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Spec an Shooting scripts
- Thread starter MadMan
- Start date
From all the film making books I've read, you'll want to start with a spec script.
Once a studio approves it, you can go to work creating a shooting script which is different than a spec script in that it shows all the camera angles, things you hear, and the things you see.
They both exist so it is easier to, first, get an idea of what this film will be about and, second, how this film will look...
I might be wrong. lol.
Once a studio approves it, you can go to work creating a shooting script which is different than a spec script in that it shows all the camera angles, things you hear, and the things you see.
They both exist so it is easier to, first, get an idea of what this film will be about and, second, how this film will look...
I might be wrong. lol.
A spec script is one written on speculation. It's not a format per se. What generally makes a shooting script is the addition of scene numbers and locked page count. Obviously you don't need to worry about either of those, so just write in the default format of whatever software you're using.
OK... so, what's obvious from your questions is that you're fairly new to the industry. So, I'm going to read between the lines and answer the questions I think you're asking.
So, as has already been stated "Spec" means Speculative... all that means is you're not being paid to write it, but you are writing it to pitch ... as you've mentioned pitching, you're already writing a "spec"
Spec scripts are written to be read... shooting scripts are used for production.
When you ask what font to use for your script, that tells me a couple of things -- one that you're intending to write it in a standard piece of word processing software and secondly that you've never read any scripts.
Based on those assumptions, I'm going to give you three pieces of advice:
1)) Read some classic film scripts (you can find them online) -- I suggest you do this because film scripts are written in a very specific way and if you're asking basic font questions, then there are hundreds of other things you are bound to get wrong.
2) Either buy or download some screen writing software -- Celtx is a free one for the mac and there are loads of other options for the PC (this will default to the right font for a spec and will help with other basic format issues)
3) If you want to pitch to a studio, don't send your script to them until you're sure it'll stand a chance of being read.
I strongly suggest you read this SCRIPT CHECKLIST before you even consider posting out your masterpiece.
no no no no no... i know how to write, i have read many screenplays and i have read the checklist... Lets say I'M writing something and no-one knows...then i'm done, i pitch it and then the director chooses the shots... doesnt the shooting script do what a director or storyboards should do?
Firstly, sorry for assuming you were new to screen writing... you were asking the kind of question a newbie asks and I wanted to make sure you didn't blow your shot of pitching your concept to the majors.
However: two things...
1) Forget about shooting scripts... they're nothing to do with the pitching process. They're produced as the first part of the pre-production process. A shooting script has a blank column on every page, so the director can write in their shot list. (By the way, if you've been reading scripts from the net, most of them are "shooting scripts" and not always a good guide to spec formatting)
2) This is an industry based on relationships... you won't build them, if you see every offer of help as a challenge to your ego... so, next time I underestimate your abilities, I suggest you phrase your reply like this:
"Thanks for the info, I've printed off the script reader's checklist and pinned it above my desk... However, I'm still a bit unsure about where shooting scripts fit into the process, surely that's what directors do, could you explain it more clearly?"
You be amazed at how much your career will depend on stroking the other guy's ego... remember, you're asking us to give you information that we've spent years acquiring... and that information flows on a tide of goodwill.
Plus, the most common way to get a screenplay into the majors is via a personal referral... so, you need as many friends as you can accumulate.
Good luck with the project
However: two things...
1) Forget about shooting scripts... they're nothing to do with the pitching process. They're produced as the first part of the pre-production process. A shooting script has a blank column on every page, so the director can write in their shot list. (By the way, if you've been reading scripts from the net, most of them are "shooting scripts" and not always a good guide to spec formatting)
2) This is an industry based on relationships... you won't build them, if you see every offer of help as a challenge to your ego... so, next time I underestimate your abilities, I suggest you phrase your reply like this:
"Thanks for the info, I've printed off the script reader's checklist and pinned it above my desk... However, I'm still a bit unsure about where shooting scripts fit into the process, surely that's what directors do, could you explain it more clearly?"
You be amazed at how much your career will depend on stroking the other guy's ego... remember, you're asking us to give you information that we've spent years acquiring... and that information flows on a tide of goodwill.
Plus, the most common way to get a screenplay into the majors is via a personal referral... so, you need as many friends as you can accumulate.
Good luck with the project
You want to show them the spec - because you have no idea what the shooting script will be like.
A spec script is the sales version - the original screenplay.
If it's the one in a half million that sells, it will go through development - where you will get the strangest notes possible ("What if they're cowboys?" "Can the hero and villain be brother and sister?" "I think it needs more scenes on a golf course") and then you do your contracted rewrites using these notes. After that, you are fired and a revolving door of other writers are brought in - and each makes their changes and gets their notes... and if your script is the one in ten purschased scripts that actually gets made... then they do the shooting script.
I'm doing a shooting script on my project that shoots in Hawaii in September - and many of the things I'm adding are things I would never have thought of putting in the shooting script - and this is movie #20 for me. For instance, the director wants every FX shot broken out - and a note as to whether it's CGI or practical... and then which of the 3 main practical appliances will be used. You know, that's the FX guy's job - but this director wants to be the guy telling the FX guy what to do. Cool. I'm also breaking up larger exterior locations into smaller ones, and noting which locations will be reused... and noting the props at exteriors. I'm doing *nothing* in the way of shots - director is still going to make a shot list or do boards on the backs of the pages. But I wouldn't have known what was needed in the shooting script until the director or UPM told me. Not my decisions.
So, you write a spec script... later, other things happen.
Even if you plan on directing it yourself, you want a script that looks like a script.
- Bill
A spec script is the sales version - the original screenplay.
If it's the one in a half million that sells, it will go through development - where you will get the strangest notes possible ("What if they're cowboys?" "Can the hero and villain be brother and sister?" "I think it needs more scenes on a golf course") and then you do your contracted rewrites using these notes. After that, you are fired and a revolving door of other writers are brought in - and each makes their changes and gets their notes... and if your script is the one in ten purschased scripts that actually gets made... then they do the shooting script.
I'm doing a shooting script on my project that shoots in Hawaii in September - and many of the things I'm adding are things I would never have thought of putting in the shooting script - and this is movie #20 for me. For instance, the director wants every FX shot broken out - and a note as to whether it's CGI or practical... and then which of the 3 main practical appliances will be used. You know, that's the FX guy's job - but this director wants to be the guy telling the FX guy what to do. Cool. I'm also breaking up larger exterior locations into smaller ones, and noting which locations will be reused... and noting the props at exteriors. I'm doing *nothing* in the way of shots - director is still going to make a shot list or do boards on the backs of the pages. But I wouldn't have known what was needed in the shooting script until the director or UPM told me. Not my decisions.
So, you write a spec script... later, other things happen.
Even if you plan on directing it yourself, you want a script that looks like a script.
- Bill