.jpg "Matt Fried Wastes Time (Instead Of Doing Work That Pays The Bills)")
.jpg "Woo Me and Win a Safety Cone!!!!")
.jpg "Mother's Day Cards to Someone Else's Mom")
.jpg "Let's Make A Movie In New York")
.jpg "Matt Fried")
.jpg "The Worst Teams of All Time")
.jpg "The Gentleman's Guide To Getting Laid In College")
.jpg "The Yuppie Cesspools of New York City")
.jpg "Maddox Management LLC")
.jpg "The Fatted Calf")
.jpg "Air Duct Cleaning Livermore")
.jpg "Air Duct Cleaning Ramona")
.jpg "Love is funny: Awesomely BAD engagement photos")
.jpg "The Best iPhone Apps For Women")
.jpg "Cutest Puppies on Flickr")
.jpg "Awkward Family Portraits will make you say \"WTF?\"")
SPONSORED LISTINGS
Writing A New York Movie
- by matt_fried
- -
- August 26, 2008
(2)
.jpg)
You've spent thousands of dollars on film school, you've worked God knows how many hours as a PA on Gossip Girl, you've had the unfortunate task of having to be Tina Fey's coffee gopher. But after a few hard years, you've gotten enough connections to finally pitch your great idea for a New York movie. One problem: you can't write anything. You stay up until two in the morning, staring at a blank computer screen with circles under your eyes deep enough to be the Grand Canyon. First thing's first: go to bed. Second: get out of your apartment and live life. Third: come back, read this guide, and send me a check when you sell your script to Paramount.
Write About Sex and Relationships
The greatest love stories ever told usually involve much sex and a sense of humor. Nowadays, it seems like everyone comes to New York to “fall in love”… gag. Here’s the real story: boy meets girl, boy and girl date, boy and girl break-up, boy and girl go through requisite period of withdrawal and depression followed by three years of dating psychos, near marriages, and regrettable one-nighters. Boy and girl meet again at a party one night, hook up, girl gets pregnant, boy and girl get married, boy and girl happily enjoy being with one another and raising a neurotic child. Now who can’t relate to that?
When Harry Met Sally Trailer
Boy meets girl, become best friends, and then sleep with each other? Nah.
Write About Your Family
Who better to write about than the people responsible for making you a complete nut job? New York families are always the most interesting ones to write about because they will always guilt trip any opinion you may have. “Oh, I’m sorry for being such a horrible mother! I guess, I should have thought about how you would feel as I was working a ten hour day so that you could have piano lessons!” You see? I’m already incredible intrigued to hear the rest of that story. Throw in an uncle with a criminal record and a crazy cat lady aunt, and man – do you have a movie people will want to see!
Dave & Buster's
234 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
When didn’t video games and chicken fingers save a marriage from nearly exploding?
When didn’t video games and chicken fingers save a marriage from nearly exploding?
Sports Museum of America
26 Broadway, New York, NY 10004
Check out the great accomplishments of the past and trying to ignore your dad crying… because you wanted to be a theater major.
Check out the great accomplishments of the past and trying to ignore your dad crying… because you wanted to be a theater major.
Lie About Your Past
New York can still be a gritty, cesspool. Everybody loves a good “drug addict” story. Or, perhaps, something involving the time you were mistaken as a Trump. Or, what about the two years you worked as a male escort? Don’t you see? James Frey truly was a pioneer. Take a tiny, insignificant aspect of your life and blow it up to a wonderful, flamboyant lie. Remember that time you saw Boy George in a restaurant? I didn’t know you were the producer on his new album! Hey, look: another slutty billboard of Paris Hilton! Man, she just won’t stop trying to get you back. It’s just that easy, folks.
Source Materials
Screenplay by Syd Field
Syd Field’s book on screenwriting is a great source for how to develop a script, strengthen a script, and tell a concise story.
Story by Robert McKee
Robert McKee is a foremost voice on solving script problems and host lectures and seminars on how to write a good screenplay.
Randy Pearlstein
Randy is a working writer, performer, and comedian here in New York. He’s sold a few screenplays to the suits in Hollywood and makes his consultation and coaching services available to all aspiring screenwriters.
Big Picture, baby!
All right, seriously...
No really, you want to write a movie? Okay, Ring Lardner before you jump into a typing frenzy, here’s a quick checklist every solid story should have before to sit down to compose the next Pulp Fiction:
Basic Plot Summary
Can you condense your entire script down into one sentence: “This is about how Harry met Sally, had a friendship, and fell in love.” If you can’t boil your story down to a basic premise that takes us from point A to B, then you need to simplify.
Plot Outline
After you figure out the premise, you should figure out the action. A point-by-point plot outline will help you build a strong backbone for your script:
“Jack meets Jill at a bar, flirt with each other, and challenge each other to a drinking contest.
Jack wakes up the next morning on a subway platform wearing a cheap cocktail dress and has lost his wallet.”
Know Your Characters
Know who the people are who you are writing about. You will discover them more as you develop your script, but you should know what they want and why they want it.
Do Your Research
How many When Harry Met Sally clones are out there? If your script sounds like it, you should figure out why. It’s not to say you can’t write a New York rom-com, just don’t write the exact same one. Lajos Egrei wrote in his book The Art of Dramatic Writing that the same stories have already been told, but it’s how you choose to tell it that will make your story different… or not.
Write About The Nightlife
Isn’t the New York nightlife just grand? You know: the stuff of all good movie. Now, granted, you could find yourself in a bit of weird predicament. Your research could consist of going out every single night and getting super-wasted until the wee hours. Or, you could end-up on the wrong side of a poker game with the Russian mob. Even worse, trying to figure out why you’ve woken up in a bathtub filled with ice. But that’s what’s exciting about New York at night – you never know what you’ll find. How could that not turn into a great movie? Or, at least, a half-decent bar story.
Find A Place To Drown Your Sorrows
Every great New York screenwriter has a place where he can hide away from the rest of the world, but still get a decent cup of coffee. If you’re lucky (and you usually are), consider that there will always be an older, inspirational mother figure with a shoulder for you to cry on – probably in the form of a waitress or meter maid.
The Coffee Shop
29 Union Square West New York, NY 10003
The Coffee Shop in Union Square still indulges in the lost days of the classic New York City diner. Though it may be a great place to take a writing break with a coffee and slice of pie, it’s prices are thorough 21st Century.
Seek Out Inspiration
The largest city in the world certainly must have something for every aspiring screenwriter. You’ve just got to go out and find it. It really could be in anything: don’t neglect a casual conversation, or even stepping out to get a bagel.
Library Hotel a member of HKHotels
299 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017
If you really find yourself hitting a wall, show up to the Library Hotel for the night. It is a writer’s haven that is filled with books – in its lobby, restaurant, cafe, and rooms. I’m serious.
If you really find yourself hitting a wall, show up to the Library Hotel for the night. It is a writer’s haven that is filled with books – in its lobby, restaurant, cafe, and rooms. I’m serious.
Waste Your Talent On Selfish Addictions
All great writers have debilitating addictions that bring them to brink of madness: Dylan Thomas, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Matt Fried. Of course, those guys had it easy with being alcoholics. That’s a genetic disease that no one can help. Even a basic drug habit just wears on your finances after a while. I deal with something far worse and devastating: skee ball. Every morning I wake up, take the subway into Manhattan to the nearest Chuck E. Cheese, and spend hours gorging my quarters into machines – trying in vain to hit a high score. Then I come back to me apartment and stay up until daybreak, writing my content for Guidespot, and averaging out my last few scores. It’s a deadly cycle.
Crocodile Lounge
325 E 14th Street, New York, NY 10003
The Crocodile Lounge features some of the worse vices for any young person: cheap beer, free pizza, and skeeball. The horror, the horror.
The Crocodile Lounge features some of the worse vices for any young person: cheap beer, free pizza, and skeeball. The horror, the horror.
- |
- |
- |
- |
- share this
.jpg "AlexandraF")
-
When I have writers block I take a random book from the shelf and flip to a random page and pick a sentence to help me start and move into the groove… Later I end up finding a better beginning to my story and the block is broken… at least temporarily.
.jpg "mswen")
-
Oh, When Harry Met Sally. My favorite movie ever.
Add Our Widget To Your Site
.jpg)
Discussions