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Essential elements of a Bond script
I am 80% through completing my own Bond screenplay and looking forward to posting it for full peer review (I have a thick skin), and yes I have decent security to prevent hacks/leaks :-)
but its interesting to consider what are the absolute essentials for any successful Bond movie and what can be left out:
so far in no order of priority:
Gratuitous sex - check
Evil villain - check
Henchman - check
Main Bond girl - check
car chase - check
Meeting with Q - check
Assertive/abbrasive discussions with M - check
Climax with ticking clock and explosions - check
Pretitle sequence - check
Bond meeting villain in his "lair" - check
Multiple exotic locations - check
Bond car - check
Subtle references to previous movies - check
Flirting between Bond and Moneypenny - check
Gadgets (not too silly) - check
Quick humourouss scenes where Bond interacts with the public - check
Bond drinking cocktail - check
Bond running fast - check
Bond in vicious hand to hand fight - check
Secondary Bond girl - check
I have all of these but have I missed anything out, cheers
but its interesting to consider what are the absolute essentials for any successful Bond movie and what can be left out:
so far in no order of priority:
Gratuitous sex - check
Evil villain - check
Henchman - check
Main Bond girl - check
car chase - check
Meeting with Q - check
Assertive/abbrasive discussions with M - check
Climax with ticking clock and explosions - check
Pretitle sequence - check
Bond meeting villain in his "lair" - check
Multiple exotic locations - check
Bond car - check
Subtle references to previous movies - check
Flirting between Bond and Moneypenny - check
Gadgets (not too silly) - check
Quick humourouss scenes where Bond interacts with the public - check
Bond drinking cocktail - check
Bond running fast - check
Bond in vicious hand to hand fight - check
Secondary Bond girl - check
I have all of these but have I missed anything out, cheers
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Comments
Perhaps a learning experience for 007.
It sounds great. :) good luck with it.
-witty banter between 007 and villain with villain making the cardinal mistake of not killing Bond right away when he/she has the chance, but rather wasting time revelling in his grand plan and trying to create an interesting death for Bond. Best captured by Drax in MR: " Mr. Bond, you persist in defying my efforts to provide an amusing death for you. ..."
-wonderful cinematography
-a scene with Bond using his spy skills, snooping on something to further the plot or gain some advantage
-I would delete the Bond car and car chase (not essential IMO). A chase is essential though.
-I would not add the Bond watch (cliche that has been used to death in the 90's sadly)
-sadly IMO, an essential element in the recent past has been some sort of betrayal from within or from close to home
Villain not killing Bond when he can has always bugged me so I have written in a motivation for letting him go but yes, that scene is there on many occasions
no watch I am afraid
interesting re the car chase
no betrayal but something similar
Nah.
And a slide whistle while the car surfs the tsunami ;)
But have seen some great examples from more talented fans. So stick with it
I'm sure many would give an honest critique, without being nasty !
Who knows you could be MI6s own J K Rowling. ;) good luck .
Hi patb,
It seems you have all the boxes ticked, but don't you think you may be heading for a somewhat clichéd movie? I have a fair bit of pro experience in this department, and the trick is to (in Ezra Pound's words) "make it new". For instance, in OHMSS, Bond gets married; in CR, he falls in love and resigns; In SF, he becomes an alcoholic wreck. These movies are regarded widely as the best in the canon because they dare to be different, and it is this that separates a movie that puts the audience to sleep with one that has them rapt and on the edge of their seats. If you do a "by the numbers" script, the audience will switch off after page five because they've been there, done that and have, quite literally in some cases, got the T shirt.
To produce the "gotta know what happens next" factor, essential to movie sequences utilising the same main protagonist (Bond), you need to motivate him to do something he's never done before. Such as:
1. Show Bond demonstrating genuine fear for the nemesis character. Something like this deepens and humanises Bond whilst making the nemesis more believable and scary at the same time.
2. Show Bond trying to solve a serious life-threatening problem stripped of his "deux ex machina gadgets". In my opinion, the weakest part of CR plot-wise, is where Bond is poisoned by digitalis and conveniently happens to have the antidote and a defibrillator handy. Although the defibrillator is briefly foreshadowed, this still a very sloppy bit of plotting that robs the scene of most of its suspense. Another example is in MR when Bond is strapped inside a centrifuge and... whatya know? He just happens to have the right gadget strapped to his wrist.
3. Bond finds that M is really a double agent or a mole working for North Korea and has to in some way neutralise or even kill M, even though M is, in Fleming's words, " the only man Bond loved". Remember M is a father figure to Bond, so a plot like this creates loads of dramatic tension in the emotional dynamic of the story. Good drama is about characters in conflict, either with themselves or with others. It also fulfils the "how the hell will he resolve this one?" factor.
4. Bond is disgraced, loses his job and becomes unemployed. Now no one in the intelligence community will touch him. What happens next? Maybe this is a big set-up?
5. Bond is set up (framed) by the nemesis character who then blackmails him.
And so on.
Remember you have to be both inventive and original. Anyone can write a "cookie-cutter" script, but that's not you, right?
A couple of other things:
Do not, under any circumstances, mention branded products or make suggestions of actors to play the roles. If you do, you will be regarded as over-presumptuous and your script will go straight in the bin. This is the job of the production staff who have to make these decisions according to the budget they have managed to negotiate. It is your job to create the original characters, write the story and nothing else.
(PS I have reversed one Bond convention and do have a plot twist)