Screenplay Completed

UPDATE: You can download the file here. Password: j394h.264

So it has been a couple of weeks since I last posted, but the reason for that, I am happy to say is that I have been writing the final draft(s) of the screenplay, and did not want to post before it was complete. Anyway, I made a few final adjustments this morning, and it is now finished. I haven't decided where (or if) I will post it online, but for now, if you would like to read it, send me an email at jchambone@gmail.com and I'll send you a copy.

I think I wrote my first screenplay when I was around eleven or so. It was supposed to be a take off of the myth of King Midas, and was an ugly thing, about two pages long. Later in my middle school years, as I delved deeper into stop-motion animation, I wrote four or five screenplays. I had oh so great plans for each one, but only one of them was ever actually filmed. Needless to say, I knew nothing at all about writing for the screen. I'm sure if I could read them now, I would be quite entertained. Sadly, it was in those middle school years that I discovered that you could password protect word documents, and I am unable to open any of these old screenplays that I have on my computer.

I have progressed a bit since then, but I still have had no formal instruction as far as screenwriting. So before I even began writing Desktop, I took some time read and study bits and pieces of a few of my favorite films. Each one had a different style, and as I looked at them, I realized that each had a vert different purpose. For instance, in the movie "Cast Away," with Tom Hanks, the writer presents you with this wonderfully vivid description of the opening shot.

"The Texas plains, horizon to horizon, nothing but the browns

and ochres of earth and the blue and violet of the sky. The

sheer scope of it sinks in: the blank slate of nature, the

absence of man."

But comparing that to the beginning of Pixar's "Toy Story," we see a bit of contrast.

"A row of moving boxes lie on the floor of the room. They

are drawn up in crayon to look like a miniature Western town.

The bedroom is lined with cloud wallpaper giving the

impression of sky."

While the excerpt from Cast Away paints a picture in the reader's mind, the sample from Toy Story just gives the facts of the setting. So why the difference?

Cast Away was an original screenplay written by William Broyles. Toy Story, on the other hand, was developed collectively by the men who were pioneering the company we know today as Pixar. The difference? The creators of Toy Story, John Lasseter, Pete Docter, and Andrew Stanton just to name a few, had the funding and support of Disney to make a movie. They didn't need to convince anybody to produce there movie. The purpose of the screenplay for Toy Story was strictly to provide a story structure for the movie that was going to be made. Cast Away on the other hand, did not have that assuredness of production. For all Broyles knew, his movie might never be a reality. He had to write in a compelling enough manner so as to make a producer say "Hey, I think I want to spend 90 million making this film." A hard selling point to say the least.

Now with Desktop, I really only had the same need for a screenplay that the creators of Toy Story did, to provide my story with a structure. I wasn't trying to sell it to anybody. But I still put a lot more into it, artistically and descriptively then I probably needed to. This is because I can see every shot, every movement, and every other nuance of the film in my mind. I can play see it play straight through, just like it would on screen. The problem is, only I can see it. And my purpose in the screenplay of Desktop, is to change that. To get the vision that I have out of my mind, and be able to show people exactly what I want the finished film to be.