Simple: How do you write a script :(

[locoarts]

I'd figure I'd ask allot of talented guys & gals here a simple question.

Ok, as for me, I have ZERO writing skills, but I have a folder on my computer which is filled with "treatments", just idea after idea.. even a begining middle end, but all very vague. No scenes with dialogue!

I don't know how to actually go from all my scene treatment ideas into Scene #1.... and characters start well talking back and forth

any pointers? It's like the only thing that has held me back from making a film. I have like a million ideas, scenes, genres... but I can't write at all.

Help please

How do you do it? I have the Celtx. and I just look at the blank white page and Ive never gone past it. But now I am going too!

After I get draft one done. How if it sucks, but lets say it has a structure and flow... (not here - im not asking this or starting this topic to ask) Because its something I have to learn and need to learn

BUT how/where can I get a better writer rewrite my script?? Is there a site, is there place where I can get a writer for free or not allot of money...

I am going to make the script into a film.

Just asking, kind of new and again I see you guys/gals know more then I do.

Thanks for the help!

 

[polfilmblog]

With this great outpouring of altruism, I'll add...

It often helps to get a tape recorder and a quiet place. Today I use a Zoom. And it creates lots of notes to transcribe later. It helps to code the info into at least the three acts. Indicate if the scene, dialogue, image, twist should be a1, a2 or a3. This also helps when transcribing, or else you end up with a long unmanageable file of gobbledygook.

Choose your projects carefully. Make sure you have enough of an original take on the story to make it worthwhile and likely to stand out from the several hundred thousand other scripts floating around. Then comes lots of research...

 

[spooner1974]

like me

I've had the same problem, but with the help of the forumer i can write and resemble my idea, now I write TV series and believe me I've a lot of idea and it's difficult to realize it

 

[Flicker Pictures]

I coined this technique "Connect the Plots". Give it a try!

 

[filmyboy]

I think each screenplay has 4 basic points. There is-
1. Scene & Numbering
2. Slug
3. Tag
4. Dialogue

If you want to write a script for a film you must need these basic points. Without these points you never write a script. You may read more from Basic Knowledge of Script Writing.
And if you remember these points you must stand a script format. After now you can shoot your creativity.

 

[MarcusBonnick]

I'd figure I'd ask allot of talented guys & gals here a simple question.

Ok, as for me, I have ZERO writing skills, but I have a folder on my computer which is filled with "treatments", just idea after idea.. even a begining middle end, but all very vague. No scenes with dialogue!

I don't know how to actually go from all my scene treatment ideas into Scene #1.... and characters start well talking back and forth

any pointers? It's like the only thing that has held me back from making a film. I have like a million ideas, scenes, genres... but I can't write at all.

Help please

How do you do it? I have the Celtx. and I just look at the blank white page and Ive never gone past it. But now I am going too!

After I get draft one done. How if it sucks, but lets say it has a structure and flow... (not here - im not asking this or starting this topic to ask) Because its something I have to learn and need to learn

BUT how/where can I get a better writer rewrite my script?? Is there a site, is there place where I can get a writer for free or not allot of money...

I am going to make the script into a film.

Just asking, kind of new and again I see you guys/gals know more then I do.

Thanks for the help!

I'm in the same boat as you my friend, I'm useless at writing scripts but I found developing my ideas by brainstorms and then practising writing short stories is helping me get used to writing larger pieces.

 

[directorik]

I think each screenplay has 4 basic points. There is-
1. Scene & Numbering
2. Slug
3. Tag
4. Dialogue

That’s an interesting article. And clearly written by someone who
is not a native English speaker.

I assume some of it is simply semantics - UK terms and US terms.
Number 3 “tags”. Here in the states I’ve always called the
direction in parentheses under dialogue the “parenthetical”. Is
“tag” more common in the UK?

And number one and number two seem to be the same thing. In a
script written on spec the slug line isn’t numbered - at least it
isn’t here in the states. Numbering the scene is typically done
for production. Are the scene and the slug different in UK
scripts? Here in the states they are the same thing.

 

[Adeimantus]

Story.

Story.

Story.




Screenwriter Robert McKee:

Literary talent is not enough. If you cannot tell a story, all those beautiful images and subtleties of dialogue that you spent months and months perfecting waste the paper they're written on. What we create for the world, what it demands of us, is story. Now and forever. Countless writers lavish dressy dialogue and manicured descriptions on anorexic yarns and wonder why their scripts never see production, while others with modest literary talent but great storytelling power have the deep pleasure of watching their dreams living in the light of the screen.

Of the total creative effort represented in a finished work, 75 percent or more of a writer's labor goes into designing story. Who are these characters? What do they want? Why do they want it? How do they go about getting it? What stops them? What are the consequences? Finding the answers to these grand questions and shaping them into story is our overwhelming creative task.

 

[polfilmblog]

How do I write a script?


Get an education. Learn incessantly, explore nature, biology, psychology, physics, crime, law, sex and violence. Work every kind of job the suburbs has to offer. Meet a lot of whack jobs. Read a lot of books. Film some shorts. Try and adapt concepts from other media. Write novels, short stories, poems, songs, features, short films, gags, jokes, a million and one forum posts which waste inordinate amount of time. Come up with more feature ideas. Rewrite old feature scripts. Get feedback randomly on sites like Zoetrope, Triggerstreet, assorted writer friends online -- whom sadly I've lost touch with of late. Write more feature scripts. Study cinematography, digital cameras. Come up with hundreds of ideas in a folder on my computer. Consider which ideas have unique hooks, twists, and/or apply themselves to the three act structure (two major turning points). Let a lot of ideas simmer for years, and even decades. Research relevant information. Write another novel (out next week, stay tuned). Write another feature. Bug half of Hollywood for every aforementioned endeavor. Get summarily dismissed repeatedly. Shoot half a TV pilot, which falls apart, but may yield a decent trailer.

What was the question?

 

[PositiveFuture]

There's some great advice in this thread. I didn't even know that DM book existed, Michael. Bambi and Godzilla is a good one too. You could try Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, OP. That's writing.

Literary talent is not enough. If you cannot tell a story, all those beautiful images and subtleties of dialogue that you spent months and months perfecting waste the paper they're written on. What we create for the world, what it demands of us, is story. Now and forever. Countless writers lavish dressy dialogue and manicured descriptions on anorexic yarns and wonder why their scripts never see production, while others with modest literary talent but great storytelling power have the deep pleasure of watching their dreams living in the light of the screen.

Of the total creative effort represented in a finished work, 75 percent or more of a writer's labor goes into designing story. Who are these characters? What do they want? Why do they want it? How do they go about getting it? What stops them? What are the consequences? Finding the answers to these grand questions and shaping them into story is our overwhelming creative task.

This has really made me think.

*

When writing, I would put every scene through the Mamet Acid Bath:

1. Who wants what from who?
2. What happens if they don't get it?
3. Why now?
4. Why the hell should I care?

4 is my own addition.

Oh BTW, writing is rewriting. When you see that effortless prose on the page, that could easily be the 20th draft. 5-10 on your own. 5 for the agent, 5 for the studio. If you check out my thread, youtube film school, theres a lot of resources on screenwriting.

 

[danieljohnsonfilms]

i think a great thing to do is just read a heap of screenplays. put your weekend aside and read 20 of them. read so many that you're about to explode. you'll hate screenplays!

but by monday morning you'll totally understand how they look, and you'll have probably read a bunch of your favorite movies and you'll understand them a lot better than you did three days ago. and that's when it starts to make sense, in your head.

so then you can play around with celtx or final draft or whatever it is you've got your hands on --- and you just play. you'll make mistakes, but don't worry, there'll be plenty of people around who are anal about structure and grammar and all those things. but that isn't your job. your job is to find your unique voice and write a wonderful story with fascinating characters that will appeal to people.

you can read books and you can read 5000 forums with advice. but i recommend just reading your favorite screenplays, reading them again-- and then setting out onto that long road that is going to end up being your career

Good luck!

 

[TruEsTaR]

read as many screenplays as you can, write as many screenplays as you can.
and have the god given gift of dialogue and of being a great f$%^ing storyteller.

 

[GabrielM]

I'm not a big fan of flash cards, but I know a lot of people use them. One thing I absolutely must have before writing the first line on my screenplay is an outline. It guides me through the process. I need to know the two Plot Points and a general idea of what the three acts are going to be like.

I use Final Draft to write, but Celtx is the free alternative. I prefer writing late at night. Ideally, I should go to bed when the sun is rising. This isn't always possible of course (we all have lives), but I do it enjoy it a great deal. It's peaceful.

While writing, I also read similar screenplays (or scripts in the same genre) to get some inspirations on descriptions and writing styles. I find this liberating, as it helps my process.

 

[NickClapper]

I'd like to piggyback this thread to ask a fairly simple, mainly formatting, question:

If I am writing a short film that is, essentially, just one scene/conversation how do I format the script to show that I want different shots during the conversation?

What is taking place is a character is talking on the phone in his living room and describing something which is outside his door. Every so often, as they talk, I want to cut to an image of the thing outside the door. How do I do this? Do I just type it as an Action?

 

[Flicker Pictures]

Nick, IMO...
Best to avoid any sort of shot direction or camera direction. If it's important that CHARACTER A picks up a fork and stabs a huge slab of rare steak, write that in as an action line.

Nick STABS the rare steak with his fork; blood-juice oozes into the mashed potatoes.

NICK
You were saying?

This is a shot unto itself, but there's nothing that indicates: Shot of this or low-angle on the plate. We can imagine we'd be pretty close up on the plate to see the puddle of beef juice inch toward the mashed potatoes.

Just a thought!

also...

Through the bay window, Nick watches a NEIGHBOR walking her CHIHUAHUA.

NICK
(distracted)
So... as I was saying...

The DOG stops, spins around in a circle.

NICK
... I don't think that...

The dog hovers and squats.

NICK
... I'm a big fan of...

Finally, it dumps a load onto Nick's driveway.

NICK
Jesus... Christ!

Nick rushes to the front door, flings it open.

NICK
You mind picking up after that little shit monster?

Again, just another way...

I wish there were some simple screenwriting formatting for the site. That would be awesome!

 

[NickClapper]

Thanks for the recommendation Jeff, I think that's what I'm going to go with.

I think I might post this short screenplay on IT for some criticism, so I guess if people think that the formatting feels wrong then they'll probably tell me.