Write or Read?

[VPTurner]

Well, film is a collaborative medium. There's no better time like the present to start that collaboration and add an aspiring screenwriter to your team. You can keep the "story by" credit and give someone else the screenplay credit.

If you're good at writing, but have no experience with screenwriting, write a third person removed, present tense short story and worry about the formatting later. Know your story first.

Wearing too many hats could obscure your vision and hinder your progress. Take this from a veritable Jack of all Trades and as yet a master of none.

 

[Graeme]

Well, film is a collaborative medium. There's no better time like the present to start that collaboration and add an aspiring screenwriter to your team.

I was at a filmmaking workshop over the weekend and the advice given to me (and other students/wannabe directors) was write a "treatment" and if you have specifics in mind write a few of the core scenes. The rest (dialogue or sticky plot points) should be given to a screenwriter as this is what they specialize in.

You can keep the "story by" credit and give someone else the screenplay credit.

True, this is likely the route I'll take. I want to Direct/Shoot Movies, I'll likely never write a movie for someone else so that "screenplay" credit isn't useful for me.

What I'm going to do for the first film (current 7 pages, wow! only 83 to go) is the above. So once I score out what I want to have happen in the movie (based on what resources I have available) I will be looking for a screenwriter (or two) to write/fix dialogue and beef up the movie length.

I'm running on a pretty aggressive timeline of getting the treatment done by March (or before the ides of March) as I'd like to do the filming over the summer (which in Canada can be short).

 

[Padnar]

It will be nice if you can direct your own script . I got a fantastic script but dont have any interest
in directing . Any creative wotk wil suffer if you don't have the interest
padma

 

[aceinc1]

mate,

whether you take someoneelse's script or your own one, there are certain things in directing that you need like getting the budget and schedule into the script. to be objective.

I suggest you write your own story and then go on to direct other screenplays that way it'll improve your own wrting too as you know what you are exactly gonna be able to afford to shoot.

as far as the art of directing there are all but a CU, MS AND LS. that's it.

regards,
Ace.Inc1

 

[Gonzo_Entertainment]

I agree with somne, that unless it just magically fell in my lap, I could write a screenplay in the time/effort it took me to find one I had any interest in doing. Also, when I roll my own, then I have the movie 100% in my head. I know exactly what I want it to be.

 

[Jijenji]

My advice is give it a try writing yourself.
You won't know if you can do it until you try.

Your first attempts will probably not work that well.
But if you just improve each attempt, then that will tell you to keep doing it.
If you don't improve, stick to directing and hire a writer.

One more piece of advice:
Even if you are going to write your own script and direct it,
you should learn proper format and technique. If yours is not standard,
you might scare off actors and crew who are used to something more professional.

That is not a knock on the example you posted early in this thread.
It's just that I see people here who the writing does not matter because they will direct it anyways.
While that is true, I think better actors and crew might be skeptical and stay away.

 

[Graeme]

@Jijenji - I'm now using Celtx and proper formatting for the script (after some reading).

My plan is to write some treatments and pass them on to start-up screenwriters to finish along with work on my own films (currently have just under 30 pages of full script for one film I want to do, hopefully will be around 30-35 pages by the end of the weekend).

 

[Hachi Gatsu]

Unless you know of a screenwriter who has a script you like and has written it for a low budget (or it looks like it can be done on a low budget), you're better off writing it yourself. I guess a third option is a collabo-write with a screenwriter and you.

Basically, do what Robert Rodriguez did, list all the assets you have (that includes people, places, and objects) that would be in the film, or could be used in the film. The best way to save money is to use stuff you already have.

For inspiration, I'd pick up his book "Rebel Without a Crew: Or how a 23 year old with $7,000 became a Hollywood Player".

For screenwriting in general, Syd Field is the shiz in my book for overall understanding of the concept. Books I have of his are "Screenplay - Third Edition" and "The Screenwriters Problem Solver: How to Recognize, Identify, and Define Screenwriting Problems"

For more "High Concept" stuff, the whole three book gambit from Blake Snyder (RIP) is good and all three are sitting on my shelf "Save the Cat", "Save the Cat 2: Save the Cat Goes to the Movies" and "Save the Cat Strikes Back".

For story content, "The Writers Journey - Third Edition" by Christopher Vogler and "The Hero with a Thousand Faces" by Joseph Campbell is a good addition as well.

On the rewriting and editing front, I currently only have "Rewrite" by Paul Chitlik.

And for software and formatting, I use Final Draft version 7 at the moment. I did write a screenplay in Word, but after I tried the Final Draft demo, I opted to buy the program since the work flow is formatted close to how I do things.

Just figured I'd give my piece.