January-February 2011 Creative Screenwriting Page 58

creativescreenwriting January/February 2011

Clothes Make the Girl

MICHAEL HAUGE

MICHAEL HAUGE

(michael@screenplaymastery.com) has been one of Hollywood's

top story consultants and lecturers for more than 25 years. He is the author of

"Writing Screenplays That Sell" and "Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds," and has

consulted on projects starring Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Kirsten

Dunst, Robert Downey, Jr. and Morgan Freeman. For information on private

coaching, visit www.ScreenplayMastery.com.

of a

Scr

npl

I'M SURE YOU'VE

read at the end of my

last column, I advised including descriptions
of the characters and settings in your screen-
play in order to create a vivid movie in the
mind of the reader. But there's a second, equal-
ly important reason: Your hero's clothing,
appearance and surroundings can reveal his
background, job, financial situation, person-
ality, protective identity (the false self he pres-
ents to the world) and can even illustrate his
transformation through the course of your
story.

Kevin Wade's brilliant screenplay for

Working Girl is a perfect illustration of this
principle.

I've been recommending Working Girl for

decades as the archetypal Hollywood ro-
mantic comedy. It contains all the standard
elements of the genre: a sympathetic hero,
desire or longing, a clear and visible outer
motivation, deception and imposture to
achieve an objective, a romance character
intertwined with the hero's other goal, a
nemesis who's also a romantic rival, expo-
sure of the hero's lies at the end of act two,
the hero overcoming his or her emotional
fears in act three, and a happy ending. It's a
perfect illustration of how a movie can fol-
low a formula and still be original, romantic,
funny, meaningful, emotionally involving
and a huge artistic and commercial success.

And, in addition to all the other qualities

of his action, description and dialogue, no-
tice how screenwriter Kevin Wade uses
wardrobe and setting to deepen our under-
standing of his characters.

When we first meet Tess McGill (Melanie

Griffith), she's the epitome of the Wall Street
secretary -- big hair, big earrings, off-the-

rack clothes and running shoes. Here's how
the screenwriter introduces her:

IN CLOSE ON FEET, one pair of
them, padding quickly down a
hill in well-worn, rain-soaked
running shoes... Her hand
reaches down and yanks up a
sagging stretch of stocking...
She is balancing umbrella and
newspaper and bag and
practically juggling as she
races for... the Staten Island
Ferry.

In the film itself, we first meet Tess when

she's on the ferry. But in the script, where de-
scription must substitute for what an audience
will see on the screen, this more detailed de-
scription creates empathy with Tess through
sympathy (the rain-soaked shoes, the sagging
stocking, the rush to catch the ferry), and it
uses specific imagery to immediately hint at
Tess' impending conflict.

When she arrives at the office, Tess will re-

place the running shoes with heels -- the first
of many instances when her Staten Island
clothes will be replaced with fashion more
suited to Wall Street. This tug-of-war between
Staten Island (representing Tess' background
and the image she has of herself) and Man-
hattan (where she wishes she belonged) will
echo through the script.

When Wade first introduces Tess' new boss

Katharine (Sigourney Weaver), he creates an
immediate contrast with Tess' plainness:

[Katharine] is tall and
beautiful and impeccably
dressed.... She is, in short,
everything Tess longs to be.
An American in France.

And here is part of Tess and Katharine's

first exchange:

KATHARINE

I consider us a team, and
as such, we have a uniform.
Simple, elegant,
impeccable. Dress shabbily,
they notice the dress,
dress impeccably and they
notice the woman. Coco
Chanel.

TESS

How do I look?

KATHARINE

Okay. Lose the noisy
accessories.

Katharine is all about image and presenta-

tion, and initially these traits, as much as her
own business skills, are what Tess believes will
be her ticket to success.

The detailed description of Katharine's

home also vividly contrasts with the Staten Is-
land locales and ferry rides that are so familiar
to Tess:

FOLLOWING TESS up the wide,
clean sidewalk, past stately,
awninged entryways and
welcoming lobbies, the soft
light of dusk mingling with
the street lamps flickering
on. New York, just like you
picture it.

And inside Katharine's apartment:

Warm carpets and polished
brass. Classy.... High
ceilings, built-in