I’ve given the original contents of this post its own page to make more room for new material at the head of the blog – just click the Final Draft Giveaway tag at the top of the site to read the original post and find out how I’m giving away three copies of Final Draft.
The discussion thread continues untouched in the comments, and it’s getting a real life of its own, so have a look.
How To Write A Screenplay
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Congrats on the book.
Congrats on the Giveaway!
I hope you receive a great many replies.
-M
There are those of us outside the UK who can’t comment on those references, so you might want to consider leaving them out of the count.
Heres number one. thanks for this oportunity. best of luck everyone!
Great idea! Thanks for the option to win Final Draft. I’d love to win that program. It’s not exactly the cheapest software.
Good luck, everyone!
Great idea, Philip. I use the rival Movie Magic Screenwriter software, but everyone I know in the writing business in the UK swears by Final Draft. I’ve checked out a demo version and thought it was very good. I was interested in there AV add-on.
I suppose I went with Write Brothers’ software because I bought first Writers Dreamkit and then Storyview, both of which proved very useful in story forming in whatever genre. I have since upgraded Writers Dreamkit to Dramatica Pro and I still unravelling the complexities of the program.
Which brings me to another point. I read in the latest Writers Magazine that Ken Follett uses the Excel spreadsheet as an aid to time-tracking a story. This is not the first time I have read of Excel being used in this way and I was wondering whether anyone else on this site had experience of using spreadsheets in this way.
TerryUK
Hi Philip,
Many thanks for your very helpful e-mails !
I look forward to them.
Great idea for the contest.
This was an excellent idea. I think it’s important to have contact with people who have common interests, particularly when it comes to creative interests and especially with writing.
It helps to know what other people are doing and thinking about, and also to make connections.
Thanks for doing this Philip!
I think this is a great idea…
Who wouldn’t want a copy of Final Draft?! I personally think that the dream of any (still) amateur screenwriter is to have this software for free;) Let’s grab the oportunity everyone!
Hey Phillip!
Great idea man! I wouldn’t have come up with it myself, but if you really want someone to read your blogs, make it a competition!
I have always enjoyed your emails. I have written several plays and one screenplay, and all but one have been published. your emails have helped tremendously. My only experience in formats has been reading plays. I would write my plays in that same format, love them, finish them, and send them into a publisher. My publisher would write me saying things like “It looks great, but I just don’t think we’re going to have the time for this.” things like that. Again and again. Publisher after publisher. Finally, I reformatted one of my plays to be more reader friendly, and it was almost instantly accepted. So, I reformatted all of my plays to the same format, and all of them were accepted. The only reason the one hasn’t been accepted yet is because I have not finished it yet.
I also used your ways of not giving up. One of the emails I truly appreciated was the one with the subject line “Does Your Screenplay Read Like Cold Spaghetti?” It was in reading that email that it truly dawned on me that reading my play was boring. They were great plays {in my opinion! XD} but everyone rejected them. Even when I showed them to my friends, and even they said they were almost painful to read. So turns out it’s not like eating cold spaghetti, but eating nails for dinner.
By the way, congrats on the book. And I look forward to your emails. They have made a great improvement on my writing.
Thanks again!
Brendon
Mind if I get personal? My name is Aaron Aadamson. I have not written anything publishable yet other than some poems that I rather like, but I do like the whole idea of writing and have thoroughly enjoyed writing stories and some technical stuff and journals and letters to friends. But screenplays have always held a special intrigue for me. I did some acting years back and have always wondered if it could be possible to use the kind of rich full language that Shakespeare did in his day, now. I know that to most people that level of verbosity would sound out of place and just too unfamiliar and odd, but what are musicals and operas? They come closer to a genre that might allow it. Am I out here all alone with this curiosity?
Anyway, the contest give away grabbed my interest and brought me here, too. What is it that is so powerful about the word “Free” that springs timid souls to action?
–Aaron
Phil,
Do you mind if we point out typos and grammatical errors that you and the rest of us make? I assume that this something that is an important practice for whenever you turn in a piece for consideration. Just to keep us all on our toes. What does everyone else think? Are we going to be professionals or what? I know this may just be my own pet peeve, but when I visit a web site, especially a writer’s site, and find any mistakes it is at least a minor turn-off.
For instance, at the top of this page on the day I first visited here, the second (or third) paragraph read:
“The forum hasn’t materialised – I have server issues which don’t look like going away quickly – but I still want to get conversation going on here.”
There is one misspelling and one word omission; can you find them?
Hey, I know that I would appreciate a “Free” proof read of my web site or manuscript; we all make mistakes, right? We get too close to our own work to see it sometimes.
Best wishes,
Aaron Aadamson
Phil, don’t count this one.
Note to self:
My last post/end of second line after salutation/left out “is” …that this is something…
See what I mean?
Welcome everyone, glad to see you all!
MLewys – me too!
Kevin – can’t do that Kevin, this is a UK blog, that’s part of the deal – but there’s an *awful* lot of material in the blog to talk about that isn’t only applicable to us Brits.
Hi SDnuol, welcome!
Tonja, that’s right – in fact I’m going to edit the main post to make that point.
TerryUk, Dramatica Pro has some interesting stuff in it – I dabbled with it when I started out, but in the end found the approach just too intellectual for me. I’m a pretty rigorous kind of guy when it comes to applying structure, but in the end I wanted a little more freedom to get off track with the story than they seemed to allow. But I did learn a lot in the process though. I saw that Ken Follett piece too – actually, yes, I’ve been using spreadsheets as a way of controlling your beatsheet for years now – I talk about it quite a lot in the Goldmine book, (surprise surprise). It’s a great little tip.
Kain – good to meet you!
Amz – I agree. Writing is a solitary thing, and it really helps to talk to other people in the same boat sometimes.
VBGirl – absolutely!
BPhipps – when you say ‘format’ are you literally talking about the way the words were arranged on the page? Or are you talking about the story structure/genre? Sounds an interesting result whichever way you put it. Thanks for the other comments.
Aaron – Have you ever read/seen any Stephen Berkoff? He’s famous for the way he uses heightened language in his dramas. He’s had a fair career on it too
Re. my errors in that para – must be going blind but I can’t see any! In general, though I do hear what you are saying about proof reading, I wouldn’t want us all to get too hung up on creating the perfect post – I imagine worrying about spelling could be a little inhibiting. (Like when you’re writing a screenplay it’s the story that’s important, not the precise words you use to convey it.)
This is going to have a huge reponse, all those people out there who want to get their hands on this fantastic software. I’ll have to make it part of my daily routine to post here, which isn’t a bad thing by any means.
I’ll be back…
Hello everyone! I have to say Philip has really got the ball rolling with this Final Draft give-away. Final Draft seems to be the industry standard in Hollywood these day. I’m sure eveyone here would love to get a copy. Too bad there is only a three count limit!
I do have a suggestion for those budget conscious or just starting out. There is a web based screenplay writing software called Script Buddy. Basically it enables you to write and save your script online. The user interface is easy to learn though it lacks the bells and whistles of Final Draft. The biggest benifit is it’s free to use. The only catch being that to print out a copy in PDF format you need to subscribe to their service but it’s a nominal monthly fee. About the price of a Netfix account. But it’s great place to start. Check it out… http://www.scriptbuddy.com/.
I want to thank philip for this site. I have been looking for a place to discuss screenwriting and this looks like it’s off to a great start.
Great post Gary – Ive never tried Script Buddy myself, but it sounds like it could be very valuable.
And Nick, looking forward to your posts.
Hi, it’s pretty interesting to see who all is doing what all, thanks Philip for the opportunity.
Glad to be part of the group.
As a playwright I find myself at the moment writing something of a hybrid, half play half screenplay. I think I’ll try to get the story down first and then see what format would serve it best.
Good luck all, nice to meet ya.
Deirdre
Deirdre – I’m curious by your hybrid. In what ways is it play and in what ways screenplay? You may not want to try and answer this if your main focus is on the story at the moment, but I thought I would ask because a lot of plays I’ve been reading lately almost sound like they’d work just as well (if not better) as screenplays.
This brings me to another idea (which hopefully will be helpful). It might be worth trying to find out which format will be more likely to get accepted. I’m thinking about this in terms of people like Tony Kushner and Patrick Marber, both of whom had plays which were turned in to films. But again, this might be something to think about further down the track.
Amz
I’d love to discuss this further, the idea of play or screenplay. Philip hopefully will add his insights too.
What makes this one seem like it could be more screenplay is the fact that it might have lots of characters (10+) with some characters not having huge parts, plus several different locations.
Plays tend to be more easily produceable w/ less characters and less set changes. Kushner changes all those rules of course and gets away w/ them.
I loved reading his play Angels, hated the film.
For what that’s worth.
In fact I think there could be a market for plays that are only published. Why not? At the moment it seems they can only be published after they are produced and that costs $$ & is a much different hurdle & perhaps targets a completely different market.
The reason why this one may be more suited to being a play is because of the dialogue possibilites, more indepth kind of interaction that doesn’t rely completely on images and/or actor nuance to get across.
If that makes any sense.
Hi Deirdre,
Since you’re a playwright, I have an interesting question for you.
The screenwriter(Allan Ball) of the Academy award winning script “American Beauty” is an accomplished stage writer, foremost.
But I noticed that his other screenplays did not do so well.
I think the reason why American Beauty worked is that he was able to consolidate his true stage writing skills into a screenplay. The script is not heavy on atmosphere and descriptions. Which is a popular trend in Hollywood.
Any thoughts?
Phillip:
RE: Latest e-mail
Is there anyway to gauge if your book will work for me? I have done much like you stated in your e-mail: looked around. Most online sites tend to frustrate me because the information either contradicts each other or tends not to apply.
Thanks!
Mary
Plays, screenplays or novels??? I heard a simple rule of thumb a while ago about how to tell which form your story should take.
Novels are about what people think and feel. If your idea is more about what people think and feel then maybe it should be a novel.
Plays are about what people say. If your story idea focuses more on what people say and how they say it to each other then maybe it should be a play. I am also begining to think that the criteria for plays could also encompass a lot of what’s on T.V. these days.
Movies are about what people do. The image is king. If your story idea is visual and images and a character’s action play an important part then maybe the ideas best suited for a movie.
That said a true pro probably can transform any story material into any form they desire because as we all know “rules are made to be broken” so use with caution…lol.
Deirdre,
Note that Gary mentioned tv as well. Is it possible what your writing could work as a miniseries? I’d suggest keeping your options open, possibly even thinking of how you might target a specific industry.
I’m not sure what part of the world you’re from, but perhaps it’s worth looking into what kind of script development/performance development there might be for emerging writers. We don’t have a lot of that in Australia, but it’s apparently quite a big thing in Canada and the UK, so you might have luck there. Definitely keep us informed though!
Amz – certainly in the UK getting some theatre on first is a tried and trusted route into catching the eye of agents and television commissioners. And it’s *so* much easier to pick up a theatre commission – or even put on your own show – than it is to get commissioned for a movie or tv. Not a bad way in I’ve always thought.
Deidre/Gary /Amz – I’ve never written for the pure theatre so I’m not sure I’m qualified to pronounce, but certainly if I were to write a play it would tend to be far more talky, with far fewer scene changes. I tend to tell stories pictorially, even ‘in the cut’ as David Mamet puts it (ie you make your point by rapidly changing scenes.) This isn’t really an option on stage, and my feeling is I’d try to tell the story in the dialogue. I’d also feel far more free to experiment with form and genre. But as I say, I’m no expert – it does feel like a distinctly different discipline to me, and I’d approach very thoughtfully. I do agree with Gary’s sentiments – with, of course the proviso that, as he points out, skilled practioners can break any rules. Theatre de Complicite, for example make the most stunning theatre I have ever seen with little or no dialogue, relying almost entirely on images.
Mary – My aim with the book is to make it helpful for people who have never written a screenplay before all the way up to people who have sold a couple of screenplays. I try to cut through all that mass of online information, and give you only what you need, in a very structured approach to the whole process. I aim to take you from blank page to the end of the first draft. Would it work for you? I would hope so, but I guess the only way to find out would be for you to try it. At which point I must point out that I completely stand by the 90 days no questions asked money back guarantee, so all you really have to lose is your time.
Ben – Alan Ball also came up with Six Feet Under, a tv show which had a considerable success over here. It’ll be interesting to see how True Blood works out for him.
I think theatre can take on so many forms – the straight forward narrative, that could translate rather easily into tv or screenplay format, but the thing about theatre that makes it a bit unique (as Philip points out) is the potential, even expectation of the use of theatrical devices – the kind of thing that might be hokey in a movie, and definitely not done on tv – like two characters side by side, in the scene together and apart at the same time, perhaps the same person at different points in their life – or the twin who died at birth etc, and a myriad of devices.
I actually haven’t seen American Beauty Benjamin, so it’s hard to respond to your comment -
When you say that plays are what people say Gary, I think that’s true to an extent, but with the same proviso as screen, don’t speak the subtext. And there is so much power in silent scenes, actions of a character.
Theatre Complicite sounds exciting, love to see the script!
thanks all
deirdre
I think this is a great givaway! I am only 14 but I know that I want to be a stage script writer (and actress). I’ve already written 2 plays, an adaptation of the Lion King, and a modern musical versian of a Shakespaere play and I’m currently working on a script that dedicated to my grandad who died last friday.
I don’t know what it is but I have always found that the live theatre more apealing than a T.V series or a film. I find that you can have much more fun with a stage script and whonce you’ve finished it you can actually perform it. It just gives me a much better feeling of satisfaction.
I think that this final draft givaway is a fantastic opportunity for people like me who don’t have enough money for things like this. My parents don’t know I have subscribed to goldmine and want to know why my scripts are so good. I tell them it’s just like writing a story like Phillip says.
I’ve gone on long enough now so I’m going to finish now. Thankyou very much for reading my comment. I hope you have a nice rest of the day.
Deirdre: what you said about publishing plays is really interesting. I didn’t realise it had to be produced before it could be published. It works the opposite way round for songs – the whole song has to be written out and notated properly in order to be published. And yet plays can receive awards and attention without ever being staged: I saw How to Disappear Completely . . . by Finn Kennedy in its first staging, and thought it was excellent, but it had a lot of press beforehand because the script had won awards.
Gary: Robert McKee (I’ve got his book, but I’m not much of a fan!) says a similar thing about the difference between play/novel/screen stories. For him it’s about the level that the conflict is working at, so in a book, the conflict can be within the character. On stage, the conflict is interpersonal, and on screen the conflict is often on the scale of society at large (what McKee calls “extra-personal”). I don’t entirely agree with him, but I understand what he’s getting at . . . Star Wars the stage-play perhaps wouldn’t be the best thing ever.
Philip: Thanks. To be honest, I came across your book and your site because I’m an American writing a script for a British television. While I have The Complete Book of Scriptwriting by J. Michael Straczynski and Making Movies by Sidney Lumet for reference, I would like to find one more that might provide current and more insight.
I’ve only just started, so I’m still researching. I look forward to the book!
Abby: Sorry for your loss. Good luck on script!
Philip – I agree, writing for theatre as a way in the door could be quite effective. I think short films can also be a good way to get noticed by the industry because there are so many different festivals you can enter in to. But you need a film crew of sorts for that generally, and I think theatre is probably a bit easier to organise in that respect.
Hi all!
Philip mentioned David Mamet in a pervious post. There is a wonderful book by Mamet culled from a series of lectures he gave at Columbia university titled On Directing Film. There is technique he uses in the book to break down a scene into visual beats that juxtapose together “in the cut” to create meaning. It’s basically Eisentein’s theory of montage.
After reading this I took the advice and tried to apply it to my scence work. I started with figuring out who is driving the scene and what do they want. This is the scene goal. Since I look at most scene’s as questions. Will the character get their goal? The answer usually is either yes or no with qualifications. Then I think of what steps the character would have to take to achive their goal and what counter steps the opponent would take to prevent that from happening. Jess mentioned Robert Mckee and his book Story. It’s a very good book but very theoritical though. Not very hands on. And not what someone should read as their first book. The above is very much like what Mckee terms his “inside-out”. Where he anylises a scence and breaks it into “active phrased beats”. Like “begging” or “pleading”. Mckee adds to this by including an opening value charged condition and a closing one. The beats are supposed to build till they reach a point where what they expected to happen and what actually happens changes the character so they must seek yet another way to their goal. And in that moment the opening value changes to it’s closing one and the scene is over. And when they seek another way this reveals more of their character.
It’s all very left-brained and theoritical. But is it of any use? Maybe for theorist.
Sorry I kind of lost my train of thought on the last post. It’s late here…lol. I guess what I was trying to say was that a lot of really great books are written from the perspective of breaking down a successfull story but not from where to start to put one together when your staring at the blank page. And I think Mckee’s book fall in that category. Unlike philip’s book which comes at it from the bricklayers point of view. One thing build upon the next till you’ve built a story. Please forgive the spelling and incoherent rambling…lol
And to Abby…Good luck with the writing. Sounds like your off to a great start!!!
Gary – do you know if the Mamet stuff you’re talking about is linked to his and William H Macy’s Practical Aesthetics? It sounds like it might be. Practical aesthetics is a way to break down scenes into what each character wants and how they aim to achieve their final goal. Only, unlike what you seemed to be saying, they often won’t achieve their goal, which often makes for more interesting relationships. I’ve studied the technique, and I think it’s worth reading up on if you’re interested in acting, writing and/or directing.
I’m not sure of any official sites online, you could try http://www.paaustralia.com, http://www.atlantictheater.com/ or the book “The Practical Handbook for the Actor” if anyone’s interested in looking at it further.
Thanks Amz I haven’t read anything reguarding Practical Aesthetics but yes I have looked at various handbooks on acting and some of them are very valuable when talking about the super objective and finding a concrete goal for the character/actor in a scene. I’m going to try and find something on it. Again thanks!
As far as a character not achieveing their goal, I found a useful guide in a book by Jack M. Bickham titled Writing Novels That Sell. He basicaly says that you state a question in the begining of the scene and then answer it at the end. And all the possible answers are: yes; no; yes,but; or no, and furthermore. “yes” being the worst beause it ends the story. With “no” the character has to find a different way. With “yes,but” the character now has a complication added to their goal and with “no and furthermore” that character is now in worse shape then when the scene began.I don’t know if you can stay true to this in every scene but it seems like a good rule of thumb.
I agree, I thought that Mamet book was quite brilliant – not sure that I like his screenplays so much though – always seem cold to me. I had problems with the McKee book too – it’s much better read after the course, which is remarkable by the way. I know what he means, and he has done a fantastic job of pinning down what actually goes on in a successful scene, but in order to apply that theory when you are writing you have to internalise it very deeply, so it becomes close to instinct, which just takes a long time.
Gary, here’s a basic breakdown of the Practical Aesthetic steps for analysing a scene (from an actors perspective).
1. What is your character literally doing in the scene? Write a list of every literal moment your character has in the scene
2. What does your character want from the other character/s in the scene? ie the objective of that character might be “to write the perfect script”
3. What kind of act would it take for your character to get what they want from the other character/s? ie “to get someone to help me”
4. What does it mean to you? (this step is often called the “as if” and it works well if you relate it to something currently going on in your life that’s not too close to the characters objective) ie as if I have a presentation to do and I would like someone’s help.
Actually, like Philip said, this is something which works better once it’s internalised. Sorry if this seems a little bit off-topic, but I do think it’s good to know about from a writers perspective. It might even help with characterisation etc (and also to understand Mamet’s plays!).
Short time ago a friend of mine told me about this new software for screenwriting. I didn’t have the chance to work with it but it sounds good. Particularly for newbies like me;)
The software is called Celtx and you can download it for free here: http://baixaki.ig.com.br/download/Celtx.htm
The bad news is that it’s partially translated to portuguese (which is good for me but bad for someone who doesn’t understand it). Still, it’s very easy to work with (for what I heard) and allows you, among other things, to:
-Make personal ID’s for your characters (with everything you can and can’t imagine!);
-Work with other writers (it has a proper server that allows you to work with other writers if you want);
- Correct any semantic or grammar mistakes (with a few dictionaries);
- Make reports on every act, scene or line of your script;
- Schedule all your work;
- Write a script by the Cinema or TV industry padron;
- To link audio, video and image archives to any character, scene or line of your script to make it a little bit more realistic.
I strongly suggest you try it because I will too.
I would love to hear Philip’s opinion on this one;)
Regards.
There is so much advice out there, and how-tos, too much of a good thing perhaps? Myself I get easily confused or swayed and overly critical at a time when I should be simply diving into telling a really great story. That’s why I like Philip’s book.
However, that Mamet sounds interesting – can’t say I got a lot out of writing in restaurants though.
I wonder if Philip wants to start a new thread?
Hey Phil!
i know that i wont be the one that writes on the blog every day, i just want to sare with everyone how much i appriciate phils work on his page…. and that we can all agree that his tips on the emails are a great help!
arrm yeh, thatnks phil ur top!!
Gary: Thank you for the recommendation on the David Mamet book. I’ve loved his plays for a long time.
Vbgirl: Thanks for the software recommendation! I’m currently using the script MS Word templates downloaded from the BBC Writer’s Room – and that’s not as easy as it sounds. The first time I tried to save something by using Cntrl + S, I completely screwed up my formatting.
I’ve also used the trial version of Dramatica. Has anyone else tried this?
Deirde: I know what you mean. My problem is I get lost in research, trying to find out more and more and puzzle it all together into something I can use instead of creating. I have to be careful to balance. And I have chosen three very close friends who are creative to talk and listen to when it comes to my writing.
I did a google search for that Celtx software, and found the following in English:
http://www.celtx.com/download.html
Hi Philip
Being a fan of science fiction with a large space in my heart for Doctor Who I’d looked up your name and blog after finding you were one of the writers on SJA. I’m also interested in your Screenwriting Goldmine so decided to wait until I saw Warriors of the Kudlak before making a decision. (After all, if it’s brilliant, then I’d be stupid not to follow your advice!)
I’d had some doubts though. I’d read the Doctor who book “Winner Takes All” by Jacqueline Rayner. The story was about Rose’s friends who got past a certain level in a war simulation computer game (which turned out to be real) and how they ended up being teleported to another planet to fight a war.
So, when I saw the trailer for ‘Warriors’ I thought it might turn out to be the same story. Yeah, I know, with all the twists and turns scripts take before they eventually make it to screen it’s usually a coincidence! Even so, I was prepared for disappointment.
Thankfully, I can say that it was a lot better than I expected. There were some real entertaining things in it from a fan perspective (loved the fact that Sarah can build things too, for example) and some great dialogue for the characters. It was also nice to see that even some of the extras, who are usually silent, had a line or two.
I am interested in script writing. In fact, a few years ago I had a proposal for a children’s series make it to the final round with the ABC in Sydney. But one thing has always thrown a spanner in the works for me.
Originality.
We can all come up with original ideas, of course, but if someone else comes up with the *same* original idea then, well, I just lose all passion for the project and throw it in the bin.
So, my question is, how original does the script have to be? Should we still shop the script around or just give up and throw it away? What is the industry position on this? Is it simply a case of bums on seats?
Have you seen the Stargate SG1 episode ’200′? The story is about a proposal for a movie script based on the TV series and how it goes through several comic permutations before the final cut. There’s a brief reference to Farscape as something being so obscure as to be worth taking some ideas from. Is this a common thing in the industry or are script writers expected to be completely original? What’s your view on this?
Hope you get to write for Doctor Who!
Hi Phillip,
(and the rest of you!)
How fantastic is this, right?
I feel that we are in the midst of something
explosive. A whole lot MORE than just the give-away.
I’m excited!
I have a post or two inside of me. I have a
story that I would like to share.
I am a CHARACTER (according to those who know me well) and I am in CONFLICT (according to me.)
I’ll be back!
Rose
Neil – I’ve come across the same originality barrier you talk about many times. But I think often stories based on the same idea can go in different directions(at the moment Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s Brave New World spring to mind).
I’m guessing if you’ve seen the Stargate SG1 episode 200 that you’ve watched a fair bit of Stargate, and there are stories from that which are re-used in Stargate Atlantis (“evolution of an idea” the producers say. And that hasn’t really bothered me. I think it’s interesting to have similar stories told in film and tv, and I find it a lot with sci fi. Probably finding a balance between the story idea and an original way to tell it is what I find challenging.
Oh, and glad to see another aussie around (I’m guessing from the Sydney and Farscape references).
Amy
Hello Neil Hogan and Philip
If someone in Hollywood asked you to write the movie version of Dr. Who and you have to hand in a draft in 4 months. Is that possible?
Would it be a good idea to write it now and try to sell it on a “spec” level? Then enter it in contests via Los Angeles. What’s the legal complications of that? Is this possible?
I don’t write science ficition but I think the movie version for Dr. Who can be as big as Harry Potter!!!!!
Just a thought and a few learning curve questions.
Regards
Benjamin
VB Girl – I’ll try to get to have a look at Celtx one of these days – I’ll be sure to post back here if I manage to get the time to look over it.
Deidre – yes, the point of writing my book was to cut a path through the jungle of advice out there. An awful lot of it is good advice to be honest, but trying to work out what you apply when could drive you mad. And On Directing Film by Mamet is definitely worth your time. In the end I’m not sure how able it is to straight screenwriting, but his ideas about telling stories are terrific.
MLewys – yes, I tried Dramatica a while and thought it was interesting, but ultimately a bit too intellectually rigorous for me. Never got through to the point of even completing a storyline, let alone a script.
Neil – I’ve heard a couple of people say the plots are similar, but as I’m not really a FAN in the more extreme sense I’ve never actually read the Jacqueline Raynor book (or actually even heard of it before this discussion started. And, which may answer your question, if I’d known there was such a close parallel so recently I might well have tried to move the story into a different area. It is possible we are both drawing inspiration from the mighty Enders Game book, which I certainly did read a good while back, but there are many many more ingredients than that. For more on the detailed origins of the ep see the Writing The Sarah Jane Adventures post below.)
I think as far as the industry goes, people say they are screaming out for original ideas. Then you deliver something truly original, and they get you to reshape it into a story that feels very much more familiar. Even tired. As far as I can work out they do that because they seem to think that an audience likes to be in very familiar territory. Personally that attitude baffles me, and certainly isn’t something I go for. But you do have to be pragmatic, and remember you are a writer for hire!
Rose – Go for it!
Amz – yes, that’s about right I reckon. It’s a battle between being so new no-one knows what you are talking about, and being so familiar that your audience is bored stiff. An on-going balancing act.
Ben – it would be tight, but it could very easily be done, especially with a show like this where I already have a vast bank of ideas. Personally I don’t think there is any point writing it as a spec script, you will never get anywhere near being able to get past the rights issues. Actually, I’m hearing faint rumbles about a Doctor Who movie – I’m far enough out the Loop of Power to have no idea whether the rumours are true – guess we’ll see what happens… after all, I don’t think there has ever been a truly satisfying Doctor Who movie made so far…
Hi Phillip,
I have a story that I would like to share with you, and my NEW friends.
Should I find a blogroll that resembles my story…and then post?
Again Phillip, I think this is a wonderful thing that you’re doing…just an incredible way to meet new people.
In fact, the story I would like to tell, has to do with meeting someone on the www.
Where do you recommend that I post it?
Hmm – tricky. I have an idea about that for the future, but for the moment there isn’t really a place for people to upload their stories. Sorry
Whoa Tiger Rose…
Hey Phillip,
I’m trying to understand exactly what it is you want posted.
When I said STORY, I didn’t mean my script…
the story is, just as I said…(anonymous of course, but)…girl(me) meets boy (mentor) on the www. for nearly a year, mentor teaches girl…”how to write”…
Girl disagrees with mentor on some MAJOR issues. Mentor dumps girl.
Girl is in despair…and just needs to talk.
This aint the place, huh?
Philip: Dramatica does ask a lot of questions. I agree. I’ve only made it through once, for my novella. I thought about trying it on my script, but I think I have a solid outline. I’m still working through my process since I’m far more used to prose than script writing.
Rose: Even I’m confused. What is it you’re wanting to talk about?
Rose, are you saying you want to discuss an issue you had with your writing mentor with fellow writers? Because, at first, I also thought it was regarding a script you were working on, but now I’m thinking that this is a real life circumstance. Are you looking for advice and/or just someone to vent with?
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