Santo Domingo, Nov 16, 2012
A Good Scriptwriter Must Have Discipline and Excellent Time Management Skills

Hiram Martínez, writer of Girl in Progress, gives a panel on Screenwriting

(Santo Domingo, Nov 16, 2012).-  Screenwriter of Girl in Progress, Hiram Martínez, stresses that it is essential to maintain discipline and manage your time wisely when taking on the job of writing a script. Read, write, see movies for inspiration and enjoy children are some of the practical points of advice he gave the audience at the panel held on Friday at the Filo Café of the Juan Bosch Library as part of the 6th Dominican Global Film Festival (FGCD).

Martínez said a writer has to have tunnel vision to achieve what he or she is after, that is to say, know exactly where you’re going before you start. “In the mind of the writer, good films begin at the end.”

A good film script, says Martínez, reflects movement and consistency in the participation of the story’s characters. He explained that this way you avoid unnecessary elements that might bore the audience.

 “The heart of the audience never lies and even though they might not have technical knowledge, they know when a movie is missing something or when there is too much of something. A good film has a conflict in every scene. I know that a film is good when it makes me envious that I didn’t write it first,” said says Martínez, originally from Santiago but currently living in New York.

In Hiram’s view, the following films are examples of what he is saying about writing: Back to the Future; Seven; Money Ball; Social Network and Forest Gump. 

Filmmakers, writers, students and film lovers attended the panel that was held on Friday November 16 as part of the panels and workshop series being offered by the Dominican Global Film Festival, now in its sixth year.

Synopsis of Girl in Progress

Single mother Grace (Eva Mendes)—born Altagracia, "but the white man can't pronounce it"—works as a maid and a waitress to keep her petulant daughter, Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez), in private school in Seattle. Although the teenager's name translates as "anxiety," she exhibits no fear or apprehension when, inspired by an English class on rites of passage taught by Patricia Arquette, she decides to plot a series of coming-of-age crises that will supposedly expedite her entry into adulthood with the help of her only friend, wealthy, chubby Tavita (Raini Rodriguez). Girl in Progress is an old story about a young girl told in a smart way, and that's something you don't see every day, no matter how many times you think you've seen it before.