Screenwriting : An uncomfortable question by Surina Nel

I've done a rape and molestation scene and I don't show the acts, just the lead up, then the after effects. I think if the story is based around molestation then showing a little more but not too much is okay. Mine weren't, thats why I didn't want to 'show'. I'm pretty sure the audience does not want to see it, but if you watch movies that are based around this topic you will get a better idea of whats works and doesn't.

I would say that it depends on what type of feel you're trying for. You could just show everything leading up to it and ending the scene with a door closing between the audience and the act. If you wanted to show just how evil the bad guy is (and REALLY hammer it home), then show some but not all. I read a similar scene in the screenplay for "Strange Days", and I had to step away from it for a half hour before reading onwards.

Don't show everything, but show enough where there is no question about what is happening. Keep writing, friend.

Describe exactly what the camera sees. This is the perfect situation for calling out camera angles etc.

You could try something like, "He touched me there" or "he entered me." The audience will get the message. If you need a term there are plenty out there.

Maybe my question isn't 100 % clear. It's not about describing what we see. My it's more about how to describe what you see. I feel using the word vagina makes her sound worldly, which she is not. I do not want to make it sound vulgar, yet I want to bring the point across

Thanx Lance. Can I use words like girlhood, or would that sound a bit like a steaming romance? That is where my problem lies. Terminology

Your words should match the "tone" of the script. Same as writing comedy or action.

Start reading scripts with graphic & violent sex descriptions.

"Bad Lieutenant", "9 1/2 weeks", "Sleepers" is about 4 men raped when they were kids at a boy's jail.

Sleepers is an excellent choice to view. Great movie that handled the subject matter very well. Check it out and I'm sure it will help.

I prefer to let the imagination of the viewer work out whats going on behind the closed door. As already mentioned, Sleepers is very well written, some harsh descriptive language but justified

Francisco Casals I am totally committed to see this through, however difficult it may be. The story is about Molestation. First almost forgivable and gradually changing becoming more aggressive.

Dan MaxXx I'll definitely download and read sleepers. Seems like it's needed even before I continue with my own story.

Dan Guardino that is exactly what I'm want to do, or trying anyways. Just sometimes the terminology gets in my way.

See saying his hand rubs against against her vagina sounds explicit, and that's not the atmosphere I want to bring across. Yes that is what he is doing,but he is subtle and she is innocent. Would it be wrong to say he rubs against her girlhood?

I don't think the word vagina is explicit. It's the term that doctors use. Girlhood sounds strange to me.

Or if you want to avoid the terminology in general I guess you could say

He reaches down and touches her.

Reader would probably get the point in context.

I had a producer ask me to write a rape scene for an action script after he optioned it. The optioned expired and I took out the scene at the request of someone else shopping it. Generally, I stay away from explicit sexual content, otherwise I worry about writing scenes that sound like Penthouse forum stuff from the seventies.

Phillip was there any reason he wanted a rape scene? Did it add to the story? If not ,that's strange

The less you "show" the better. Nobody - except a pedophile wants to see that- or imagine it. So, leave out as much as possible. I would suggest flashes of flashbacks, or something along those lines. As subtle as possible. AND you don't want to create anything else for pedophiles to get turned on by. I've watched and rewatched many favorite films in my life- and I can promise you I never re-watched one where molesting was a theme. I sure hope it's important to the story, because that's not "kind off dark" it's as dark as it gets. "Bastard out of Carolina"- dabbles with it. So, does Forrest Gump, but Gump is pretty subtle. Be like Forrest Gump.

Jeff: I've worked with this person on several projects. This one was in 2014 and if memory serves, he wanted the female villain to be more menacing and overtly sexual. I've had several instances of producers and a director add or want to add things I was certain were nod value-added.

Sorry, I'm with Dan Guardino - write as little as possible, only enough to let the director know what the action is. If he molests her, write "he molests her" and leave it at that. The director will determine exactly what that looks like. It's not your job as a writer to do that.

If it gets made, the director is going to show whatever s/he is comfortable with or cut the scene entirely.

Write it how you want the scene play out - remember: your script is your vision; the screenplay is where you show off your talent.

As screenplays being a blueprint for the future hired director, you could either write as it is, even if it's shocking or don't show the actions and use sound and face expressions, movement of the person being molested.

Yeah... less is definitely more. Implying is more than enough. A reader or an audience will “get it” with very little. I would steer clear of medical language, it’s rather “cold” and too “clinical.” Tone, emotion, effect, those are elements that are key. No one wants to explicitedly see a child being hurt. As far as the storytelling, and entertaining and engaging your audience, the more you allow your audience to put things together for themselves and use their own imagination the better—just my two cents. Hope that helps some. Best wishes with your script. ;)

You won't be able to put a child actor in certain situations. Therefore you have to write it as it can legally and morally be shot. No one wants to see molestation. Only sick pigs so you have to express the scene without showing much at all. The art to that kind of scene is suggestion not visuals. IMO it wouldn't be shot otherwise.

Also as much as normal folk hate child abusers as a writer of the character you have to remain impartial when describing them. The character is not there to be judged by the writer but to be expressed by them. expressing a child abuser is a difficult task because your supposed to understand the driving forces of each character you create. This is where molesters come across as flat monsters in film, because no one wants to get inside their heads. Not the writer and certainly not the audience.

A link to a script excerpt of the controversial Dakota Fanning rape from "Hound Dog."

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/dakota-fanning-rape-scene

You can watch Gerald's Game on Netflix. They handle it with flashbacks, before and after scenes, dialogue, implications, etc.

Thank you to each and every one for the comments and suggestions made. For help offered. I really do appreciate every single comment. I read once. "if you want to write about war, don't write about the horrors of war. Write about the burnt sock lying in the street." That's is basically the suggestion from all, it will also make solve my problem. Thank you so much to each and every one

Precious is another great example - Directed by Lee Daniels and adapted by soon-to-be Oscar-Winner Geoffrey Fletcher, whenever Precious was about to be raped by her father, she would go to places in her mind such as becoming a movie-star on the Red Carpet. They showed that in the film. As soon as she's knocked on to the bed, they would show a piece of the horror in slow-motion, then cut to her eyes and then what was going on in her head: Precious on the Red Carpet in a gown acting like a movie star. It was an interesting way of doing this. They showed just enough of the horror, but cut away to something sort of happy in her head, while, "We" the audience know what's really going on. Just another way to handle it.

Yes, 'Precious' is a truly fine example of the Director's vision of the story line and is an example of why it's important to you (Writer) and whoever the Director is is to meet and discuss the theme and premise. The two of you need to get your visions in sync. Once you're in agreement - stand back and let 'em do his/her job

In my opinion, when one looks at Tarantino, he calls a spade a spade, and terror is real terror, no holding back. Do not give an attacker an excuse, doing his or her evil thing. Or the image of the spade the resemblance should be worse than the spade, never less.

Good luck. Let the reader feel the agony, the pain, the insult, to the bone.

Do what is comfortable for you. There will always be people on both sides.

Elisabeth, I'm a great fan of Quentin's work and know several people that are friendly with him. However, what you said is not exactly true - at least in terms of violence being shown. Look at Reservoir Dogs: He cuts away to the ramp in the warehouse, while Mr. Blonde is cutting the policeman's ear off. How about when Brad is killed in the opening of Pulp Fiction? We see a brief shot of bullets raining down upon him - maybe a few seconds? But, no blood, really. And, we don't see his body losing life. Or when Marvin - their inside man in Brad's place - gets shot in the head.? We just see a quick SPLASH of cartoon-ish blood. It depends on if it's appropriate. Finally, look at Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - my favorite film of the year. It never ventures in to bad taste - not even with a violent ending that is called for. I believe it depends on what the script - and ultimately movie - call for.

Ok, but he is not afraid to show signs of violence, and the viewer knows what is happening, without seeing a really dead body.

The opposite is true. QT's violence is graphic. It's his trademark and why some audience members attend.

Many example were glossed over: the shooting of the car-bound Cops by two-gun-wielding, Keitel in "Reservoir Dogs." The bar and bat scenes and shooting Hitler's face in ",,,Basterds." The blood vomiting, Jackson's injury and hanging of Domergue in "The Hateful Eight." And on and on.

In "...Hollywood" the violence is very graphic in the smashing of woman's faces into phones and a fireplace mantle. Then there's the screaming death of one of the family by flamethrower and the Nazis by the same method.

What's also missed is there is repeated, graphic violence against woman.