Three Little Words

If you’ve read one of my series, and who hasn’t you know that I have a contemporary mystery series set in a little town north of Seattle, Washington.  The protagonist is a private detective and he…well…he does private detective things. The point is I have named each book for a song from the big band era of just prior to and just after WWII.  I figure if the late Sue Grafton can do it with the alphabet, maybe I can do it with song titles.  As I have said in other blogs, I also have been fortunate enough to have several feature films produced from scripts I wrote.  Now I have to tie those two tidbits of information together.

Back in the 1930’s, (much before my time) there was a song with the title THREE LITTLE WORDS.  It’s been recorded many times by many different singers, but that’s not the point either.  The point is, screenplays consist of three distinct parts, i.e., three little words.

Those words are: Beginning, Middle and End. Or maybe Act I, Act II and Act III. How about Action, Dialog and Characters?  And don’t forget the most famous three of all: Lights! Camera! Acton!  Say those last three on a set and you will be escorted off by the largest truck driver in the state.  I just threw them in to see if you were paying attention.  You only hear them in movies or on television when the person doesn’t know what he or she is talking about.

Take the first three sets of three words.  All are relevant to a good screenplay.  Any story should have a beginning, a middle and an end, no matter if it’s a novel, short story or a screenplay.  The next two sets are particular to screenplays and teleplays. Movies are a visual medium and if you have a forty-foot-tall head on the screen doing nothing but talking, you are going to lose the audience if you were fortunate enough to sell the screenplay in the first place.  That head has to say something and when it does, you have a character and some dialog. If you must have that character talk for five minutes, break it up with some kind of action.  Have them go to the window and look out or light a cigarette or take a drink or tie their shoe or put on lipstick.  Something.  A long monolog only works once ever twenty years and the last one that really worked was George C. Scott in PATTON.  If you haven’t seen it, watch the first five minutes to see what I’m talking about. By the way, that was the last scene filmed in the movie.  It was so intense, that the director wanted to save it for last.

From a formatting point, the script must be in three acts unless it’s a teleplay, then it may be eight or more.  Remember, on television you don’t pay and admission, so they have to sell something to get their money back.  Writers have to factor in breaks for commercials, but that’s for another time.

Remember, if you’re writing a screenplay, it’s rule of three little words.

And now I have three little words for you.  

I gotta go.