HEART OF NOW -- the screenplay

[Zak Forsman]

thought i'd post a PDF of the screenplay now that the feature has been shot. in many cases we abandoned the scripted dialogue you'll see here, opting for more natural, and "behavioral" engagement between the actors. we allowed the scenes to evolve from take to take until we discovered all there was to discover by following the emotional truths of the characters while maintaining their underlying objective(s) for each scene. so take it for what it is, a foundation to be built upon in collaboration with the cast and crew.

HEART OF NOW - screenplay, YELLOW REV.

 

[brianluce]

Is this how you uually do it? Using scripted dialog as a starting point instead of as immutable gospel? Not clear how you went about, were you improvising with camera rolling or hashing things out until you liked it, THEN shooting it?

I read the forward and few pages but not much point in reading the full script cuz 1) the movie is already made and 2) you're not looking for feedback.

 

[Zak Forsman]

Is this how you uually do it? Using scripted dialog as a starting point instead of as immutable gospel? Not clear how you went about, were you improvising with camera rolling or hashing things out until you liked it, THEN shooting it?

during preproduction, i met with the lead actors several times and we discussed the story and characters and any number of layers, including relevant experience from our personal lives. from those conversations i would revise the script. we did not rehearse because i did not want to kill the spontaneity.

on set, take 1 was the first time the scene had ever been on its feet. i encouraged the actors to toss the words, use them as a guide, and after about a dozen takes the scene had evolved into something that surpassed what i had written. i know it's somewhat "radical" to trust your actors to explore and navigate the emotion terrain of the scene (even with your guidance), and to not expect them to "get it right" on the first take. but for me, the results transcend each of our individual contributions, having been authored by a handful of artists. and it's proved more fruitful and rewarding to my creative life than the more conventional approach ever did.

I read the forward and few pages but not much point in reading the full script cuz 1) the movie is already made and 2) you're not looking for feedback.

brian luce, everybody!!!

i'm surprised to hear a screenwriter claim there is "no point" in reading a screenplay simply because it's already been produced. however, I share that sentiment to some extent, because the script is now obsolete as far as i'm concerned. something bigger emerged from its ashes. but in the interest of "community", it may retain some value in allowing it to be devoured by fellow filmmakers here. i know you're "top dog" in these parts, so let's just say that in this case i'm not looking for feedback from YOU, brian!! :love4::love4::love4::laugh::laugh::laugh:

anyone is free to read and respond as they wish -- comments, praise and insults are welcomed. or, if you just want a glimpse into this facet of making "Heart of Now", let that be "the point".

 

[Zak Forsman]

i see you're replying. the suspense is killer!

 

[Luis Caffesse]

Very cool, Zak.
I appreciate you making the shooting script available.
Your improv approach is pretty fascinating to me - but there's really no way to get a glimpse into it if we don't know where and when the actors went off the page.

I'm looking forward to being able to make that comparisson.... in the future at some point when Heart of Now is released.

 

[Zak Forsman]

Very cool, Zak.
I appreciate you making the shooting script available.
Your improv approach is pretty fascinating to me - but there's really no way to get a glimpse into it if we don't know where and when the actors went off the page.

I'm looking forward to being able to make that comparisson.... in the future at some point when Heart of Now is released.

you bet. that will be fun. we're still cutting and re-discovering the story within the material so even I can't say exactly what the final film will be yet. i love it. i love going into the bay every day with the editor and exploring all the possibilities. it will be interesting to do the comparison with the screenplay for me too, because i only looked at it maybe half a dozen times while we were shooting. i can tell you that generally speaking, the deeper we got into the story (we shot relatively chronologically) the more we departed from the original dialogue. and by the time we got to the last third of the story, the content of those scenes changed drastically because certain surprises along the way dictated the course. these scenes are in the same locations but are the least like the script. and that was the hope, that the actors being present to the moment and each other would evolve the story organically so that I might guide it toward its natural conclusion. I'm less a director than an "interpreter" of sorts i guess.

 

[brianluce]

i know you're "top dog" in these parts, so let's just say that in this case i'm not looking for feedback from YOU, brian!! :love4::love4::love4::laugh::laugh::laugh:

/QUOTE]

"Top Dog"? Are you kidding? I think the more accurate label is "Junkyard Dog". I bark, posture, bluff, but at the end of the day find a nice warm patch of dirt to relax and lick my nuts.

Yeah, interesting thing about a script is that it can be worth millions of dollars--until it's produced then it's worth nothing.

Interesting comments on the way you developed the script. If I'm not mistaken AFfleck and whatshisname developed "Good will Hunting" in a way similar to that.

I'd be interested to read the script AFTER seeing the movie. Or at least after seeing some of it. I looked at the teaser but it was the girl staring out at the freeway.

I hope you post a scene. One thing I suspect about your movie/script, from what I've read so far, is that it deals with internal states which is one of the hardest things to put on paper. I always struggle with that and there aren't pat answers and techniques for showing emotional states. Show don't tell can only get you so far sometimes. You'd be doing this community a big help by doing that--a scene and accompanying text for group discussion. Or we could talk about TheComo's latest short.

 

[Zak Forsman]

that is great idea for a thread. i will definitely do that down the road, once the editor is feeling good about releasing certain scenes, i'll post them with the selected pages from the script.

ps -- you'll always be top dog in my book... er, adapted screenplay.

 

[brianluce]

l (we shot relatively chronologically)

Cool. Why'd you do it that way?

 

[Zak Forsman]

Cool. Why'd you do it that way?

so I could incorporate any surprises along the way and revise the scenes to come. we didn't shoot everything completely in order, just the scenes attached to the main throughline.