Interview: "Total Recall" Screenwriter, Mark Bomback

Interview: "Total Recall" Screenwriter, Mark Bomback

“It’s not a remake,” screenwriter Mark Bomback says of the new film Total Recall, starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Bielwhich releases in theaters August 3. It’s a film basked on the Philip K. Dick short story about a man who realizes a memory has been imbedded in his brain but now he doesn’t know what is real and what isn’t.

“This is a futuristic Bourne in a sense,” says Bomback, who originally shied away from taking the job to write this movie. He wasn’t sure if what the producers wanted to do made any sense. He remembers telling them he didn’t think he was right for the job. “The original film did a really good job of telling that story,” he says he told producers. Bomback also added that the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone film of the same name was considered a cult classic among fans of the sci-fi genre. Big shoes to fill. Schwarzenegger-sized shoes.

But when Bomback heard that director Len Wiseman (Underworld: Evolution) wanted to do something different, he was intrigued. Intrigued enough to jump on board the project only a handful of months before they started shooting. What a crazy ride that must have been?

Read More

Listen to the interview!

Ask the Expert: Does This Script Make Me Look Fat?

Question: Why should I get professional feedback?

Honesty or flattery?  Tell me what you want baby, what you really, really want.

We all want, need, crave validation.  But when it comes to script coverage or a professional consult, expect some criticism.  Be eager for it.  In fact, be grateful.  That’s where you’ll learn.

The fastest way to convince me you’re a novice is by refusing to accept that your screenplay could be imperfect.  Professional writers are eager for input.  That doesn’t mean they don’t want and need kudos.  Trust me, they do.  But they are every bit as hungry to learn what doesn’t work.  Beginners tune out all but the compliments.  If all you want is to hear, “Oh baby, you’re the best I’ve ever read,” spend your money on a call girl, not me.

Criticism leaves a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth, but professional writers learn to love feedback.  They have enough experience to know that a script is a way of communicating and a fresh pair of eyes is invaluable.  It forces them to answer tough questions, defend an idea or discover a solution.  They welcome the challenge because it strengthens the story.  In this relentlessly collaborative medium, if you can’t take input, you’re out.  No working writer ever screamed at me, “You mean if I don’t change this one line my script isn’t going to sell?!”

My job as a producer and my approach to a consult is to give writers a fresh perspective and constructive feedback.  What’s on target, what’s missing the mark and how to make every aspect work together.  My goal is to make your script the best possible version of the story you’ve set out to tell.  So how can you convince me that you’re a “serious amateur” hungry for feedback that will make your work better?

Don’t React Right Away

Back in the day, story notes at Disney were known for two things.  First, being staggeringly lengthy and second, an aura of profound politeness while telling a writer what to do.  The phrase, “Perhaps we should consider discussing” was invented to be the spoonful of sugar that made the medicine go down.

Convoluted as it may be, there’s something to be learned here.  Spend some time mulling over notes.  Sure, you know your script inside out, have rewritten it countless times, but could there be some truth here?  You don’t have to agree with everything someone has to say, just know that somewhere in there is something for you as a storyteller to learn.

Perhaps you should consider thinking about that.

Scratch the Itch

I had the great fortune of beginning my career in development working for the writing/producing team of Raynold Gideon and Bruce Evans.  They wrote STARMAN, STAND BY ME, MR. BROOKS and tons of assignments.  They’d been in countless notes meetings with producers and studios.  And they’d worked both sides of the desk, giving and receiving notes.  Their words of wisdom?  “Scratch the itch.”  Simple yet profound.

Don’t do what we say, do what we mean.  Get at what’s really bothering the note giver, not merely what they’re complaining about on the surface.  What’s the underlying problem?  “The second act lags.”  Should you slash and burn or are we yearning for more action?

Scratch the itch, baby.

Take a Walk in My Shoes

I’ve put in my 10,000 hours and read pretty close to 10,000 scripts by my latest calculation.

I read like an industry professional.  That means I’m built for speed and efficiency.  I read fast, and I have a staggeringly high reading comprehension.  What got me in trouble in 3^rd grade reading circles for being so far ahead that I’d lost the place of the group ensured my survival as a development exec.

We stop reading slug lines within the first 15 pages.  If you want us to know where we are, describe it in the description.

We quit reading character names by the end of Act One.  So yes, each character should sound distinctive.

If these are your only methods of conveying where we are and who’s who, you’re sunk.

This is how professionals read.  Period.

“It’s not me, it’s you.”

Please believe me when I say the problem lies not in my reading but in your writing.

I’ve helped launch a few writers’ careers.  I remember one very quiet writer whose first project I set up.  It was a wonderfully wacky offbeat comedy with a fresh spin on a familiar paradigm.  This guy was beginning to develop a voice.  We were pretty excited about working with him and even tried to get him an open assignment on another project of ours.  But he was a soft-spoken fellow, as I said, and didn’t exactly set the room on fire in a pitch.

We were meeting in our offices, going over our producers’ notes on the draft before turning it into the studio.  I was pushing pretty hard on one point in particular – something I insisted didn’t make sense.  The writer was adamant.  It worked.  I insisted some more.  And then something astonishing happened.  He yelled at me!  Right there, he unleashed all his frustration and yelled.  Didn’t I understand that the entire point of this scene was based on a minor reference earlier, symbolized thus and such and all added up to his big point?

I was shocked.

I was thrilled.

I sat there for a moment.  And then I said quietly, “No I didn’t get that.”  Not until he explained it.  And I’d read the script many times.  “This is great!” I exclaimed.  “So now, my challenge as a producer is to figure out how to get you in front of every audience at each screening of the movie so you can explain it to them.”

It went a lot more smoothly from there on.  And the writer went on to have a pretty big career.

If you’re ever explaining, know for certain that you’re in trouble because means it may be in your head, but it’s not on the page.

Writers vs. Readers

Don’t expect us to agree with your writers group.  Nothing personal, but what do they know?  They may have spent four days with McKee, but how many scripts have they read?  How many projects have they taken into studios?  How many breakfasts, lunches and drinks have they spent learning what other people in the industry are looking for?

Chances are, they’re your friends; they’d rather not tell you that you look like a hippo, or they’re busy admiring their own ass.  Meaning writers’ feedback for other writers is all too often laden with iffy or irrelevant ideas.  They’re imagining the story as if they were telling it.  Or they’re trying to make themselves feel superior.  My job is to help you get the best possible version of your story.

The Courage of your Convictions

Yes, I may have just claimed that industry professionals are more infallible than the Pope, but now I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate.  While for the most part, most of us do know better most of the time, when it comes to your story, well, it’s YOUR story.  If you’re positive about what you want to say with it, then you must have the courage of your convictions.

Professional writers might not always agree with every morsel of wisdom that tumbles out of my mouth, and honestly, I don’t want them to.  I’m happy to debate, discuss, spitball and play out alternatives.  That’s where the very best work comes from.

Stand up for what you believe in.  Just remember, it’s your job to make it work.

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff, Sweat the Small Stuff

Back in the olden days, when scripts existed on paper, aspiring writers wasted an incalculable amount of time on how many brads a script should have.  It was fodder for heated debate on internet sites.  What a waste of time and energy.  As if it would get your script read any sooner or taken any more seriously.  For the record, as someone who sustained more than one brad injury toting around stacks of scripts: a) two and b) not the cheap ones.

Page count.  Yes, this is everyone’s current obsession.  Granted, if I see a script that’s 133 pages, I know there’s a problem.  If a screenplay is 83 pages, I know there’s a problem.  But honestly, if I’m reading 133 pages of a great script, it’s well worth my time.  And odds are, I’m more likely to find a terrific story in 133 pages that need to be tightened than in 83 pages where the writer hasn’t dug deep enough.

If you’ve cut out all the adjectives and articles to make your script a “fast read,” you don’t have a clue as to what a fast read is.  And you’ve made my reading experience miserable.  I’ve read the same screenplay both with and sans the “little” words.  One version had charmingly quirky characters and a unique setting that gave it an off-beat appeal.  Other painful.  Lack sentences.  Not flow.

Words count.

Deep down can say you’re truly looking to make your work better with coverage or a consult?  Or are you spending $$$ to get encouragement?  Everyone eats up compliments, but can you be equally hungry for the bite of criticism?  I get queries all the time from writers boasting that someone read their script and said “excellent writing” or “this is a rich story.”  Unless they said “Great idea for a movie.  I wanna nearly kill myself to get this puppy made!” it doesn’t mean a thing.

You look positively anorexic.

Can I get you a doughnut?

A producer who’s sold to all the majors, Barri Evins created BIG IDEAS to give aspiring screenwriters what it takes to break into the business, teaching techniques she uses with professional writers.  The Big Ideas Screenwriting Seminar gives you an insider’s perspective, shows you how to create stories that ignite interest and develop screenplays faster than ever before. Includes Barri’s mentorship for a year.  Consult info here.  Barri will be a panelist at theScreenwriters World Conference. 

Bestseller Thriller Writer Ann Rule

Bestseller Ann Rule had a heck of a journey to becoming a writer—something she never really wanted to be in the first place. “All I ever wanted to be was a police officer,” she told the crowd in her ThrillerFest session “How to Stalk a Serial Killer and Tell the Gruesome Tale: All You Need to Know to Write Great True Crime.” “The one thing I knew I didn’t want to be was a writer.” Rule thought it was all too hard—heck, you’d have to rewrite what you already wrote.

As a kid, she would visit her grandpa, who was a sheriff, but to see him she’d have to go to the jail. There, she was given the job of bringing prisoners their meals. From an early age, she was fascinated by crime—not thehow, but the why.

Oh, how thrilling.

“I think that we come to our genre naturally,” she said.

Following her passions over the years, she took any ridealong with law enforcement she could get. Attended classes. Got an associate’s degree in criminal science.

And along the way, she began writing, collected innumerable rejections, and penned pieces for true detective magazines, which she realized could pay the bills.

“You have to write about what you know about,” she said.

Back then, not even her children slowed her down. “Unless the kids were actually fighting on top of the typewriter, I could keep writing.”

And then there’s the famous story that led her to her first book, her breakout The Stranger Beside Me.

Her brother had committed suicide, so she decided to volunteer at the crisis clinic in Seattle. The clinic paired volunteers with work-study students. At night, they’d be locked up in the building all alone together. Her partner was a psychology student getting paid $2 per hour.

His name was Ted Bundy.

After his crimes became apparent, Rule attended Bundy’s trial, and the rest of the story is history, amazingly documented in The Stranger Beside Me.

Her writing passion went on to encompass documenting the suspects and victims involved in crimes, and describing their lives before their paths crossed—along the lines of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood.

In her presentation, Rule pointed out that pros are always saying that you only have a 1/10 of 1 percent shot at becoming a professional writer. But she decided that she was going to be in that 1/10 of 1 percent.

“You can’t let the naysayers make think you can’t make it, because you can,” she said.

If you want to be a true crime writer, Rule said the best thing you can be is immensely curious. And, you should go to trials—something anyone can do. From a life spent in courtrooms, here are Rule’s tips and etiquette for doing just that.

1. You can usually get a press pass, but there’s often a deluge of writers trying to obtain one. Rule calls the prosecutor’s assistant.
2. Study the witnesses, watch the jury, and soak up the entire experience.
3. Try to obtain the court documents from the court reporter or the prosecutor, or purchase them.
4. Observe the other reporters in the room, and analyze what they’re doing.
5. If you’re sitting out in the hall with potential witnesses, don’t ask them about anything. You can comment on the weather or the courtroom benches being hard, but “Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth pretty shut.”
6. Don’t take newspapers into the courtroom.
7. Know what you’re getting yourself into. “You don’t want to start a nonfiction unless you’re really in love with it, and usually you want a go-ahead from an editor.”
8. Absorb detail. “When I’m writing a true-crime book I want the reader to walk along with me.” Rule describes the temperature, how the air feels—“I think it’s very important to set the scene.” As far as the writing, you can novelize, but keep all of your facts straight.
9. Don’t use the real name of a rape or sexual crime victim in your writing. (Though Rule has written about a few who have asked to have their names included.) As Rule said of her subjects at large, “I always care about my people. And if I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing.”

Go forward and win!

Logline Service

I have been getting a lot of request for loglines. I give different prices . Since I have so many requests for this service, I decided to set a single fix price.

Logline: $5.00 Flat Fee

A synopsis or summery is required. It well be used to form the logline. The logline is just one line.

Screenplays

Critique: $50.00 Flat Fee, Discount fee $42.50

 Includes evaluating the basis elements of a script

•  Introduction
•  Development
•  Climax
•  Conclusion
• Character development 
•  Mid point development

Critiques also provide suggestions for improvements and enhancement. 

Payments are made by Paypal or cashier check by mail.


Other services are at regular price.

Query Letters: $25.00 Flat Fee  

Editing: $45.00 Flat Fee

•  Evaluating formatting to industry standards
•  Spelling, grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc.

Turnaround time:
Editing: 2 weeks
Critique: 2 weeks

Query Letters: 2 weeks

Feel free to contact me at ahicks4298@q.com or ahicks4298@msn.com.

Feel to call me at (360) 696-4298. Ask for Frances.

Film script format, writing film scripts, screenwriting services, coverage service, screenplay formatting margins, screenplay writing, screenplay format example, Search terms: screenplays, screenwriting service, edit and critique service, writing screenplays, screenplay format, loglines, query letter, film scripts, movie scripts, screenplay format, screenplay synopsis, script synopsis, treatment, proofreading service for writers, novels, writing services, fiction writing, film script format, writing flim scripts, screenwriting service, coverage service, screenplay critique service, screenplay format margins, screenplay writing, screenplay format example, free writing tutorials,   script consultant, screenwriting jobs, film production companies

Featured Tutorial | Crafting and Selling a Page-Turner

In This Issue

• From the Editor
• Featured Tutorial | Crafting and Selling a Page-Turner
• Missed a previous tutorial?
• Live Webinar | How to Hook an Agent or Editor with Your Query
• Writer's Digest Tutorials Membership Options
• Second Featured Tutorial | Marketing Your Poetry: Who Says Rhyme Doesn't Pay?

From the Editor

I hope all of you are finding at least a little time to enjoy the 2012 Olympics. The Olympics are inspiring in so many ways. It's especially fun to watch children as they react to watching their favorite event and begin dreaming of their own futures. 

Back to tutorials for the week . . . I have two new tutorials to share with you:  

Crafting and Selling a Page-Turner will teach you how build an airtight mystery that delivers thrills, chills, and a satisfying conclusion. This tutorial is taught by award-winning writer, book reviewer, and writing instructor Hallie Ephron. Hallie is the author of numerous mysteries and thrillers, including Never Tell a Lie. 

For those of you that have been asking for poetry tutorials—a new poetry tutorial is ready! Marketing Your Poetry: Who Says Rhyme Doesn't Pay? is packed with ideas and resources to help you get your poetry into the hands of those that will be inspired by what you have worked so hard on crafting. 

I'd highly recommend taking out a WD Tutorials membership if you haven't already. 65+ tutorials are available to you, at least one new tutorial is added weekly, and many new tutorials are in development. Please feel free to preview the many tutorials immediately available to you through the WD Tutorials site! 

Wishing you only the best!

Julie Oblander
Online Education Manager
Writer's Digest Tutorials

Featured Tutorial | Crafting and Selling a Page-Turner

In this enlightening tutorial session, you'll learn how to illustrate all of the critical elements necessary for crafting a tale that not only grabs readers and keeps them reading, but enables you to build an airtight mystery that delivers thrills, chills, and a satisfying conclusion. 

This tutorial is taught by award-winning writer, book reviewer, and writing instructor Hallie Ephron. Hallie is the author of numerous mysteries and thrillers, including Never Tell a Lie (William Morrow). Never Tell a Lie won the David Award for Best Mystery Novel of 2010, and Publishers Weekly calls it "stunning" and a "deliciously creepy tale of obsession." Hallie is also the author of the Edgar-nominated Writing & Selling Your Mystery Novel (Writer's Digest Books) and The Everything Guide to Writing Your First Novel (Adams Media). 

Instructor Hallie Ephron gives you an inside look at how to craft enthralling novels that crank up the suspense and compel readers to keep turning the pages until THE END—which is the key to hooking agents, editors, and readers around the world.

In this 65-minute tutorial video, you'll learn:  

• The keys to planning your story, twisting the plot, and constructing a credible surprise ending
• Techniques for creating a compelling sleuth and a worthy villain
• The art of deceiving and revealing with red herrings and clues
• Guidelines for writing credible investigations, spine-tingling suspense, and dramatic action
• Revision techniques—from sharpening characters, to optimizing pace, to word selection
• How to engage every reader
• How to catch the eye of an agent or editor and sell your work!

Preview this new tutorial or subscribe to watch it today >

The Plot WhispererSale: $11.96 Buy Now >	Make a SceneSale: $9.97 Buy Now >	Creating PoetrySale: $8.98 Buy Now >	Words Overflown By StarsSale: $10.00 Buy Now >

HOW TO WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL: 6 PIECES OF ADVICE

I’m no stranger to book writing, having written 28 cookbooks — but Island Apart is my first novel and writing it posed all sorts of challenges. During much of the process, I felt like a raw beginner. Hell, during much of the process I was a raw beginner. Here are 6 techniques that helped me go from aspiring novelist to published novelist.

 Steve Raichlen is the author of ISLAND APART, a debut novel 

(June 2012, Forge Books) set on Chappaquiddick Island in Martha’s 
Vineyard. Booklist said of the book, “A sweet grown-up love story … 
Raichlen packs a lot into his first novel … the passages of locally 
harvested food and intense cooking are gorgeous … A beach book 
for smart people.” Before this novel, Raichlen was a New York Times
best-selling author of several cookbooks. Visit his author website here.

1. The world has two sorts of writers: people who talk about writing a novel and people who actually do it. I spent several decades among the former and I have to tell you, it feels great finally to join the ranks of the latter. To paraphrase Nike, stop talking about it and just do it!

2. Write a mission statement … and contract. When I started Island Apart, my mission was to use the skills I had acquired writing food stories and cookbooks over the years; the publishing and media contacts I had accumulated; and the promotional savvy I learned from dozens of book tours (and being married to a publicist—more on that in a future blog) to start, write, and finish a publishable novel within a year. Note the words “start,” “finish,” “publishable,” and “within a year.” These dictated a course of action, goal, and deadline, which made me take the process seriously.

3. The secret to writing a novel—or any book—is writing. You won’t turn out elegant prose every day. But it’s important to keep cranking it out. Bad writing eventually leads to good writing and paragraphs eventually add up to pages, chapters, and a finished novel.

4. There’s no one right way to write a novel. Some writers start with a plot (vague or meticulously planned); others use as their point of departure a phrase, character, situation, or moral dilemma. Some writers craft meticulous outlines before they start writing; others let the characters drive the story. Island Apart began as a title—not that title (more how and why it changed in a future blog). My original title was The Hermit of Chappaquiddick and the minute I had the title, I knew the who of my story (my protagonists) and the what (what would happen). What I didn’t know was how to get from the beginning to the denouement. Fortunately, I didn’t have to make the journey alone—I had the characters to guide me. They knew where they needed to go.

5. Write with your eraser (or delete button). In the course of writing Island Apart, I jettisoned whole characters, situations, and chapters. I probably wrote 1000 pages of manuscript to wind up with a finished book of just under 300 pages. It hurt and I fought every deletion (my wife was a ruthless editor), but the final book is better for all the cuts.

6. Take the time to celebrate the milestones in your writing process. When you finish a chapter, take yourself and significant other out for dinner. When you finish the first draft, uncork a bottle of Champagne. (Not prosecco, real Champagne.) I timed the completion of the first draft to coincide with my birthday. I made a great ceremony of typing the words “The end” just before my birthday dinner. I also took the time to make a sententious speech to my children about the value of setting goals and working hard. I’m sure the latter went in one ear and out the other, but it sure made me feel good.

Writing References

Hello, everyone. Here are some books I suggest for reading if you are interested in writing a novel or are currently writing a novel. Click on the book if you want to purchase them. the prices are reasonable.

Featured Books

 
On Writing Fiction
By David Jauss

Learn More »

 
The Breakout Novelist
By Donald Maass

Learn More »

 
Writer's Guide To Character Traits
By Dr. Linda Edelstein

Learn More »

Check Out Literary Agent Kate Brauning

The Bookshelf Blog

Writer Kate Brauning is on an agent search and, in the meantime, offers up some solid writing advice and more on her blog. (You can follow Kate on Twitter too.)