Latest / Lydia Nicole's Acting Smarter Now Podcast / The One Thing Actors Get Wrong About Scripts

Transcript

The One Thing Actors Get Wrong About Scripts · Lydia Nicole's Acting Smarter Now Podcast

• 1:17
  SPEAKER_01: You have the script, you break it down, you get your coverage, make sure the script if you had to write it 20 times to make sure it's a good script, because everything starts with the script.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: So once you do that, and every actor will get to that point when they say, I need to do stuff and I need to control some stuff, I need to get more work.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_01: So create your own work.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: So, but it starts with the script.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And even if you're not a writer, you go get a writer and make sure that they come up with a script for you.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: Script.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk rewrites, Mr.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in the WGA.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk rewrites.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because a lot of times people think I wrote a script.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to shoot.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes you actually see those films on screen that they wrote a script, but there was no rewrites.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: Well, okay.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: So just because you say the word the in, that doesn't mean it's the end.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: It just means it's the starting.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_01: You have some clay.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: Now you really gotta mold it into something.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: So you write the word the end.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of times I have two sets of friends.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Friends who are in the business, friends who are not in the business.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: I give the script to about five friends in the business, five friends out of it.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: And then they give me notes.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_01: Friends in the business will give me different notes than that person in middle America who's just reading a script.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: What's this EXT that's exterior?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: What's this INT that's inside?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: So you get different notes from them.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: I hate that character.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Now, even though they don't know anything about scripts, you have to listen to them because they're the people in the audience.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so you look at that and you figure out, oh, okay, if she doesn't like that person and he's the protagonist, you you know that's a that's a bad thing.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_01: So and the people in the business are a little bit more savvy about certain things.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So um after you get that, you take those notes and you rewrite them.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: And there are times too that I will tape a reading with the actors because the actors will give me something that I never even thought of.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you will do an early table read.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: You get a group of actors to read your script.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, they're reading the script.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: I do that after the second read write.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: So on the third read write, I use the actors uh to do that, and sometimes I'll just take a MP3, the audio of the what the actors do, and I'll just I used to drive down the coast and just listen, listen, or I'll sit in front of the the a lake or wherever and just listen to see what they say because things come to me with that.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Then I'll go back and do another draft.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: So right now I may be on my fourth draft of the script, and then film is what you see, stage is what you say.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're doing stuff, but you gotta really just uh um narrow it down to that.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes things can be too verbose.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so you have to cut it down, and we have to see it in film.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: So um so you're doing stuff and you have to make sure the characters are right, you have various voices.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: This person talks like this, they do certain mannerisms, they're this, that, and the other.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_01: So, so you make sure you have your character arcs from when they start, and there's a journey, and they are different at the end of the journey.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing with the story arc.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: So you look at all those different things, and you got to know some structure too.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: Act one, act two, act three, um, the inciting incident.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: What sparks the whole thing off?
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, home alone.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: If if Macaulay Calkin's family didn't leave, uh, then there would be no home alone because they're still there.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: If if Harrison Ford did not find this map to the treasure, there's no treasure hunt.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: So there's always an exciting incident that sparks it off.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so you have to have that.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Some people fade, some people just start writing, okay.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'll write a script, fade in.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, where are you going?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: What's the roadmap?
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: This, that, and the other.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it's important to have those things.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: So, um, and then I take it a step further after I think it's cool.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna send it out for coverage.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us what coverage is for those that don't know.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, coverage is when Hollywood professionals, like professional readers, they don't know you from a hole in the ground.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: So they just take your script and then they read it.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And when they read it, um, they will either recommend it, strongly recommend it, or they'll pass on it like you go back and you know.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Now, sometimes they'll give you coverage or notes.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to pay at various things if you want a uh a treatment out of it, if you want the log line, if you want whatever, but they'll give you notes on how to correct the script.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I think you should do this or concentrate on this character, do this, that, and the other.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: So you get that coverage and then you rewrite again based on that.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: And coverage is a professional uh fee that you pay them to do it.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: There it's not free, it's not your uncle, your aunt who's saying, Hey baby, let me read this and let me give you some notes.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: You are actually paying, and in some instances, you can pay anywhere between$300,$3,000, depending on who the the coverage doctor is.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and and you can go, there are people from$65 to let's see, Slated, I think charges$1,000, but they give you a financial overview.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: When we get back to the finance, I'll tell you tell you about that.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: There's the blacklist, there's uh um, there's we screenplay scriptapalooza.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: If you look up Hollywood script coverage, Google it, it'll a whole bunch of them will come up.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and so you do that until the script is it is recommended or strongly recommended.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now you know you at least have something there.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Now, okay, let me just say something that you have to be careful on.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes, when you're if you're an African American or if you're a Latino or if if you're Asian, sometimes the script coverage people, whoever it is, may not be hip to the culture, and so they may give you notes based on their lack of knowledge of that culture.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: So keep that in mind.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: So you just have to know that all coverage is not great coverage, you have to take what you need and throw the rest out.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: So if you use certain jargon colloquialisms and this, that, and the other, that they you just it's over their head, then and then they comment on that, you just take that and put that aside and then move forward.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: But it but if they talk structure, use that.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to know that they're not your audience.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: The only reason you're using them is to make sure the script is solid.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: The little notes uh about well, why would he be doing this?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know why he would be doing this, your audience knows why he would be doing this.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's important to know.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and and even if you did 15 drafts of it to the world, here's the first draft.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_01: If you did a draft, uh, your first draft, which is the 15th draft of you, that you give in, uh give it to them, whoever you give it to, if the studio picks it up, they'll say, Okay, good first draft.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, you just take that as it comes.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: Good first draft.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if they said, Here are your notes, and they give you notes, give you notes.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, sometimes it may go into turnaround, which that we decided not to do it.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: So even if Warner Brother gives the script back to you, it becomes your first draft to Universal because every studio has to put their fingerprint on it.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: They could love it, they still have stuff, something to say about it, you know.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then that's just their job.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get to the the producing, but with that, you have a script.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an actor.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: I this is my first time.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: I wrote a script, I think it's really good.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I like um Tom Hanks for the part.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm so excited for my script.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sending it to Tom Hanks.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm figuring out where he is, I'm gonna send it directly to him.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell me why that's a no-no?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, especially if I don't know Tom Hanks.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you don't know Tom Hanks, I really doubt if Tom Hanks reads it.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: First of all, his um the correct protocol is to go through an agent, a manager, um, a lawyer.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: You can do that and and because it's unsolicited.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you just send an unsolicited, I would never do that for the protection of you.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: And for protection of you, I would register it with the WGA, WGA.org.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_01: I would turn right back around and um copyright it, copyright.gov.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: And so now at least you have some kind of protection.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: The WGA it protects your film, your script for five years, and it's state regulated.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: The copyright.gov, it's uh for your life, the life of you, and it's federally um uh uh regulated.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so I would rather go to federal court than to state court and all that, mail that script to yourself and all that, that's a waste of time.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: Don't don't do that.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Every time you write a script, there's metadata, and that metadata is is connected to that file.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: So it'll say, you wrote the script this day, this, that, and the other.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: So it's connected.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: So if they asked you to prove the metadata, you can say, This is when I wrote the script.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Even if you didn't register it or do anything, you can still prove that you actually wrote that property.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if you take a meeting, let's say you have the lawyer, you have the manager, you have the agent, you take a meeting with an executive, they pass on it.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they've read, they you it is in an email, the back and forth.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And uh a year later, you see your project on their network or their streaming services, you now have legal rights, I believe.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because I remember there was uh an incident where a assistant wrote something, sent it to someone, and they took it.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: And but he had legal standing because he had been um keeping track through email.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: So once you have representation, once you have professional representation, and not your uncle who's a lawyer, who's down in the boondocks, but a Hollywood attorney or a Hollywood agent or manager, not your mama who's your manager, but a professional manager.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's really uh be professional here because they've been doing the job for a period of time, so they know what to do and what not to do.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and I want to add to that, do not uh you know, Bobby just mentioned the unsolicited stuff.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Don't get in people's DM and say, hey, this is my script, this is my story, and then you put that all in there.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: You put yourself in danger all the time when you do that.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: I cannot, I cannot stress this enough.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: I must get this at least three times a week, where somebody will send me this stuff, and then I'll write back and say, I'm sorry, we don't take unsolicited information at all.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: We don't look at it, we don't read it.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Please do not, and I'll and I'll say, Don't do this, don't send this to anybody else because you are putting your work in danger.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And and I've had people curse me out, you know, uh on social media.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh some guys say, oh, so that's how it is.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, man, I'm trying to help you here.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: That is how it is, that is how it is.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: So uh just just for the audience to know you're excited about something, make sure that it is complete, that you've done the rewrites, the rewrites, the rewrites, the rewrites, and are ready to do another rewrite if a studio or production company is interested, you must.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: I I can't stress this this enough.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Bobby just broke it down for you, but I feel like I have to say it again because when you are new at writing, you think, oh my God, this is great.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: But the the people who may be investing financially in it don't think so.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: So they're giving you notes based on their experience, based on their um work, uh uh, their their work history.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: This is, and and if you don't like it, then you say thank you and you go away.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: But if you if you don't take their notes, they're not gonna invest in you.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's where the self-producing comes in.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you self-produce, you've got to make sure that your script, there are no holes in it.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how did he get from New York to Asia?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't know how that happened.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: All of a sudden he he's he's in he's sitting in his living room in in Brooklyn, and now he is in South Korea.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh hello, what that what was the transition?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's got to make sense.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to be able to track the script.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: How did they get from point A to point B?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: You may know it, but the audience has to know it.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: So after you write it, you gotta you gotta become the logic police.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Does this make sense?
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: That's why you do certain passes.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh in some of your drafts, you'll do a logical pack pass, you'll do a protagonist pass to track everything the protagonist does so you can see that's a clear arc.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: You do an antagonist pass to see that that person is uh uh grows in their arc as well.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: So there's certain things that have to happen logically based on character development.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Is that character developing?
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the character may have uh um all the subtext of the internal journey because there's what we see on the external is one thing, on the internal emotional journey is something else.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: They could have an epiphany at the very end based on plants and payoffs.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: You just have to make sure that it all tracks.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: If something's illogical, people are gonna uh resonate with that and say, Ah, that shit didn't work.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, did you see that bullshit?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so that people talk in the movies.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: If you've ever been to Magic Johnson theater, um, it's probably not here anymore.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_01: But black people talk in the movies and man, will you look at this bullshit?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, so they will tell you what's happening when you don't want to hear it.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: Please shut up, please.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: So um, so you have to make those passes.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh, I I just want to say one more thing about that uh copyright thing.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: In terms of emails and texts, um, your texts uh are also um acceptable in court, it's admissible evidence.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: Here are the texts, the S SMS feeds, and this, that, and the other.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: So keep all of that and you can download it and you can put it to the side.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but it so when you need it, because you have a you may have all of your uh versions of your script.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: If you brought 15 versions of your script to the lawyer and uh to the court, and you say you say, Here's my 15 versions of how I got from here to there.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now you show me yours, how you got there, and uh they probably can't tell you because it's not their script in the first place.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I I will say Hollywood is very big on stealing stuff.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because you may live in, you know, Bum Hickity Doo, Utah or somewhere, and um it's easy to steal someone something from someone there because they have an unlimited big pockets, so they can stay in court longer than you can stay in court.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, anyway, have your have your proof with you.