Deluxis Entertainment: The Blog

There’s no denying it. Twilight (and consequently vampires) are hot right now. With the upcoming theatrical release of the much-anticipated Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, we take some time with a true fan to explore why the Twilight Saga is so popular with so many people. For storytellers, there are plenty of insights here regarding creating a compelling story for a target audience. (Mild spoiler warning with the last question.)

Why do you love Twilight and what got you reading/watching it?

I’ve always been interested in vampire novels ever since I read the Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles. I had not heard of Twilight until a friend of mine recommended it to me. What I love about Twilight is that it’s a classic “boy loves girl, girl loves boy but something is keeping them apart” kind of novel. This theme harkens back hundreds of years, but a classic example is Romeo and Juliet (no I’m not comparing the two ;-)), but there’s a twist because the male protagonist is a vampire. As soon as I started reading the novels, I was completely immersed in Stephanie Meyer’s setting. These books are geared for teenagers (specifically female teenagers), so the writing is very easy to read and the storyline moves quickly. I wouldn’t say I love these books but I’m definitely a fan of the stories.

What are some noticeable attributes of Stephanie Meyer’s writing style?

As stated above, her audience is a typical teenage girl. The writing is easy to read with a lot of dialogue and it moves quickly. I think this appeals to anyone looking to escape into a book that has a good story and is an “easy read.” She’s very good at describing the emotions of the characters as well as developing a scene. She thinks of every aspect which helps create a full picture in the mind of the reader.

How do you think the writing could be improved?

This is a hard question to answer. I have no issues with her writing style. I think those who claim to not like these novels dislike it because of the storyline, not because of the writing.

How does the Twilight experience differ on paper than on screen?

I think the directors have done an excellent job of recreating the stories so far. It’s challenging to bring a story to film when so many people have already read the books. They imagine certain characters and scenes as being a specific way. There’s also always way more information in a book than there can be in a film. And the film is really the director and screenwriter interpretation.

Are you looking forward to Breaking Dawn?

Of course. It’ll be interesting to see how the deal with a half vampire child that ages rapidly. ;-)

Films and shows, as outrageous as they can be, still operate under believable human motivations. If a character’s reasons for acting don’t translate understandably to the viewer, the story could be disregarded as unbelievable, even if it’s set in a galaxy far, far away. 

But what can a screenwriter do to compel the audience that a character’s motivations are strong enough to motivate momentous action? What could make our hero leap off cliffs, face dragons and take down space tyrants?

In Robert McKee’s Story, the established screenwriter describes this subject as “the principle of antagonism”:

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Writing Movies For Fun and Profit from Thomas Lennon

We’ve listed five of our favorite screenwriting sites below. We focused on quality content and informative advice. Did we miss your favorite screenwriting sites or blogs? Please let us know in the comments below! Also, the video up top is pretty funny.

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“All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes. This is particularly true of religious ideas, but the central concepts of science, philosophy, and ethics are no exception to this rule. In their present form they are variants of archetypal ideas created by consciously applying and adapting these ideas to reality. For it is the function of consciousness not only to recognize and assimilate the external world through the gateway of the senses, but to translate into visible reality the world within us.” -Carl Jung

Archetypes are universal symbols, the most basic representations of behavior and personality. Think of them as prototypes, primal forms from which all characters are derived. How are they useful to a storyteller or screenwriter? Archetypes help us understand a character’s role in terms of his or her placement in relation to the story.

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No one knows more about the art of storytelling than those writing and producing stories for a living. The first in a continuing series, we’ll be picking the minds of talented storymakers around the world to collect some of the best practices and tips associated with creation. If you’d like to be featured in a future post, please send a hello email to keane(at)deluxis.com. And be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more exciting Deluxis news.

Who is Brett Snelgrove?

I’m an Australian living and working in London. I come from a background in factual and comedy television production. I’m now focusing on writing, making contacts and development projects here in London. I’ve written for as long as I can remember and have spent a lot of time developing my craft, which translated means getting all those crap and cliche scripts out of my system. To date I have written sketches for a topical TV comedy programme, written and produced several short films, taught scriptwriting to both adults and young people, worked as a freelance script reader and have been awarded development funding for a multi-platform drama. In 2005 I wrote and produced Domestic, a self-funded HD short film which screened at 20+ festivals and won the 2006 St. Kilda Film Festival’s Editing and Craft awards, plus numerous accolades for best film, best actor and audience choice. Domestic is licensed to Atom Films and has screened theatrically and on television networks in Australia and overseas.

When you conceive an idea, what is your process/methodology for converting it into a script?

Early on I was obsessed with the likes of McKee, Field, Vogler and Snyder, which was a great way to teach myself the process and structure of screenwriting but not very conducive to creativity. Now I tend to spend as much time as possible mulling over an idea and writing notes — trying to find connections or themes or relationship that unifies a whole bunch of ideas into a story. From there it’s all about pumping out a first draft as quickly as possible. This is a traditional spew draft with every idea and plot point and characterisation I can think of crammed in there. It’s big, fat and ugly. Then I start re-writing, where I get to make discoveries about the characters and slowly shape the script into the story I imagined in my head. This is the most fun part of the process for me because I’ve got something to work with and don’t have to face the blank page.

What inspires you and how do you keep your creative juices flowing?

I try to be a keen observer and make notes about people or situations around me but also get inspiration and recharge my batteries with any number of different things. I love a good weekend breakfast with my partner at our local cafe. I read everything from magazines, to factual novels to comics and graphic novels. I go to the cinema and theatre when I can. I have a regular writer’s group here in London called Script Tank that I attend. I commute a hell of a lot around London and so listen to a wide variety of factual and entertainment podcasts. And when I’m home I watch a lot of television. I mean a lot. I love it! The number one thing that keeps me going is having people that I can bounce ideas and drafts off. I have one particular mate who has been my sounding board for as long as I can remember and has read pretty much everything I have written. Without him I would be a mess.

What are you currently working on?

Outside of keeping up contacts as a writer and producer both in London and Australia, I am currently finishing up writing a ten-episode relationship comedy web series, and in the middle of producing a pilot episode for a 2D animated sci-fi web comedy with talented Dutch animated Freek Van Haagen.

Tessa & Adam

Web sitcom Tessa & Adam exposes the awkward, confronting and explicit moments of British lad Adam and his Dutch expat girlfriend, Tessa. Virgins to cohabitation, the series captures their clash of culture, gender, love and sex and reveals just how odd sharing your life with someone can be.

New Eden

New Eden is a sci-fi web comedy for the South Park audience about a juvenile, bickering odd couple marooned on a primordial world populated with creatures determined to have them for dinner!

You can find out more information about both projects here — http://drettworlb.wordpress.com/current-projects/

I’d love to live and work in the states someday and so I’m slowly making contacts and in-roads there as well. Twitter has been a great tool for this. People can find me at @BrettSnelgrove and New Eden at @NewEdenseries.