The idea of this story came to me when I was traveling in one of the most beautiful places in the world knowing that one day it will be under water. What’s your story about a sustainability issue in your community, whether in terms of environment, health, economy, government, transportation, etc.? Do you have ideas for a solution? Would love to hear your story and your ideas at the Act NOW! International Performance Festival!

The tide wakes her from her nap. Not sure since when, the water has swept across the balcony, ankle-high. In the setting sun, a few roofs peek through the water. Far in the distance to her right are the soaring domes of the Basilica di San Marco, slowly swallowed by the glimmering tides.

Swish swash, swish swash, the quiet breathing of the water.

She pushes hard against the arm chair to lift herself up. One hand on a cane, the other against the wall, she shuffles back into the living room, the knock of the cane muffled by the soggy carpet.

It’s a quarter past nine, still. The clock battery has given its last sigh long ago as time froze, an iceberg waiting to be dissolved by the dark green water. The ornate furniture, the beautiful artwork and the feeble flame of a half-burnt candle are as though a photograph, only the growing sepia betraying the swish swash of time. Whoever lived here must have left in a hurry, not taking much with them. She wonders whether they had felt as she did a few days ago.

“That’s all,” She had stared at the half-empty suitcase that summarized her seven decades of life.

She decides to have butter chicken for dinner. Putting on her glasses, she finds the pill bottle with a picture resembling the dish. She takes out a tablet and chews it, savouring the rich taste of artificial curry. Once invented for people who are way too busy to cook or eat, these nutritious chemicals are now the only food available.

She wonders what George would say if he sees her now, munching butter chicken with her bare feet dangling just off the water, filling the protagonist role of a deserted photograph. Maybe George would laugh – he loves her and finds whatever she does amusing, her outlandish ways and irrational rationalizations and all.

Maybe he would cry like a little kid and tell her he misses her.

George was right that she was the only soul insane enough to spend a lifetime’s savings to fly to Venice. The young pilot who flew her here – she cannot recall his name – most likely thought so too. The incredulity in his eyes leaked through his gentlemanly politeness, silently thundering “do you know how many other ways we could have used the fuel to win the war?” She continued reading Shakespeare. He had grown up with the patriotic rhetoric of the resource wars, she thought. Like vultures scavenging the last flesh of a giant corpse, the armies wave the glorious banners of freedom and democracy and kill over the last hint of fresh water, the last chatter of leaves in the wind, the last blush of a real apple, and soon, the last glimmer of oil.

She starts to trudge up to the penthouse bedroom before the tide gets knee-high. The narrow staircase aches and squeals with every step. The first time she was in Venice, she raced up one of these ancient staircases. She was twenty-two – or twenty-three? – back then. Her turquoise summer dress was soaked from dancing and splashing with Marco at the St. Marco’s Square. It was acqua alta, and the water had pooled all over the square. The reflections of the lights that lined the square were drenched into millions of shooting stars.
She leans against the bedroom window and gazes out. The riddles of narrow streets woven with light and shadow, the people who came from all over the world, the St. Marco square replete with lights and memories and laughter and heartbreaks… shrouded way beneath the rippling dark green, forgotten. All she can hear, is swish swash, swish swash, the quiet breathing of the sea.

A character can have many wants throughout a film, but there’s generally only one need. For instance, your character may want to get good grades and may want to make the basketball team and then win the district championship, but what he really needs is the approval of his father. Wants are usually pretty obvious. The character will probably announce them aloud. The need, however, can sometimes be a subconscious desire of the character and never explicitly stated. In each scene a character should be trying to fulfill a want. Over the course of the film, the character should be trying to fulfill their need. This is what drives the story. While most of your focus will be on your protagonist as you write, remember that all the other people he encounters in the movie have wants and needs too. Their wants and needs might be to help or hinder your protagonist, or they might be totally unrelated, but giving even minor characters a driving force will make the film seem more dynamic (and will attract better actors to the roles!).

No matter how much your protagonist might deserve it, you can’t let them get their wants and needs easily. This difficulty is usually centered on the character of the antagonist– since a true antagonist will usually have the exact opposite wants and needs as your hero. A superhero saving the world has to fight the villain set on it’s destruction. A mountain climber wants to get to the summit while mother nature throws storms and wild animals his way. A high school loser who just wants to end up with the prom queen usually has to match up against her jerk of a boyfriend who wants her too.

The other thing you’ll sometimes hear is that your characters should be real. That’s not quite right, either. Real people can be boring. Even the most exciting real person, celebrity or army ranger or Olympic athlete, have a lot more down time than a film character seems to. When real people talk, we ramble. We use a lot of filler words and don’t always get to the point. Film characters may do a little of that, but never as much as real people do. Film characters only have a limited time to get their story across, so they really are more condensed versions of people. They’re larger than real life. Exaggerated. What’s important is that they make sense. I’m not going to say ‘consistent’ because characters can change over the course of the film– a hot-headed police chief may have learned to control his temper by the end of the movie– but this progression should be logical. If you’ve established at the beginning of the film that the curse of the werewolf will make your mild-mannered character more and more aggressive– you have to follow that rule. Even if your film sounds crazy– it takes place on an alien planet, everyone in the world has wings, your main character can speak to the dead– as long as you follow the rules you establish early on, people will find it believable. Audiences watch “X-Men” and “Harry Potter” and “Tangled” with no problems, but if you write a movie about a normal high school kid and in one scene he acts unusually with no explanation, that’s when people will think “Oh, that’s just not realistic!”

They’re not perfect, though. All characters should have flaws– that’s what makes them interesting. They should be tempted, have a mean streak, have a debilitating fear of heights, show cowardice or be shallow. Film heroism is rising above/despite flaws, film tragedy is being unable to overcome them despite everything else a character might have going for him/her.

Unfortunately, in this blog, I’m bucking all their good advice and starting with the boring stuff first. I hope you’ll stick with me anyway.

So the most boring part of writing a screenplay is getting it into the right format, but it’s also one of the most important aspects of writing one. You will probably find parts of formatting utterly pointless (I know I did when I first learned it), but it’s all there for a reason. First of all, if you stick to the formatting you’ll find that a page will equal about a minute of finished film—which makes it easy to estimate running time and cost. Secondly, you’ll provide all the needed information to the people who will help make your film: It’ll tell the sound department which sounds they need to record, the casting director which parts to cast, and the locations team which sets they need to build or locations they need to get out in the real world. So I know there are a lot of fiddly things to remember about formatting but they’re all there for a reason and pretty important.

To help you out, I’m linking you to a pdf of a sample script. It’s one written by the screenwriting professors at UBC and not only gives you a template to follow, but the characters in the screenplay talk about all the fiddly little formatting things you’ll need to be aware of: Your margins, where your tabs should be, what bits need to be in all caps, and how to use parentheticals (also sometimes known as wrylies). NOTE: Please ignore the scene about William Goldman and action scenes, as I find this confuses more people than it helps.

If you want this info in point form, rather than a narrative, there’s the ScriptFrenzy formatting site. There are also, like I stated before, hundreds and hundreds of books on screenwriting. Unfortunately, they’re pretty expensive for the most part, but, on the upside, most libraries usually have a half-dozen or so, and they all pretty much say the same thing. My favorite is the Screenwriter’s Bible because it has an expanded formatting section and manages to cover even the most obscure formatting question, and is also pretty cheap for a screenwriting book. The internet can be pretty helpful as well, (although it’s best to get a second opinion on the internet– don’t just believe the first link) so don’t be afraid to Google, or you can always e-mail me!

If you prefer to learn by example, try reading other people’s screenplays to not only get a good idea of format, but also writing style. There are a lot of screenplays available to read online. Screenplays-Online, SimplyScripts and Drew’s Script-O-Rama (irritating pop up ads can show up at Drew’s, though) are good places to start. Or you can simply Google the name of your favorite movie and the word screenplay and you might find it posted somewhere. Be aware though, that some of your favorite movies were written as exceptions to the rules: Their idea was so amazing, or they’re so famous, (or they were BFFs with the right exec or something) that the script was produced despite its terrible formatting and/or grammatical errors. Charlie Kaufman is awesome, for instance, but he’s not exactly your average screenwriter. William Goldman can get away with writing action sequences like he does because he’s William Goldman– Joe Screenwriter might have a lot more trouble convincing people that random capitalized fragments in the middle of his scene are okay.

After about five minutes of trying to type up a script in Word, you’re probably hating life, right? Setting all those margins and hitting the right number of tabs and remembering to turn your caps lock on and off at the right time is kind of a pain. Fortunately, some kind-hearted computer programmers have decided to help us out and there’s software that will take care of all those things for you.

Final Draft is probably the most famous screenwriting software. I quite like Screenwriter, which is another competing program. However, either will set you back a couple hundred bucks, which is an awful lot for a glorified word processor. Your best bang for your buck is Celtx. Celtx is a great little screenwriting program, and it’s absolutely free! It can be a little buggy from time to time (for some reason it seems to print out the page numbers in the wrong font), which is why it’s important to be familiar with proper formatting so you can catch the software when it lies to you (and even Final Draft does at times). Celtx does have a pretty good message board to report bugs and look for technical help, if you’re stumped.

-Sarah

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Leave me a comment or send me an e-mail at scrauder (at) interchange.ubc.ca.

May 11, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Young playwrights shine at Canadian sustainability playwriting competition

Youth voice their concerns and ideas about sustainability with a splash of creativity through the 2009-2010 Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition

Vancouver, BC, Canada – Two young people passionate about raising awareness and taking action on sustainability, Deborah Vogt and Samantha Landa, have won the second annual Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition. In addition to each receiving $500 in cash prizes, Vogt and Samantha will see their plays aired on Sustainability Television and performed across Canada by local troupes.

The annual Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition challenges Canadian youth ages 14-26 to holistically evaluate issues in sustainability and devise interdisciplinary solutions. The competition is organized by the NOW! Organization, a youth-run non-profit based in Vancouver, in collaboration with numerous local and national groups including the Playwrights Guild of Canada, the Engineers without Borders, and Let’s Talk Science.

“The competition is dedicated to engaging and empowering youth by establishing a platform to sharing innovative solutions toward social, environmental, and economic sustainability,” says Vivian Xudan Pan, Vice President of Media Relations.

“Sustainability can be such a nuanced concept that it’s always a good idea to look at it from a variety of perspectives,” comments Dr. Dave Ng, Director of the Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory at the Michael Smith Biology Lab at the University of British Columbia. “It’s great to have avenues such as Act NOW!, where youth have a chance to take in these different perspectives as well as creatively share their own.”

Samantha Landa, winner of the senior category, is a 23-year-old geography student at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. Her short play Lights Out innovatively weaves sustainability and imagination into an accidental black out.

Deborah Vogt, a 17-year-old student at the University Hill Secondary school in Vancouver, BC, is the winner of the junior category with her memorable entry Fallen Heads.

The competition and the performance of the winning plays have attracted significant interest from organizations, theatre groups, educators, and students across Canada. The participants from this year’s competition come from over 10 urban and rural communities in Canada as well as Nigeria. The winning plays from last year’s Act NOW! National Playwriting Competition have been performed to more than 1500 students by local youth groups. Judges include prominent community leaders from diverse walks of life.

About the NOW! Organization

NOW! inspires and empowers synergistic solutions toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability. Founded in 2006, NOW! is a grassroots non-profit organization run entirely by dedicated youth volunteers. Please visit us at http://www.now-org.com for more information.

Competition judges, partners, and sponsors

Judges

Julia Ainsworth
Special Projects and Workshop Coordinator, Quebec Drama Federation
Artistic Director, Zeitgeist Theatre Collective

Wendy Avis
Project Manager, BC Hydro Environment & Sustainability

Samantha Charlton
Urban Agriculture Coordinator, Environmental Youth Alliance

Jennifer Corriero
Co-founder, TakingITGlobal
“Social Entprereneur, Advisor & Consultant, Speaker & Facilitator, Learner & Researcher, Thought Leader, Traveller & Artist”

David Diamond
Artistic and Managing Director, Headlines Theatre

Carolyn Fe
Artistic Director, Altera Vitae Productions

Nicole Gordon
Dramaturge Intern, Solo Collective Theatre
Writer, actor, and instructor

Kevin Kerr
The Electric Company Theatre
Award winning playwright

Vanessa LeBourdais
Artistic Producer
DreamRider Theatre

Shawn Macdonald
Award-winning playwright, instructor and actor, Vancouver Arts Club

Mark Masongsong
Board of Directors, Global Agents for Change
Director of Partnerships and Planning, Spirit Bear Youth Coalition

Bill McKibben
Co-founder, 350.org
Environmentalist and award-winning author

Kevin Millsip
Vancouver School Board Sustainability Coordinator
Executive Director, Check Your Head

Parker Mitchell
Co-CEO, Engineers Without Borders

Professor Janet Moore
Provincial Leader, Walking the Talk
Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue, Simon Fraser University

Dr. David Ng
Faculty, The University of British Columbia
Michael Smith Laboratories
Terry*

Sean Peters
Chair, Global Agents for Change Board of Directors
Consultant, Friuch Consulting

Lars Rose
Researcher and Ph.D candidate, National Research Council Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation

George Roter
Co-CEO, Engineers Without Borders

Dr. Bonnie Schmidt
Founder and President, Let’s Talk Science

Marisa Victor
Lawyer, playwright, actress, director and producer

Partners

International

Sustainability Television
Bicycles for Humanity

National

Playwrights Guild of Canada
Shad Valley
Student Biotechnology Network
National Let’s Talk Science Partnership Program
Changing Climates Education Society
Green Kids
Youth Canada
Campus Climate Network
UNICEF Canada
Engineers Without Borders

Provincial and Regional
Quebec Drama Federation
Quebec Writers’ Federation
Theatre BC
The Environmental Youth Alliance
The University of British Columbia (UBC) Sustainability Office
The Terry Project
World Changing Careers Conference
Otesha
Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal
International Business Club
Walking the Talk
UBC Neglected Global Diseases Initiative
Beaty Biodiversity Museum
UBC Commerce Undergraduate Society Sustainability Initiative

Sponsors

• University of British Columbia Advanced Molecular Biology Laboratory
• Sustainability Television
• Personal donations
• Aer Marketing (website)

Media Contact:
Janny Ke
janny.ke@now-org.com
(c) 604-339-1251

Vivian Pan
vivian.pan@now-org.com
(c) 604-351-1505

We would like to share with you what we’ve come up with. Please give us a shout at info@now-org.com if you have any advice for us! Thanks in advance :]

A New Direction
Where are we going?
- increase in impact, grassroots involvement, and financial independence
- decrease in the amount of central organizing (which we feel is often bottle-necking; we would like to get the whole community to take ownership in sustainability!)

The Essence of NOW!
What are we most proud of and what would we like to spread?
- creativity and innovation
- holistic, interdisciplinary: social, environmental, and economic sustainability
- grassroots youth engagement and empowerment; youth-led, for youth
- low budget, high impact
- run entirely by volunteers

Our Vision
What would we like to achieve down the road?
- a decentralized grassroots movement on social change through the arts
- a social enterprise that empowers communities to learn, evaluate, act, and celebrate sustainability with a splash of creativity
- the “headquarter” provides a platform to support and facilitate collaboration, empowerment, and innovation
- grassroots “free-run chapters” around the world, each with its own flavour but all contributing to social change through the arts (there is no set box to dictate what each chapter does to achieve this common goal)
- leverage the support of the community as well as strategic partnerships with NGOs, companies, organizations, institutions, etc.

Who can lead a chapter?
anyone! individuals, groups and established organizations/institutions passionate about arts, education, youth empowerment, and sustainability
- start a NOW! (start a brand new NOW! chapter and run wild with it)
- adopt a NOW! (existing groups/companies/institutions/etc adopting NOW! as one of its programs)

Check out ‘SuP 1+1. Interested in being involved? Pleaset let us know at info@now-org.com

To take learning to the next level and provide more mentorship and support for participants, the Act NOW! program is now launching a new grassroots initiative, ‘SuP (Sustainability Playwriting) 1+1. This initiative is inspired by a workshop for youth at Terry, where a playwright and a scientist paired up to weave magic.

The presenters, one with expertise in playwriting and the other with aspects of sustainability, will creatively spark innovations and dialogue in youth  by presenting hands-on workshops at local high schools. Plays coming from these workshops can also enter the 2009-2010 National Playwriting Competition!

Organized by a bunch of enthusiastic and dedicated grade 9 students, the conference will be a fun way to engage more than 200 elementary school students from the area to learn, think, and act sustainability! The theme this year is “resourceful thinking”.