General: Do copywriters make good movie directors?

EXT. CITY, NIGHT - ESTABLISHING

EXT. SKYSCRAPER, SAME TIME - ESTABLISHING

INT. OFFICE - TOP FLOOR

The luxurious office is lit only by the glow from a laptop computer. MR MAN is so engrossed typing on the keyboard he doesn't hear the KILLER enter.

The KILLER slowly pulls a knife out of his jacket and approaches MR MAN. Standing right behind MR MAN the KILLER looks at the computer screen.

INT. OFFICE - COMPUTER SCREEN, SOW FORUM


EXT. CITY, NIGHT - ESTABLISHING

EXT. SKYSCRAPER, SAME TIME - ESTABLISHING

INT. OFFICE - TOP FLOOR

The luxurious office is lit only by the glow from a laptop computer. MR MAN is so engrossed typing on the keyboard he doesn't hear the KILLER enter.

The KILLER slowly pulls a knife out of his jacket and approaches MR MAN. Standing right behind MR MAN the KILLER looks at the computer screen.

INT. OFFICE - COMPUTER SCREEN, SOW FORUM


FADE OUT.

The best fiction author I've read for getting you involved from the get go is Dean Koontz. The guy's a master at making you WANT to keep reading.

Let me quote from the beginning of just three of his many books I have...

ICEBOUND...
Watching the drill, Harry Carpenter had a curious premonition of imminent disaster. A faint flicker of alarm. Like a bird shadow fluttering across a bright landscape. Even inside his heavily insulated clothing, he shivered

WINTER MOON...
Death was driving an emerald-green Lexus. It pulled off the street, passed the four self-service pumps, and stopped in one of the two full-service lanes.

DARK RIVERS OF THE HEART...
With the woman on his mind and a deep uneasiness in his heart, Spencer Grant drove through the glistening night, searching for the red door. The vigilant dog sat silently beside him. Rain ticked on the roof of the truck.

From there he takes his characters on a wild wild not-stop ride of close calls and near-death escapes.

I often wonder WHY more of his books are not made into movies. Then I realise that to cover everything he writes would make the movie six hours long. Far better to take four hundred pages of mostly nothing from Stephen King and make that into a movie.

The best recent movie for getting you involved is, in my opinion, THE MATRIX. The writers, Larry and Andy Wachowski, didn't rely on one "What's going on here" thought to get you involved, they used a bunch of them one after the other in a few minutes.

From the beginning we listen in on a phone call while a computer screen shows the line is being traced.

We hear one of the characters say... "We're going to kill him, you know that"

We see "Agents" pull up in a car.

We hear a cop tell the Agents he think his men can handle one little girl and that his men are bringing her down now.

To which the Agent says, "No lieutenant. Your men are already dead..."

Who's this person who's going to be killed? Who's running the trace? Who is the girl and why can't two units of police handle her?

We immediately find out because that's when the "action" starts. But even then, the action doesn't answer all the questions and we are left wanting to know more. We WANT to keep watching. Brilliant.

Getting your script read... while I've never done it, I've heard that the best way to get your script read is not to write one you expect to sell, but to instead write one designed to get read. And the best way to get your script read is to write a steamy, hot, erotic (not xxx ****) story. All the agents, executives etc., who happen to be men, will copy it and pass it around. And your name will have been exposed to them.

The idea is that when you submit your real script, the one you hope will be bought, those on the inside will find your name already familiar and be more likely to buy it.

Does doing that work? I don't know. But hey, it could be worth a shot. And besides, some French Producer may even end up turning your erotic script into a movie.

Whatever. One thing's for sure... persist and eventually you'll win out in the end to some degree. Even if it is a B-grade horror flick. HA!

Michael Ross.