given to him by his uncle as a safeguard for this dangerous mission he's going on.
AND it gets better; the reason the uncle has it in the first place was he was gifted it by a Dwarven king in _his_ adventure decades ago.
And so we have this whole scene where the uncle is giving the shirt to Frodo, talking about his previous adventure and all the cool gear he got out of it. _But then_ Frodo goes to try the shirt on and Bilbo gets triggered when he sees the evil Ring hanging around his neck. And suddenly all of Bilbo's bravado and stories evaporates, and he comes clean that he feels guilty as fuck that because of his selfishness, Frodo will have to go on a way worse, way more dangerous adventure that he might not survive, and all these gifts he's throwing at him is just him trying to drown out how guilty he feels and do what he can to give Frodo a fighting chance.
So by _digging into the problem,_ we got THE BEST SCENE IN THE WHOLE MOVIE almost on accident, all because the writers wanted Frodo to get stabbed and walk it off.
Tl:dr plot consistency is a good excuse to find cool scene ideas you wouldn't have thought of otherwise, and good luck with your story!
@@samwallaceart288 couldn't agree more.
Now debating on moving lol I’m from Birmingham alabama so that hit me a lil hard at the end
cool,
@7:00, when he talks about caution in sharing… I lived in Philadalphia, late 90s. Had an employee named Alex. He created a great indie film about people looking for a witch in a forest. He got excited because another young film maker agreed to view it and offer advice. That guy stole his film, changed the ending (in an unimportant way, imo)-and that was “The Blair Witch Project.”
Oh no!! Plagiarism - I hope he sued!
If you have to move to Los Angeles to break in, what do you do if you're in a different country?
Invoke the muse. Huzzah!
Probably should have been the title of this clip.
A rare disagree. Many writers are crippled with the mindset of "am I good enough?" making your question one of the hardest for many to answer positively.
DontShareTooMuchToCareTooMuch
OrYoullBeDeclaredOutOfWorkOutOf
TouchGiveTheOrdinaryBreath&LetA
CharacterSelfDareToBeSomeone
Does he have to use that tone at the end of each sentence?
What do you think, do you agree with Andy?
Which bit? The sharing thing is very wise. The party pitch bit too.
Another great interview- thanks to both of you
Thanks Geoff! Great to see you find value in this one!
I agree with Andy and his professional advice of not sharing or pitching your idea until it has been completely fleshed out, and to be sure to maintain the scene that sparked the idea for the film. Both are excellent advisement, though the title of this clip is a tad bit misleading.
Say hi to Andy on his channel - www.youtube.com/@TheGoDraft
1,000% thank you!
Truly elemental advice; subscribing now.
Subscribed on both my channels 🙂. Loads of crossover for both my AI Filmmaking channel and my Entertainment Analysis channel. Great insights from Andy.
A lot of art is supernaturally inspired. Frankenstein by Shelley is well-known. Beatles’ Yesterday song, came in a vision, they only wrote it down after. Did you know that the entire first 5 books of Harry Potter were received as a vision while riding on a train in England? JK Rowling is an unrepentant witch. (This is why I say supernatural, not “from God”.) Many inventions have been inspired in dreams as well. Supernatural forces have more influence on the world than people think! There is a great article on this, “Inventions that came in dreams, largest collection on the Internet.” Shows books, music, war machines, scientific breakthroughs, healing cures-will change your thinking of the world.
Please make a movie where a billionaire and/or venture capitalists are trapped with entrepreneur(s) in a fkn elevator 😂.
Obviously, the movie to be called 30 hour($).
(…They don’t get funded - but in the end they had fun 😂) it’ll be like “the pursuit of happiness” all in an elevator