Reader Question: How to write a single-location script?
Reader question from R. Shanea Williams:
I’ve been attempting to write a screenplay set in a single location but it proves to be quite challenging to structure dramatically. Do you have any tips on how to write a single location feature screenplay successfully (a la Breakfast Club, Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf?, etc)
The first thing to consider is scale. When we talk about plot points or The Hero’s Journey, we tend to think of big events and grand adventures. But if the location is limited in scope — a house, class room, hospital, basement — everything is scaled down. Opening a closed door can be a huge event, relative to everything that has transpired and whatever tips the writer has laid in as to what may be behind the door. Which is to say that in a contained environment, significant events can arise from small actions.
That’s a plus potentially. Another one: Claustrophobia. Crafting a story which transpires in a confined space can create a compressed atmosphere, one that intensifies as pressure mounts.
And there’s this: Shooting a film in a single location can translate into a low budget. To this point, consider the interview I did with screenwriter Chris Sparling who wrote the 2010 movie Buried [Paul is a U.S. truck driver working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it’s a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap]:
Scott: As writers, we face countless forks-in-the-road with every story we create. With “Buried,” you made some really tough choices, going down paths that would seem to be harder ones to take. For example, you decided once you were in the coffin, the story would stay there. No flashbacks, no cutting away to other characters and their perspective on the narrative. What was your thinking behind that choice?
Chris: It’s funny, but this is always the first question people ask me, which is why I wish there was a cooler answer I could give. But the fact is, the movie stayed in the box because it was the cheapest way to make the movie! My initial plan with “Buried” was to direct it myself and shoot it for about $5,000. When it took on a bigger life, that’s when the questions (from studio execs, etc.) began popping up about whether or not we should stay in the box the entire time (as well as other “interesting” suggestions). By this point, however, I began to realize that my financially-driven decision is what actually made the movie more interesting creatively, and this is why I pushed to keep the movie in the box for its duration — in spite of now having the money to shoot the other side of the phone conversations. Thankfully, the producers and the director (Rodrigo Cortes) who came on board all felt the same way as I did, as did Ryan Reynolds.
SM: Having made that choice to stay inside the coffin with the Protagonist Paul Conroy, what did you find to be some of the most difficult aspects of crafting a viable story because of the physical limitations you set on yourself?
CS: I suppose it was trying to make sure the story didn’t seem redundant. It needed to always be changing, despite the physical limitations imposed by the setting. Primarily, this meant the risk/stakes had to keep escalating, just as the “set” itself had to evolve, which was accomplished with the various light sources and even Paul’s body position.
SM: Even though the story is a psychological thriller, the narrative has a kind of action movie feel to it with significant plot points happening every 10 pages or so, almost as if per the Whammo theory popularized by Joel Silver [“Every 10 minutes, something has to go ‘whammo’”]. Was this a conscious effort on your part, maybe even thinking about your story like an action script, or did that structure and feel just evolve naturally as you crafted the plot?
CS: It was not done consciously, but there was never any doubt that there had to be plenty of those sort of moments. Otherwise, the movie would have become tedious; just a dude in a box making a bunch of phone call. Plus, I feel that contained movies of any kind, the audience has the opportunity to analyze everything more so than they would with a more open film because there’s no cutting away to different scenery, set pieces, other characters, etc. Therefore, it’s vital that you don’t allow things to get boring. Personally, I try to avoid all the clichés with my scripts (kidding at inopportune moments, pithy remarks while catastrophe strikes, etc.), and instead stick to people acting awkwardly realistic. I feel this is what makes these “Whammo” moments ring true.
Apart from the scale consideration, the story mechanics likely would be pretty much the same as a movie which uses multiple locations: array of characters, Beginning-Middle-End, themes, narrative structure.
Really the best answer to your question, Shanea, is to read the entire interview with Chris because he pretty much nails the subject in our conversation about Buried. Then watch a bunch of movies that take place in a contained environment and break them down, scene by scene, plot point by plot point to find effective patterns.
GITS readers, if you have suggestions, please post in Comments.
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