Have finished a full length screenplay

[Jijenji]

Hey everyone, new member here. I have just finished a screenplay for a full length feature film, my first. I would love to hear input from you as for where I should go from here.

Currently, I am drafting up letters and grant applications in the hopes of receiving funding for the project. The film is designed as a social impact film, so I have a good idea of which types of organizations to target with my requests.

As I'm sure all filmmakers are, I believe very much in this project. I am just getting my feet wet with learning about filmmaking, doing research, etc. I have some tv production experience with ESPN back in the early part of this decade, but that feels like a long time ago and still doesn't equal filming experience.

I've finished the screenplay and have a total vision of the project and want to direct it and bring it to life. I am just looking for some friends on here who can help me learn a little more about the process. Please no jokes about me being a newb, I'm quite aware of that.

Anyways, would love to hear back from any of you!

 

[Jijenji]

I remember starting this thread 2 years ago. That winter I wrote my first script. Before, I had never thought of screenwriting, and then I had the inspiration to write a screenplay. This brings back memories.

Let me tell you, I've come a long way since then with a lot of hard work and sacrifice.
My first draft was crap. Really bad.

My idea was good, and I can write, but the whole thing wasn't thought out well.

For those of you who are just starting, I cannot stress enough that you need to study and become dedicated to your writing in order to improve. You have to watch many movies, take notes on them scene by scene, sequence by sequence, act by act, and figure out how the writer constructed the story. There is art behind it as well. Read several screenwriting books, good ones, and take notes on them and deconstruct the author's teachings. Talk on forums and discuss ideas with other writers. Read books. Read plays. Watch more movies.

Most importantly, learn how to tell a story. Clever or cool dialogue will never make a script good. Good dialogue only makes a good script great. If you start with a bad story though, dialogue will never help.

I just started writing when I began. Worst thing you can ever do. It will lead to frustration.

Work hard and good luck to all of the new writers on here!

 

[directorik]

Also you can do a 'poor-man's copyright' where you simply mail a copy of it to yourself and just don't ever open it unless you need to defend the copyright. It'll have a postmark so the date is verifiable, not quite as legally solid as a notary or the actual copyright, but it might be all you need.

The poorman's copyright can easily be faked and won't hold up in
court.

According to the official copyright website (copyright.gov):
“The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is
sometimes called a poor man’s copyright. There is no provision in
the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is
not a substitute for registration.”

About five years ago I got into a discussion with someone who
swore they heard of a case where this method held up in court. It
prompted me to do a lot of research.

I then started shooting a documentary. I interviewed sixteen
lawyers who specialize in copyright infringement in New York, Los
Angeles, Austin and Chicago. I spoke to five judges and fourteen
established writers.

In five years of research I have never found a single case, nor
heard officially of a single case where this method has held up in
court. I managed to tracked down six people (writers,
photographers and composers) who had tried and failed in court.

Type "poorman's copyright" into Google and you'll find several
hundred articles written about this. Use it if you must, but use
it knowing the facts.

http://www.snopes.com/legal/postmark.asp
Poor-man’s copyright.

http://www.legalzoom.com/articles/article_content/article13787.html

Try this yourself:

Take a blank envelope and write your own address on it. DO NOT
SEAL THE ENVELOPE. Mail the envelope to yourself. In DEC 2011,
when a new big hit movie comes out, pick up a copy of the script,
scan it into your screenwriting software, change some stuff
around, print it and put it into the envelope with the Jan 2010
date and THEN seal it.

You now have an envelope posted in Jan 2010 with your work version
of the script that is AMAZINGLY similar to the version in the
theaters. Any well paid copyright lawyer can poke holes in the “poorman’s
copyright”.

 

[VPTurner]

I remember starting this thread 2 years ago. That winter I wrote my first script. Before, I had never thought of screenwriting, and then I had the inspiration to write a screenplay. This brings back memories.

Let me tell you, I've come a long way since then with a lot of hard work and sacrifice.
My first draft was crap. Really bad.

My idea was good, and I can write, but the whole thing wasn't thought out well.

For those of you who are just starting, I cannot stress enough that you need to study and become dedicated to your writing in order to improve. You have to watch many movies, take notes on them scene by scene, sequence by sequence, act by act, and figure out how the writer constructed the story. There is art behind it as well. Read several screenwriting books, good ones, and take notes on them and deconstruct the author's teachings. Talk on forums and discuss ideas with other writers. Read books. Read plays. Watch more movies.

Most importantly, learn how to tell a story. Clever or cool dialogue will never make a script good. Good dialogue only makes a good script great. If you start with a bad story though, dialogue will never help.

I just started writing when I began. Worst thing you can ever do. It will lead to frustration.

Work hard and good luck to all of the new writers on here!

Welcome to my world. I've spent the last year going back to basics, and that's story. I have the mechanics and my writing style down, now I am struggling to find the right story to tell. And it's not easy. I've also embraced a new tool or two. I am playing with Movie Outline 3 now. Interesting program.

And you will also find the collective unconscious is a bitch. I had several outlines, story directions, and characterizations drafted for a script idea I pitched, and almost every one of them popped up in some form or another in the movies I saw throughout 2009. For instance, there was a scene in the movie See No Evil that was a near dead ringer for one of my visions. Granted, the character and the circumstances were different, but what played out on screen was eerily similar to what I had envisioned.

Watch movies, yes. Also keep an eye on what is selling, what is in pre-production, production, etc. There's absolutely no reason to waste months of effort only to discover your story was already written.