TothewritersofTheUnit.

Greetings.
Aswealllearnhowtowritethisshow,arecurringproblembecomesclear.
Theproblemisthis:todifferentiatebetweendramaandnondrama.Letmebreakitdownnow.
Everyoneincreationisscreamingatustomaketheshowclear.
Wearetaskedwith,itseems,crammingashitloadofinformationintoalittlebitoftime.
Ourfriends,thepenguins,thinkthatwe,therefore,areemployedtocommunicateinformationand,so,attimes,it
seemstous.
Butnote:
Theaudiencewillnottuneintowatchinformation.
Youwouldn't,Iwouldn't.Noonewouldorwill.
Theaudiencewillonlytuneinandstaytunedtowatchdrama.
Question:
Whatisdrama?
Drama,again,isthequestoftheherotoovercomethosethingsthatpreventhimfromachievingaspecific,acute,
goal.
So:We,thewriters,mustaskourselvesofeveryscenethesethreequestions:

Whowantswhat?
Whathappensifhedoesn'tgetit?
Whynow?

Theanswerstothesequestionsislitmuspaper.
Applythem,andtheiranswerswilltellyouifthesceneisdramaticornot.
Ifthesceneisnotdramaticallywritten,itwillnotbedramaticallyacted.
Thereisnomagicfairydustwhichwillmakeaboring,useless,redundant,ormerelyinformativesceneafteritleaves
yourtypewriter.You,thewriters,areinchargeofmakingsureeverysceneisdramatic.
Thismeansallthe"little"expositionalscenesoftwopeopletalkingaboutathird,thisbushwah(andwealltendto
writeitonthefirstdraft)islessthanuseless,shoulditfinally,godforbid,getfilmed.
Ifthesceneboresyouwhenyoureadit,restassureditwillboretheactors,andwill,then,boretheaudience,and
we'reallgoingtobebackinthebreadline.
Someonehastomakethescenedramatic.Itisnottheactor'sjob(theactor'sjobistobetruthful).Itisnotthe
director'sjob.Hisorherjobistofilmitstraightforwardlyandremindtheactorstotalkfast.
Itisyourjob.
Everyscenemustbedramatic.Thatmeans:themaincharactermusthaveasimple,straightforward,pressingneed
whichimpelshimorhertoshowupinthescene.
Thisneediswhytheycame.Itiswhatthesceneisabout.Theirattempttogetthisneedmetwilllead,attheendof
thescene,tofailurethisishowweknowthesceneisover.It,thisfailure,will,then,ofnecessity,propelusinto
thenextscene.
Alltheseattempts,takentogether,will,overthecourseoftheepisode,constitutetheplot.
Anyscenethus,whichdoesnotbothadvancetheplot,andstandalone(thatis,dramatically,byitself,onitsown
merits)iseithersuperfluous,orincorrectlywritten.
Yesbutyesbutyesbut,yousay:whataboutthenecessityofwritinginallthatinformation?"
AndIrespond"figureitout"anydickheadwithabluesuitcanbe(andis)taughttosay"makeitclearer",and"I
wanttoknowmoreabouthim".
Whenyou'vemadeitsoclearthateventhisbluesuitedpenguinishappy,bothyouandheorshewillbeoutofajob.
Thejobofthedramatististomaketheaudiencewonderwhathappensnext.Nottoexplaintothemwhatjust
happened,ortosuggesttothemwhathappensnext.
Anyd*ckhead,asabove,canwrite,"but,Jim,ifwedon'tassassinatethePrimeMinisterinthenextscene,all
Europewillbeengulfedinflames."
Wearenotgettingpaidtorealizethattheaudienceneedsthisinformationtounderstandthenextscene,buttofigure
outhowtowritethescenebeforeussuchthattheaudiencewillbeinterestedinwhathappensnext.
Yes,but,yesbutyesbut,youreiterate.
AndIrespondfigureitout.
Howdoesonestrikethebalancebetweenwitholdingandvouchsafinginformation?Thatistheessentialtaskofthe
dramatist.Andtheabilitytodothatiswhatseparatesyoufromthelesserspeciesinthebluesuits.
Figureitout.
Start,everytime,withthisinviolablerule:
Thescenemustbedramatic.Itmuststartbecausetheherohasaproblem,anditmustculminatewiththehero
findinghimorherselfeitherthwartedoreducatedthatanotherwayexists.
Lookatyourloglines.Anyloglinereading"BobandSuediscuss..."isnotdescribingadramaticscene.
Pleasenotethatouroutlinesare,generally,spectacular.Thedramaflowsoutbetweentheoutlineandthefirstdraft.
Thinklikeafilmmakerratherthanlikeafunctionary.Because,intruth,youaremakingthefilm.Whatyouwrite,they
willshoot.
Herearethedangersignals.
Anytimetwocharactersaretalkingaboutathird,thesceneisacrockofshit.
Anytimeanycharacterissayingtoanother"asyouknow",thatis,tellinganothercharacterwhatyou,thewriter,
needtheaudiencetoknow,thesceneisacrockofsh*t.
Donotwriteacrockofsh*t.Writingarippingthree,four,sevenminutescenewhichmovesthestoryalong,andyou
can,verysoon,buyahouseinBelAirandhiresomeonetolivethereforyou.
Rememberyouarewritingforavisualmedium.Mosttelevisionwriting,oursincluded,soundslikeradio.Thecamera
candotheexplainingforyou.Letit.Whatarethecharactersdoingliterally.Whataretheyhandling,whatarethey
reading,whataretheywatchingontelevision,whataretheyseeing.
Thisisaskill.Noonedoesitnaturally.Youcantrainyourselvestodoit,butyouneedtostart.
Iclosewithonethought:lookatthesceneandaskyourself"isitdramatic?"IsItessential?Doesitadvancethe
plot?"
Answertruthfully.
Ifanyansweris"no"writeitagainorthrowitout.
Ifyou'vegotanyquestions,callmeup.
Love,
Dave
MametSantaMonica19Oct05

(Itisnotyourresponsibilitytoknowtheanswers,butitisyour,andmy,responsibilitytoknowandtoasktheright
questionsoverandover.Untilitbecomessecondnature.Ibelievetheyarelistedabove.)