The topic got deleted in the Great Spring Purge of 2008 so I’m re-posting.

There is a lot of misinformation about the difference between a spec and a shooting script on this site.  You write a script on spec and once it is purchased it becomes a shooting script with scene numbers added and pages locked so that any revisions happen on colored pages.  That’s it.  Numbered, locked and purchased.

The spec that you write is the shooting script.  It’s not like it gets magically transformed into a camera direction heavy script.  If your spec does not have CLOSE ON: Crawling Eye it’s not like it is going to be added in the shooting script.

You get production notes on the script you wrote but they are notes about character (“Why does Larry know so much about geography?) or location (“Can we eliminate the parking lot scene and have the dialogue play somewhere else?). You don’t get notes like, “We’re going to show David opening the safe.  Can you break that scene into seven close-up shots and one establishing.”  Doesn’t happen.

It’s not your job to break the script.  The director and the DP have meeting after meeting with the various department heads to map how they want to shoot the script. There are shot lists and storyboards and schedules. That technical stuff usually doesn’t make it onto the page – the money people and actors hate it.

If there is a lot of camera direction in a script it means a director wrote it and he’s writing the script as he’s going to shoot it.

Compare the shooting scripts for There Will Be Blood (http://cinemascopian.com/pics/2008oscars/TWBB.pdf) and Juno (http://cinemascopian.com/pics/2008oscars/juno.pdf). Both are shooting scripts but only the one written by the director is what most people on this site seem to think of as a shooting script.

This is a really good thread!

I was under the Big Mythical Umbrella too.  I thought that shooting scripts were very different than spec scripts.  I thought they were filled with camera angles and special "cues".

There are so many threads on this board, that if a person cares to look, they can find a whole whack of important information-- not just for scripts, but for writing in general.  Truthfully, I've learned more through script-writing, (even when I apply it to novel) than I ever did before.

Why?  Because of the precision necessary with script.  Although I haven't posted a lot of my work yet, because I don't feel that a lot of it merits being posted until it's worked over enough to my satisfaction where it "does" at least part of what I want it to do, I still feel very thankful to be able to work with some of the very talented individuals here who all lend a very unique aspect to the process of writing.

As I said, the most important part which means so much to me is the precision involved in script.  It's akin to short stories in the way  that anyone who's been fighting with brevity and polish can really understand the tight fit that doesn't just happen magically after a couple of rewrites.

This thread is a perfect example of the delusions that new writers to script can fall under.  I also appreciated a thread where "The Working Screenwriter" offered up his knowledge of the fact that formatting wasn't all it's cracked up to be.  I know myself, that I will sometimes turf something that isn't formatted properly, but if something is written well, I don't care if it's written in crayon.  I'll still read it.

Still though, we know  that we need to KNOW the rules before we can break them... Well, most of the time... I actually just about won a writing competition and they actually responded back to me.  Part of what the judges loved was (shshs-- don't tell anyone) my insistent use of "The Dash".  And the night before I sent it off, I sent a letter to a fellow writer asking her about her opinion on my usage.

Well, the story ends well  because she was offline and I wound up sending the story off anyways and ranking in the top ten percent.  They said they struggled with my piece and hated to pass on it.  Ah that was good news because at least I had others haggling over the details which I was already sick of anyways.  

Writing poems/songs is the best way I've found to get a vision on paper fast, and make every word earn its space. This carries over to screenwriting or novels.

If you make the first ten pages pack a wallop, it's mostly a matter of the right person finding your script--that elusive timing of elements. They might be attracted by the very thing you considered rewriting. Seems better to put in every scene that works for you. It's simple enough for them to leave out whatever they don't want to film.

Too much concern over critics and writing classes can turn out robot-writers. Not everyone is in love with sub text. Some interesting dialogue can be much more entertaining. With all the work involved in writing, one payoff should be your own voice getting above the din.