2
WHY ARE WE HERE?
Think of Setting and Time Period as Another Character in Your Screenplay
Write what you know, and if you haven't lived it: research. Wikipedia can be a good place to start, but you'll need to dig deeper. Search online for obscure articles and insights. Read memoirs, nonfiction, and novels set at the time. Watch movies and documentaries of and on the era. If finances and time allow: plan a trip to research and take a walking tour of your intended setting. Don't try to fake it. Readers can tell and it will undermine the story.
Here's what writer/director, Tate Taylor, had to say about filming The Help on location in Mississippi:
I convinced [studio executives] that Mississippi is a character and you just cannot fake the South ...
Get The Screenwriter’s Roadmap now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
