So far, we’ve looked at the importance of research and at identifying relevant sources. Before we get stuck into the research material, it is worth taking a little time to get everything organised, in order to make the information gathering process as streamlined as possible.
Taking a few steps to organise your sources and get everything in order before you make a start can pay off down the line. So, here are a few things to consider:
Keep track of your resources
In your research journey, you are likely to come across multiple books, articles, websites, images and videos, etc., that have some relevance to your research.
As your list of source material grows, it will become necessary to keep track of all your resources. A simple way to do this is to maintain a spreadsheet. How you do this is up to you. However, here is an example of an effective approach.
1. Open a blank spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheet, etc.) and save it under a suitable project name
2. Create a tab for each type of research – books, online, magazines/newspapers, misc.
3. Within each tab, create several columns. At a minimum, consider including:
- Books: Title, author, location (e.g. ebook link or library reference)
- Online: Web address, type (general resource, images, video, etc.)
- Magazines/newspapers: Publication, article title, author/date
- Sound / video: Title, source, timestamps
- Misc.: Resource type, location
It is also worthwhile creating a comments column, to add information on the source (e.g. ‘Useful background on character X’s hometown’) or even a brief description (e.g. ‘Weapons used in the Civil War).
If you want to take things a step further, consider using a colour coding system. You can do this by highlighting a row and changing the background colour. For example:
- Green: I’ve read the resource and taken notes
- Blue: I’ve accessed/read the resource but have yet to take notes
- Red: I’ve come across the resource but haven’t explored its relevance
Effective note-taking
It may feel like you’re going back to school, but at some point in the research process, you will need to take notes. This helps you process the information, select the most relevant parts, and set aside the irrelevant parts. When you come to collate all your resources, having a set of organised notes is far easier to manage than having a whole collection of resources to wade through.
There are lots of notetaking apps and software out there. You’ve also got good old Word and other word processing packages. If you really want to go old school, there’s manual notetaking. Just be sure to include the resource name, page numbers and, if relevant, the date.
Find a method that works for you and it will aid you when you come to bring all your research together and put it to use in developing your fact-based screenplay.
Manage your time
Research can become an all-consuming process, so it is important to set a schedule and also an estimated end date. You want to give yourself time to do a thorough job, but not let the research process stretch on indefinitely.
The time you’ll need will usually become apparent when you start to gather your research and you have more of an idea of the knowledge gaps you need the research to fill. The length of time you devote to research will also depend upon the project, as well as your available time.
Even if putting together a research plan and timeline doesn’t work for you, at some point, it’s helpful to set yourself a realistic deadline by which the bulk of the research will be completed, and you officially shift to the screenplay writing process.
Keep the end goal in sight
Don’t forget that what you’re doing here is researching a screenplay – a fictional narrative based on real-life events. Conduct thorough research, but don’t get bogged down. Always keep in the back of your mind the fictional story that you’re creating.
Continually ask yourself: ‘How is this relevant to my story?’
The research you undertake will likely throw up lots of interesting stuff which detracts you from your story. File this irrelevant material away, make a note on your spreadsheet and move on. You can always come back to it for a future project.
Go with the flow
Finally, during your research, you may come across information which throws your planned story off course.
- You might find out details about the real-life character that make them unsympathetic.
- You might find problems with the timeline that mean you can’t tell a linear story.
- You might come across a contradictory source that throws everything you thought you knew into doubt.
- You might even find a more interesting story that you want to tell instead.
For example:
The Irishman (2019) came about when lead actor Robert de Niro was researching another Mob story, based on Don Winslow’s novel, The Winter of Frankie Machine. In the course of his research, ahead of playing the lead character, De Niro read the non-fiction book, I Heard You Paint Houses, by Charles Brandt, and decided this would make a more suitable collaboration with director Martin Scorsese.
Ultimately, the whole idea is to fictionalize events and characters by using a range of narrative tools and making creative decisions. But that’s for another day. At the research stage, we’re simply gathering information to help us make those decisions.
As Syd Field wrote in his seminal book, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, research…
…allows [screenwriters] to operate from the position of choice, confidence, and responsibility.
(Screenplay, page 36)
In the next article, we delve into the first of a two-part look at the process of historical research.