Every year they make the same mistakes
Notes on grading my storytelling students.
For about 5 years now, I've been teaching a course on digital producing & scriptwriting for creative professionals. Basically, it's about how to write and produce anything that's not a feature film or a major TV show. Web series, shorts, narrative VR, video games, graphic novels, branded content — all are welcome.
The students are more or less mature professionals from other creative (or not) industries, ages ranging from 20 to 40s — I'm mentioning this to make a point that it's never too late to write your first short script or a video game pitch, so, hopefully, this email will help you launch that project.
The course is hands-on, so students are required to develop a project and deliver either a script or a more or less finished product (e.g., a short film, or a web series pilot) at the end, along with a pitch.
Throughout the years, there is a pattern in mistakes my students make, so I decided to make a list and suggest how you can avoid them.
No-one can tell you what your story should be about. If you have no idea that moves you, maybe it's not the time yet.
But if you have one, always ask yourself: why should I tell this story today, and why it has to be me to tell it. And check its feasibility right away: if you're about to write a fantasy feature not backed by any existing IP, it has almost zero chances to be produced, because no studio would pour hundreds of millions into a debut project without an existing fan base (i.e., potential audience).
Don't put all your "Sunday bests" together at once. Sure, a story about superheroes can feature a plot about single parenthood, talking cats, and a rebellious hacker teenage kid, but will it still support your theme, and won't all those details obscure the main plot? As a beginner, you don't have to prove you can do all the tricks. Stick to the one you would like to be performing for the next several years.
Do your research! And remember the "nothing about us without us" principle. Stick to what you know and what you empathise with: e.g., if you come from a small southern town, use it as a setting, tell us about it! If you're not, yet small southern town secrets appeal to you, don't make it a "spheric southern town in vacuum." Investigate it, speak with locals, and learn what makes it unique.
While writing your pitch, synopsis, and script, spell check everything! Not paying attention to such details screams: "I don't really care about my project" (and have little respect for my audience).
Master the elevator pitch: it helps you to chisel out the essential and unique in the story while exposing discrepancies. Even if you're spending 80% of your time on your ivory tower writing, the other 20% you'll be spending outside, pitching your story.
Make sure your synopsis, even the short one, tells the whole story: you want to tease the audience, not saw doubt in potential producers. Ending with "you won't believe what happened next…" makes them suspect you haven't actually figured out the ending yourself.
If you're pitching a game, mechanics come first. It should be clear what's there to DO for the player, what's the core loop, then come the story and your fancy concept art. Find a game pitch doc and use it as a blueprint.
Use straightforward verbs to describe player actions instead of metaphors, e.g., "the player character becomes the master of time" — what does it mean in the game? "The player character learns how to control the time: she can speed it up or stop it completely using a special device that can be recharged with mushrooms" — oh, now I see it!
In a visual medium, always ask yourself: how am I going to show it? In case of video games, it's "what can the player do here?" Alice doesn't just "realise" Bob is a wizard: she gets turned into a tapir when Bob's magic wand misfires while he tries to master his first spell.
Every element in your story must be justified. If you include a supporting character in your pitch, make sure their relationship with the main character and their conflict are evident.
Give names to your characters, because a name is also part of their story.
if you're making a short film as a proof of concept for a feature or a series, try to have all the key elements of the concept in that short (or at least, tease them). Here’s an example breakdown of my debut sci-fi short.
Getting feedback from a senior professional is one of the most valuable and hard-to-get things in the industry (even when you're a senior yourself), so listen to it, and, even if you decide not to follow it, have a solid argument why not. And don't be afraid to give (requested) feedback to your peers, it's the good old way to learn on others' mistakes (or spot your own).
Shooting a test scene (or trying to build it in your favourite game engine) is the way to go! No matter how clumsy, it will teach you almost as much as your mentor during the course)
Team up with your course mates! Filmmaking (and often gamedev) is a collective work, so this is your chance to learn how a crew works, and also to find a writing/producing mate (the topic of co-authorship deserves a separate email, you can sure expect it from me).
Found this helpful? Please share and let me know! Have questions or want me to elaborate on one of the topics above? Simply reply to this email.
Cheers,
Nata