The Playwright's Process by McLaughlin, Buzz -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 - Formulating Your Dramatic Idea

A Few Initial Guidelines The Basic Dramatic Ingredients Putting Your Ideas to the Test

2 - Stating Your Dramatic Premise

Write It Out Flexibility Is the Key Believe It Passionately The Personal Statement Negative and Positive Premises How the Premise Controls the Play

3 - Looking For Ideas

That Mysterious Well The Writer’s Paradox Making the Play’s World Your Own Tapping into Your Emotional Reality Exploring the Whole Idea The Potential of Settings The Use of Occasions Using Real People as Models Accepting the Risk of Self-Exposure Keeping a Journal Exploring Hunches Through Writing The Test of Time

4 - The Play Idea Worksheet

Getting Down the Basics Analyzing Your Favorite Plays Tackling Your Own Idea

5 - Exploring Your Characters

The Short-Form Biography What’s in a Name? Your Character’s Physical Characteristics Your Character’s External World Your Character’s Internal World Using the Short Form

6 - Developing The Backstory

The Long-Form Biography The Rewards of Patience Exploring with Dialogue The Character Timeline Those Unturned Stones Taking Stock, Making Adjustments

7 - Creating the Working Drawings

Designing a Structural Framework Finding Your Play in Your Story The Three-Act Structure Analyzing the Masters Inventing Plot The Dramatic Intensity Curve The Plot Treatment The Spontaneity Factor

8 - Working in the Standard Format

The Importance of Presentation The Various Formats Elements of the Standard Format Assembling the Script Getting Familiar with the Format

9 - Bringing It to Life

The Art of Carrot Dangling Getting Inside the Play The Architecture of Conversation Plausible “Mechanics” Incorporating Objects The Finesse of Stage Directions As the Lights Come Up Stage Right, Stage Left, Upstage, Downstage A Sense of Place Crying, Tears, and Generally Losing It Directors Who Ignore Stage Directions Reality versus Illusion Practicing the Craft

10 - Your First Draft

A Title That Works Starting Out Discipline Battling That Negative Voice Keeping It to Yourself Pushing Through Getting Some Distance

11 - Beginning the Rewriting Process

Re-establishing Contact Basic Rewriting Principles Between Screen and Page Another Look at Your Title Scanning Which Draft Is This? Releasing Your Child for the First Time The Rewriting Cycle

12 - The Ongoing Development Process

An Initial Warning The Buck Stops with You The Shift from New York Where to Start How to Submit What Happens at the Other End The Table Reading The Public Sit-Down Reading The Staged Reading Rewriting During Rehearsals How Many Readings? The Workshop Production The Full Production Do You Need an Agent? Developing and Maintaining Contacts The Art of Waiting The Dramatists Guild A Final Word

About the Playwrights About the Author