Forgery with Koepp
Topic · 1 minute
Make your selection from the two scrippets below.
If you would like to spend more time today, you can do both.
Jurassic Park (Suspense)
In 1992, Steven Spielberg was the undisputed master of visual storytelling.
In today’s scrippet from the monster hit JURASSIC PARK, you’ll see how writer David Koepp laid the foundation on the page for a scene that would be loved and copied over an over in later films and TV shows.
NOTE: Copy scenes 60 and 61 only, and ignore the majority of page 75. Those two paragraphs on page 75 are really only the introduction to the meat of the scene, on the next page.
Speaking of scene numbers: you may ignore these.
For spec scripts we don’t include scene numbers but they are always used in shooting scripts.
So, for this and all future Forgery exercises, just leave the scene numbers out.
Below the scrippet – and for this first day only – I will give you a few of my own observations. This is the type of commentary that will go into your Script Journal for each of the Forgery exercises.
For this scrippet, you may have noticed the following:
- The scene number does not have a full scene heading. IN THE REAR CAR is essentially a ‘SECONDARY HEADING’ or SECONDARY SLUG. This makes action writing a whole lot more elegant to read.
- For us, those two paragraphs on page 75 are really only the introduction to the meat of the scene, on the next page.
- Note how Koepp starts the page with BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. How amazing is that! Just like the characters in the movie, we have no idea what this sound means (yet). But it’s BIG!
- Descriptive paragraphs in this script run for much longer than you will see in the Wait List screenplay. In early Hollywood, description would often look like armies of ants. This has changed over the years, and today the focus for spec scripts is squarely on readability, with lots of white space. Dr. Trottier recommends to keep paragraphs at 4 lines or less.
- So whenever you see these long-running descriptions, remember that you are a spec screenwriter, and you are not at liberty to replicate it!
Fleabag (Comedy)
What sort of things will you be looking out for? Ideally, you discover for yourself, and then record your findings in your script journal.
For this first day, I will point out a few things you might have picked up on. (See below)
For this scrippet, you may have noticed the following:
- The scene heading in the FLEABAG script is not as you were taught in film school. Too many full stops! Given that you still need to break in, it’s probably safer to write: INT. BUS – LATER
- Can you see how the fourth wall technique is indicated both in description and dialogue?
- In this script, some description paragraphs run for 5 lines, which is a little long. Readers will be thankful if you keep them shorter , and Dr. Trottier recommends no more than 4 lines. That being said, because this script is heavily dialogue-driven, it’s still an easy read, and that extra line is no issue. Read my notes above on Jurassic Park for more about paragraph length.
- In your own writing, you may avoid repetition and replace the repetitive ‘Really gigly’ with a single action line “They stand next to each other, both really giggly”.