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The main plot revolves around the friendship of the two women and bringing to light the events in the backstory. The major sub-plot revolves around the relationship between the daughter and father. Her father is a powerful national figure who runs for political office. As I mentioned, I started...

This might seem like a bit of an odd question, but how much can you get away with fudging historical accuracy? Specifically regarding, time. For instance, there are some famous films where the chronology is a little bit off if you inspect closely. The characters couldn't have been that age at...

You don't want purple flowery prose, but contrary to what some people said in this thread, you don't want boring words like "sit" "walk" etc. used over and over again. That makes for a very boring read and quite frankly is very amateur. You must change the words and act like a thesaurus...

There have always been remakes. Today is no different. The problem is the current generation of writers (as a whole) are vapid, and have no real new stories to tell. Ten years from now, there will still be remakes, but there might be a ton of really good originals for a change. Don't blame...

Actually, I've seen the writing on tv shows. I can guarantee you that there are lots of professional tv writers that need to be constantly reminded: "don't write crap!"

Considering that 99% or more of spec scripts by unknowns are really bad, that doesn't mean anything. Also consider that most people like it when someone tells them "you just have to do this and this and this and follow my formula for GUARANTEED success!" They don't like it when someone tells...

"Find your favorite scenes and cut them"... Sounds like not a very good thing to do IMO. You cut scenes when they don't move the story forward. You keep the scenes that do move the story forward. You don't cut scenes based on whether you like them or not. ---- Re: books They are a great...

I don't think this is the case at all. If you write dialogue without thinking about the subtext, it seems unreasonable that you will find subtext in there when you look back. This is like baking a cherry pie without cherries, then expecting cherries to be in there when you eat it. I know that...

My advice is don't leave it up to the director. One, motifs and such will add to the power of your story and make it a better read. Two, like writers, there are a many directors who aren't any good (and many who are). The better your script is, the less the chance that someone will screw it up...

I think the trick is to make the symbolism effective. In the Godfather movies Coppola uses orange(s) to symbolize death. But, in the end, it doesn't really mean anything more than a cute trick. In Les Diaboliques, water is used as a symbol for death. But the water is not just an ornament added...

I think in this case they are one in the same. If not, I think the publisher would point me in the right direction.

After I finish my current project, there is an adaptation I would like to do for my next screenplay. I don't have any experience with these, so any help would be appreciated. The original work is in the public domain. However, I've only read an English translation that, while 95% true to the...

No, I think that is innacurate. You must have permission or own the rights. You cannot shoot footage of a movie and then sell it, no more than you can copy pages out of a book and sell those.

OP you do comedies right? :lol:

Just a thought, but you might want to make the top prize for $4,999.99 I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but $5,000 is a key earnings number for screenwriters. It makes one ineligible for the Nichols Fellowship, for instance. That's just one example, I think I've read where there are...

LOL. Wonderful. All the more reason for someone to make their own films.

Yes, I understand this and agree. If the script isn't any good, it should be skimmed over. If it's bad in the first 20/30 pages, it's not going to get better later on. I can picture the writer saying "no you have to read it gets better" when we all know that it doesn't. This is what I was...

By the way, this brings up another thought (although a bit off-topic). There seems to be a contradiction with screenwriting/reading the longer one has been around the biz. Someone new might read an entire script, while those who have to read many, most of them not very good, just kind of skim...

Thanks Rik, I appreciate your perspective. Perhaps there is a middle ground, a creative way to write the sequence, including the sluglines, but subtle words and ways that will keep the flow moving. I will think about it some more.

I don't think you can do a documentary on "civil disobedience". To me, that sounds like trying to do a documentary on "earth" or "love", etc. Definitely get more specific. Pick one protest. Look at one group of people Who are they? What are they protesting against? Follow their story, with...