I am into that. Some hybrid format would be interesting. Especially if you leave in tags or hooks for transmedia elements.

Hrrm.

– c.

I’ve been tinkering with a quasi-screenplay format for fiction meant to be read online — something that’s quick and jaunty, high on action, but able to offer more lingering visuals than a screenplay usually does. A new hybrid form, if you will. This is the form that I’m riffing on for that “Playing On A Wave” post at GPW, too.

The trouble is that anything that’s faux-screenplay is going to look like it’s just desperate to get optioned, which isn’t quite the point. (But, like all writing publishing online, is part of it.)

Anything by Syd Field is useful, too, though not always super-pleasant.

I like Alex Epstein’s books –

http://complicationsensue.blogspot.com/

So too, Save The Cat!.

http://www.blakesnyder.com/

Finally — Shane Black is a favorite. I hope he continues to work. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a new Black classic. That reminds me too to go back and re-read the script for Last Boy Scout. Hrrm.

– c.

They are about Hollywood as much as writing, if memory serves, and are certainly much more engaging than Robert McKee’s _Story_ (which gets a lot of praise, but goddamn do I find it dry).

There’s a fine balance between how much description to put down and how lean to make it. Shane Black’s screenplays are a delight to read, for example.

The very first movie I did was a horror movie that was a unique take on film conceits. In other words, YOU HAVE AN AUDIENCE OF ONE, GUARANTEED. (If you have comcast, you should be able to view it on in demand: Blood on the HIghway. Note: not for people that don’t appreciate a coarse dick joke.)

GOOD LUCK. The Hollywood machine can be brutal, but there are some awesome producers/financiers out there.

I will definitely find that book and eat it. I mean, read it.

– c.

The book is so much exposition – so much description and inner dialog, I think it will suffer on screen as a result. You have something like No Country For Old Men that is pretty spare, too, but there is so much action and so many characters that you can use to further the story, and The Road centers on The Man. I dunno, I think it would take a pretty spectacular screenwriter and director to pull that one off.

NICE. I should make a solid 10 bucks in nine weeks time, SWEET!

If you’re comfortable with it, I’d love to hear about your screenplay, but I also completely understand the need to play those cards close to your vest on a public blog.

The Road — I’m not sure how the film will translate, but I think it might. I don’t know that I want to see such misery on the big screen, though.

As for that doormat — well, there you go. Cafepress that shit. Get out there. Make some bank. You’ve found your meal ticket!

– c.