Do you print out your script pages as you go along, or do you wait until you have a completed draft before printing out the whole thing (assuming you’re using a word processor and not a typewriter.) There’s nothing more motivating to me than to see pages of script piling up, but then if I want to make a change to what I’ve written already there’s a potential for waste and I feel bad enough that we’re still using trees for paper instead of something more plentiful and efficient like cotton or hemp.

--Rob

In the early days of ink-jet printers, there was a lot more incentive to economize: printing an entire script could take half an hour, and cost a few bucks’ worth of ink. Now, with fast-and-cheap laser printers, the temptation is to print a lot more. Fight it. The business of making movies already wastes a lot of paper – everything from call sheets, to budgets, to rainbow-colored script revisions. As a single screenwriter, you can at least make sure you’re not adding to the problem.

I tend to write first drafts longhand, scene by scene, and print out pages as they get typed up. Call it paranoid, but I like to have at least one hard copy in case my hard drive commits hara-kiri. So, for a normal first draft, that means about 240 pages – 120 hand-written, and 120 typed.

The real waste comes during countless drafts of the rewriting process. Here are some suggestions to keep it somewhat reasonable:

1. Only print what you need. Before you hit Print, ask yourself if you really need the whole script, or whether you simply need a few pages. Often, your corrections are contained to just a few pages, and it’s easy to print only the range you need.

2. Double-up. If you’re using Mac OS X, use the pull-down menu in the Print dialog box to select ‘Layout’. Set it for two pages, with a hairline border. (Confused? Here’s a screenshot.) You’ll end up with two pages side-by-side, and it’s perfectly readable. Your 120-page script is now sixty pages, and can be held together with a binder clip. (Never hand in a script printed this way; keep it for your own use.)

3. Use recycled paper. HP makes a good paper that’s 30% post-consumer. Unfortunately, recycled paper rarely comes three-holed, but if you’re printing the two-page layout, that doesn’t matter.

4. Reuse the back sides. I avoid printing scripts on the back sides of scripts – I get confused which pages are new. But script pages are perfectly good scratch paper for everything else you need to print.

5. Use .pdfs. If you’re giving somebody your script to read, consider emailing them a .pdf rather than printing it out. These days, almost anyone can handle a .pdf file.

Even if you only implement a few of these suggestions, you can cut your paper use by 75%. Until they start making hemp copier paper, you’re doing your part to keep the trees in the forest where they belong.

I am developing a documentary film based on my experience of being homeless for 5 years, from 1997-2002. However, I do not know anyone in the film industry, so I am tackling this monumental task literally alone, from scratch. There are so many questions that I need answered if this 6 year (to date) project will ever see the light of day, such as obtaining music rights, "fair use", lighting/camera operation/interviewing with only one crew person (myself), film festival submission, etc.

The problem I have is that every attempt I've made to meet people with experience in filmmaking has met with scoffing simply because the topic is my own homelessness in the past (the ignorance and injustice of which is precisely what I seek to discuss). But without a mentor of some kind, the best I can hope for is to produce a low level of quality that my story doesn't deserve, and I might very well get sued in the process if I don't understand at least the legal basics of documentary filmmaking/fair use.

I have tried everything I can think of to meet experienced filmmakers, including writing letters, personal meetings, approaching film schools, amateur film clubs, and even camera shops. The consensus is that my story has a lot of potential, but translating the frames in my head into a finished product that will truly entertain and enlighten others seems beyond my capacity without some form of mentorship.

So how can a "nobody" with a truly uniqe idea reach "somebody" who cares enough about important social issues to serve as a mentor/advisor for my project?

--Paul

You probably have a fascinating story to tell, however it sounds like you believe that you have to have somebody else to help you tell it. Did you shoot film over those five years that you were homeless or are you hoping to recreate those years or do a movie from here forward? Be that as it may, let me say that a lot of young filmmakers have a mindset about needing others to help them accomplish their work. If you have the perseverance, the passion and the tenacity, coupled with a substantial subject matter, you can get the job done virtually by yourself, especially in this digital age.

I understand that certain people’s perception about homelessness is none too evolved. When I read your question, I realized that you are probably quite well educated, you may be something of an accomplished writer, and if you learned anything at all in your five years on the street, you probably have something to tell us. When I made The Decline III, I thought I was making a movie about the second wave of punk rock. Was I ever wrong! That’s what happens with a good documentary: it often takes you on a journey that you’re not expecting. The movie turned out to be about gutterpunks, a growing group of kids (often even pre-teens) who have been thrust out by their families and who are living on the street as you were.

What I learned from those kids changed my life. I scratched the surface with that movie, just enough to let America know that if we don’t take care of our own, all too many young children will be living on the street. There’s a lot that needs to be told to Americans living the fat life about people who are down and out. So many of the homeless are remarkably intelligent, capable, creative and productive, if given the chance. Just to prove my point I will mention that I met my boyfriend of the last seven years when I was shooting The Decline III. He was homeless at the time and had been so for ten years previous to that. He is one of the most intelligent and talented people I’ve ever known. He has taught me so much about life, especially about survival. Interestingly enough, without ever having been educated in the area, he set up my computer system and Final Cut Pro which as many of you know, is a very complex program. Point is: don’t let anybody put you down for having been homeless. It’s THEIR PROBLEM if they think that way! The resources and funding entities are there present your project in a way makes the right people know that you’re the right person for the job.

Now, go make a movie!

I had the good fortune to be Director of Photography on a 16mm short while I was at film school.

At the school the only lights available ran from 300 to 1000 watts. As a result we'd usually be keeping the lights as close to the subjects as possible to get the levels we were looking for and manipulate them for the desired effect.

How would it be done on a show with a larger lighting package? Would you be more inclined to put a big light behind the window and shoot through the curtains (creating a little world of light)? Or would you still be taking a light on the inside and put some kind of diffusion on it (making it work for the specific shot and making sure it matches with the rest)? Or would you be doing a bit of both?

As a side note to this question, is this part of achieving the fabled 'Hollywood movie' look? Or would looking into more time in timing and 35mm be closer?

--Norman

Wish someone would tell me what the “Hollywood movie” look is!

“A bit of both” is probably the best answer to your question… certainly lighting is the “key” to any look you are after in a film. Timing and 35mm are part of it too, but controlling what is in front of the camera is the major part of the work. The “look” of a film comes through many factors, not the least of which are art direction and costume: daylight is lighting too and needs to be thought about and controlled just like any other kind of light.

Interesting lighting always comes about through conscious choices, made carefully and in conjunction with all the other things going on with the movie. In terms of specific set-ups, think about there the sources of the light would be if you want something to look “natural”. If there is a window and it’s daytime it’s obviously going to come from there, so any lighting you might do should look and feel as though it is coming from the window….

John August's screenwriting credits include Go, Big Fish, Titan A.E. and both Charlie's Angels movies. His current projects include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tarzan, and Corpse Bride. He also maintains a screenwriting-oriented website at johnaugust.com.

Born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, John earned a degree in journalism from Drake University in Iowa, and an MFA in film production from the Peter Stark program at the University of Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles.

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