Script P.I.M.P. offers development notes designed to assist writers in
preparing their material for industry circulation. Recommended material
is passed on to their Industry Contacts as well as posted in a designated
'Script PIMP Recommends' category on [InkTip]. As with Writers
Script Network, Script P.I.M.P. takes no commission or finder's fee on any
sale or option. All contacts are confidential.
What you can expect from Script PIMP Development Notes:
o Your critique composed by a working agent, manager, story editor or development
director.
o Turn-around time of around 6 days at no extra cost.
o 2-4 pages of detailed notes broken down by Character, Structure, Conflict,
Stakes, Dialogue, Believability & Other Concerns.
o Creative and constructive notes focused on maximizing the potential of
each individual script.
o A follow-up email with questions for your evaluator.
o Online or offline registration options.
o Re-submitting writers may choose 'the original evaluator', 'a fresh read'
or 'no preference'.
SCRIPT P.I.M.P. HOME PAGE: www.scriptpimp.com
Questions? Contact: Chadwick Clough, President & CEO
SALON:
SCREENWRITING BOOKS
There are hundreds of screenwriting books that can aid a writer in losing
his voice and squelching his originality.
If the writer has to learn how to write from a manual...
Richard Walter's SCREENWRITING provides an excellent overview from the
outline to the query letter process.
For a scholarly source into character and motive...
Lajos Egri's THE ART OF DRAMATIC WRITING
For insight into the hero's journey and storytelling myth...
Joseph Campbell's THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES which inspired George
Lucas and STAR WARS.
WRITING CONDITIONS
Music or no music, ball game on the radio, television, urban noise, crickets
- the writer may wish to surround herself with nurturing rhythms. Possibly...
Keith Jarret's KOLN, Stephane Grapelli's OLYMPIAD, Bach's BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS,
any Miles Davis, any Mozart, anything free-flowing and non-lyrical to liberate
the writer's flow of word without intrusion.
NOVELS ABOUT HOLLYWOOD
Bruce Wagner's I'M LOSING YOU - the closest one can get to the filth and
moral depravity of Hollywood without actually getting dirty.
Also...
Nathanael West's DAY OF THE LOCUST
Michael Tolkin's THE PLAYER
Charles Bukowski's HOLLYWOOD
FILM CRITICISM
Pauline Kael on how to talk about film. She once set a standard for cinema
when filmmakers actually welcomed criticism.
Also...
James Agee - AGEE ON FILM: CRITICISM AND COMMENTARY ON THE MOVIES - reprinted
by Martin Scorcese. Brilliant text on the films of the 1930's and 40's.
NOVEL GENRES
DETECTIVE
Ed McBain - (also known as Evan Hunter screenwriter of the BIRDS as well
as dozens of detective novels)...latest is THE LAST DANCE about New York
homicide detectives - true to the expectations of the genre and yet etches
his original voice.
MELODRAMA
Thomas Hardy - TESS, JUDE THE OBSCURE - the dialogue is often very cinematic,
but it is the plot that really moves.
HUMOR
John Kennedy Toole - CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES, a one-man wrecking crew, buffoonery
and gaseous wit, a "vehicle" for a comic actor.
Joseph Heller - CATCH 22 for absurd plotting and ensemble writing - a forerunner
of situation comedy - the humor is derived from the situation and milieu
- Heller writes, "There was only one catch and that was Catch 22, which
specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that
were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy
and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did,
he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions... If he
flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was
sane and had to... "That's some catch, that Catch 22," he [Yossarian
observed] "It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
Charles Bukowski - In all his fiction, he uses setting to depict character
- the reader's sympathies are drawn out of the dregs of the protagonist's
skid row life.
DIALOGUE
Mark Twain's HUCK FINN - use of vernacular and regional dialect. Twain
and Oscar Wilde created the pseudo-intellectual paradox. Twain writes on
fighting, "Thrusting my nose firmly between his teeth, I threw him
heavily to the ground on top of me."
THEATRICAL DIALOGUE
Eugene O'Neil's ICEMAN COMETH for barroom humor and raw realism - a predecessor
to the slang of Mamet.
MEMOIR
John Bayley's ELEGY FOR IRIS - two writers, husband and wife, and their
stuggle with Alzheimer's. Poignant commentary on the lifestyle of the writer.
SHAKESPEARE
For dialogue, characterization, and plot. Steal. Steal. Steal.
FILMS
Classic films for writers - CITIZEN KANE, RULES OF THE GAME, SEVEN SAMOURAI,
CHINATOWN, TAXI DRIVER, DINER, SUNSET BOULEVARD, THE GODFATHER, REAR WINDOW,
DR. STRANGELOVE
Some other highly regarded films for the writer...
MARTY - a great dialogue movie by Paddy Chayefsky, the great screenwriter
who never directed. It was made for television.
PAT GARRET AND BILLY THE KID - underrated humor, redefined a genre, a British
comedy of manners, very detailed into the life of a cowboy - how does a
sheriff walk down the stairs after a night with four whores - James Coburn
ambles gingerly.
THE THIRD MAN - bringing out a main character late in a film, building
suspense, giving the audience just enough to chew - classic economy of plot.
UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING and ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST Adaptations
- don't get tied to the text. These screenwriters dared to expand on the
original material and further enhance its spirit.
NASHVILLE, SHORT CUTS - drama in all its complicated humanity, what Paul
Thomas Anderson valiantly but couldn't quite accomplish in MAGNOLIA. Murmured
naturalistic dialogue and seamless transitions - should be given full attention
on the big screen.
NOTE:
These Script P.I.M.P. references are solely for introspection. If reflections
on film or literature should coalesce, please refrain from sending them
to Script P.I.M.P.
