Four Screenplays - Syd Field

 I have no idea how to write a screenplay or to write for screen so I looked in A's shelf and found a few books on screenplay. This one by Syd Field analyses four screenplays of successful films - 'Thelma and Louise', 'Terminator II', 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Dances with Wolves'. As usual with the masters, there is no point trying to review their work - best draw some nuggets for future reference. Here are some nuggets I found.

The art of screenwriting is all about revealing character.
Good screenplay is the art of discovery.
Good screenwriting plays against the grain, against the obvious, against the way you expect things to happen. 
The true test of good screenwriting is the chord of truth it touches within each of us. A universal truth goes far beyond culture, race, age or geographic location.
Art of screenwriting is finding places where silence works better than words, a story told in pictures.
Film is behavior.
Screenplay is a story told in pictures, in dialogue and description, and placed within the context of dramatic structure.
A screenwriter has to learn the art of writing in pictures.Enter the scene late, get out early.
In a screenplay everything is related to everything else. Every scene, every line, every action, every reaction is all related. A screenplay is organic.

Search for another, original way to say what needs to be said, indirectly, to avoid the obvious. Play against the grain of the scene.
The first 10 pages are the most important. Almost everything you need to know about the movie is found here - if you know what you're looking for.
You must grab the reader's attention, setting up critical information that will pay off in the reader's and audience's understanding of the film's opening situation.
Give essential information about the story and the character.
Open with an action sequence or with an expository character-driven sequence.
Most readers need only 10 pages to know whether a script is working. They look for 3 things - the main character, the dramatic premise and the dramatic situation.
What is character but the determination of the incident. And what is  incident but the illumination of character..
In most screenplays the real story begins at Plot Point 1.
All drama is conflict. Without conflict you have no character.Without character you have no action. Without action you have no story and without story you have no screenplay.
Character can be brought out by incidents.
Action in the screenplay keeps the story moving forward.
When you enter the scene becomes important - enter late, get out early. Every scene has a beginning, middle and end. If you design the scene in this way, then you can enter the scene at the last possible moment just before the purpose of the scene is established. Then you can end the scene literally before it ended.
Illuminate the character with little insights.
Pinch 1 - keeps the story on track, literally holds it together. Primary function is to move the story forward.
Act II - all about obstacles.
Sub text is what is not said during the course of the scene.
Scene bridges time and distance, and moves the story forward.
In mythic terms the 1st part of any journey of initiation must deal with the death of the old self and the resurrection of the new, the hero, the heroic figure moves not into outward space but into inward space to the place from which all being comes into the consciousness that the source of all things is the kingdom of heaven within. The images are outward but the reflection is inward.
Visual metaphors reflect the inward state.
Hindi scriptures consider the outside and inside as one - what's inside our heads, our thoughts, feelings, memories, and emotions - are reflected outside in our everyday life. Our mind creates the experience.
To construct subplot, write each line of action separately. Once the progression of events is laid out from beginning to end, each thread of scene, can be intercut.
Plot point is always an incident, episode or event that's dictated by the needs of the story.
To love yourself is to find yourself - kill their past.
Community of emotion is where the audience becomes one.

Break down the book, scene by scene, line of events, Put scenes on cards.
Who's story is it?
Has to die to be reborn - character.
Tell the story with pictures- shots, scenes, sequences.
Focus on what the camera sees.
A scene is defined by time and place. If you change either, change the scene.
In the 2nd 10 pages section, the story line must stay focused on the main character.