Frank Catalano - Writing Great Characters in the First Ten Pages

Writing Great Characters in the First Ten Pages

SAN DIEGO STATE UNIVERSITY
25th Annual Writers Conference

WORKSHOP TRANSCRIPT HOW TO ADAPT YOUR NOVEL INTO A SCREEN PLAY

BOOK 1

FRANK CATALANO

Writing Great Characters in the First Ten Pages

Copyright 2009 / 2014 Frank Catalano

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

ISBN-13: 9780692239582

ISBN-10: 0692239588

Lexington Avenue Press

www.lexingtonavepress.com

818-994-2779

BOOKS BY FRANK CATALANO

Art of the Monologue

Monologues they havent heard yet

The Creative Audience

The collaborative role of the audience in the creation of the visual and performing arts

White Knight Black Night

Short monologues for auditions

The Resting Place

a play

Autumn Sweet

a play

Rand Unwrapped

Confessions of a Robotech Warrior

Che Che

a screenplay

Short Monologues for Auditions

WRITING GREAT CHARACTERS IN THE FIRST TEN PAGES was first presented as part of the 25th Annual Writers Conference sponsored by San Diego State University on February 6 through the 8th, 2009 at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Mission Hills, California. The following transcript was presented and recorded by Frank Catalano as part of the programs offered at the conference.

Writers of fiction and non-fiction and industry professionals from the publishing business primarily attended the 25th Annual Writers Conference. Mr. Catalanos seminars focused upon those writers seeking to adapt their novels into screenplays. The complete list of seminar presentations by Frank Catalano for this conference is:

BOOK 1: WRITE GREAT CHARACTACTERS IN THE FIRST TEN PAGES

BOOK 2: WRITING ON YOUR FEET IMPROVISATIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR WRITERS

BOOK 3: START YOUR STORY AT THE END

BOOK 4: THE FIRST TEN PAGES

BOOK 5: BOOK TO SCREEN

BOOK 6: ACTING IT OUT IMPROVISATIONAL TECHNIQUES FOR WRITERS II

BOOK 7: WRITE GREAT DIALOGUE

CONTENTS

WORKSHOP INTRODUCTION

Good afternoon, my name is Frank Catalano and this is WRITING GREAT CHARACTERS IN THE FIRST TEN PAGES.

I hope you are all having a great time today at the 25th Annual Writers Conference and what we are going to be working on today. What Id like to do first is introduce myself and say a few words about who I am and then I want to see where you guys are with your individual projects. The trend has been mostly fiction writers but there might be a couple of screenwriters as well. In this seminar we are going to explore the process of presentation. You know, I just want to say this when you are working on the presentation of material; you always have to come up with kind of a nifty title. And so I want to look at this idea of writing great characters in ten pages and what that title means. What it really means as opposed to beyond what a title is. Okay, we will try to look today and try and give you kind of a working understanding of how to transition your novel into a successful screenplay - writing actively and how to get better at it. If you are a novelist, how can you transition what you have written within in a literary form into writing for the screen?

Now before I begin, Im going to pass this around and it is not obligatory you dont have to do it. But, if you want to provide your email, I will have an email version of what we will talk about today some notes. I can send that to you and when I do send it to you, you will have my email address. So you can email me back if you have any questions. We will start it here and end it there. Put your first and last name on it as well. This way I will have it. Yes?

Audience member: Are you a writing teacher?

Yes

(Audience laughter)

Well actually, I park the cars over here.

(Audience laughter)

You know I was at Warner Brothers for many years and I will tell you what I did there in a minute. And when I said I worked at Warner Brothers, people would always ask: What do you do there? And, I would tell them and I got really elaborate that I parked the cars and washed the cars. But none of that is true. Anyway, let me tell you what I do. I am a college professor. Ive been at University of Southern California for thirty-four years

(Audience laughter)

teaching at the School of Theatre (now School of Dramatic Arts as of 2012). I teach acting, writing and theatre and all different kinds of elements of presentational performance. I also teach Humanities courses that include visual and performing arts: painting, sculpture, film, television and audience studies. I do all of that. My acting classes are both on camera and stage. As a theatre producer/playwright I have had productions at the Beverly Hills Playhouse in Los Angeles and have had shows in New York and other places.

Ive been at Warner Brothers (Ive said that) and worked at quite a few other studios. Warner Brothers and Lorimar Productions probably the longest. I did various jobs including consultancies, packaging, marketing and writing. I had what is called a first look writing agreement at Warner Brothers for the development of motion pictures and television productions. Working at a movie studio is can be a great experience both good and bad. The good is the studio provides a framework to develop everything you write although they are not obligated to produce it. So you set up shop there, you write, you work with other writers sometimes. But, the hard part of that process is that not very much gets actually made. In a large studio universe, producing was something totally different than writing. I just primarily focused on the writing.

I am also an author. *I have two books out: ART OF THE MONOLOGUE (2007). Its a theatre book for actors with original monologues and a large section on monologue performance theory. Ive also had plays produced and published. I have a new play being published right now and I have a brand new book coming out this month called THE CREATIVE AUDIENCE THE COLLABORATIVE ROLE OF THE AUDIENC IN THE CREATION OF THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS (2009) and so it is not being sold in the lobby.

*Since this 2009 presentation, Frank Catalano has published the following books:

ART OF THE MONOLOGUE (2007)

THE CREATIVE AUDIENCE (2009)

WHITE KNIGHT BLACK NIGHT SHORT MONOLOGUES FOR AUDITIONS (2010)

AUTUMN SWEET A PLAY (2011)

THE RESTING PLACE A PLAY (2011)

RAND UNWRAPPED CONFESSIONS OF A ROBOTECH WARRIOR (2012)

CHE CHE A SCREENPLAY (2013)

SHORT MONOLOGUES FOR AUDITIONS (2013)

MYTHS AND TANGOS (2014)

My new book (The Creative Audience) deals a subject I have really been thinking about and actually we are going to talk about it today. That is the creative role of the audience in the making of visual and performing arts. It takes into consideration the both the visual and performing arts including painting and advertising. But it also covers film, television and the Internet. How things are created today on the macro level almost in reverse. When someone comes up with a creative idea, its really kind of tested first to see if the audience will respond positively to it. They do the same through polling in politics. Former president Bill Clintons administration was very adept at formulating policies around the acceptance or rejection of public opinion. Many times his administration would poll certain policy ideas to see how the public would react to them. This is common practice today. Former president President Bushs administration, had a slightly different approach to policy, he had several core beliefs that he wanted to see formulated and he did what he felt he had to do despite public opinion. Today, leaders determine policy often by polling. They develop policy and then frame it in a certain way for public consumption to obtain the result they want to get. It doesnt mean they lie. It just means that information is just packaged a certain way. And its going on right now, when we watch the news. Depending on how the information is presented determines how we react to it in the end. It also can be considered in writing especially in what you guys are doing.