Writing for Stage/Screen

Posted by Peter Reeves

Hi guys. Just a quick entry to introduce myself. My name is Peter Reeves and I write and perform under the name Reeves Peterson.

In this topic I’m going to give my readers all the practical advice I can about writing for the stage and writing for the screen.

As for what I’m up to at the moment, I recently completed writing a musical version of The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams for the Take Away Theatre Company. Some of the things I learnt from this process I detailed in my recent article Adapting a Children’s Book into a Musical. It was a special adaptation in that one of the requirements of the script was for it to only feature two actors. This was quite a challenge but I got there eventually.

But what I’ve found most interesting about this project so far is the creation of a new character not in the original story. Because of the number of characters in Hansel and Gretel it’s always played (in stage versions) by four actors with one actor doubling up as the step mother and witch. The problem with this is the woodcutter has nothing to do for a lot of the story.

This is fine in the original story but on stage it means you are paying an actor to do very little for much of the play. Therefore I have created a puppet rat character who will reside in the Gingerbread House. This has opened up some tremendous comedy opportunities. It also means that I can extend the stories key theme of hunger and poverty.

I’ll keep you posted of how the script is coming on over the coming weeks.

Posted by Dave Brandl

Sorry for the delay in posting, but between family responsibilities and all the wintry weather we've had in Denver the past two weeks, I have only recently been able to focus my attention on writing here.

Which leads into the subjects of focus, attention, passion, and duty. My November and December 2006 were largely devoid of writing activities because of several other activities, including family activities and financial/occupational activities, all of which demanded significant chunks of time.

So, during this period of writing downtime, I experienced a lot of mental arguments with myself about the pros and cons of the activities I was doing and the ones I had to defer to a later date.

I've always been of the mindset that a starving artist, while a definitely romantic notion, is not a lifestyle I crave. Especially now, with a family to support, steady and sufficient financial income are greatly desired and necessary.

And while I always consider myself a writer, the semantics of "vocation" become fuzzy. As a profession, my royalty income makes my writing part-time; at least until the first million-dollar sale. But as a calling or an aptitude, my writing is of paramount importance to me.

Balance is the word that comes to mind now. Even with only 24 hours in a day, there should be time for the variety of activities that life offers, without obsessing or fixating on just a single set.

So, my New Year's resolution is to work on that balance - seek to fulfill the responsibilities and duties that my life situation demands, but also ensure the time to focus on those activities, including - and especially - writing, that are done simply for self-fulfillment, joy, or relaxation.

And I hope your resolutions, if you make and try to observe them, bring you success and satisfaction in this next set of 365 days of achievement.

Posted by Dave Brandl

I recently finished a second production of a script of mine, and with many notes and ideas, I'm ready to begin a final rewrite. However, life intervened, and while I was in the final dress week of my own show, I was asked to step into a role for another production where they had to let an actor go.

I was given multiple parts that total about 180 lines. So while the final dress week was occurring for my show, I was simultaneously learning my lines for the new show. Monday, after my show closed, I was at the rehearsal for the new show, which had been in rehearsals for about three weeks already. But I showed up at the rehearsal off book. I learn lines quickly.

Anyway, every show I'm in, I get the opportunity to explore someone else's script in depth, at least for the scenes I'm involved with, but usually much more, as I carefully watch all the scenes I can to dissect and analyze. Many times I'm able to uncover the playwright's motivations and techniques. Sometimes I merely enjoy being part of the whole creation. And on occasion, I learn what not to do from a less than excellent scriptwriter who barely went far enough to complete the script, and certainly didn't go far enough to complete a remarkable script.

Over and over, I encourage every scriptwriter to become involved in productions for the sake of experiencing the various aspects, and therefore knowing what is involved in all those aspects, from acting to stage management, to set building, directing, lights, props, costumes, and even taking tickets. All these elements are vital to the complete production, and one only learns these aspects if one personally experiences them.

Posted by Dave Brandl

Case in point: I just finished the 2nd production of my new play, "Nobody Goes Caroling Anymore." As both director and prompter, I took extensive notes during the rehearsals and performances.

As it turned out, I was also asked to be in a different production before that one was over, so I began rehearsals the day after my production closed, and have had no time to even review my script notes yet.

But I am not despairing. Allowing a bit of distance can be beneficial. Neil Simon started "The Odd Couple," hit a snag, and then left it in a drawer for seven years before he pulled it back out and finished it.

And I'm not being idle in the meantime. I always have scripts calling for my attention, and until I'm ready and able to jump back to this script with sufficient time and inspiration, I can work on other scripts. But the prominent script continues to be in my mind, churning, options being considered and evaluated, and changes being formulated, so that when I do sit down to begin the next revision, I'll have plenty of ideas and a major approach to accomplish the task.

So don't fret about "writer's block," which is a really not a condition as much as a state of mind, or a lack of planning. Each script demands its own approach and each script needs to be considered independently. Like children, each should be considered as an individual and approached as a unique creation.

Posted by Dave Brandl

The 2nd production of my Christmas play, Nobody Goes Caroling Anymore, was quite an eye-opener. After the first production, last year, I struggled for months, unsure how to edit and polish. I knew things were not at their best regarding some of the characters. The story line seemed solid enough, though.

Finally, I felt that another production would help me define what to do with the script. Because of so many people who auditioned, I ended up double casting the show. One cast had five adults and two teenagers, as the script calls for. The other cast was children, 5th through 8th grade, with five of them playing adult parts.

So, in essence, I got to see two more productions of my script, to determine how to edit and finalize before submitting to publishers.

I not only worked on the directing of this script, but also acted as the prompter, which gave me even more insight into the dialogue. During rehearsals, I marked the lines people were repeatedly missing.

What I discovered in closely reading the lines night after night was that some of those missed lines were due to less-than-sparkling dialogue. I repeated content in some speeches, which caused actors to stumble over similar-sounding lines. I could use some better cues. And I realized that I can probably cut about 10% of fat from the script by eliminating unnecessary words and "what?" kind of questions.

I'll let you know how the rewrite goes.

Posted by Dave Brandl

You are probably aware of the week in the U.S. where there were three shootings at schools, in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. Living in Denver, I was more than interested in the shooting that occurred in Bailey, Colorado.

Following that shooting, an idea was created to hold a parade for the victim of that shooting, Emily Keyes, who apparently was a big fan of parades. One unique aspect of this parade was that it was for bikers, so 5,000 bikers, including me and my wife, rode in this 40-mile parade that went from Columbine High School (alas, the site of another school shooting) to Platte Canyon High School, up in the nearby mountains outside Denver.

What I noticed as we met in the morning and heard from the organizers and parents of victims of both tragedies, was the openness of all these people to help out. Now there were many hard-core bikers there, with the long ZZ Top beards and tattoos, and many weekend bikers, such as we are, who may wear suit and ties during the week.

It was an eye-opener for the cliché, "You can't judge a book by its cover," seeing these thousands of people devoting their Saturday to spend six to ten hours on this event.

Additionally, there was the character of the people along the parade route, who had parked their cars in highway turnouts or along the road, and stood with signs and banners for us in the parade, expressing their thanks, blessings, and love. When we got to Platte Canyon High School, it seemed like the entire town had showed up to feed the bikers. There were burgers, dogs, Sloppy Joes, lasagna, gumbo, and tons of chips and cookies and gallons of water and soft drinks.

It was hard not to be emotionally touched in some way by such an experience, and it was also inspiring for me to look back at some of my unpublished and unfinished scripts to see if there's anything in there that could help out this issue of school safety.

Posted by Dave Brandl

This week, there was a dance on the same night as rehearsal, some adults who had conflicts, and it was our first night on the stage (we have been rehearsing in a community room). My idea, then, was to be there personally for four hours, and as people came in and out, work with whoever was there, in marking everyone's entrances, exits, and where they may need to cross the stage between scenes.



As it turned out, with this premise, I then had some people from each cast at some point, and at other times had characters missing. So, I started with those who were there, and then proceeded to walk through the entire script, one entrance at a time, then walked through the script another two times, eventually getting everyone on stage to be able to walk through and mark their entrances and exits. It actually worked out rather well. My intent was fulfilled.



For the upcoming two rehearsals, my plan is to alternate casts for each scene, meaning that one cast will perform Act I, Scene 1, while the other cast watches and takes careful notes on their counterparts. Then alternate casts for the next scene, with the others taking notes, and so on through the three scenes in each act. My hope is that they will observe things by their counterparts that look good, don't look so good, or are confusing, and vice versa.



The adult cast obviously has the better experience, most of them having been with us for at least three years, while the younger cast has some actors who are working with us for the first time.



Keep watching for the results.

Posted by Dave Brandl

We're a few weeks into rehearsals for the 2nd production of my Christmas play, Nobody Goes Caroling Anymore, and I'm discovering many things about the script that I hadn't realized either in previous rewrites or even when I saw the debut production last year.

For one thing, the play is written for a cast of seven, with one elderly lady, a young couple (teens or early twenties), and the other four adults of some age. One thing I've discovered over the years is that today's youth does enjoy playing various parts and ages, but is really most comfortable when playing themselves.

In this play, I have double cast the show, with one cast of adults and two teens (13 and 15), and the other cast entirely of middle-school students (age 10 to 13). And while teens and pre-teens love to watch movies with "hunks" and "babes" and may have fantasy relationships with movie stars, they're really quite uncomfortable with the thought of onstage relationships.

Additionally, their real-life experiences have simply not included many opportunities for making ethical choices or dealing with serious health issues, for example. So if a script has too much of such things, the younger actors are merely going through motions and saying lines without really being able to bring a lot to the character.

So I'm looking at how to ensure future casts (if it is presented in a middle or high school) can understand the complexities of my intentions and still have fun with the show. Some more rewriting is certainly in order, and I'd like to simplify some of the language, but still leave it at a level for adults to perform without feeling like they're participating in anything too fluffy.

Posted by Dave Brandl

The biggest surprise is my having forgotten how uncomfortable it can be to be 10 to 15 years old and have to play like you're in love. Or even say the words.

Although today's films and television are filled with romance and relationships, when it comes to the real thing, it's still amazing how much kids take stage relationships to a serious level.

They can play a butterfly or a dog or an old man or a stagecoach driver on stage, and when the curtain is closed, they leave the character back on the stage. But when a relationship is part of their character, there seems to be an inclination for kids to take it (i.e., boyfriend and girlfriend) with them, with the fear that their family and peers will transfer it to real life, when it's not.

So, in the production I'm doing of my Christmas play, I have the two casts, one of all kids and the other of adults playing the adult parts with two teens playing the teen parts. The teen parts are supposed to be boyfriend and girlfriend, and actually living together (although they may be late teens or early twenties).

In the all kid cast, they were fine (and even encouraged me) to cut any of the "love" lines, while the two kids in the adult cast were okay with leaving them in. The younger cast even suggested that I make them siblings rather than a couple, but I didn't go that far.

The point for me is that if these kids are uncomfortable with these lines, and my market for this play is to include middle and high schools, then I need to take their comfort issues very seriously if I expect schools to produce the play, which otherwise, I think has a lot of appeal for that age group.

Posted by Dave Brandl

In this week's article, I discuss adding music to scripts. One example is a show I was involved with where I wrote and recorded a couple songs for a parody. I'm currently working on a second production of one of my plays where I wrote two new Christmas songs. And I am involved with a children's production where the cast was doubled to accommodate all the aspiring young thespians, and for which I'm writing and recording four songs to allow all the children some participation.

This was a natural sideline for me to assist the scripts. But I realize that not everyone has the background, experience, or musical ear to do the same. However, they probably know someone who does, and who would be interested in helping.

Scriptwriters generally are friends with other artistic types, including musicians and poets. And these other artists are likely looking for opportunities to ply their crafts and expand their circles.

Many scripts I've read over the years cite specific songs in them, mirroring the soundtrack attitude. However, when the business end is brought up, explicit permissions (and royalties) must be addressed; the permissions obtained and the royalties paid.

A soundtrack for a movie like Forrest Gump, for example, can cost thousands of dollars to get the rights to include such songs. However, if you are familiar with the soundtrack to that movie, you know that, in addition to the popular songs included, there is one selection composed by Alan Silvestri, who wrote all the original music for the film, as well as dozens of other movies.

When my children were young and watched Barney the dinosaur, I was always put off because they rewrote all their songs from traditional children's songs rather than employ musicians who could have given them original songs that were not only as pleasurable for the children, but for which they could actually record and sell. A generation of children has grown up believing that "This old man, he played one..." are not the real lyrics, but rather, "I love you, you love me..." are.

Consider original music for your scripts. It can fulfill your purpose, and help other artists get involved, too.