PLAY IT, SAM
Music in spec screenplays

by Dave Trottier

Recently, a client took me to task with two questions.

CLIENT'S FIRST QUESTION
I was told by you that it's not good to name music or specific songs. The opening scene of The Godfather in the narrative description reads "We can hear music...", but in your script A Summer with Hemingway's Twin you write: "Grace Hall Hemingway...while singing the aria 'One Fine Day,'" which is a specific song. Later, you write: "A BLAST of big band music plays on the record player."

CLIENT'S SECOND QUESTION: Would the scene in Casablanca have the same impact if the line Ingrid Bergman says--"Play it, Sam. Play 'As Time Goes By'"--was cut out and the song not played? Don't you need Sam and his piano?

ANSWER
These are excellent questions. Thank you for asking.

First, I'll give you the bottom line: music is not the screenwriter's department, but occasionally you can refer to music generically if there is a source for the music at the scene location, such as an old record player, as in A Summer with Hemingway's Twin. In this example, music is generic; it's big band music.

What follows are other related points to your questions.

1. In a spec script, do not name specific songs that are not in the public domain and will require the producer to purchase the rights to the songs.

2. Possible exceptions to #1. If you feel a certain song will greatly enhance the story or the scene and more than compensate for the cost of the rights to the song, you can take the chance of naming a specific song, but for most readers that will raise a red flag.

Now, if you are writing a script about musicians or a music composer, you can suggest songs; just write parenthetically: suggested song: "Soul Dancing." You can even name the artist. Just realize that the inclusion of specific songs almost always decreases your ability to sell the script, partially because of the legal issues raised; in this case, the rights to the specific songs.

3. In a shooting script (production draft), specific songs can be chosen when the script is written because the producer is already paying the screenwriter in advance. In other words, the project is developed within the production house or studio. Thus, with Casablanca, we have the specific song "As Time Goes By." Sometimes, a song or songs are selected even before the script is written.

In a spec script version, you might write, "Sam plays a popular love song." And that brings me to #4.

4. In a spec script, it's okay to refer to music generically, such as a "hip-hop tune" or "a blast of Glen Miller music" or "an oldie love song, or "a rock song such as something by the Rolling Stones" or "she plays a hymn on the melodeon."

Translated, these phrases mean the following to the reader: "As a professional screenwriter, I realize I shouldn't name specific songs, but by referring to music generically, I can give you an idea of what I am thinking without insisting on a specific song; thus, you can choose whatever your budget allows." Please note the restriction in #5 below.

5. Only mention music generically (see #4 above) when there is a source of the music at the scene location, such as the radio plays, or the TV plays, or the setting is a dance, or the characters are at a concert, or a busker plays on the street. Therefore, you can write this:

Jerry turns on the car radio and some smooth jazz plays.

You can write that because there is a source for the music in the scene itself. And incidentally, the "smooth jazz" helps characterize Jerry, the car owner. That's the point of making such a reference.

6. Never indicate composed music; that is, do not direct the music composer; for example: "They kiss and the strings swell." No, no, no. Instead, the mood you create with your wonderful creative writing will inform and inspire the music composer.

7. In a spec script, it's okay to name old songs that are in the public domain. Thus, it's okay to write that "Mrs. Hemingway sings 'One Fine Day'" because that aria is from an old opera and is in the public domain; there are no music rights to purchase. I have a client who wrote a script that is set in the 1800s and he names a few songs, but they are all in the public domain.

Once again, the bottom line is this: music is not the screenwriter's department, but occasionally you can refer to music generically if there is a source at the scene location for the music, such as a car radio.

Focus on story and character but keep singing... and definitely keep writing!

Originally appeared in Logline, an ezine published by Page International Screenwriting Awards