Donald L. Vasicek

Category: Screenwriting

  • Plot

    There are numerous challenges that come up
    when one is writing and striving to break
    through and beyond. In order to “stay with it”,
    the writer must look inside of themselves for
    something that will carry them through the
    difficult times, keep them going, and take
    them to success.

    Ask yourself the questions below. By writing
    them down, you can refer to the answers as you write,
    and beyond. These answers will take you into
    the depth of yourself where you can clearly see
    your main character’s passion. This passion
    becomes the main theme of your story.

    Passion must be sizzling inside of you. It’s a
    human emotion. Your passion for your story
    has taken you to this point in time in your
    life. What do you want it to be this time
    next year? By understanding your and
    appropriately utilizing your passion for your
    story, your mind will be ratcheted up a few
    levels to the point where you are unable to
    get the words down fast enough.

    By utilizing the main theme of your story, you
    can show opposition to it. This creates conflict,
    which all good stories need, even comedies.

    This main theme, your passion for the story,
    will guide and direct you throughout the writing
    process. It will cause you to be more creative
    and imaginative, which, in turn, will produce
    a solid and seamless plot.

    The questions are:

    1. Who was I when I got the idea for my story?
    2. What was I doing?
    3. Where was I?
    4. When was it?
    5. Why did this idea come to me?
    6. How did I recognize it?

    Be diligent when writing the answers, very
    diligent. Shortcut the process and you will
    cause shortcut yourself and your opportunities.

    I hope this has been of help to you.

    Best Regards,

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Olympus Films+, LLC
    “The Zen of Writing/Filmmaking/Consulting
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.net

  • Third Act of the Screenplay

    What Mr. Wilder means”…the third act must build, build, build…”,
    is to make the tension of what your main character is
    doing to achieve her/his goal go up, up, up, like using
    a corkscrew to open a bottle of wine. The more you
    twist, the tighter the tension in the cork becomes, until something
    gives, the cork breaks, or whoever is screwing in the
    corkscrew, decides it is time to pull out the cork with
    the corkscrew.

    In other words, make it more and more difficult for
    your main character to achieve her/his goal until
    she/he comes to a point where he/she must either
    give up her/his goal, or, he/she “goes over the top”,
    experiences an epiphany, and accomplishes the
    goal. Each obstacle (difficulty) must be more
    challenging than the last. It’s like putting your
    main character on a tree branch. Her/his
    opposition throws rocks at her/him until the
    branch breaks. Then, he/she falls in a raging
    river. Then, in the river, he/she fights to keep
    from drowning until he/she comes to a roaring
    waterfall. The question is, will she/he, survive
    the waterfall, or not?

    When you have your main character at the “waterfall”
    of your story, then you have your main character
    decide at that point, what she/he has to do to
    survive tumbling over the waterfall. To conquer
    this, the main character must overcome her/his
    greatest fear of accomplishing his/her goal
    throughout the story. If he/she does, then he/she
    experiences an epiphany. He/she faces her/his
    fear and overcomes it. Perhaps, instead of tumbling
    over the waterfall, getting battered to death by
    rocks, and drowning, which has been your main
    character’s primary fear that has been keeping
    her/him from accomplishing his/her goal in the
    story, that of the fear of drowning, your main
    character swims back upstream and saves
    herself/himself.

    This is the last event in the third act. From
    this point forward, wrap up all loose ends
    from your story, send your main character
    to the Olympics as a champion swimmer,
    and end your screenplay.

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Olympus Films+, LLC
    The Zen of Writing and Filmmaking
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.net

  • “The Anatomy of Theme in the Screenplay and Movie”

    by
    Donald L. Vasicek

    What is theme? What does it mean? How does it apply to the screenplay? According to Merriam Webster dictionary, theme is: “A subject or topic of discourse or artistic representation.” In the screenplay, the theme must be introduced as early as possible. It should be introduced, as a visual, if at all possible, by page 3 of the screenplay or minute 3 of the film.

    Since film is a visual medium, the screenwriter must strive to visually write. So, showing should take the place of telling in screenwriting. This is vital if you want to sell and get your screenplay produced.

    How does one do that? Well, in “Born to Win”, one of my produced and award-winning screenplays, Justin, the main character in the film, has shown on Page 1, through a metaphor, that trust is the theme in the movie. This was visually accomplished in minute 1 of the movie by showing a butterfly fluttering away from Justin’s mother’s headstone. Justin won’t let go of his deceased mother, a problem he exhibits throughout the movie. The butterfly shows, “letting go”, by flying away, as a means for having trust.

    On page 3, the theme for the movie is exhibited:

    “Callie smiles. She tends the graves. Justin lingers. He notices Charlie’s shadow lengthen over him.

    Charlie places his hand on Justin’s shoulder. He guides him towards the car. Justin slips his arm around Charlie’s waist.”

    Can you identify the theme of trust in this scene? What visual shows that?

    “Justin lingers”? It would work to show trust, with the exception that Justin lingers. It shows that Justin is giving Callie some consideration as someone he can trust. The key to utilizing “Justin lingers” as the theme is identified in the verb, “lingers.” “Lingers” exhibits the possibility of trust, but it does not exhibit trust. So, “Justin lingers”, is not the theme in the movie.

    How about “Charlie places his hand on Justin’s shoulder.” There is an indication of trust here. Remember Justin is the main character, so everything should be written and seen from his point-of-view. Here, Justin allows Charlie to place his hand on his shoulder. So, this visual allows the first peek into the theme for the movie, trust, but it is not the theme.

    Utilizing the visual approach to screenwriting and movie-making empowers the characters and it empowers the story. Without, the screenplay and/or the movie, falls flat and theaters will not want to exhibit it, let alone distributors picking it to put in theaters.

    So, the more visuals the screenwriter can write and the filmmaker can film, the more powerful the screenplay and the movie will be. This, in turn, will create revenue. This, in turn, will create more work for the screenwriter and the filmmaker. That’s the way it works in the movie business.

    So, instead of giving examples of screenplays and movies that back up what I am writing here, I will leave that up to you. Look at movies. Study them for the theme, particularly early on in the movie.

    And, instead of telling you what visual in my example, “Born to Win”, depicts the theme of the movie, “trust”, you tell me. My email is dvasicek@earthlink.net. I’d love to hear from you.

    Your choices are: “He guides him towards the car.” Again another element of trust, or is this the visual that identifies the theme, “trust.”

    Or, is it: “Justin slips his arm around Charlie’s waist.”

    You tell me. And remember, the theme, once exhibited in the screenplay and movie, must be visually shown in every scene from page 3 of the screenplay and minute 3 of the movie through to the end. If the screenwriter fails to execute the theme this way, then, the screenplay and the movie will fall flat.

    And the screenwriter and filmmaker can show opposing views of the theme. For example, in “Born to Win”, Justin learns that the bad guy in the movie is one he should not trust, while the bad guy shows that he doesn’t trust law enforcement, and even his cohort.

    Donald L. Vasicek
    Olympus Films+, LLC
    The Zen of Writing/Filmmaking/Consulting
    http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
    dvasicek@earthlink.net

    John Wayne's birthplace. Winterset, Iowa
    John Wayne's birthplace. Award-Winning Writer/FIlmmaker Donald L. Vasicek/Winterset, Iowa