Stay on target...Stay on target...

Last night I went out with some friends and acquaintances to talk about a screenplay idea they have. They're all really smart guys, most of whom work in the industry, all of whom have a wicked sense of humor. The idea they have is a great one too. Just the kind of movie we need to be making in Canada.

So the conversation starts and they're throwing ideas around, each more outlandish (but hilarious) than the last...

"What if we had some Ninja Pandas chasing our hero?"

"Dude! That'd be awesome!"

DISCLAIMER: There are no Ninja Pandas in the script (though there was a fair bit of cheap beer flowing, so I could be wrong).
DISCLAIMER #2: Ninja Pandas are the exclusive property of Emily Blake. She kickboxes and I don't want to get hurt.

The ideas may not have been that outlandish, but you get the picture. As the night wore on I started having Star Wars flashbacks. As ideas and thoughts and sketches piled up I couldn't help but mutter to myself...

Stay on target. Stay on target.

Screenplays, when you come right down to it, are pretty simple things. You have 120 pages to tell your story. It's not a lot of time, you damn well better stay on point or you're going to get lost in the weeds.

And that's where my friends were. The weeds. None of them come from a writing background (or at least not a screenwriting background). Two of them are editors. Some of them are musicians. Most of them have some sort of sketch comedy background.

But a series of sketches (which it became clear was what we were talking about) do not a movie a make.

At the end of the day I offered to stay on as a "story consultant." I'll do my best to help them through the writing process, offering what little insight and knowledge I can. But unless they absorb this first, crucial lesson I think we're going to see a train wreck instead of a caper movie...

So. Lesson Numero Uno. Stay on target. Take a long, hard look at everything in your story. What's the spine? What's off the spine? If it is off the spine, you're probably better off killing it than keeping it.

Remember, you have to serve the story. Sure your cross dressing, karaoke singing, schizophrenic Laotian may be a great character, but is he going to fit into (and add to) your story about Mormons in Salt Lake City? No? Then get rid of him already!

Stay on target. Otherwise Vader's going to sneak up behind you and put a cap in your ass (cause that's the way Vader rolls, yo).