LOST scripts
Categories: TV, WritingWarning: Not everything I post is about ASUC politics…
So I downloaded a random Lost script from last season. I spend a lot of time reading scripts because I figure it’s a good way to understand the basic structure and flow of stories.
This script is from episode 212, Fire and Water, a really bad episode in my opinion. I only mention reading it because there’s something very strange about it. I’ve read "conversational" scripts before. I don’t know what they’re really called, but that’s a script where the writer peppers his action descriptions with little asides to the reader. Things like "He opens the briefcase revealing more money than I’ll make when I sell this screenplay." Sometimes it’s a good descriptive technique. Traditionally you only stick to adjectives you can film, but sometimes a clever description that references outside the script can be useful to paint the proper image for the reader. Other times though, it reads as really cloying and annoying.
Here’s what’s so weird about this script. The word fuck appears 54 times in a 56 page script. And that’s all in the action text. Lost has no swearing in its dialogue. It’s bizarre. I can’t get through the script. Every piece of action invariably goes like "Liam stands — something in the music fucking activates a part of him." or "Locke spins around and PUNCHES CHARLIE in the FUCKING FACE."
Being a shitty wannabe writer, I don’t think it’s my place to criticize a sold script so, hmm, yeah nowhere to go with that. Take a look. It’s pretty distracting. If you’re interested in more Lost scripts go here.
According to Carlton Cuse, Lost scripts are always written in that style. I guess the idea is to suggest the punch you’d get from watching that scene. One of their lower-level writers actually managed to make a good impression by being so in tune with the Lost style that the first time she was assigned a script, it was filled with “fucks” in the manner above.
But this is different than what you’d do if you were trying to sell a spec script. Lost writers can do this because their show is already on the air, and no one but fellow Lost writers give a shit what the script looks like. Now, if you were writing a Lost spec, you might emulate this (although I wouldn’t go overboard), and hope the people reading your script realize that’s the way Lost scripts are written. Probably, though, it would be wise to tone it down a little in case your readers don’t know that.
If you are writing an original spec, feature or TV, it’s probably best to not do that. Personally, I use colorful asides sparingly, although I know people who like them and I’m gradually becoming comfortable enough to feel like I know when they’ll be appropriate. Any time they enhance the story and help to communicate tone or impact or what a viewer would feel, I think they work. Any time they’re just there to be cute and clever, they’re annoying. Either way, you don’t want to overdo it.
In the end, though, the way it works is this: People who have sold scripts get to follow different rules than people who have never sold a script. If you are still trying to prove yourself, you want to be as clean and solid as possible to prove to people you’ve done your homework and know what you’re doing. If you are Quentin Tarantino or Shane Black you can fuck around with the reader all you want. But just because they do it doesn’t mean you should as a beginning writer, and this is something you have to keep in mind when reading produced scripts.
Comment by kenny — July 29, 2006 @ 4:44 am
Oh yeah, I mean I understood that it was only possible to operate that way because they’re a sold series. I was just sort of amazed at the lengths they were going with all those fucks. There were so many fucks that they lacked impact or punch. They were just a needless distraction.
Also congrats on knowing the name Shane Black, patron saint of million dollar spec deals for new writers.
Comment by tiltedfish — July 29, 2006 @ 7:26 pm