Shooting scriptless

LOGAN L Productions

LOGAN L Productions

I've found that my favorite movies that I've made are the ones that never had a real script (OU uncovered, Mustache Chronicles, Julia's Grave). I wrote a script for my last film and I feel it made some of the actors more rigid.

I am currently working on a slasher short with a very strict script and a comedy which will just have a guiding story (like "Curb Your Enthusiasm"). Is there anyone else out there who shoots this way? I like to go back and forth, but I just thought it'd be interesting to see who else shoots without a script and what their experiences are...
 
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The Bophe projects to-date (Finger & I'm All Yours) have little or no dialogue, so writing scripts didn't seem necessary. For these first two, we did write out a general sequence of events, but these documents were nowhere to be found when it came time to shoot. I guess we had the visuals pretty much memorized so we didn't need it written down. Not having a script at these shoots did not present a problem. Although we did have some challenges with Finger (complicated makeup effects), I don't think a missing script was at all to blame.

Our next project in production, Closet, is the first one for which we have written a full, formal script. Vicky Bunczk bought/read a book on script editing, then took the dialogue and action that Charles and I wrote and converted it into a "script." It was a wonderful job! This shoot has been somewhat problematic for us, but again, I don't think the script has anything to do with it. The action is much more complicated than anything we have previously tackled and we really needed storyboards (among other things...). So...we got storyboards done and we plan to go back to shooting later this year. When it came to the dialogue for Closet (the dialogue portions are already done), we took the approach that certain key words/phrases/ideas need to be conveyed in order to get the point across, but we gave the actors creative leeway to improvise the line -- as long as they remembered to cover the basic story elements that were important to the script. This allowed for a more natural performance from the actor.

We have several other projects also in development. As far as writing scripts, for us...I think it mostly depends on what is happening in the movie. If the project is mostly visual, then we will likely not write a script. Charles and I work well from memory. We see certain shots/angles/sequences in our head, then try to recreate it for the camera. I don't think a script would help with that.

If the project is more dialogue-oriented, we will likely write it down but then allow for improv.
 
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I tend to use a blend of the two. I let the actors know the points in each scene that are necessary for the script, the rest they can change at will. I reign them in if they go too far off track. I also use actors who do improv...that never hurts.
 
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I have since always shot with a script.
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Have you noticed a difference? Zing!
smiley_creepy.gif


I can't imagine not having a script. It makes planning so much easier, and it just seems weird not knowing which direction the story is about to take. How can one wrap up loose ends, like that?

I'm not very adventurous, I guess. :no:
 
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Zensteve said:
I'm not very adventurous, I guess.
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Reminds me of an episode of Futurama where everyone was trying to be more spontaneous than the other. Of course, Fry won by pouring breakfast cereal on his head, slicing bananas on top of it, pouring milk on top of all that and, geabbing a spoon, began to eat.

The same thing goes for filmmaking if you're truly adventurous (sp?). Bad Cat was done in a day because I was bored. No script. I made it up as I went along. There's been other filmmakers who has done the same.

Although I'd never consider filming anything now without a script and every scene storyboarded, it was quite fun.

The best part of filmmaking is, sometimes you just have to experiment. You never know what'll happen until you try.
 
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I can't shoot without a script. So much of how I direct and shoot a scene is tied to the story and its visuals. It's impossible to do anything really creative without a script.
 
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Shaw said:
It's impossible to do anything really creative without a script.
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That's quite a bold statement, Mr. Shaw. I'll opt to respectfully disagree. Does this statement apply just to yourself or do you belive this to be true in general?
 
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Just to myself really. I'm certainly not getting down on you for shooting scriptless! It happens!


I find that I'm most creative when I have everything planned out so I know exactly what I need and why. Then on set I can modify things if I something cool comes up. It's just the way my brain operates I guess. I'm sure others out there have done and can do creative things without a script. Take mrde50's "Bad Cat" series. I enjoyed 'em.
 
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Shaw--I understand you point, and it is an excellent one. Even though we have done work without scripts, we still go in to these projects with a solid (altough entirely 'mental') plan of what we intend to accomplish. I suppose it is the difference of working without a script or working without a plan.
 
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Director Mike Leigh doesn't write a script, he has a finely crafted story outline that he develops in rehearsal with the actors, that then becomes the script and then he shoots it, always in sequence. He has made some of the greatest british films of all times and is a genius, in my opinion.

Mike is an absolutely incredible director and it's a technique that I've looked at quite seriously for several feature projects. In fact, when I do my film in Africa this is exactly what I intend to do.

However, that said, I can't think of anything worse than working on a project with no structure. I've seen to much of that "make it up as you go along" work from film students over the years and it always ends up halving the production rate because you're devising when you should be shooting, quartering the quality of the output because you've added another problem into an environment already fraught with problems and making the production foul ups increase by 500%, see previous reason.

The truth is that a first draft of a script can always be inproved by a rewrite, by devising you run the risk of putting valuable resources into a product that could have been much, much better with more work on the important part and that's the script.

The way it was explained to me was like this:

"Writing time is the cheapest part of the production process, every day you spend on it is an investment in future sucess; production time is expensive, every extra day you invest in it is an investment in bankruptcy"

I like doing devised work with actors and I've years of experience at doing it and what I would say is that it's not the kind of thing you do because your script work isn't good enough, it's the kind of work you do when you absolutley have enough knowledge about writing to write superb scripts and the directorial skills to guide actors through the creative process. You can't afford to rely on the writing abilities of your actors, because actors aren't writers. Bottom line is that you have to be a much better writer to work without a script, than when you don't.
 
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clive said:
Director Mike Leigh doesn't write a script,..
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The above post is priceless.

This weekend, I was going to shoot a 2 minute single-joke comedy short. The script is complete. As an experiment, I'm going to throw away the script and shoot the whole thing scriptless to see "what comes to me" during the process.

<commercial>
Let's see what happens when we replace Rob's script with ... no script. :D
</commercial>

Anyone here interested in the final product??
 
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always in sequence
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Must be nice not to have budget concerns.

first draft of a script
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IMHO, if you're showing people the first draft of a script then you need your head examined.

For me, sans script would never enter into my thinking. I have done things sans storyboard, those turned out to be more fluid. The story I want to tell must have a direction, camera angles, shots, blocking and the like, don't. I read in AC this month that Roman Polanski is the same way.

Am I strict with the my script, no. Actors are always free to tell me what they think 'character' wise. Story wise is different; I wrote it, trust me, I know what I want.
 
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Wow. this thread took off!

Anything I do without a script still has a plot outline, just so you guys know. I just don't always write a formal script out with every shot and line of dialogue in it.

Our script/storyboard for our next film isn't a real script. It is a couple of shot lists interspersed with storyboards, ideas, and dialogue guidelines...mostly written out on paper. That's what we usually end up doing...a script thig that could never be pitched to another producer, but could be shot very well by the people who wrote it. Of course I never just start shooting without knowing where we will go next...although, that might be interesting...
 
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I never just start shooting without knowing where we will go next...although, that might be interesting
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I agree with that. Experimentation wise, this could yeild very interesting results. Maybe take a gatling gun approach where you must shoot ten different, 5-10 minute shorts in ten days.
 
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We're going to be doing a project that is all guided improv. Script will have the pertinent points that need to be hit by each character. How, when and why will be determined by the actor on the spot within the confines of the character. My friends and I do stand up improv 5 hrs a day every autumn, so we're not just punting at the dialog, it's the way we do our shows...we have tons of practice doing the improv. Should be fun, I'll let you know as it develops. We graphed out the plot on a whiteboard the other day, so the story should be sound, just the dialog will be off the cuff.
 
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