Real-Life Communication -- Solution
Here's how you could pitch the Titanic script:
It's
an epic love story set against the backdrop of one of the most famous tragedies
of the 20th century, the sinking of Titanic. Everyone knows the story of Titanic,
right? Arrogant shipbuilders create an "indestructible ship." It hits an iceberg
and sinks on its maiden voyage, and 1,500 people die.
But what was
it really like to be there on that cold, dark night, with over a thousand
people plunged into the icy waters? And imagine this luxurious, massive ship
sinking into the deep, dark North Atlantic.
My story takes people back
to that fateful night, and it starts with a romance. The story is seen through
the eyes of a very old woman who was on the ship that night. She's being
questioned by a crew in the present day that is searching for a valuable necklace
they believe is among Titanic's ruins.
Back in 1912, the woman
had been engaged to marry a man not for love, but for money. Her mother is
pressuring her into the marriage. Distraught, she plans to cast herself from
the ship. A young man from the lower classes saves her.
She risks the
jealous wrath of her fiance to spend time with him. They fall in love. The
fiance finds out, tries to kill them, and then the ship sinks. The audience
now cares about these two, when the incredibly dramatic sinking of the ship
occurs. The two are devoted to each other until the end, when the young man
dies saving her from freezing in the water.
The story has everything:
romance, glamour, adventure, suspense, and action. It's an epic story,
and I'm ready to write it.
Scriptwriters need to
be excellent speakers to sell their ideas. It doesn't matter how good
your idea is if you can't convince producers to give you a contract.
"A
great deal of the work of a screenplay writer is actually human contact, where
you're pitching people ideas," says scriptwriter Dennis Foon. "You have
to be able to impart original ideas to people, and take them into whatever
weird ideas you have in your head and try to get them to see that world too
and get excited about it."
Of course, scriptwriters need to have superb
writing skills. They are paid for what they can get down on paper.
Creativity
is used not just when originally writing the script, but also in dealing with
suggested changes. Scriptwriters need to listen carefully to the suggestions
of producers and directors during script meetings.
"[You need to] determine
for yourself how to fix the problem and it may not be in terms of suggestions
that are being made," Foon says. "But you certainly interpret
what's being said to you and in that way take care of it."