The Spirited Actor Podcast - Script Breakdown

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me
Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and
TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transition to
a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New
Jersey Drive with executive producers Spike Lee and director Nick Thomas.
I audition every rapper from Biggias Balls to Tupac, and

(00:24):
I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help
transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from
Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Ye from The
Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons to name a few. I
also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel

(00:45):
I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director,
I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an
acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in
that room. Now I know, I know actors want to
get the job. I get that, but being remembered by
casting director that is powerful. And now it's time for
meditation of the day. The less I needed, the better,

(01:09):
I felt Charles Bukowski, All we need is love period.
Today I will love before we get started. I'd like
to remind everyone to look out for my new show,
Inside the black Box. I'll be co hosting with the

(01:30):
great Joe Morton, will be on Crackle Network real soon.
I'll keep you posted. Welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast
with me Tracy Moore. I am so excited to be
here on so many levels because today is my birthday
and we're gonna celebrate it all months, and we're gonna

(01:50):
celebrate it until the aries April fades out because I'm
a March Harries. Okay. I also want to remind everyone
to please continue to support Inside the black Box on
Crackle TV. You can subscribe for free and you can
download all ten episodes and watch them at your leisure,

(02:14):
But please support myself and my co host, Joe Morton.
So today's show is something different. Okay. You all know
I'm multi hyphenated. You know I'm a casting director, producer, director, writer, coach, teacher,
and I want to talk about writing today. I feel
really excited to teach this class today about the parts

(02:37):
of a script because I always encourage and I give
out in my class of homework as I meant for
actors to write scripts, and we usually start off with
three pages. You want to introduce characters in the first
page and what the sort of issue problem is. The
second page we get right into the conflict, and then

(02:59):
the third page is your resolution. Right, this is what
we're writing scenes in the class. So today I was
just encouraged to share some of these things with you.
For those of you who are actors, hyphenated writers, or
for those of you who want to write a script
and don't have any direction, I'm gonna give you guys
some tips today. Okay, So today we're gonna be talking

(03:21):
about parts of the script, and I want you guys
to get a pen and paper, or you guys record
this however you document and hold onto information. Please do this.
I would appreciate love. Okay, So I want to talk
about first the proper format of a script. If you
want anybody, a producer, a director, an actor to read

(03:43):
your script, it should be in the proper format. You
can have an Oscar Award with the script in your
hands in your mind, but if it's not in the
proper format, no one is going to read it. If
it's not in the proper format, it's going to scream
amateur and again, and no one is going to read it,
so it pays to invest in yourself and to get

(04:06):
the right material. One of the most respected software for
writing is Final Draft. I would say that's probably your
number one choice is Final Draft, and then they're scriptwriter.
But I would do my research at homework if you
didn't want to get scriptwriter, and make sure that whatever

(04:26):
software program you get that it is aligning with the
proper format of a television script, of theatrical script, theater,
a play, or a film featured film, motion picture. Okay. So,
first of all, the length of a script is anywhere
from ninety to a hundred and twenty five pages. Of course,

(04:48):
depending upon your budget. A page in television and film
is equivalent to a minute, okay. So if you have
ninety pages of a script, that's ninety minutes. If you
have a hundred and twenty five pages of a script,
you have a hundred and twenty five minutes, okay. And
that's really important that you guys understand because a script

(05:09):
is not something that you tell everything. A script, it's
it's your blueprint, right, and then it gives the actors
the ability to be creative and add some things to
their character as long as they're keeping to the integrity
of the television or film or a theater script. So
it's really important that you don't write a script that's

(05:32):
a hundred and fifty five pages for a script that's
like seventy six pages. Again, the proper format and the
proper length is anywhere from ninety to a hundred and
twenty five pages. You have scripts like Black Panther or
Gandhi that go way beyond a hundred and twenty five pages. However,
they have a budget and also goes beyond a hundred

(05:54):
pages that they can do that. But I'm talking to
you guys who aspire writers or people who are currently
writing and want to tweak and you know, share their
their script. The other thing that's really cool about when
you guys write a script is to have a table read.
Is to get some really talented actors who can read
and breathe life into the lines and the character and

(06:16):
sit at a table or you know, some actors stand
at a podium and read the script. This gives a
writer the opportunity to hear their work, to make adjustments, changes,
and belish at a character and get rid of a character.
A table read is such a great tool when you
are writing, so that you can really hear. I also
like the fact that when you do a table read

(06:39):
or you know, just reading in general your script. It's
also fun to get the interpretation of the actors. The
actors always have their own perspective of the character, or
they might have, you know, an idea, but that's be
open to that as well. And then, you know, never
be so married to your script that you don't want
to make changes or that you don't want to get

(07:00):
rid of things, because you know, there are writing consultants
out here that look over your script and give you
tips and advice and help you. You know, there are
other people out here you can get a writing mentor.
I love to go to film festivals because that's where
you see a lot of these writers, directors and producers
and there's a lot of Q and A, and you
can talk to them ask questions. That's also a great

(07:22):
tool for you as a writer. So it's important that
you have the proper format. It's important that you understand
the length. And now I'm going to break down parts
of the script for you. Okay, So the first thing
that happens in the script is the transition. The transition
is fade in, So we're beginning to come into this show,
and that is the transition that is used universally fade in.

(07:47):
What proceeds fade in is a slug lock. A slug
line is in all capital letters, and a slug line
you will see capital e x T, which is exterior outside,
or you'll see I N T period, which is inside.
So when you look see a slug line, the whole
line is in capital letters and it will say interior.

(08:10):
It will give you the location, dinner, and time of day, day, night.
That's what a slug line is going to give you.
Every part of a script, whether you're a writer and actor,
is imperative for you because information is given everywhere. So
the information that we get in the sugline is where
are we inside or outside, the location, and the time

(08:32):
of day, day or night. What proceeds That is your action.
When you start out in the script, you wanna, you know,
describe the location. Maybe we're sitting on a beach and
you know the breeze off to the ocean is blowing
through the air, and you know you're having a picnic

(08:52):
with friends and laughing, having a good time. You want
to describe as much as possible and not lengthy. This
is where adjectives come in handy and also a thesaris
right with a fasiris and a dictionary, because what the
thesis is gonna do is give you another word to
use as opposed to walk. Walk just tells us you walked,

(09:16):
but jetted, bounced dash. Those words have power and they
also give us an idea of the mood of your
character or what's going on in the scene. So I
highly recommend for you guys to write with a dictionary
and a thesars as your best friend, let's go help you. Okay.

(09:39):
Also in the action, if your character's name is in
capital letters, that is the first introduction that we have
of your character or other characters. That's really important. If
your name is in capital letters, that is the first
introduction to your character. Your name could be in capital
letters on page forty five, what does that mean? That

(10:01):
means that forty five minutes into the show you are introduced. Okay.
If your name is in lower case, that means that
you were introduced prior to page forty five. And if
you have the luxury of having the script, then you're
able to you know, read the whole story. If you don't,
you have to put pieces together based on the information

(10:22):
that you already have. Okay, after the action. And again,
you know, writing is and especially for a screenplay, and
I'm gonna give you guys an example later, but especially
for a screenplay, you don't have a lot of pages.
A hundred pages seems like wow, that's a lot of pages.
But a screenplay is not written like a novel. There's

(10:45):
no double space live line. A screenplay is written differently,
and the way that you train your eyes to read
is different. Right, So you have transition slugline at s action.
Usually what precedes that is the dialogue and then maybe action,

(11:05):
and then maybe a transition like cut to dissolve, smash cut.
Those are also transitions as well, and then we come
right back. Every time you have a new setup, you
have a new slug line. I'll repeat that. Every time
you have a new setup, you have a new slug line.
So if we're in the park and then we go
to someone's apartment, then you have to cut that scene

(11:28):
with a transition or dissolve it, and then interior apartment
night we're in a new location. Okay, now, in talking
about you know you don't want to tell everything in
the script. What do I mean by that, Well, I
have read some really incredible scripts, and I have read
some really challenging scripts. What happens a lot of times

(11:50):
with writers, and I have fallen into this myself, is
that we make the assumption as a writer because we
know it's all stored in here, right, So we know
as a writer. However, we cannot take for granted that
our audience knows. So an example, I read a script
one time. It was such a horrible script, you guys,

(12:11):
and I had to read it. And I read this
script and there were things that the writer had established
in the beginning, right, Like let's say, you know the
morning routine of the actor, right, So let's say Maria
is the character, and so the writer establishes every morning
that before Maria leaves, she has a cup of coffee black,

(12:33):
she has two puffs of a cigarette, she posted out
her astray, she sprints is on some oils and perfumes,
and then she walks out the door. If this is
something that is consistent, then the writer has to establish
it in the beginning, and they don't necessarily have to
keep repeating the setup. They can say something like, she

(12:53):
does her morning routine. Well, after we've seen that morning
routine once I'm talking about the audience, we know that
that is her morning routine, right, because we've established that
and we call it the morning routine. You don't have
to keep writing the morning routine over and over. She
wakes up like coffee, takes two post cigarettes, put out astray,
sprints herself with loan perfume, and then the least. We

(13:15):
don't have to keep doing that. Okay. The other thing
is there are a lot of scripts that I've read
and they're very, very talking. Their dialogue is too much.
It's better for us to see things than for you
to tell us. Right, I could tell you that the
character is nervous, that Claudia is really nervous sitting in

(13:36):
the doctor's office. But I can also tell you that
Claudia her right leg is moving rapidly up and down
as she pat and and she's eating her nails. Right.
That tells you that she's nervous without saying she's nervous.

(13:56):
So the best scripts they show you they don't tell you.
Or when scripts are so dialogue heavy, those scripts are
the ones that are really painful. To read because they
tell you everything. The character Charlie is like, you know,
where are you going Derek, and Derek replies, well, first
I'm gonna go down to the store and pick up

(14:18):
the groceries. And then after I pick up the groceries,
I'm not going to tell my wife this, but I'm
going to sneak past and say hello to this woman
that I've been challenged with because I have feelings for her.
Instead of saying all of that, we show it. We
show you know, the action. Can say that Derek rushes
into the grocery store and snatches up a couple of items,

(14:39):
rushes to his car, and speeds off to an undisclosed location.
You have to be creative with your words. You have
to be creative with your vision. And again, it's so
much better for us to read that actually seen someone
nervous than to hear a character telling us over and
over to I'm nervous, I'm nervous, I'm nervous. There's nothing

(15:02):
engaging about that. But there is engaging like signing, biting
the skin on for the thumb, or or just you know,
accessively scratching their head or showing what it looks like
to be nervous, right, because actors don't imitate or pretend.
Actors totally embody the character and become this person. Right.

(15:23):
So I can't stress it enough that scripts are not
written to tell everything. They show you and then the
actor in their creative way, because that's why they were hired.
They become the actor and become a part of this
actor's journey. And we as the audience. You know, in Hollywood,
and there are readers, people who do coverage on scripts,

(15:47):
and those people read scripts and they do. The coverage
that they do is anywhere from like fifteen I've seen
thirty five pages where they literally break down the character,
breakdown the character's journey, breaks down the story and the
other characters involved. And then at the end of the script,
the reader can determine for an executive whether or not

(16:09):
they feel that they should read the script or that
the script is interesting, and then the executives go through
it from there. The first ten pages are the most
important pages of your script. The first ten pages are
the first ten minutes of the show, and we as
an audience, we make a decision within the first ten minutes.

(16:31):
In those ten minutes whether or not we're going to
hop onto this ride, whether we're going to support this
character and go on the journey, whether we're gonna watch
the rest of the film, because you know, we all
have Netflix and we can pause stop at all of
that now. So your first ten pages, the set up,
the introduction to the character, all of that has to

(16:52):
be stellard and exciting for an executive or an agent
or manager or an actor to read. Didn't I highly
recommend writing classes when I was working at HBO. This
was back in the day. Not sure if they still
do this, but HBO, like other corporations, would pay for

(17:12):
your school. And so I went to m y U
Continuing Education and I took a sitcom class and a
writing class, which was amazing and it was so enlightening. Um.
There also is this course called Writer's boot Camp, which
was a ten week course and within the ten weeks
they promised that we would have a full length feature

(17:34):
script if we did everything that we were supposed to do,
so inclusive of the notes and the homework assignments that
we got from our teachers. We also had to invest
ten hours a week outside of the class, so technically
two hours Monday through Friday outside of the class not
a bad thing or however, you know, you orchestrate your schedule.

(17:55):
You you do your schedule. And at the ten weeks
I actually had a full length future script and it
was intense and we read each other's you know, a
script and different scenes and gave each other constructive criticism.
But it was a really great community, a writer's community.
On Clubhouse, they have some really great writer's rooms. I
encourage you to go into those rooms and listen. There's

(18:18):
a writer's room that is writer's accountability and in that
room they write for like fifty minutes, twenty minutes. They
just everybody's in that room and everybody is writing on
their own. I would suggest also getting a writing mentor
that holds you accountable. And I had a writing mentor.

(18:39):
His name was Seth Rosenfeld and and i AMDV dot com.
Seth such an amazing writer. I had the pleasure of
meeting him like years before I worked with him. But
he did this play and it was such an amazing
little play in the Village, and Lisa Gay Hamilton was

(19:00):
in the play. That was the first time I had
seen or met Lisa Gay Hamilton's ron Elgard. It was
an amazing play. And so when I met Seth and
worked with him on his film A Brother's Kiss that
he wrote and directed, I asked him if he would
be my writing mentor. Now. I didn't know what that
entailed at the time, but I knew I needed someone

(19:20):
who would guide me through the writing process teach me
all the things that I needed to know. And I
had such a great relationship with him working as his
casting director on his film. I just felt like that
would be a logical and easy transition, and thank god
it worked out. The thing about Seth though, my first
meeting with him, we sat down for coffee and he said, Tracy,
if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this. I'm

(19:42):
gonna give you homework assignments. I've got to check in
with you. And Seth was really on the nap of
my neck, you know, and I appreciated that I did.
I really did. The first I think I had my
fists up because I was like, I'm a casting director
and I have casting work and then I have a family.
But you know, we are known creative beings. We are

(20:03):
known to have tapes, We are known to be very
innovative and being able to handle everything in anything when
it comes in our way. So I was blessed to
work with him for several months and he taught me
a lot. He really did. One of the most important
things I think that he taught me was to when
you're in meetings, to be quiet, to listen, to really listen,

(20:24):
and it makes you the most powerful person in the
room because you're not talking, you're writing, and everybody's like, well,
who's that person? If you're not introduced? Right? So, Seth Rosenfelt,
I just want to send you some love and a
shout out thank you my man. Okay, so what are
you right? What do you write right? I feel like
I did a film called Fighting Forrester with Sir Sean

(20:45):
Connery Rest in Peace, and Sean Connery's character was right,
and he had this It was a brilliant, brilliant line
that Sean Connery said. He said, the first time you write,
you write for in your heart, and then you edit
from your head and write what you know. This is

(21:05):
what his character said, and I agree with that. I
say all of us have some sort of story. We've
experienced some sort of story, whether with our family, whether
with our friends, our community, the world at large. A
lot of your creative beings, and you can create your
own world that is outside of this, something like Hunger
Games or Matrix. Right, but right what you feel comfortable doing,

(21:29):
and write what you know. Those are the best scripts
because those stories are authentic, those emotions are authentic, those
characters are authentic. You've experienced it. Changed names to protect
the innocent or the guilty. But change names, change some characteristics,
and right the story that you know. I think it's

(21:50):
important as a writer because when I first started writing,
I would get challenged. Right. I don't want to say
writer's block because I, personally, Tracy, don't believe in writer's block.
I know that things happen, but I don't believe in
writer's block. But I will tell you this, find a
place because this is how I started writing. And I

(22:11):
love to write. When I tell you, you can put
me in a cafe and give me a latte and
my computer, and I'll go into that world and check
on those people and see what they're doing and how
their lives are evolving. I love writing. I love writing,
So find a find a place in your home, find
a place outside your home. I used to go to

(22:32):
Starbucks or cafes be consistent with the time, and I
want you to sit, whether you have an idea or not,
open up your computer and sit there. There is no
way I'm telling you, there is no way that you
could just sit there without not typing and starting something.
I encourage you to get training. I encourage you to
read books if you can't afford training. There are so

(22:54):
many great writing books out there. Go to the Drama
Bookshop in Manhattan or wherever you live, Pards and Noble,
online Amazon, find a good writer's book and read that book,
and follow that book after you've written. Have someone read
yourself and give you honest, constructive criticism. Have armor, man,

(23:14):
because trust me, as a writer, I take all of
myself personal. All of my projects are my baby. But
I have to you know, I don't reveal that, okay,
But you have to have a fixed skin because people
will give you construct criticism. People will tell you to
get rid of that, put this in all of that,
and you have to be flexible enough to be able
to do that. Yes, it is your baby, but at

(23:35):
some point you got to cut that abilityal cord and
let it go and let it live. You know, whether
you sell it, whether you decide to direct it yourself.
You gotta let it go and just onto the next. Okay, Wow,
that time move fast, as it always does. I do
have some suggestions besides the cafe. I want you guys
to study life, study people, and study situations. Those you

(24:00):
can stimulate your brain and your creative work. So you know,
I do this thing that I'll share with you. It's
called I just say well, well what if right? So
I'll look at a situation and I'll say, well, what
if it was this way? And I'll flip it and
then that's usually how stories start to come out of me.
Or I'm really really truly inspired by the actors in

(24:20):
my class. I can't even tell you every class that
I have taught for twenty six years. When I am inspired,
I want to cast every one of those students in
my class. So actors always always are an inspiration to
me because I want them to have work, because I
want to direct, and I want them to be in
my projects. Your takeaway, you're really serious and you want

(24:43):
to write, carve out fifteen to thirty minutes a day.
Just start off with that and then build issue go along.
I used to write at Starbucks and I would get
there in like twelve in the afternoon, and I would
set my alarm so that I could, you know, go
pick up my kids from school, and the hours would

(25:03):
just pass. Or I remember one time writing at home
and it was like five o'clock in the afternoon and
I looked up and it was like ten pm. You
get lost, and that's when you know you're having fun.
So study life. Study people don't stare and eaves drop
too much. But you know, these are the things that
are going to inspire. You. Go to art museums. Breathe in.

(25:27):
We're coming into spring now, people are coming outside. You know.
Just walk around New York is such an inspiration wherever
you go in New York. But be inspired to create
great work, and get the proper training and put your
script in the proper format. And never say never. If
you've never seen the film Juno, get a chance watched Juno.

(25:50):
The writer of that film won her first Oscar and
Juno was the first thing she ever wrote. And her
background was a stripper. Not that that me is anything,
but she said it when she won her award. So
get to writing, all right. I am so grateful and
so happy that I could share that information with you.

(26:11):
We are going to be back with the Spirit of
Act podcast with me Tracy Moore, and now it's time
to give love. Today March two is my sixtieth birthday.
I was a little weary when I woke up this
morning to like, honestly hold on and grab that truth.

(26:35):
But in the other half of me was so proud
and felt so incredibly blessed because there are a lot
of my friends who didn't make it to fifty. There
are a lot of my friends who haven't made it
to sixty. The wiser you get in life, the more
you realize the most valuable things that we have. One

(27:02):
our word and two time. My word is all I have,
and every single day I work on my word. That
is something that I feel strongly about because I want
to be an example for my children and for my
granddaughter's soria time. Time is truly precious. The wiser that

(27:25):
we get. And as I enter the sixty club that
my brother welcome to me this morning into I'm going
to embrace sixty wonderful, beautiful, challenging, traumatic, dynamic, outstanding, spectacular,
magnificent years that I have been so blessed to live

(27:48):
on this earth. I am so grateful to share my love,
to share my wisdom, to share my knowledge, and I
am so blessed, Uh Terry, so blessed to have the
most magnificent people in my life. And it starts here
on this podcast Spruce, Henry, Els, Alata and Mario to

(28:11):
Lisa Capri, Leanne, Leanne a Motto, Colell Fowler and everybody
else that truly, truly, truly supports us. And we couldn't
be here if it wasn't done for Dr Dave. So
I gotta put a shout out into Dr Dame. I
am aware and conscious that my life and my life's

(28:32):
purpose is to continue to love and share everything that
I have of myself to you, for you to grow,
be inspired, be empowered, and for you to simply know
that dreams do come true inside the Black Bugs and
that there is a purpose here for you. Age is

(28:56):
nothing but a number. It's your life span, m and
your life work that truly matters. Don't forget to look
out for us. On our new show Inside the Black Box,
my co host will be Joe the Legend Morton. It's
going to be the Spirited Actor. Podcast on Steroids will

(29:16):
be streaming on the Crackle Network. I'll keep you posted.
Thank you for joining us on the Spirited Actor Podcast
with me Tracy Moore. I look forward to our next
Spirited podcast. Thank you,