More Than 80 New Classes At the Screenwriting Expo "Lost" and "Heroes Panels Plus Hollywood's Top Female Writer-Director, Nancy Meyers... and many more working writers, teachers Plus The Golden Pitch, the most popular pitchfest in Town Registration is open.   Click the image above or link to go to the new  Screenwriting Expo web site for information. The Expo Screenplay Competition Contest Deadline Extended To 10/15/08. More than $105,000 In Prizes $20,000 Cash First Prize Plus Access to Hollywood Prizes Awarded At the Expo   For information or to enter,  click here.

Free Podcasts — Jeff Goldsmith's Interviews With
Writers And Directors At the Creative Screenwriting
Film Screening Series — Click here

Excerpts From Our Current Issue!

How Changeling Changed J. Michael Straczynski

BY JASON DAVIS

“There’s a point where you almost know too much about something, and suddenly
you’re not sure how to tell the story,” Straczynski says. In an effort to let the story
develop at its own pace, the writer put it aside and allowed himself to forget less essential events until he could bring into focus the portions of the story he wanted to tell. “I see structure in my head,” he explains. “In this case, what I saw was two inverted triangles, where the first triangle, with the point up, is Collins’ story. You start  with her, and her story gets broader and broader and begins having impact from all kinds of places. The overlay on that was an upside down triangle with the base on top, which is the panorama of Los Angeles at that time—1928. And it begins getting narrower and narrower toward the bottom, bearing down on her. Once I could see that structure in my head, I knew how to write the story.”

For Straczynski, who had previously focused on science fiction work like Babylon 5
and the 1980s incarnation of The Twilight Zone, dramatizing a true story offered up a
greater sense of responsibility toward the material. “Having come from a reporter background, I knew how to put together the facts and the timeline,” he says. “Because the case is so extraordinary, I didn’t want to overly fictionalize [it]. The moment you start taking a story as bizarre as this and adding fictional elements, you call the integrity of the whole thing into question.” To maintain accuracy, Straczynski took dialogue from the court transcripts and other documents “because you really can’t top what people said.” Straczynski cites examples, such as the police captain instructing Collins to “take [the imposter] home on a trial basis” or a doctor’s statement that “trauma can shrink the spine.” “You can’t make this stuff up,” says Straczynski, who in an unusual move, included photocopies of the actual newspaper articles within the format of the screenplay to substantiate his story. A reader could digest a page, believe it impossible, and then be confronted with the exact quote in a newspaper
clipping on the next page. “It was almost like writing a newspaper or a magazine
article in script form.”

Like what you just read? Read Jason Davis' entire interview with J. Michael Straczynski in the latest issue of Creative Screenwriting!

It's Always Funny in Philadelphia
BY SHELLEY GABERT

“I was lying in bed one night and thought about someone going to their neighbor’s
house to borrow some sugar but when they get there the person tells them they have cancer,” he says. “I wondered how that would play out, so I got up and wrote that scene in 20 minutes. The next day I brought it to Glenn, and he thought it was funny.”

That scene evolved with Howerton as an actor visiting his friend (Day), who tells him
he has cancer. In the end of what becomes a 30-minute episode, we find out that Charlie is up for a part where the character has cancer, and he’s really just preparing for the role, Method-style, much to the consternation of Howerton and McElhenney. They shot “Charlie Has Cancer,” at Day’s the apartment at Western and Franklin, with the same type of camera (a Panasonic DVX 100) that’s now being used on the show.

They also shot another 30-minute episode in which McElhenney falls for a woman named Carmen. Eventually, they showed their work to their rep, who set up meetings
at networks.

“At FX, but they watched our tape and laughed through the whole thing and bought the show in the room,” McElhenney says. “They even accepted our demand that we serve as the show’s executive producers.”

They’d hit the jackpot with their no-budget television debut, but while their initiative
paid off, it’s not as unusual that they shot their own pilot as it is that the material impressed network executives.

Check out the rest of Shelley Gabert's look at It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in the latest issue!

Creative Screenwriting is sold by subscription and at these and other newsstands:  Literary section of Barnes & Noble Bookstores. Also  B & N College Bookstores, Borders, B.Dalton, Books A Million, Virgin Megastores, Tower Records/Books, Hastings, Shinders (all over Minnesota), Joseph Beth Booksellers, and independent newsstands and booksellers in cities around North America and in Europe.