Action adventure and page numbers

[GonnaBeFamous]

I plan on doing an action adventure that will probably be 40% car chase scenes. The thingis I don't want it to be redundant in my script, I don't want someone to read pages on end of redundancy. Is it OK, if my script is only in the 70's so I won't have an obnoxious amount of car scene pages and bore the reader? It seems like the "reader" of the script will understand why my script would only be like let's say 70 pages, since a lot of it is just them sitting in a car and driving. Or should I just make long conversations in the car and lots of stupid redundancies to act as filler and bore the reader to get my "required" 85 pages?

[Mac H.]

To quote someone wiser than me: "Write what happens, including all the exciting bits."

If you think the car scenes will be boring, then you have a problem. If you think they'll be boring on the page, why won't they be boring in the cinema?

Read some action scripts that you liked, and see how they do it.
Check out Terminator 2, for example. At least three good 'car chase scenes' in the same movie - each TOTALLY different from each other. Different aims. Different 'Whats-At-Stake'. Different modes of transport. Different tactics that the 'bad guy' is using to try and stop them.

At NO stage was I sitting there thinking "This chase scene is just like the earlier one".

Mac

[dpaterso]

Usually a story is character-driven or plot-driven, it's odd to find one that appears to be car-driven even though the words go together so well. :)

Instead of aiming for 85 pages, I'd up the target to 110.

Mac, great quote. Goldman? Helgeland? Esterhaus? <deadpan>

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)

[icerose]

I have to agree with Derek. If its too long they will cut it, but if its too short they won't take it.

[GonnaBeFamous]

To quote someone wiser than me: "Write what happens, including all the exciting bits."

If you think the car scenes will be boring, then you have a problem. If you think they'll be boring on the page, why won't they be boring in the cinema?

Read some action scripts that you liked, and see how they do it.
Check out Terminator 2, for example. At least three good 'car chase scenes' in the same movie - each TOTALLY different from each other. Different aims. Different 'Whats-At-Stake'. Different modes of transport. Different tactics that the 'bad guy' is using to try and stop them.

At NO stage was I sitting there thinking "This chase scene is just like the earlier one".

Mac


Yeah I think I have a problem now in my plot, not so much because the car driving is boring though.

Ever seen the movie duel? I can't find the script to that!

[Joe Calabrese]

What was that Spike Lee film where it almost took place entirely on a bus? And what about Speed?

Car chases are fun and all, but without someone driving, who cares. In other words, I think you should look at your characters and their story more so that you don't have to rely so much on the crashes and eye candy.

Look at the last Matrix film. The last half hour was so intense, so action filled, that it became a long video game and the few instances of characterizations did little to break up the constant bombardment of FX. I zoned out after ten minutes.

I could be wrong and your script is awesome, but generally I find that people who write a lot of chases, gun fire and car crashes have little in the way characters are dealt with. Just a hypothetical observation.

As for page length, I wouldn't go less than 90 personally, unless it is a really low budget horror film then 85 is somewhat acceptable. But with that many car crashes, I don't think you would be in the low budget realm. Shoot for 90 minimum.

[GonnaBeFamous]

What was that Spike Lee film where it almost took place entirely on a bus? And what about Speed?

Car chases are fun and all, but without someone driving, who cares. In other words, I think you should look at your characters and their story more so that you don't have to rely so much on the crashes and eye candy.

Look at the last Matrix film. The last half hour was so intense, so action filled, that it became a long video game and the few instances of characterizations did little to break up the constant bombardment of FX. I zoned out after ten minutes.

I could be wrong and your script is awesome, but generally I find that people who write a lot of chases, gun fire and car crashes have little in the way characters are dealt with. Just a hypothetical observation.

As for page length, I wouldn't go less than 90 personally, unless it is a really low budget horror film then 85 is somewhat acceptable. But with that many car crashes, I don't think you would be in the low budget realm. Shoot for 90 minimum.

Actually this movie would be extremely drama intensive in the beginning which sets the chain of events that leads to a police chase.

[scripter1]

Gonna, this statement you made really concerns me.

"Or should I just make long conversations in the car and lots of stupid redundancies to act as filler and bore the reader to get my "required" 85 pages?"

This reveals a serious flaw in your thinking.
Perhaps it was just an off hand comment but if you wish to be a successfull writer you can NEVER entertain such ideas.

Gosh, I mean breaking into the business is hard enough without making ourselves loopholes or excuses for bad writing.
And what you thought about doing would be bad writing, plain and simple.
It's a cop out and you should be ashamed of yourself for even thinking it.
Shame!!!! Shame!!!
Bad writer!! Bad, bad, bad, bad writer!!!!

"I will not EVER, ever, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER entertain the notion of writing filler just to make page count in a script again." written one thousand times on my desk by noon tommorow.

It is one thing for someone like Lucas to writing scene after scene of people and holograms sitting on round cushins somberly discussing the fate of the Universe and quite another for a novice writer to bring the pacing of the story to a screeching halt just to make page count.

He is George Lucas and it was the last (maybe) Star Wars film ever.

The spec screenwriter cannot allow themselves to indulge in mediocrity. Every single page, every single item MUST be vital to the story.

You must stretch your creative muscles. It won't be easy, may even hurt, but if you pull it off it will be worth it.
Yes, it's perfectly fine for you to have a movie full of car chases. Speed and Terminator are excellent examples. You've just got a big challenge before you in coming up with something we haven't seen before.
Brainstorm.
What vehicles can you use? Haven't seen a good Zamboni chase in a long time.
What strange places can the chase happen in? The chase scene through the mall in Blues Brothers was great.
How do the characters involved react? "Man, this place has everything."
Have all your expostion dialog take place during the most thrilling moments.
Switch character places. Instead of the race car driver behind the wheel put his babysitter there, or mother.
Shake it up.

Anything worth doing is worth doing right.

[GonnaBeFamous]

OK, it looks like the car chase will probably start about pg 12, but there is hints that something big might happen earlier in the script.

If a cop is going to pull someone over for a violation. Do they still radio stuff in or do they just check on their laptop these days and then pull them over?

[Joe Calabrese]

Depends. Big city, small town? west or east middle America? State police or local patrol? Lot of variables. But I would assume the laptop is to check plates for prior violations or warrants and hard to type in while in a chase.

[icerose]

Find a cop and ask him/her. Most likely if there was something that caught their interested such as a busted out tail light and they try to pull someone over and the car runs for it, they would radio in the information and that is when they would get the prior violations and such.

Just a thought.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Its a local cop.

If I recall from my years of cops shows ;) they check the plates through the laptop to see if its stolen or has tickets(sometimes cops do this randomly or they get suspicious i believe)

I think the part that has me thinking is the following

A) I think they always radio into a dispatcher when they give the sirens and start to pull over(timing is important here), but someone can give me confirmation if this is true or not

B) I'm not sure if they radio in for warrants always when they pull over or if they do that later if they have probably cause? It seems like when they would get warrants on cops it was always many minutes later.


Thanks.

[aspiringwriter]

My screenplay is going to be VERY long...:) I am not looking for a theatrical release....maybe mini-series b/c the story spans 50 plus years...Yes it sounds like a lot, but there is SO much that happens to these characters...This is near and dear to my heart!!!

[gp101]

Keep in mind cost, too. Staging a car chase is expensive. A movie full of them is a fortune to produce. If you're already a well-established writer or director, they'll make that movie. If you're a newbie? Chances are they won't take a chance. Try to write as a low a budget film as you can. That's why I keep hearing comedies, or romantic comedies, or mysteries/thrillers are the best routes for us newbies, because they are cheap to make, provided locations, car chases, and SFX are kept to a minimum.

[Optimus]

Hate to sound like a broken record....

but go read some scripts. Pick out ones with longer, extended car chase sequences (like Ronin, The Transporter, The Bourne Supremacy, etc.) and see how those authors wrote them. This will help you learn how others have successfully described those intricate sequences.

And, Joe. "Duel" was a made-for-tv movie directed by Steven Spielberg back in the early 70s (you know, the one where that dude in the car is being chased by the evil tractor trailer on a highway in the middle of nowhere?). One of his earliest films. GBF, it'll probably be next to impossible to find that script.

[JustinoXXV]

Keep in mind cost, too. Staging a car chase is expensive. A movie full of them is a fortune to produce. If you're already a well-established writer or director, they'll make that movie. If you're a newbie? Chances are they won't take a chance. Try to write as a low a budget film as you can. That's why I keep hearing comedies, or romantic comedies, or mysteries/thrillers are the best routes for us newbies, because they are cheap to make, provided locations, car chases, and SFX are kept to a minimum.

Actually, the screenwriter probably shouldn't worry about the budget. Concentrate on writing a good story. If there are budgetary issues, the producers will deal with it in development and have it being rewritten.

As for comedies being the best way in, not necessarily. For one, not every writer is funny.

Write whatever ideas you have (high concept or not). Of all my scripts, one of my fantasies is getting a lot more reads than my mystery and my drama.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Actually, the screenwriter probably shouldn't worry about the budget. Concentrate on writing a good story. If there are budgetary issues, the producers will deal with it in development and have it being rewritten.

As for comedies being the best way in, not necessarily. For one, not every writer is funny.

Write whatever ideas you have (high concept or not). Of all my scripts, one of my fantasies is getting a lot more reads than my mystery and my drama.

I agree. Just write it and let the producers worry about the budget. Besides, Duel was low budget made for tv movie and the whole movie practically(like mine) is full of car chases. It can be done.

[GonnaBeFamous]

Hate to sound like a broken record....

but go read some scripts. Pick out ones with longer, extended car chase sequences (like Ronin, The Transporter, The Bourne Supremacy, etc.) and see how those authors wrote them. This will help you learn how others have successfully described those intricate sequences.

And, Joe. "Duel" was a made-for-tv movie directed by Steven Spielberg back in the early 70s (you know, the one where that dude in the car is being chased by the evil tractor trailer on a highway in the middle of nowhere?). One of his earliest films. GBF, it'll probably be next to impossible to find that script.

Thanks, I'll check out those scripts.