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Truestar's Screenwriting Challenge

TruEsTaR

TruEsTaR

I'm going to undergo a major challenge. Next week I intend on writing a screenplay in five days. monday - friday. I intend to keep updates on this site and write everything on the spot with very little character development. I hope you all take a look at it and give me your feedback.

thanks

- d

*note - afterwards, if it turns out decent, which I will find out, regardless, I intend on doing many rewrites to it.
 
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Did I say I was going to sell it?

It's called an experiment....

I know screenplays polfilmblog, I just haven't wrote one yet.
Should I take five months to write one? How about a year? Or five weeks?

Or I could write one in a week. start the second draft 2 weeks later, and continue revising it.
The next one I'll just write and not even set a deadline.

This is my bootcamp. It's my film school. I'm making up my own assignments and rules.

My point is you don't have to spend a year to write a great screenplay. you don't have to spend five months.... Sure, tons of people write shitty screenplays, but i'm not one of them. You better believe if I wasn't low on money, 21 years old, and trying to further my career by teaching myself the craft, I would spend a year researching my subject, developing my characters and writing 100 page character analysis' for each main character. I would rewrite it 200 times if it took that much to make it phenomenal.

I bring passion to my creativity and talent..... Many others do too, but how the hell can you become a good writer without writing all the time????

If you hired me to write the script I would write it different. I wouldn't take five days. But this is my experiment. It has nothing to do with you. And I guarantee my characters and the story both won't be boring. It's not going to be "Taxi Driver", "Citizen Kane", or "Chinatown", but it will be decent for a first project.

My point is that the writer doesn't have to take months to write a great screenplay. Some do, but every writer is different.

All I ask is that after i'm finished, some of you guys will check out my first 10 pages, and critique the hell out of me.

- d
 
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You mean you haven't "written" one yet?

:lol:

Sorry, couldn't resist. :D

I think what you're doing is a great exercise. Go for it. Just don't get too far ahead of yourself thinking that it'll be the greatest script ever written because we've all been there thinking the same thing.

And I will gladly critique the hell out of it. Just don't expect it to be sugar coated since you've laid down the gauntlet. :)
 
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TruEsTaR said:
I'm aware VPTurner. I realize everyone expects it to suck horribly. But I have to start somewhere, and I believe in what i'm writing.
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Actually, I don't expect it to suck horribly. I plan to be pleasantly surprised. I need to witness something spectacular so I can beat myself over the head with it and motivate myself to rise to the same challenge.

Just like going to the races. I finally busted off a ten second (well, 10.90 @ 128MPH) 1/4 mile run because one of my friends kept beating my best time. And now he's trying to beat my time. :lol:

Nothing brings out the best in someone like a good competition.
 
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polfilmblog said:
Further,

I think "good" is highly underrated in some quarters.

As the internet is basically drowning in bad scripts, it might merit a serious discussion.
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Well, he's already said that he's aiming to write something like 'Showgirls' so I don't see where people have got the idea that he thinks it's going to be 'good' or 'the greatest script ever' from.

There's actually no reason why a five day first draft of a screenplay needs to be bad. I'm presuming that he has arrived at these five days with a preconceived idea of what he's going to write about, so it's just a matter of getting that down on paper (or CeltX). This is not only doable but it could be perfectly good- especially if you're aiming for 'Troll 2'.

Criticising people's spelling/grammar on an internet forum without spell check is actually more than a little petty and undermines the well thought out argument that you are trying to make.
 
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polfilmblog said:
Research, depth, working out a coherenet plot all take time.
Click to expand...

Irony.jpg


Best of luck TruEsTaR - you never know, writing to a deadline might make you come up with better ideas than normal!
 
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NickClapper said:
...

Criticising people's spelling/grammar on an internet forum without spell check is actually more than a little petty and undermines the well thought out argument that you are trying to make.
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If everyone would just use Firefox with it's built-in spell checker (spell checks on the fly, underlining misspelled words), life would be much easier.

And you are in the screenwriting section. If this were a car forum, I'd agree that criticizing one's spelling and grammar is petty. But not in a section of the forum dedicated to writing.
 
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VPTurner said:
If everyone would just use Firefox with it's built-in spell checker (spell checks on the fly, underlining misspelled words), life would be much easier.

And you are in the screenwriting section. If this were a car forum, I'd agree that criticizing one's spelling and grammar is petty. But not in a section of the forum dedicated to writing.
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…or OS X, with a universal spellchecker :) Pointing out spelling and grammar errors (even if they're just typos) in posted screenplays is important, and I for one hate it when people can't be bothered to write properly when they're asking for help - I tend to ignore posters using text speak/lazy English*. I quite like it when people point out typos for comic effect, and it's often necessary when the meaning is ambiguous, but calling someone out on a single letter out of place (next to the correct one on a QWERTY keyboard) in an otherwise completely coherent post is just petty. </rant>

* If it's your first language, anyway. It's always embarrassing to see someone who has English as a second/third/fourth language write more clearly than someone who speaks nothing but English.
 
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I think it's a great idea, maybe a little ambitious for a first script but nothing wrong with that IMO. I just finished my first screenplay in Sept and although it took a few weeks, it was really due to outside interference. If I added up the time it took to write out that first draft it would probably fill about a week of writing maybe two weeks.

Yeah I missed a few things and have some holes I need to fill because I missed some scenes to back them up, but overall I was very happy with it and the few close people I showed loved it, yes family but film buffs that have no issue telling me if it sucked, well after I explained some of the parts. Though thats what I was looking for in it anyways, I had some things in there to make them think and go o.0 at it. Granted I had been planning it for years on and off but the actual writing when you have a good idea really shouldn't take months from the way I see it.

I'm kind of doing the same thing right now with my next script, though unintentionally. I started it last week but have had to stop around page 10. I had set a deadline for Halloween, which is what the script has to do with, I'm hoping to finish the first draft with this time of year vibe and all. So because of life getting in the way and a bit of procrastination I have what, 6 days left of my deadline. So yeah I feel you man. Good luck!
 
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I'm not too far on the pages, but i'm making great progress and have every scene figured out. I figure that tonight i'll go through a rush of writing and knock out a good 20-30 pages.
 
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Alright guys.... I failed. I've only completed about half of the 90 pages. Tomorrow i'll post a sample of the first ten to give you an idea of what i've written as a first draft.

I should have it all finished next week for critiquing.

- d
 
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I'm Team VPTurner. In this forum, spelling and grammar count.

Anyway, I think it's awesome that you took on this challenge, Truestar, and I hope you took a lot out of it.

Me? I work best under extreme time-constraints. Don't know why, that's just how I've always been. If there isn't a serious deadline looming, I don't give it much attention. But when it matters, my brain jumps into overdrive. So I personally see a lot of value in this exercise you've created for yourself. I hope something great comes of it.
 
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