Writing A Monologue For A Screenwriter Is Risky Business
Posted: Sunday, October 10, 2010
by Sid Kali
Slice of Americana Films
Viewers never forget a powerful monologue (a long speech given by one character on screen) in a movie if it works. It is a risky move for a screenwriter in the current age of comic book and big special effects movies with popcorn dialogue to include a monologue in a script. But there are times when your story is flowing and when one movie scene calls out to a screenwriter to write a monologue. When you hear that voice there is little doubt you will take that creative risk.
In my personal point of view no matter what decade it was when people where getting their hands dirty, they where getting their hands dirty in their place and time. The same vices and violence impact a person the same. Weapons and means are more advanced, but the seven deadly sins are still the same.
Before beginning work on the script for “In With Thieves" I always tried to avoid writing a monologue into any movie I wanted to do at the indie level. I always planned to wait until I secured more funding to make Elbow (my crime movie passion project), but wait and you are dead as a filmmaker. You always have to move forward with what you have or walk away from trying to make movies. So, this time around I felt a monologue scene was essential to the story.
The feedback from viewers has been mixed on the scene, so I probably would really think long and hard before adding monologue scenes in my future scripts. Some viewers like movies with more action than dialogue. Some viewers prefer dialogue driven movies like Glengarry Glen Ross, one of my personal favorite films. It just depends on the viewer.
Here is the monologue that appears in the movie In With Thieves:
"There was a man that owed an Albanian Warlord money. The man wasn’t scared of dying and neglected his debt. He was brought before the Warlord, sat at a table, and handed a revolver with a single bullet in it. The Warlord puts the revolver to his head, pulls the trigger, nothing. Not wanting to lose out on the money the Warlord brings him back the next day, adds two bullets thinking the man might change his mind, again he pulls the trigger and nothing.
The man amazingly makes it to the final day when the gun is fully loaded and he knows when the Warlord pulls the trigger he will die. The man sits smiling defiant. Then he sees his wife and his children being sat in front of him. The Warlord empties the revolver, puts a single bullet in, and asks the man who goes first. This tough defiant man begins to cry like a baby, the very next day the man pays in full."
There have been fantastic monologue scenes written in movies. For example, Alec Baldwin’s monologue in Glengarry Glen Ross where he gives the “Always Be Closing" speech that rocked that movie. But, chances are you are not going to have an Alec Baldwin in your movie. It is up to you as a writer to include monologues into your script or to play it safe leaving them out.
Looking back as a screenwriter I would still keep the monologue for “In With Thieves" if I had it to do over again today. Actor Jayson Matthews did a great a job with the monologue adding controlled intensity that played well to the camera. If you're curious my next two movies do not have any long speeches by one character. Yeah, I played it safe and went with more action instead of any monologues. I still did not put in popcorn dialogue. This is indie filmmaker Sid Kali typing FADE OUT:
This Article has been viewed 660 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.