song

padnar said:

How to write one's own song in a script . I want to show my character listening to her father's composition . How can I show it ? pl help and thanks .

padma

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Good question. Composition? Are there words?

If there are, you could describe the character's reaction when "I'm gonna' love you till the day I die..." (or whatever they are) spills out of the speakers.

The thing is, the Director may not want to use your song. The best you can do to get it in the film is bring the CD to your production meetings and see if you can get him or her to fall in love with it. If he or she does, and your picture has the budget, a deal will be done with a record company to get a band to do the song. Don't be horrified if it's The Vomit Brains, the hottest band o' the moment. Maybe you'll even hate the song after they do it. Or, maybe you'll love it even more than your current recording. Sadly, no one will care.

You'll feel small. You'll feel voiceless.

Welcome to the screenwriter game. But, the bright side is you'd get paid for writing the song, and have a produced song credit!

"But wait," do I hear you saying? "Can't I just record the song?"

Well, maybe, if you have it all going on with your writing, songwriting and recording and you have a recognizable name that the studio wants on the soundtrack. Only you know the answer to that. But my sense is that the Director would say something along the lines of "You're the writer. Let us worry about the music. Now take your little laptop and latte and polish up scene 83. "

This is just the tip o' the iceberg with music issues in movies.

Personally, I make general music style references and move on down the road.

Yup - pretty much what Verbal said.

In terms of stylistic approach of INTRODUCING the song within the script - I'm assuming this is a major plot point. The character's father being a composer is important to character development and plot line.

Sure - you just set it up.

She poured a glass of wine, put the recording on and stood in the middle of the room - waiting for the opening chords.

Her eyes misted over as the violins swelled in the opening, then receded to allow the high notes of the tenor sax to ascend from the depths. The sax's voice was joined by the sultry smoky tones of her father's voice - the voice of her childhood -reminiscent of Nat King Cole's;

FATHER(VO)
On Paris streets we walked and cried,
In New York's parks we loved and sighed....




Something like that. Something that suggests the NATURE of the music, the sound of the vocalists voice. If there's a particular line in the song that perhaps comes LATER - you need not put the whole lyric in. You could put in the opening verse, then maybe describe how she dances with her invisible Father, and finally when the important lyric comes in - write it, and her reaction to THAT.

Well, that's how I would approach it.


Again, in the final analysis - since it's an original composition - the studio budget and director's taste will determine if they use it, and who covers it.

What everyone else has already said. I know a screenwriter guy who warned me never make your thing (even a scene) too dependent on any one specific song ... because "they" probably won't use it. Clearance, rights, money, marketing ... there are a gazillion stumbling blocks. (His thing depended on a Tony Orlando song, "Tie A Yellow Ribbon" and the director and producers just couldn't swing it, even though they HAD Tony Orlando in the freakin' movie!)

It's murder. I faced the same dilema writing a spec, and I just had to swallow it down, no, I cannot tell them what the one perfect song is (it's sort of like telling them who the one perfect actor would be)

Think of this positive point though: they might hate your song, but if your screenwriting is working your magic otherwise, they'll be thinking of some song THEY love ... and that'll get your movie made better because of THEIR enthusiasm for their song, not yours for yours!

The guys with the purse and the gold ... enthuse them; you're already enthusiastic because you wrote it.