3x5 Cards

Last month I mentioned that I was considering switching from using my usual Post It Notes to the tried and true 3x5 cards for outlining a new script. I tried it. It’s a big success.

After considerable modification.

The standard Syd Field system suggests that for each scene, write something on a card like "introduce Joe as main character" or "Joe finds vibrator in dishwasher". Then for the next few weeks, you’re supposed to shuffle the cards around and get to know the story. Maybe add or subtract a card once in a while.

This is OK as far as it goes but it could be a little easier to work with. And after weeks of rearranging, formatting and playing 52 pick up with these cards all you have to show for it is, well, a handful of 3x5 cards. They’re in the right order. That’s good.

But it’s right here where the magic in screenwriting happens. This is the point in the process where we get to use our imaginations. THIS is where the good writing really occurs. Or maybe "writing" isn’t the right word.

These are the ideas for the story and the "ideas" are the most important part of the script. Great writing about crap ideas is still just crap. As we’re arranging these cards, we’re thinking about every aspect and every possibility of this story. Let’s keep all of these ideas. The good and the not so good. These ideas will be invaluable later when we’re actually writing this stuff down.

What I’m saying is Syd’s system could use some improving. Now it’s altogether possible that someone else has already figured this out and has written a whole book and the subject. And that book is sitting right next to the other 67,834 books on how to write a screenplays in my local Barnes and Noble. But I missed it.

So here’s the Überpossum Method of Collation, Combination & Concoctionation of scene cards (patent pending).

First let’s add some color. Fab-ulous!

It’s a lot easier to work with this stuff if you know where you are at all times. I give each act a different color card. The climax gets it’s own separate color too. So, when I pick up the yellow card that says "John phones Mary" I know that it’s in the 1st act and I don’t confuse it with the pink card (Act 2) reading "Mary phones John."

But organization’s not the really good stuff. What’s really the good stuff is to write on plain old white cards, every little snippet of information or dialog or whatever and place them behind (or under, depending upon your personal logistics) the color coded corresponding scene card. I’ll have 25-30 white cards behind a big set piece scene card. Other scene cards I may only have one or two. You’re spending weeks working with these cards, so write down all the brilliant ideas and keep them. Sure, you might say to yourself "That idea’s so good I’ll just remember it comes page writing time." Yeah, right.

Write this stuff down and keep it.

One card for each separate idea. The reason for this is you’ll often find that a GREAT line or idea for a scene no longer works when a EVEN GREATER idea comes along. There’s no reason to just throw that GREAT line out. Move it to another scene. Or if it doesn’t have a home right away just hang onto it. I’ve got a whole stack of cards labeled "Don’t know what to do with these." It’s a great place to look when you just can’t quite figure out what to do with a scene.
You’re not going to use every card. Sometimes that idea you had after staggering home from the monthly office binge wasn’t so hot. But it could have been. And lots times the cards supercede one another. "Joe finds clue" gets replaced by "Joe identifies owner of vibrator found in dishwasher." That’s fine, that’s the way it’s supposed to work. Newer cards are usually more specific.

Another handy dandy trick I stumbled across is that the color coding allows you to easily shift between ACTS & TIME. Early on, you’ll just want to slip a clue into the 2nd act somewhere. Easy, grab a pink card and write "Joe notices batteries are missing from the flashlight." But as the story gets more organized you need to know exactly where you are time wise. If you need to have Joe at a church service, Sunday morning might be a good time.

So my answer to this is arrange the cards by time (see photo above) but the colors will keep track of the act. Simple effective.

I’m a long way from finishing with the 3x5 cards but I wanted to try out the system and see if it really works when it comes time to type FADE IN. I’m happy to report it does. I knocked out eight pretty damn good pages in record time. I just flipped through the cards and it almost wrote itself. I’m liking it.