re: #167 Jocko’s Rocket Ship

Does anyone here know anything about movie scriptwriting? A semi-legit movie producer contacted my girlfriend a few months ago about adapting her recently published book. It’s an academic work, but the subject matter is really interesting culturally and could easily be compellingly adapted to film with a fiction element.

It’s a fun project for us in her summer “off”, but we’d like to give it a go. Anyone ever done this and has advice?

I know only a little, but here’s some starter tips:

In proper script format, assume approximately 1 minute per page. Anything over 120 minutes is a no go; aim for 90-105.

Avoid “as you know, Bob” scenes — whatever academic information needs to be imparted to the audience shouldn’t come from one character explaining it to another. Show, don’t tell.

The Bechdel test:
Are there more than two named female characters;
who have a conversation with each other;
about something other than a man.

Stunts and explosions are expensive.

Chekhov’s Rule:
If there’s a gun over the mantelpiece in Act I, somebody has to be shot in Act III. (the gun can be literal or metaphoric; subtle foreshadowing beats anvils to the head)

Your POV character needs a Hero’s Journey