by
Donald L. Vasicek
Montage’s are usually created by directors when
working with a screenwriter on the shooting script.
Writers should shy away from using montages while
writing spec scripts. Adding music to montages only
complicates things for the screenwriter writing a
spec script. Directors and producers make decisions
on montages and music, not screenwriters.
Writing on spec, if that is what you are doing, then, you
might want to rethink writing the montage. Montages
by new screenwriters are usually looked
upon as laziness with respect to the screenwriter.
Montages require a keen sense of a director’s eye.
Many times directors and producers who see montages
in spec scripts see amateurism in the screenwriter.
They do not believe that an aspiring screenwriter
has the capability of understanding the full impact
of montages simply because they aren’t experienced
enough.
If you are writing a shooting script, then, here is
how you should handle your montage.
MONTAGE (Enya’s “Only Time” plays in the background)
A) Brad Pitt and his mother dine.
B) Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep sit on swings.
And so on…
Donald L. Vasicek
The Zen of Writing
http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103