The Writing of THE CULLINGS PRINCIPLE - Part I

WRITING

Over the summer I wrote a new full length screenplay - an adaption of my own novel. Why? It's absolutely fascinating to me to how a novel must differ from a screenplay, and from a play. If the same story is written as three different manuscripts (novel, screenplay, play), one ends up with three different stories on a theme.

The focus changes. Characters come to the fore while others are minimized, sometimes combined and occasionally deleted. The story arc remains the same, in my case, but subtext changes as do subplots. Speeches are swapped, expanded on or decreased. Entire sections are moved. Entire sections are deleted. Entire sections are added.

And the title, it changes as well...

THE CULLINGS PRINCIPLE is the screenplay. A MAN OF LETTERS is the novel.

Why? Two completely different markets. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for the other. There are different rules altogether.

The briefest summary I can give is this logline: In 1850‘s London, Owen Cullings desperately seeks his sister, purported dead in a curt letter. Fruitless months of searching allow his access into London’s high society and its underbelly. Ill and with only one lead left, the young attorney will have to face the truth about himself first...

So, it's a Victorian-era suspense. It crosses into several genres - literary fiction and GLBT included. It has a huge cast of distinct characters. It's verbose at times, while at others we find not a word. I respect the ability of the actors who will one day portray these characters.

SCREENPLAY

So, let me backtrack a bit to the screenplay first. The most surprising thing I learned was that I am capable of cutting more than I ever thought I could. As a writer, you know how difficult it is to let go of certain scenes, or lines, or descriptions! But sometimes, it just has to go!

I have to say that since spec scripts have a page limit, it made the process quite simple. I had a goal. However, I didn't think I could cut almost 100 pages. Yes, you read that right! From around 202 to 118. How? It began with a simple formula: for every ___ pages I must delete ____. I kept track on a legal pads - doing the math, making the numbers shrink. Then I would do it again, if I didn't reach my goal. It  did this twice. All I can say is: It can be done!

On this journey I had to ask for help. I met a gentleman named Richard Broadhurst through a filmmaking friend and asked him to do coverage for the script. Yes, the first thing I apologized for was the length and told him I'd send him something shorter. He was wonderful with phone conferences and ultimately with some notes. It felt truly wonderful to be able to discuss everything from character development to plot, from language choice to formatting. I'm usually on the other side of the equation - as the reader/critiquer - and it was very helpful to be on this side for a change. It is very different from being in a critique group.

Richard gave me moral support and encouragement, and that, I believe, helped most of all. Also, he is able to discuss the negative and positive without putting the writer in a spot - it's a discussion, back and forth. He told me he appreciated the fact that I could TAKE critique without becoming defensive and could look at it objectively.

This is an important point - and it didn't come easy! It took me many years to learn how to do this. Yes, there are times it feels personal, but that is the lesson to learn: as a professional writer, do what needs to be done to make the story the best that it can be.

After several months of intense rewrites and a table read with some fabulous local actors (helps to be a casting director), the script was finalized. Robin Bodey also read the script and helped with her critiques, as usual.

It is important to state that this script is not a four-quadrant hollywood tent-pole blockbuster. It is a character study, a mystery, a coming of age tale. In a way, it is Merchant-Ivory material. It's a period piece. It's an indie!

It exposes the good and the bad, and the protagonist is heavily flawed - he's not perfect, he has to go through a lot to simply unearth parts of himself. And every character goes through an arc of discovery.

FILM PHILOSOPHY

I have always been an independent film fan (and I'll include foreign films in this broad category) - it's what I seek out, what I thrive on. Ask my kids about our Netflix queue. As I submit for representation, I find that writers like me are sought only by a small percentage in Hollywood - as I suspected, I will do much better in the overseas (UK) market.

I have been told things like simplify the language. Minimize characters. Make the protagonist more lovable. I refuse. I have nothing against rewrites to smooth out problems, fix errors, just ask Richard! But I REFUSE TO DUMB DOWN MY MATERIAL.

I have respect for my audience. I will write for them what I want others to write for me: profound characters, smart dialog, complex plot, no limits. I don't want to figure out the plot from the trailer, nor do I want to discover it when I've just tapped my popcorn.

Let's look at some examples of good writing:
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
JANE EYRE (2011)
CREATION
MOON
PERFUME
LADIES IN LAVENDER
NORTHFORK
GOOD
ETC. (I could go on for pages...)

Don't misunderstand me. I'm not comparing myself to them. I aspire to be a good writer, work incredibly hard at my rewrites, am the harshest critic of all, and punish myself when I fall short of expectation. I can only strive to be improve. Improvements are incremental - I learn little lessons along the way and hopefully by the time I'm 80, I'll be much better.

IRONY

I have so far sent out the screenplay to a number of festivals and contests. So far I've reached the finals in EVERY one which has thus far announced. Despite the fact that this is not a Hollywood blockbuster. I'm absolutely thrilled - and gobsmacked! I'm still in the running for a number of contests which have not yet announced winners. I am hopeful, to say the least.

I will keep on working on new material and editing that which is not yet in a final draft. I am presently wrapping up the novel version (A Man of Letters) and will be submitting it within the month.

I will keep you posted...