Screenwriter Robert Gosnell ~ Pants On Fire

 Pants on Fire

Lying has become a nebulous thing, of late. In the good-old-days,  facts were never up for debate. Now, for far too many of us, our facts are driven by emotion and ideology, rather than reality.

As writers, we lie. That's our job. We make up stories and tell them, and by definition, that's a lie. Even stories about a real-life incident or person must be embellished, compressed and dramatized. Truth sprinkled with lies.

What we have going for us is that our audience knows we're lying, going in, and they're fine with it. They're willing to suspend their disbelief in order to be entertained. To a point.

While they will accept our stories as fiction, the way we tell those stories is the subject of great scrutiny and held to a high standard. The world we've created must be accurate.

I recently encountered a blog discussion regarding the bear attack on Leonardo DiCaprio's character in the film "The Revenant." There were many comments criticizing the filmmakers for a lack of authenticity in the scene. Some were valid, some picky, some far-fetched.

The bear wouldn't do that. The character would have done this. The season was wrong. The cub was too young. The bear didn't look real.

It harkens me back to a classic Hollywood story concerning the TV comedy series, "Mr. Ed," about a talking horse. A writer on the show pitched a line for Mr. Ed to George Burns, who was a producer. Burns listened to the line, then shook his head.

"The horse wouldn't say that."

The writer responded, "I got a flash for you, George. The horse wouldn't say anything!"

"No," George replied, "the character we've given the horse wouldn't say that."

Mr. Burns put himself in the audience. He was willing to believe a horse could talk, even knowing it wasn't true. He just didn't believe Mr. Ed would say that.

Mistakes can come in many forms in the making of a film. Sometimes, it has to do with continuity.

"Hey, the top button of his shirt was unbuttoned in that last shot!"

"Her drink was almost empty. Now, it's full!"

They point out these little flaws because they feel cheated when they encounter them. They were totally involved in your story, and now you've lied to them. You've rudely jerked them back to reality.

Other times, the problem stems from a choice based on time considerations, editing issues, lack of research or just plain laziness.

It's such a little thing, they tell themselves. The audience won't notice. Except, they do. They always have and they always will.

No place in our world for alternative facts.

 ~ Robert

 "The Blue Collar Screenwriter and The Elements of Screenplay" is currently available at:
Amazon digital and paperback

CreateSpace 
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords

Find Robert at:
Website (with information on classes)
Email

BIO: 

A  professional screenwriter for more than thirty years,  Robert Gosnell has produced credits in feature films, network television, syndicated television, basic cable and pay cable, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of Canada.

Robert began his career writing situation comedy as a staff writer for the ABC series Baby Makes Five.  As a freelance writer, he wrote episodes for Too Close for Comfort and the TBS comedies Safe at Home andRocky Road.  In cable, he has scripted numerous projects for the Disney Channel, including Just Perfect, a Disney Channel movie featuring  Jennie Garth. In 1998, he wrote the  Showtime original movie, Escape from Wildcat Canyon, which starred Dennis Weaver and won the national "Parents Choice Award." Robert's feature credits include the Chuck Norris/Louis Gosset Jr. film Firewalker, an uncredited rewrite on the motion picture Number One With A Bullet starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, and the sale of his original screenplay Kick And Kick Back to Cannon Films. Robert was also selected as a judge for the 1990 Cable Ace awards, in the Comedy Special category.

In 1990, Robert left Hollywood for Denver, where he became active in the local independent film community. His screenplay Tiger Street was produced by the Pagoda Group of Denver and premiered on Showtime Extreme in August of 2003. In 1999, Denver’s Inferno Films produced the action film Dragon and the Hawk from his script. In 2001, Robert co-wrote the screenplay for the independent feature Siren for Las Vegas company Stage Left Productions. His feature script Juncture was produced by Front Range Films in March of 2006. 

Robert  is a principal member of the Denver production company "Conspiracy Films." He is frequently an invited speaker for local writers organizations,  served on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2002, and in 2007 was chosen to participate as a panelist for the Aspen Film Festival Short Screenplay Contest. Robert regularly presents his screenwriting class "The Elements of Screenplay," along with advanced classes and workshops, in the Denver area.

Screenwriter Robert Gosnell on One Can Only Speculate

One Can Only Speculate

There is an old vaudeville era joke, about a man who tries to sell an axe. It's a very special axe, he explains to his prospective buyer, because this is the very axe that George Washington used to chop down the cherry tree.

"Of course," continues the seller, "it's had three new heads and four new handles, since then."

This joke came to mind while mulling one of my impossible screenwriting dreams: to sell, and have produced, the first screenplay I ever wrote.

That screenplay, written on speculation, has undergone many more changes, over the years, than the famous George Washington axe that huckster tried to sell. In fact, in many respects, it barely resembles its original incarnation.

One of the more positive roads which have been opened by the internet is that of enabling novelists to self-publish, market and sell their work. Were that not the case, my own book might never have seen the light of day.

While screenwriters also enjoy the advantages of internet marketing, allowing us to reach more prospective buyers much more readily than in the past, it falls short, in that we still must rely on agents, producers and studios to make a sale, just like in the old days.

And, just like in the old days, the most valuable tool at our fingertips is the "spec" script. In order to be noticed, we must write. In order to have our work produced, we must write well. After that, persistence, luck and timing determine our fate.

While the underlying dread of spending weeks, months or even years on an effort that may never be seen by more than a handful of people can dampen a screenwriter's motivation, the added benefits cannot be overlooked. Only by writing continuously can we improve. So, if our spec script's ultimate fate is to sit on a shelf and gather dust, it doesn't mean it was all for naught. It means our next script will be better, and the one after that better still. Practice does, indeed, make perfect. Beyond that, there also comes a sense of achievement, a growing confidence in one's ability and an increasing comfort in mastering a challenging writing form.

So, maybe it isn't George Washington's axe, but after three new heads and four new handles, it's probably a better axe than it was to begin with.

Today's excerpt from "The Blue Collar Screenwriter and The Elements of Screenplay" takes a further look at the screenwriter's best friend: The "spec" script.

 The “Spec” Script

The term "spec script" means you're writing it on speculation, and that means, you'll spend a lot of time and energy doing work with no promise of any reward at the end, aside from personal satisfaction. Maybe, it'll sell, maybe it won't. Maybe, it'll serve as a great writing sample that will lead you to a paid assignment. Maybe it won't.

I can tell you what it will do. It will make you a better writer.

Every script you put behind you provides an education, whether or not it ever gets produced. A half-dozen spec scripts that go nowhere can be just what you need to take your talent to a level that finally gets your great American screenplay on the screen.

If what you want to be is a professional screenwriter, you must remain diligent; constantly married to your keyboard, constantly churning out new work. It takes commitment.

The great satirist Art Buchwald once told the story of a man who wanted so much to win the lottery, he prayed every night for it. Each evening before bed, he would fall to his knees and beg God to "Please, let me win the lottery!" Finally, after months of this, he was in the midst of his ritual prayer, when he suddenly heard a big, booming voice from out of the heavens:

"Give me a break! Buy a ticket!"

The hapless fellow in Art Buchwald's story discovered that God himself couldn't determine his fate. Winning the lottery requires an investment. In that case, it's only a buck. In your case, it's time, effort, commitment, dedication, brain-drain and sweat equity. And, a little talent doesn't hurt.

Unfortunately, some aspiring writers see their first spec screenplay in a "lottery ticket" light.

"I'll dash out a great story," they imagine, "submit it to the market and wait for fate to sweep me up in its arms and propel me to fame and fortune!"

Okay, anything is possible. Maybe, they'll write that script, land a major agent from ICM who will get it directly to the green-light guy at a big studio, make a quick sale, deposit a huge paycheck and revel in glory on opening night as Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep bring it to life on the big screen, (probably in 3-D) amid whispers of Oscar nominations. Maybe, it will happen that way for them.

Or, maybe they'll win the lottery.

If you submit your spec script to an agent, and he likes your work, one of his first questions to you will be "Do you have more?" Maybe, it took you a year or two to get that first hot script sharpened to perfection. It can't take you a year or two to write the next one, but it has to be at least as good.

***

As you may have gathered from this excerpt, our spec script is only the first step in a screenwriting career which encompasses a varied and complex set of requirements. Writing a screenplay does not make one a screenwriter, any more than pouring drano down a clogged sink makes one a plumber.

Yet, every journey must start with a first step. For a screenwriter, that first step is a "spec" screenplay. Don't be afraid to take it. It can lead you to wondrous and exciting new places.

________________________________________

Robert's book, "The Blue Collar Screenwriter and The Elements of Screenplay" is currently available at:
Amazon digital and paperback
CreateSpace 
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords

Find Robert at:
Website (with information on classes)
Email

BIO: 

A  professional screenwriter for more than thirty years,  Robert Gosnell has produced credits in feature films, network television, syndicated television, basic cable and pay cable, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of Canada.

Robert began his career writing situation comedy as a staff writer for the ABC series Baby Makes Five.  As a freelance writer, he wrote episodes for Too Close for Comfort and the TBS comedies Safe at Home and Rocky Road.  In cable, he has scripted numerous projects for the Disney Channel, including Just Perfect, a Disney Channel movie featuring  Jennie Garth. In 1998, he wrote the  Showtime original movie, Escape from Wildcat Canyon, which starred Dennis Weaver and won the national "Parents Choice Award." Robert's feature credits include the Chuck Norris/Louis Gosset Jr. film Firewalker, an uncredited rewrite on the motion picture Number One With A Bullet  starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, and the sale of his original screenplay Kick And Kick Back to Cannon Films. Robert was also selected as a judge for the 1990 Cable Ace awards, in the Comedy Special category.

In 1990, Robert left Hollywood for Denver, where he became active in  the local independent film community. His screenplay Tiger Street was produced by the Pagoda Group of Denver, and premiered on Showtime Extreme in August of 2003. In 1999, Denver’s Inferno Films produced the action film Dragon and the Hawk  from his script. In 2001, Robert co-wrote the screenplay for the  independent feature Siren for Las Vegas company Stage Left Productions. His feature script Juncture was produced by Front Range Films in March of 2006. 

Robert  is a principal member of the Denver production company "Conspiracy Films." He is frequently an invited speaker for local writers organizations,  served on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2002, and in 2007 was chosen to participate as a panelist for the Aspen Film Festival Short Screenplay Contest. Robert  regularly presents his screenwriting class "The Elements of Screenplay," along with advanced classes and workshops, in the Denver area.

Screenwriter Robert Gosnell on The Art of the "Buy"

I have a confession to make. I watched "Sharknado."

Well, I just had to see what all of the excitement was about. I must admit, I'm still not sure. The phrase, "so bad it's good" seems to be the one most frequently floating around, out there, and I'm not even sure I'm on board with that.

My personal feelings aside, the movie was successful enough to give this low-budget, tongue-firmly-in-cheek, cornier-than-thou effort a large audience, a limited theatrical run and a sequel. However you slice it, that's a home run.

The film took suspension of disbelief to an entirely new level, and got me thinking about a little thing called logic. As I state in my book, The Blue Collar Screenwriter and The Elements of Screenplay, there is a difference between story logic and real-life logic, and that is the subject of this week's excerpt, which follows this commentary.

When I entered the industry and attacked the sitcom world, I was quickly subjected to a number of catch-phrases associated with that form of storytelling. Each "camp" of production companies seemed to spawn its own shorthand. I learned how to give a joke a  "handle," how to "blow off" a character to get him out of a scene and how to reference a previous joke with a "call back." The term for requiring a certain suspension of disbelief was a "buy." In other words, it may defy logic, but will the audience "buy" it? Will they accept it? If so, then "it's a buy" became the operative phrase.

"Sharknado" was a buy from start to finish. That can be credited to the tone of the movie. No one, other than the one-dimensional characters who inhabited the film, took it seriously. We weren't supposed to. It was only intended to be mindless fun; brain candy, and on that level, it exceeded expectations. It reminded me of how diverse our film going tastes can be, in this world. There is, indeed, room for everyone.

Tone is key in determining how much we can expect our audience to buy. There were a number of scenes in "Sharknado" which never would have been acceptable in the classic shark tale "Jaws." That's because "Jaws" not only took itself seriously, but unlike "Sharknado," it required its audience to do so, as well. Points of logic were treated with meticulous care. They wanted us to believe it, so they went to great lengths to justify each unorthodox story moment. But, imagine grizzled shark-hunter Quint, during a somber moment aboard the Orca, relating the story of how a shark fell from the sky and swallowed him in one big gulp, only to have him cut his way out through the shark's belly with a chainsaw. Check, please!

Story logic, unlike real-life logic, can be manipulated, to some extent, in any story, regardless of tone, theme, genre or subject matter. That fact exists because the world of our story is not the real world, nor should it be. It is a world we create. We invite our audience to immerse themselves in our world and to believe what we ask them to believe. And, they want to believe. It's still possible to lose them, of course, but they'll go a long way, before crossing that line in the sand.

If "Sharknado" isn't evidence of that, I don't know what is. 

The Blue Collar Screenwriter
and
The Elements of Screenplay

Story Logic

On the structural front, you want to make sure you haven't left any holes in logic. But, story logic is not the same as real-life logic. What flies in a movie does not often reflect the logic of reality. In film, artistic license, for the sake of entertainment, takes precedent. Story logic means "acceptable." Will they, the audience, "buy" it? I'll give you an example.

In Alfred Hitchcock's classic "North by Northwest," there exists a rather famous scene wherein Cary Grant, playing our hero, Roger Thornhill, is directed to take a bus to a remote location on a dirt road, surrounded by farmland. He stands there, waiting for the mysterious Mr. Kaplan, who is to meet him there.

Soon, a car approaches, then passes. Another car arrives, and a farmer gets out and stands on the other side of the road. Cary Grant approaches him and asks if he's Kaplan. He isn't.

An old biplane; a crop duster flies overhead. The farmer's bus arrives, and as he boards, he remarks that it's odd that the crop duster is dusting "where there ain't no crops." Then, the bus departs, leaving our hero alone, once more.

That's when the crop duster descends on Cary Grant and there begins a mad chase through a nearby field, as the airplane pursues him, spewing gunfire from the cockpit. Cary Grant evades the airplane and eventually runs to the highway, where a large tanker truck approaches. Ultimately, the airplane crashes into the tanker truck in a humongous explosion!

It's a very exciting scene, but in examining it later, I found myself asking:

"Why a crop duster?"

Really, he was standing there, on the side of the road, way out in the boonies, all alone. All our bad guys had to do was drive up, roll down the window and shoot him dead.

That's the way it probably would have happened, in real life. I mean, that's the way I'd do it, were I prone to do such a thing. But, that wouldn't have been nearly as exciting or visual as an airplane chasing a man through a field, and then crashing into a tanker truck, leading to a fiery explosion. And, this is not real life, this is a motion picture. Thus, story logic prevailed.

Mr. Hitchcock termed these moments "icebox scenes," meaning that these minor flaws in logic surface after one gets home from the theater, opens his "ice box" for a snack and suddenly says to himself:

"Wait...that didn't make sense!"

Of course, by now, it's too late. We've already seen and enjoyed the movie. Had the realization of that flaw hit us while watching the movie, that might have been a problem. But, the scene was too exciting, keeping us on the edge of our seats, for us to think about something trivial like logic.

However, Story Logic has its limits. If we push things too far, we may cross the line of acceptable logic and lose our audience, or, at the least, offend them. Mr. Hitchcock's "ice box" moment may hit us then and there, and not wait for us to get home and reach for a snack.

~ ~ ~

A professional screenwriter for more than thirty years, Robert Gosnell has produced credits in feature films, network television, syndicated television, basic cable and pay cable, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of Canada.

Robert began his career writing situation comedy as a staff writer for the ABC series Baby Makes Five. As a freelance writer, he wrote episodes for Too Close for Comfort and the TBS comedies Safe at Home andRocky Road. In cable, he has scripted numerous projects for the Disney Channel, including Just Perfect, a Disney Channel movie featuring Jennie Garth. 

In 1998, he wrote the Showtime original movie, Escape from Wildcat Canyon, which starred Dennis Weaver and won the national "Parents Choice Award." Robert's feature credits include the Chuck Norris/Louis Gosset Jr. film Firewalker, an uncredited rewrite on the motion picture Number One With A Bullet starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, and the sale of his original screenplay Kick And Kick Back to Cannon Films. Robert was also selected as a judge for the 1990 Cable Ace awards, in the Comedy Special category.

In 1990, Robert left Hollywood for Denver, where he became active in the local independent film community. His screenplay Tiger Street was produced by the Pagoda Group of Denver, and premiered on Showtime Extreme in August of 2003. In 1999, Denver’s Inferno Films produced the action film Dragon and the Hawk from his script. In 2001, Robert co-wrote the screenplay for the independent feature Siren for Las Vegas company Stage Left Productions. His feature script Juncture was produced by Front Range Films in March of 2006.

Robert is a principal member of the Denver production company "Conspiracy Films." He is frequently an invited speaker for local writers organizations, served on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2002, and in 2007 was chosen to participate as a panelist for the Aspen Film Festival Short Screenplay Contest. Robert regularly presents his screenwriting class "The Elements of Screenplay," along with advanced classes and workshops, in the Denver area.

Robert's book, "The Blue Collar Screenwriter and The Elements of Screenplay" is currently available at:
Amazon digital and paperback
CreateSpace 
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords

Find Robert at:
Website (with information on classes)
Email
IMDB Page

INTRODUCING A NEW COLUMN By Screenwriter Robert Gosnell

I'm so pleased to bring you Robert Gosnell's opinions, thoughts, and tips on screenwriting.

Novelists will get a great deal of information out of his columns as well, so don't pass up these opportunities to see inside the mind of a multi-produced screenwriter.

Crash On The Information Highway

I love movies, and as politically incorrect as it may be to admit publicly, I love television, too. I can't help it. We grew up together. As a youth, I was enthralled by stories, in any form. I not only watched films and TV and read books incessantly, but I also enjoyed sitting quietly in a room full of adults and listening intently to the stories they told.

So, when I made the somewhat radical decision to abandon my  blue-collar existence and become a screenwriter, it seemed like a logical choice. I had searched for years, as many of us do, to find my "true calling," and now I had found it. But, I had a problem.

I knew the "what," but I didn't know the "how." To echo Hamlet's lament, "there's the rub!"

At that time, writing for the screen was a relatively elite vocation, so the availability of information was, to say the least, limited. Therefore, my first obstacle was a pretty basic one.

What the hell does a script look like?

Since my initial goal was to write situation comedy for TV, I picked one of my favorites, a show called "Barney Miller," and made the acquisition of a script from that show my immediate target. But again, how?

"Simple enough," I decided. "I'll write to the show and ask them to send me a script." Ignorance is bliss.

Astonishingly, I received a reply, although not the one I was hoping for, from the prolific and talented writer/producer Tony Sheehan. It was a rather lengthy letter, explaining in diplomatically phrased detail why my desire to write for "Barney Miller" was an impossible dream. "Barney" was a tough show to get a handle on. "Barney" wasn't soliciting outside writers. In short, I would never write for "Barney Miller."

Mr. Sheehan had missed the point, entirely! So, I wrote him back.

I explained that I chose his show because it represented the quality of programming I was aspiring to write. I never expected an invitation to actually write for "Barney Miller." I just wanted to know what a sitcom script looked like!

To my further astonishment, a couple of weeks later, I received a "Barney Miller" script in the mail, with this brief note from Mr. Sheehan:

"Dear Mr. Gosnell,

I guess, the second time's the charm."

I'm sure that Mr. Sheehan doesn't know, to this day, that his generosity kick-started my career, but I certainly never forgot it.

After churning out some spec scripts and doing some research, I made my trek to Hollywood. Over the years of honing my craft from the trenches, information became more readily available. I learned not only from books, seminars and classes, but most importantly, from mentors and peers who were kind enough to share their knowledge and experience with me. Eventually, I hit pay dirt, and have had the good fortune to write for feature films, independent films, TV and cable. I vowed, way back then, that when I reached a point where I felt confident in my ability to pass that information along, I would do so.

A few years ago, I began teaching a screenwriting class of my own. It was a surprisingly rewarding experience, not only because it gave me a forum to share the information I had garnered, over the years, but because it challenged me to dig deeper and expand my own knowledge of the craft. Soon after, the thought of writing a book on the subject began to creep into the recesses of my brain.

And then came the internet, and suddenly, there became available a flood of information on the subject. There are blogs and posts and websites, online classes and seminars, contests and "script doctors" of every manner. "Experts" are springing up from out of nowhere. I mean, literally, nowhere. For a time, I put my thoughts of writing a book out of my mind. Why jump into the middle of that mess? Why become just another voice in that cacophony?

However, when I started reading and analyzing the information being offered, I was appalled to discover how much of it was  misleading, incomplete or just, plain wrong, and that many of those experts were not experts, at all. So many people who have never written, sold or had produced a screenplay are now out there teaching people how to write screenplays. The blind are leading the blind...and charging money to do so.

Having scraped and clawed my way through the trenches of Hollywood to reach my goal, I found this approach offensive. That, as much as anything, re-ignited my desire to write "The Blue Collar Screenwriter and the Elements of Screenplay." If nothing else, I hoped to set the record straight, at least to some degree. Even at that, I don't consider myself an expert. I don't claim or pretend to have all the answers, or to know the one-and-only secret to success. Perhaps, I could make more money if I had the brass balls necessary to make that claim, but I just can't do it.

However, I have gathered a lot of information on the subject over my thirty-plus years in the business, and I felt compelled to share it. At the least, I've actually done what I teach, and that has to count for something.

In recent years, I have also been enlightened on another perspective that previously had escaped me. Some of my screenwriting students are novelists; many of them successful. Their goal, now, is to adapt their novels for the screen. These dedicated writers opened my eyes to the similarities and the differences between the forms. A story is a story, but a novel is not a screenplay. How to make the "twain" meet?

That is the purpose of today's blog; my first. In an excerpt from my book, I will present an issue which is common to all stories, but approached in a manner which is unique to the screenwriting form. I hope that novelists, screenwriters and those who aspire to either or both will find something of value within it.

So, sit back, relax and allow me to introduce you to "Physical Proxies."

Physical Proxies

Once you have established your character's backstory, you must now find ways to reflect that backstory in a character's actions and words. If you want to reveal a character's inner-workings visually, then you must do so with, guess what? Action.

The internal thought or emotion you want to reveal must be delivered in a manner which is visual, and allows the actor and director to interpret it. For my own edification, I've termed these actions "Physical Proxies."

There's really no mystery to it, or anything new. It's simply a reflection of the old "show, don't tell" rule.

Let's utilize a scene from "Rocky" to examine some physical proxies.

Early in the story, Rocky has been offered the fight with Apollo Creed, for the championship. Mickey, the boxing trainer, wants to be Rocky's manager. The trouble is, the men had an earlier run-in, when Mickey took away Rocky's locker at the gym and gave it to another fighter, whom he deemed a "contender." Rocky, however, was a "tomato," who fought like an ape, and should retire.

Now, here's Mickey, showing up at the door of Rocky's shabby little apartment, hat-in-hand.

Once inside, Mickey follows Rocky around the apartment, making his case. He talks about his experiences and shows Rocky pictures of young Mickey as a boxer.

And, what does Rocky do? He keeps moving away from Mickey. He throws darts at a dart board. He gets a beer from the refrigerator. He walks to his bedroom. Finally, when all else fails, Rocky goes into the bathroom and closes the door.

These are the physical proxies Rocky employs to express what he's feeling. Here's a big, tough, heavyweight fighter, and what is he doing? Avoiding confrontation! He can go toe-to-toe with brutes in the ring, but emotional confrontation makes him uncomfortable.

This scene is just such an emotional confrontation. The more Mickey persists, the more uncomfortable Rocky grows. He's squirming, before our eyes. That's a reveal of a characteristic which is demonstrated throughout the story, not just in this scene.

Rocky keeps telling Mickey that the fight is set, and he doesn't need a manager. That's the text, but we know what's really going on. Mickey gave up on him. Mickey told him to quit. Mickey hurt his feelings. You could see it, churning around inside him. You knew the reason he was saying "no." Nobody had to tell us, because Rocky showed us.

The only time it was really addressed verbally was when Rocky, still trying to avoid the subject, steps into the doorway of his bedroom. Mickey follows him in and there sees a poster of the heavyweight legend Rocky Marciano on the wall. Mickey remarks that Rocky reminds him of Marciano. He moves like the champ. He's got heart. Rocky's deadpan reply:

"Yeah, I got heart. But, I ain't got no locker, do I, Mick?"

There it is, in glorious subtext. It's personal.

Another fine example can be found in "Forrest Gump." In this scene, Forrest and Jenny, the girl he loves, have returned to the house where Jenny grew up, which is now abandoned. Jenny, venting her anger, begins to throw rocks at the house, one after another, with a growing fervor, until she sinks to the ground, weeping.

Forrest moves to her and sits beside her. Then, in Voice Over narration, we hear Forrest say:

"Sometimes, I guess, there just aren't enough rocks."

While it was never stated verbally in this scene, is there any doubt that Jenny was abused in that house? We can only imagine what indignities she suffered, but we certainly know that bad things happened to her, there.

That information, that backstory, was expressed through action. The throwing of rocks became the Physical Proxy to express the anger Jenny was feeling. Talking about it could never have had the same impact as this action.

Think of it as mime, if you like. Think of it in terms of a silent film. Ask yourself:

"What if there is no sound? How can I show what my character is feeling?"

If your character is well developed; well rounded, the right action for that character to express his inner feelings will be there. Rocky was a brute with a soft spot. Tough and crude, yet also sensitive and vulnerable.

Those conflicting traits going on inside him caused him to react to a given situation in his own unique, personal way. When he could no longer control his anger and frustration, he struck out physically, but always at inanimate objects. Never at people, unless he was in the ring. He struggled to conceal his inner feelings, fearing that expressing them would show weakness.

Rocky's Physical Proxies were his, alone. The better developed your characters, the more mannerisms and characteristics you can create to visually express their feelings.

~ ~ ~ 

A professional screenwriter for more than thirty years, Robert Gosnell has produced credits in feature films, network television, syndicated television, basic cable and pay cable, and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of Canada.

Robert began his career writing situation comedy as a staff writer for the ABC series Baby Makes Five. As a freelance writer, he wrote episodes for Too Close for Comfort and the TBS comedies Safe at Home and Rocky Road. In cable, he has scripted numerous projects for the Disney Channel, including Just Perfect, a Disney Channel movie featuring Jennie Garth. In 1998, he wrote the Showtime original movie, Escape from Wildcat Canyon, which starred Dennis Weaver and won the national "Parents Choice Award." Robert's feature credits include the Chuck Norris/Louis Gosset Jr. film Firewalker, an uncredited rewrite on the motion picture Number One With A Bullet starring Robert Carradine and Billy Dee Williams, and the sale of his original screenplay Kick And Kick Back to Cannon Films. Robert was also selected as a judge for the 1990 Cable Ace awards, in the Comedy Special category.

In 1990, Robert left Hollywood for Denver, where he became active in the local independent film community. His screenplay Tiger Street was produced by the Pagoda Group of Denver, and premiered on Showtime Extreme in August of 2003. In 1999, Denver’s Inferno Films produced the action film Dragon and the Hawk from his script. In 2001, Robert co-wrote the screenplay for the independent feature Siren for Las Vegas company Stage Left Productions. His feature script Juncture was produced by Front Range Films in March of 2006.

Robert is a principal member of the Denver production company "Conspiracy Films." He is frequently an invited speaker for local writers organizations, served on the faculty of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in 2002, and in 2007 was chosen to participate as a panelist for the Aspen Film Festival Short Screenplay Contest. Robert regularly presents his screenwriting class "The Elements of Screenplay," along with advanced classes and workshops, in the Denver area.

Robert's book, "The Blue Collar Screenwriter and The Elements of Screenplay" is currently available at:
Amazon digital and paperback
CreateSpace 
Barnes & Noble
Smashwords

Find Robert at:
Website (with information on classes)
Email
IMDB Page