From Real Life To Screenplay

Question

Almost all of the off-the-shelf screenwriting books warn of the dangers of translating real life stories to screenplays, and I see why.

But what about a little snippet of real life that needs to modified a little to make a single sequence that could be useful in an otherwise original work.
For example, my wife and I recently returned to our alma mater for a brief visit with a niece. Turned out my niece lives in the same dorm I did. While there, I hazily remembered an incident from my youth that involved stashing a small bag of a particular green leafy substance into a crack in the TV room base molding during a surprise visit by the campus police. Went to the TV room, baggie still there (22 years later) and no... the green leafy (vegetables, of course) were not fit for consumption.
When I went to fit this discovery into my screenplay (good fit, kind of adventurish story) it stuck out like a sore thumb. The way the hero acted in the scene jibed with my, and not with his, personality. After working with it for a few days, I decided that my hero would not have acted the way I did and so I ditched the story.
However, in other cases, I can see the utility in transmuting a personal experience into fiction. I am aware of the legal pitfalls, and recognize the need to modify the emotional experiences to suit the character involved. Do any of you have a method for depersonalizing these experiences?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

And here I was about to ask you the same question. There's that saying that a person who defends himself in court without a lawyer has a fool for a client, and yet I remember a Dateline NBC about a lady murderer who actually did pretty decently except for a few key points that she was adamant about, to the detriment of her case.
So I was going to ask about legal precedence for successful lay defenses. Talk about the stakes one person against the system, in the ultimate pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.

Anyway, back to your story. I think it's darned good that you've separated the character from yourself that this is an issue. The first mistake of writing is that the main character is an idealized version of the character the author wishes he or she could be. People try to write about themselves, but they can't say anything bad about themselves. The result looks like an Adolf Hitler painting.

Really, you can get away with it, that bad writing, except for the trouble of it being bad writing, but that hasn't stopped anyone before. As for making it better, I find that you're not going to get all your pieces from the same place. If you take little truisms from the people you know: your father, yourself, that kid you helped get back into Canada; you can create a composite that more closely resembles the character that you want to employ.
Also, those contradictions you keep complaining about? They are a goldmine. A Jack Bauer who can keep terrorists in check, but can't control a teenage daughter? Or in I Paggliacci when the clown has to make people laugh when he himself is in emotional anguish?

I think I've already mentioned what Frank Wu told me about lawyers needing their words to mean one thing and one thing only, while writers have to have their few words mean as many things as possible, creating ambiguity whenever possible.
Anyway, contradictions are very good outside of the legal system. Somewhere in between is the real answer to the story, but what it is is up for interpretation. You want something to be really real? Write some contradictions that make perfect sense.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Almost all of the off-the-shelf screenwriting books warn of the dangers of translating real life stories to screenplays, and I ... that needs to modified a little to make a single sequence that could be useful in an otherwise original work.[/nq]
Everybody does it, all the time. You can get into a certain amount of trouble, socially speaking, when other people involved in the real- life incident recognize themselves/the incident in your screenplay, but other than that, fictionalized versions of the kind of **** we go through in real life end up in pretty much all of our screenplays.
[nq:1]For example, my wife and I recently returned to our alma mater for a brief visit with a niece. Turned ... room, baggie still there (22 years later) and no... the green leafy (vegetables, of course) were not fit for consumption.[/nq]
Odd that that's a real-life incident for you; it's also a scene from Grosse Pointe Blank.
[nq:1]When I went to fit this discovery into my screenplay (good fit, kind of adventurish story) it stuck out like ... modify the emotional experiences to suit the character involved. Do any of you have a method for depersonalizing these experiences?[/nq]
Depersonalizing? Not sure that's really the goal, but I think I get what you mean. A lot of the kinds of things you're talking about are external rather than internal; in the scene in GPB, Martin's at his high school reunion, goes to his old locker, and finds the joint he'd stashed there a decade earlier. He's delighted to find it for the nostalgia but crumbles it between his fingers; the scene suggests that he's done a bit of growing up and no longer needs or wants that (it mirrors a scene where Mini Driver's character turns down a chance to do some blow with an old classmate, but both of them are more than happy to drink the booze).Trying to make that scene into a bigger emotional moment would be hit- or-miss at best. If it fits with your character and your story, you're golden, but if it doesn't then trying to shoe-horn it in isn't likely to work. I have a similar 'personal scene' that I haven't found a place to use yet - I was out with a friend, rather early in the relationship, and we were at a nice little Thai restaurant. She was ordering, looking at the menu, and suddenly said "I'm tired of eating healthy, every day.

I'll just have the WHITE rice!" It was a nice little bit of character; most folks would think of fried rice as a little decadent and the steamed plain white as the healthy alternative. She wasn't ever thinking in terms of fried, and was making the choice between white and plain steamed BROWN rice. I'll work it in somewhere, some day, but I doubt it'll be any kind of meaningfully emotional scene - it'll just be a cute throw-away, like finding the joint in the locker.

Life Continues, Despite
Evidence to the Contrary
Steven

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It was a nice little bit of character; most folks would think of fried rice as a little decadent and the steamed plain white as the healthy alternative.[/nq]
Fried rice is leftover rice, like french toast uses day old bread. Great to make at home, I will not order it from a restaurant.

Usenet · Answer

I just downloaded the script and put it in the Netflix queue. Wikipedia says it has been rated the 21st funniest movie of all time.
[nq:1]Trying to make that scene into a bigger emotional moment would be hit- or-miss at best. If it fits with ... any kind of meaningfully emotional scene - it'll just be a cute throw-away, like finding the joint in the locker.[/nq]
It seems that I am inclined to incorporate funny personal experiences like this one into a story, yet reject the bad memories. Might be better off going the other way around.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]However, in other cases, I can see the utility in transmuting a personal experience into fiction. I am aware of the legal pitfalls, and recognize the need to modify the emotional experiences to suit the character involved. Do any of you have a method for depersonalizing these experiences?[/nq]
I've read about famous people (I'm thinking Marlon Brando but may be misremembering) who keep file drawers full of incidents, observations, occurrences etc.
I do it mostly with repression that is, whatever I need pops into my head if I work on the frikkin' pages long enough. And often it is something I have experienced myself, though I may not recognize it at the time. I'm not recommending repression, but ****, as long as I've got it....

I made a mistake with current screenplay, made the protagonist someone I am still *** off at, thinking I would discover where I went wrong and learn and understand and like this person again. Then my class (including a multiply-produced mentor) says "that person is insane. She's got too many problems. We can't figure her out." I got rid of my personal burden but had to completely retool the main frikkin character in my story.
As they said in a movie somewhere: "Theatre. Therapy. Two different words. Two different activities!"
I think this is the job of the writer, weaving truth and lies together into a seamless thread. But to answer your question mold the truth man. Change what doesn't fit or toss it out for a better bit, which is what you did.
Mysti

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I made a mistake with current screenplay, made the protagonist someone I am still *** off at, thinking I would discover where I went wrong and learn and understand and like this person again.[/nq]
That's what happened when I wrote about my Dad.

From Real Life To Screenplay

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