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Screenplay Writing - Official Thread (1 Viewer)

TripItUp

Footballguy
Any screenplay writers out there?  I've been looking for a new hobby and thought I'd test the waters here.

Where do I start?  Are there any good self help books?  

How competitive is it to have your screenplay purchased?  Pipe Dream?  

 
can you expand?
the TV biz has changed greatly since i was in it in the early 80s.

these days, you can have the best idea in TV history and no one will buy it unless you're already working in TV. TV will hire you to work on a show off the quality of a submission, IF you're represented and IF you're under 30. a supervising producer told me he had friends who were successful off-Broadway playwrights but were working out & getting plugs in order to have a chance to be considered for a TV writing staff. so there's that -

 
how do I get represented...I live in CA and have some connections, but haven't really tried...have never written a word.
if you can pull a fave & get sumn seen, i'd try. but only then and, as with all writing, not unless you burn to be heard. if you don't have an idea, several ideas, you're not close to burning enough to even try. saving you a lotta grief here.

 
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I have several ideas I’ve kicked around for about 15-20 years but I doubt l have the writing discipline it takes to write them 

 
Any screenplay writers out there?  I've been looking for a new hobby and thought I'd test the waters here.

Where do I start?  Are there any good self help books?  

How competitive is it to have your screenplay purchased?  Pipe Dream?  
Do you have a story?

 
Any screenplay writers out there?  I've been looking for a new hobby and thought I'd test the waters here.

Where do I start?  Are there any good self help books?  

How competitive is it to have your screenplay purchased?  Pipe Dream?  
More instructional than self help.

Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need Paperback – May 25, 2005 by Blake Snyder  (Author)

Here’s what started the phenomenon: the best seller, for over 15 years, that’s been used by screenwriters around the world! Blake Snyder tells all in this fast, funny and candid look inside the movie business. “Save the Cat” is just one of many ironclad rules for making your ideas more marketable and your script more satisfying, including: The four elements of every winning logline The seven immutable laws of screenplay physics The 10 genres that every movie ever made can be categorized by ― and why they’re important to your script Why your Hero must serve your Idea Mastering the 15 Beats Creating the “Perfect Beast” by using The Board to map 40 scenes with conflict and emotional change How to get back on track with proven rules for script repair This ultimate insider’s guide reveals the secrets that none dare admit, told by a showbiz veteran who’s proven that you can sell your script if you can save the cat.
Check out YouTube as well, here are a few links to get you started:

>>  How to Write a Screenplay - scriptwriting for beginners

>>  The Business of Screenwriting

>>   Essential Skill Sets Screenwriters Need To Write Professionally - Corey Mandell [FULL INTERVIEW]

 
Read On Directing film by Mamet and Adventures in the screen trade by Goldman. Read a couple of screenplays to get a feel for the structure. Get Fade In software for free.  Don’t buy final draft. Write everyday and let people who will be honest read your stuff and give you notes. Submit completed scripts that aren’t total embarrassments to festivals and screenplay contests. You have a much better chance there than in Hollywoo. 
 

Good luck. Don’t quit your day job.  

 
You can definitely try submitting to Screenwriting festivals.  I know people who have had their first sale through there’s and then gotten repped.  I think there’s always  a need or eye for good writing but pissah isn’t wrong about the insular culture of writing rooms in tv.  And tv is now the dominant medium, so it’s uphill to be working.  
 

As far as a script, what do you want to write?   Do you have any specialized knowledge you can bring to it, such as a medical, legal or law enforcement background?  Or crime :unsure:

anything you can bring that only you can bring is worth exploring for a commercial possibility.  Plenty of established people are trying to tell love and family stories so I might not focus there.  
 

if you want to do it, I find it very relaxing and it’s worth doing to occupy your mind.  It’s the freest gateway to the business so I’d encourage you but it’s the ultimate inside straight 

 
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Smack Tripper said:
As far as a script, what do you want to write?   Do you have any specialized knowledge you can bring to it, such as a medical, legal or law enforcement background?  Or crime :unsure:
I have a unique technology and science background and grew up on sci fi, so am interested in that. 

I've worked with 40% of the Fortune 500 over the last 20 years.  Have a legal background.

I've been to over 40 countries and have always wanted to write something leveraging those unique experiences.

I  have a "rags to riches" story that gives me a unique perspective on certain aspects of American culture.  I understand what it's like to be poor and wealthy and also understand the lower and upper classes since I've been a part of both.

I've lived in 6 cities.  4 states.

I did all of the above before I was 45.

I guess I just have a lot to say...the trick, I think, will be putting it in a story that will be interesting to the masses.

Perhaps I'll pitch some story lines in this thread and you guys can tell me what you think.

 
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I have a unique technology and science background and grew up on sci fi, so am interested in that. 

I've worked with 40% of the Fortune 500 over the last 20 years.  Have a legal background.

I've been to over 40 countries and have always wanted to write something leveraging those unique experiences.

I  have a "rags to riches" story that gives me a unique perspective on certain aspects of American culture.  I understand what it's like to be poor and wealthy and also understand the lower and upper classes since I've been a part of both.

I've lived in 6 cities.  4 states.

I did all of the above before I was 45.

I guess I just have a lot to say...the trick, I think, will be putting it in a story that will be interesting to the masses.

Perhaps I'll pitch some story lines in this thread and you guys can tell me what you think.
I mean, thats all a fairly interesting bedrock. I think at the end of the day, everyone looks for a hook.  Not sure if you're a white guy but if you're a minority that helps too.  

In some ways, the story about the story, be it  personal interesting background (you're a black woman writing about that experience) matters but likewise you bring a credibility, at least early, if you can present your work as a fact based account rather than the pure pure fiction/fantasy.  Get your foot in the door with a real story.

My advice too is, at your level and in your place, forget the masses, write what's interesting and appealing to you, since you quite possibly might be the only one to ever read it, you should enjoy it the most and trust that will translate and if a unique voice catches someone's eye in development, it can and will be rewritten, quite likely not be you for the first go round.

But by all means pitch away, I think this thread is a good idea

 
I also consider myself a writer in waiting, epic story stirring within, waiting to be unleashed. What eludes me is a compelling story line.

Anyway...yes, please bounce yours ideas off me.

 
I also consider myself a writer in waiting, epic story stirring within, waiting to be unleashed. What eludes me is a compelling story line.

Anyway...yes, please bounce yours ideas off me.
If he were to post ideas here he could  get group feedback which would be interesting but it could also produce something compelling but I have to agree with the point that you and Smack Tripper made.

at the end of the day, everyone looks for a hook
He's got an interesting background but no real strong hook for a screenplay that is why I think kicking around ideas, choosing a genre, where a group like this board could produce an effort which could come up with a strong hook. 

It could go beyond one joint effort.  The thread could build where others could submit ideas and get freed back.  Gleaning insights of posters it seems their are a number of interesting personal backstories.  

 
He's got an interesting background but no real strong hook for a screenplay that is why I think kicking around ideas, choosing a genre, where a group like this board could produce an effort which could come up with a strong hook. 
The two links I provided are good for this. My understanding is over a 100 films have been produced that were written between the two sites. Lots of helpful collaborators there, and collaborating has become a near necessity. Again, just my understanding with two nieces in The Industry.

 
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One of the first things to decide, are you writing a high concept or low concept script? High concept is probably easier to market.

 
Chaos Commish said:
The two links I provided are good for this. My understanding is over a 100 films have been produced that were written between the two sites. Lots of helpful collaborators there, and collaborating has become a near necessity. Again, just my understanding with two nieces in The Industry.
I recognized those links to screenwriting software.  Celtix is/was free but I'm sure someone is trying to make a buck off it with add-ons.   The other I clicked and book marked because the version of Celtix I downloaded a few years ago was clunky.

The first YouTube video I linked (here)  >>  How to Write a Screenplay - scriptwriting for beginners has a slew of links at the description and if you go to the 17:00 minute mark of the video she gives shout outs to group feedback boards to share work and get/give feedback.

I just thought those boards would be cluttered up and if our group here contributed we could come up with a novel script even if it never got picked up it could turn out interesting.

I was going to try and cut-and-paste all of the links under the YouTube video but it turned into gobbley #### but go to the link and click on the:  SHOW MORE hyperlink directly under the  video.

 
I would start by reading a bunch of scripts to get a feel for what it is like.  Watch those movies too to get an understanding of how things translate.

Think about the actual story and what is happening.  Write it out as prose (a treatment) first to make sure that you understand how you are moving the story along.  Don't get too caught up in the dialogue.

Practice writing short scenes.  Just anything.  A couple of pages.

Write and write.  And write.  

This is a decent book for really breaking down scripts into small and manageable pieces, and to really think through the fundamental elements: https://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Break-Screenwriter-Writing-Minutes/dp/1932907807

The technical aspects of it often suck a lot.

 
I would start by reading a bunch of scripts to get a feel for what it is like.  Watch those movies too to get an understanding of how things translate.

Think about the actual story and what is happening.  Write it out as prose (a treatment) first to make sure that you understand how you are moving the story along.  Don't get too caught up in the dialogue.

Practice writing short scenes.  Just anything.  A couple of pages.

Write and write.  And write.  

This is a decent book for really breaking down scripts into small and manageable pieces, and to really think through the fundamental elements: https://www.amazon.com/Coffee-Break-Screenwriter-Writing-Minutes/dp/1932907807

The technical aspects of it often suck a lot.
Link to some of many screenplays that you can find on-line: >>   SIMPLY SCRIPTS    

Here's a script from a fairly recent movie I really liked.  LINK: >>  SCREENPLAY for Midnight in Paris

Watch tons of movies especially OLD movies.  LINK: >>   1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die  (I'm not pimping or defending this list but it paints with a wide brush so you'll find a few flicks in whatever genre you like that you may not have seen.

Ilov80s said:
One of the first things to decide, are you writing a high concept or low concept script? High concept is probably easier to market.
That is a topic unto itself.

I'll pitch some story lines in this thread and you guys can tell me what you think.
Pitch away.

 
That is a topic unto itself.
I think it’s an important first step along with learning what kind of storyteller you are. There’s 2 main types imo. 

1: Plot centered: you have a story with a beginning and end in mind so every step is about moving the plot, putting the piece in the right spots. Breaking Bad is a show that comes to mind there. 

2. Character centered: there isn’t necessarily a defined end point that you are working too and instead, each step is defined by how we think the characters would respond to the situations they are in. I think of Mad Men as an example. 

Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Breaking Bad is a great example of how exciting plot driven stories can be. The last season of GoT shows how plot driven story telling can very wrong: character actions don’t seem to always make sense, things happen too suddenly, it feels rushed, outlandish twists and turns, etc. On the other end, Mad Men and Sopranos are exemplars of character based story telling but the risk is that it becomes dull or the story ties itself into unresolvable knots. 

 
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I think it’s an important first step along with learning what kind of storyteller you are. There’s 2 main types imo. 

1: Plot centered: you have a story with a beginning and end in mind so every step is about moving the plot, putting the piece in the right spots. Breaking Bad is a show that comes to mind there. 

2. Character centered: there isn’t necessarily a defined end point that you are working too and instead, each step is defined by how we think the characters would respond to the situations they are in. I think of Mad Men as an example. 

Both have their strengths and weaknesses. Breaking Bad is a great example of how exciting plot driven stories can be. The last season of GoT shows how plot driven story telling can very wrong: character actions don’t seem to always make sense, things happen too suddenly, it feels rushed, outlandish twists and turns, etc. On the other end, Mad Men and Sopranos are exemplars of character based story telling but the risk is that it becomes dull or the story ties itself into unresolvable knots. 
I don't want to go off the rails on high concept since few would know the term. 

The simple definition of high concept.

High-concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise.[1] It can be contrasted with low-concept, which is more concerned with character development and other subtleties that are not as easily summarized. The origin of the term is disputed.[2]

I think its a marketing gimmick, a tool that 'might' help form a succinct log line but I don't feel you can write a log line till you know what your script is about so I think he would need to come up with an idea to develop before trying to figure out high/low concept.   

 
I don't want to go off the rails on high concept since few would know the term. 

The simple definition of high concept.

High-concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise.[1] It can be contrasted with low-concept, which is more concerned with character development and other subtleties that are not as easily summarized. The origin of the term is disputed.[2]

I think its a marketing gimmick, a tool that 'might' help form a succinct log line but I don't feel you can write a log line till you know what your script is about so I think he would need to come up with an idea to develop before trying to figure out high/low concept.   
Great point. I do think if it’s high concept, the log line is what the story is about. If it’s low concept, it’s more complicated. You surely know more than me, but I would assume the high concept is just an easier sell/pitch. 

 
Great point. I do think if it’s high concept, the log line is what the story is about. If it’s low concept, it’s more complicated. You surely know more than me, but I would assume the high concept is just an easier sell/pitch. 
Yes and this is what I was trying to avoid, hijacking.  I think the log line is critical but IMHO you have to come up with it after you have a story/idea.  They way the screen play books paint high concept is a guy comes up with a high concept idea and then develops the story.  I think they have it backasswards and that is why I think its gimmicky.

 
Yes and this is what I was trying to avoid, hijacking.  I think the log line is critical but IMHO you have to come up with it after you have a story/idea.  They way the screen play books paint high concept is a guy comes up with a high concept idea and then develops the story.  I think they have it backasswards and that is why I think its gimmicky.
Ok, I’ll leave it be. Though at this point we haven’t had any ideas thrown forward.

 

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