Writing the Script
- 2. By now our script is basically finished, but I wanted to show you how it developed and changed over time. So before we started coming up with ideas we had a look at our assets, so we could see what is possible and what not. Assets: Locations: school, Ivan's house, Jordan's house, school car park, a gym, saltaire, library, Roberts park Actors: teachers, friends, students from sixth form, acting students from Stage84 Equipment: Camera, tripod, dolly, jib, shotgun microphone, lighting equipment, Adobe Master Collection, Computer After we did a list of the assets we have, we found out what is possible and what is out of reach.
- 3. We knew we wanted the film to be based on school, but we didn’t wanted to go drama and do a film about racism, bullying etc. We wanted to make a film where people get excited and laugh. We finally decided on the genre: Action/Comedy The most important thing to us was that the film was relatable, so we had a look at the problems of students, because the majority of our audience is students. The first thing that came to our mind was exams, the second thing was money. The decision was made to base our film on exams and money. After a lot of thinking and staring up the sealing, we had a solution how to combine those things: a corrupt teacher. With a corrupt teacher I mean a teacher who sells the results to an exam, before the actual exam.
- 4. Every good movie has good and diverse characters. We already knew that we have a corrupt teacher. The audience needs a character that they can relate to, so it was obvious that we needed a student who is struggling with his exams. Then we came up with a lot of characters who would each turn the plot in a whole different direction. We had: - Another teacher who could challenge the corrupt one - Another student who could be a problem for our protagonist - A wife for the corrupt teacher - A violent father for our protagonist - A police officer who deals with the corrupt teacher The choice was made after we finished the plot.
- 5. So now that we had the genre and the idea we needed a plot. We used a technique which I call thinking backwards and I know that a lot of writers use this technique. Basically you make a timeline and write what happens in the beginning, the end, the climax and insert also the scenes you already have in mind. When you have done that you fill in the gaps. So here is what we started with: A student struggling with exams. Problem Teacher sells him the exams Student passes exam Conclusion
- 6. I know the timeline isn't really telling the plot but it is the basic construction we started off with. From there we made a whole lot of timelines and the picked the best one. Here are some examples: Student in classroom Struggling with subject Teacher sells exam results to student Student in classroom Struggling with subject Teacher sells exam results to student Another teacher finds out and blackmails him The whole thing escalates Police gets involved Teachers wife isn't happy with that Wife cheats on him with another man Someone gets shot The whole thing escalates Someone gets shot
- 7. So you can see there is a lot of stuff left unexplained, but that’s not the point. The point with these timelines is to show a basic structure and give the writer an idea where the story is going and lets him make changes fast and dynamic. So after a lot of thinking, discussing and writing we went with this timeline: Student in classroom Struggling with subject Teacher sells exam results to student Another student finds out Student wants the money Teacher gets blackmailed by the student Teacher gets shot There is still some crazy stuff there and a lot is left unexplained, but from there we went into more detail with the plot structure.
- 8. After we had our timeline we went a bit more into the characters personalities. We have 3 Characters: Eddie: he is the protagonist, he is an average student who is struggling with his exams. Steve: he is an aggressive student and doesn’t care about anything except himself, has anger management issues Mr Anderson: He is a business man, very confident almost arrogant, young. These were the character profiles at the beginning. After that we did a list of all important things that have to happen, to make the film realistic, relatable and exciting.
- 9. 1. Eddie sitting in lesson struggling with Subject 2. Mr Anderson sees that and asks him to stay behind 3. Mr Anderson offers him exam results for money 4. Eddie goes to Mr Andersons house to get the results 5. He gets them 6. Steve and Eddie run into each other in the Corridor 7. Eddies bag content falls on the floor 8. Steve finds the results and blackmails Eddie 9. Eddie tells Steve that he got the results from Mr Anderson for money 10. Steve Goes to Mr Andersons office and Blackmails him 11. Steve wants the money 12. Mr Anderson refuses 13. Steve threatens him with a gun 14. Mr Anderson tells him that his money is in his car 15. Steve and Mr Anderson go to the car 16. Eddie sees that and follows them 17. Mr Anderson gives Steve the money at the car 18. Steve takes it and walks away 19. Mr Anderson gets a gun from his car, turns around and gets shot 20. Eddie sees it and runs to Mr Anderson 21. Steve runs away after shooting Mr Anderson 22. Eddie calls Ambulance 23. END
- 10. Now that we had a more detailed structure, the task was to get the characters a bit more relatable, because there were still many things unanswered: Why does Steve want the money? Where did Steve get the gun from? Why does Mr Anderson do what he does? How much money does Eddie give to Mr Anderson? Why does Mr Anderson have a gun? How come Eddie sees Mr Anderson and Steve together? How much money does Mr Anderson have?
- 11. We added a lot of things, like Steve taking anti aggression pills, so we know that he is violent. Steve's father is in the army, that’s why he has a gun. Before Eddie runs into Steve, Steve is reading a magazine and finds an add for a motorbike for £5000. Steve gives a monolog to Mr Anderson while he is in his office, where we find out how much money Mr Anderson has made through selling exam results to students. Eddie gives Mr Anderson £100 for the results. Eddie is in the library and sees Steve and Mr Anderson through the window. So even after that there are a few questions unanswered, but we still finished the script with the whole dialog. But when we were finished we realised that we were off track. This wasn’t Action/Comedy any more, this was Thriller/Drama, something we wanted to avoid. So we did some changes again.
- 12. First of all we needed more comedy and less drama and less negative feeling. So we changed the timeline: Student in classroom Struggling with subject Another student finds out Teacher sells exam results to student Teacher tells student that he gives him the money on exam day after the exam Teacher gets blackmailed by the student Teacher gave wrong results and left the country Student takes results and agrees The core concept stays the same but we have a much lighter mood now and sort of a happy ending. So we refined the whole thing again.
- 13. 1. Eddie sitting in lesson struggling with Subject 2. Mr Anderson sees that and asks him to stay behind 3. Mr Anderson offers him exam results for money 4. Eddie goes to Mr Andersons house to get the results 5. He gets them 6. Steve and Eddie run into each other in the Corridor 7. Eddies bag content falls on the floor 8. Steve finds the results and blackmails Eddie 9. Eddie tells Steve that he got the results from Mr Anderson for money 10. Steve Goes to Mr Andersons office and Blackmails him 11. Steve wants the money 12. Mr Anderson refuses 13. Steve threatens him with his father, who is a police officer 14. Mr Anderson tells him that he will give him the money after exam and that he can have results for free 15. Steve agrees 16. On exam day they realise that the results are wrong 17. After the exam Eddie and Steve go to Mr Anderson’s office, but it's empty 18. They find out that Mr Anderson has left the country 19. Steve gets mad 20. They fight 21. Eddie knocks him out 22. We see Mr Anderson driving into the sunset 23. End
- 14. From there we changed a lot and added a bit more for example: Mr Anderson talking to another teaches about how fed up and tired he is with school and the students. A cutaway of Eddie being lazy. A narrative voice of Eddie in the End telling us what happened afterwards. A scene in the End of Eddie getting good results in his A-level. We also changed the character profiles: Mr Anderson: professional, tired, smart, caring Eddie: confused, lazy, good, polite Steve: misunderstood, aggressive, dangerous, short tempered As you see the characters now have a more complex and balanced personality
- 15. The script now is basically finished. I will be uploading that soon and do another slide about the script. As you can see, the Script changed quite a lot and we cut stuff out and added some stuff till we had what we wanted. Now we have a script with meaning, development, a relatable plot and a satisfying end. And it all started with a simple strategy. Like they say in Hollywood: Nothing is written, it is Re-written