Essential elements of a Bond script

Comments

• Thunderpussy My Secret Lair

  January 2015 Posts: 13,384

  Unless, I missed it on your list. Do you have a secondary Bond girl ?
  Perhaps a learning experience for 007.
  It sounds great. :) good luck with it.
• patb

  January 2015 edited January 2015 Posts: 4,617

  sorry, yes, she is there, amended original post, thanks, you are spot on
• bondjames You were expecting someone else?

  January 2015 edited January 2015 Posts: 23,883

  I would add:
  
  -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
• Thunderpussy My Secret Lair

  January 2015 Posts: 13,384

  With the watch, just make it the classic Rolex. ( or Omega) ;)
• patb

  January 2015 edited January 2015 Posts: 4,617

  thanks, cinematography not there, beyond remit of screenplay IMHO,
  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
• MartinAston

  January 2015 Posts: 238

  You could do with a double taking pigeon, a puzzled dog and maybe Bond in a silly outfit in your script.
• ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks

  January 2015 Posts: 757

  Have him with a regular tough watch he uses as a knuckle duster. Make it brutal, alas the ohmss novel
• DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."

  January 2015 Posts: 15,718

  You need an invisible car, Bond turning Japanese, Bond surfing on a tidal wave, karate school girls and the return of Jay Dubya Pepper, and you're all set :D
• ThomasCrown76 Augusta, ks

  January 2015 Posts: 757

  Make that a tsunami wave;)
• patb

  January 2015 Posts: 4,617

  JD Pepper and a double taking pigeon in an invisible car, surfing a tsunami
• RC7

  January 2015 edited January 2015 Posts: 10,512

  patb wrote:

  Subtle references to previous movies - check

  
  Nah.
• DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."

  January 2015 Posts: 15,718

  patb wrote: »

  JD Pepper and a double taking pigeon in an invisible car, surfing a tsunami

  
  And a slide whistle while the car surfs the tsunami ;)
  
  
• ChampionAlonso

  January 2015 Posts: 389

  It would be a pleasure to read your fan fiction script. For me there are no so many essentials, maybe only: Evil villain, hot Bond babes, any kind of chase, the pretitle sequence, some exotic locations, some kind of fight... and a gun barrel + title credits mention.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• patb

  January 2015 Posts: 4,617

  thanks for the feedback, like most things in life, you only find out how hard it is when you try and do it.
• Thunderpussy My Secret Lair

  January 2015 Posts: 13,384

  Please do, I've tried my hand at an odd bit of fan fiction ( very bad, very short)
  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 .
• Darius UK

  September 2015 Posts: 354

  patb wrote:

  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

  
  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.
• patb

  September 2015 Posts: 4,617

  thanks for this, appreciate the feedback, will be finished soon, fancy a read?
  (PS I have reversed one Bond convention and do have a plot twist)
• Darius UK

  September 2015 Posts: 354

  Yes, indeed. But I suggest you finish first. One the cardinal rules of any kind of writing is is don't let anyone see it until you're really satisfied it's finished. I look forward to it.
• LeChiffre

  September 2015 Posts: 1,548

  The return of Blofeld is all I'm after! Just hope he comes back in Spectre.