Ed Solomon on Screenwriting, ‘Full Circle,’ and his Blacklist Workshop ‘Word by Word’ (Part 2)

This entry is part 2 of 2 in the series Ed Solomon:

Feeling Characters

It’s difficult to describe the intangible need to choose one project over another, but Solomon says there are a number of ways to do so. “Sometimes I’ll feel a character. Sometimes I’ll feel a world. Or I might experience a human in an emotional state in one state and an emotional state in another. I can feel that journey and that pull, and I’m interested in what causes these things.”

Tactically, this might be writing some dialogue to see what works and what the character feels like. Other times, it’s plotting some rough ideas. “Sometimes a project will be partially outlined and partially left to be discovered. That’s the best way to do it. Sometimes, a project needs a thorough beat by beat outline so I know where I’m headed, but everyone is different.”

For writers who have only written a script or two, it’s hard to understand that the next script may need something completely different. “These one needs a crappy vomit draft where I don’t know where I need to go. It’s all about, what point can you see the script’s DNA? At what point does that solidify? It can be at any stage of the process.”

In some ways, assuming there’s a formula to follow is comforting. The blank page can be intimidating. Once again, Solomon feels differently about this entire notion, seeing the blank page more like fresh powder on a ski slope. “I personally love the blank page. I love the idea that anything can happen.”

“I understand that is intimidating though. The transition from blank page to writing can feel like a leap off the high dive, so if you can gently get into the water… what I often find is that sometimes the best way for me to start is to trick myself into starting without realizing it.”

This way, rather than “writing with a capital W,” Solomon will text himself an idea, or jot down notes or voice memos in his phone or email himself. This way, starting without a plan, perhaps doing the dishes, “weirdly you’ve started.”

Writing is More than Writing

Elizabeth Gilbert talks about two types of writers: the playful trickster and the tortured martyr. If you’re sitting at the keyboard with nothing to say, you may be torturing yourself. If you’re jotting down some notes on a hike or while doing the dishes, it can be playful. It’s the mindset behind the approach.

“Writing in Final Draft and typing in screenplay pages is not writing. You’re writing as soon as you are thinking about what you want to explore creatively. So it’s more about when you start to record what you’re doing, when a critical mass starts to form. There’s nothing wrong with starting with formula, if you know that’s a floor, not a ceiling.”

“Formulas are not something to aspire to, but something for you to get past. I read some screenwriting books, but never ingested them very well. I read them quite late in the process. It might have helped me to have a better understanding of structure, but it would have hurt me to write to that structure, and not through that structure.”

“Those books tell you that at a certain point, things need to happen. That’s what those books are reverse engineering for you. But if you’re willing to go through the process of writing a few screenplays like that, it’s not a bad idea. Unless you’re a genius, I think those things are going to turn your screenplay into a Frankenstein’s monster.”

Solomon continues, “What I would suggest, if someone is daunted at writing a 90 to 120 page screenplay, there’s an accident I discovered by accident. I was doing an adaptation of a foreign film. It was a significant adaptation, but I had two issues: one creative and one practical. I didn’t know how to get into it. I knew what I wanted it to be but I didn’t want to break the seal and I didn’t know my way in. There also wasn’t an existing copy of the script in Final Draft.”

To solve both problems, he played the movie in the top of his screen and essentially wrote out the script. Doing so, he found a first draft — a transcription — of the film. “I learned how little dialogue is required in a screenplay. You think I would have known that, having doing it for 25 years. I learned how simple action lines want to be. And when I was done, I realized I had written a version of the movie. I had worked it through my bones and I felt inside of it.”

Making it Real

If Solomon were starting over today, he says he would have entered fields where he had more final say in “what he wrote” and “what people read.” This may have been novels or television, based on the time period, as he feels movies have changed quite a bit since he began his career.

“Try to write something only you can write. Try to write with a kind of confidence that lets the reader know, this person knows how to write. This isn’t a whiz-bang opening, but confidence in storytelling. Have an idea that is really interesting to you, specific to you, that you want to dive into.”

“You may not sell that script, but that shows you are writer with a voice and things to say. There is break to new, young writers who have talent, even if their scripts don’t sell. If that’s what you’re looking for and you want to be on the map as a professional writer, work on developing your voice and what is unique to you.”

“If what you’re looking for is having something made and something you can stay with as long as possible that you can steward your vision, do it in a way you can make it yourself, or partner with someone as early as possible who is going to realize that. As a new writer, it’s hard to get an A-list director on your side, but with screenwriting, you have to find someone who is on your side. It’s luck, but not like a lottery ticket, but a lottery ticket. The more raffle tickets you put in, the better chances you have.”

To find this person, Solomon advises you to have a great script, a stylistic script, and a voice. “The style needs to be cohesive and apparent. The characters that you’ve written, from the people who have two lines to the people who carry the movie, are characters that a really good actor would want to play. They need to feel real, feel whole, and be characters you as a writer feel. It’s about who is going to direct it and who is going to act in it. Are your characters compelling? That’s more important than your structure.”

“If your characters are juicy and have a weight and heft to them, and an interesting actor can take it, and go with it, that’s how you’re ultimately going to get something made. And, your characters are what makes a reader feel something. If you feel them, there’s a better chance they’re going to feel them.”