When you decided "Hey, maybe writing movies would be even more fun than watching them!", what was the first script you read to find out what it was all about.  Also, where did you find it at?  If you can remember, that is.

Mine was Chinatown.  I purchased it at Borders in book form.  I loved the form and the way words were used -- I was hooked on the art of screenwriting.  

I bought a real paper copy of Basic Instinct. Loved it better than the film. still have a "few" paper copy scripts, but maybe 7000+ digital ones.

Anyway, don't read that much of those these days. Concentrating my reading on novels.

I found a script for the X-Files episode Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man for sale at Script Fly.  I'm thinking about asking for it as a birthday present.  It's my all-time favorite X-Files episode.

So long ago, but it was Karate Kid, Creepshow or Labamba... but it was well after I "thought" I could mistakenly write a screenplay.  

Bought Creepshow, signed by Romero and King for 200 flat.  Never had it checked for authenticity -- but the seller had a pic of "a" meeting.  The script has served me well over the years so I'm not too bummed if it was forged.   I prolly read Karate kid first, but all of them ran together if memory serves.

I bought the script for Star Wars: Episode 1 in book form. Don't judge me, I wasn't a fan of the movie (or Star Wars in general), but I was just extremely interested in reading a script. Unfortunately I did realise even back then that what I was reading was not the screenplay but a transcript. Very disappointing.

Anyway, it wasn't long after that that I actually gained more regular access to the Interwebs and started reading whole heck of a lot of things. I can't remember what the first things were that I read. Probably some movies that I remembered but hadn't seen in a while and I just tried to experience them again since I didn't have access to them.

There was a rare book shop on Newbury Street.
My mother used to frequent it when we went into Boston.

They had a section for printed/signed screenplays.
I thought the was a scam...
Because movies were on a screen, not paper.
So, I told the owner he shouldn't lie to people like that.
Oh yeah, I was 11 at the time.

E.D.

It was actually the Othello play from high school that led me to screenwriting. Read the play and saw the movie with Lawrence Fishborne and Kenneth Branagh. That was when I decided to start writing.

I didn't start with screenplays. My older brother wrote short stories. There was one in particular, despite its admitted awfulness, that I enjoyed. I wanted to do that story better than he did. But, I wasn't a fan of short stories because they needed details and descriptions.

So, I moved onto plotting out movies. I never wrote any of them because I had no clue how to actually write a screenplay. So, that went on for about four years until I decided to wing it on Word. I did that for another two with disastrous results. Then, I came here. The first script I read, "Sic Semper Tyrannus" (good short, by the way), showed me the general rules of what goes where. I finally got it down when I got Final Draft 7. Been doing that since.

Things came full circle because I ended up teaching my brother the general rules of writing a screenplay, so I guess it all worked out eventually. To this day, though, nine years later, I've never finished my version of my brother's short story. Never even been close.

The first script I read was...

BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR.

The climax was better on film.

Shawn.....><

I think my first was an early draft of a Spider-Man film. I found it really interesting how scripts go through so many changes and writers, and we never see just how many drafts or versions come before the finished product. I believe I found the script here and started using this site called scriptbuddy to try my own.

No script in particular got me into screenwriting. I made movies all the time as a kid and movies are actually what I used to learn to speak english without a Brazilian accent.

I went to film school and started off as a director and cinematographer. I always directed my own script so it was pretty much a necessity. It wasn't until last year that I actually quit a shitty job I had in the accounting department of a film company to dedicate more time to writing with a more flexible and less soul-sucking job.

Yeah - I never read one - I just saw a shit film and went "I can do better than that ... ".

Shorty after realizing I couldn't I got into reading a couple of scripts ...

... first script I ever read? No idea - but the first few where all on this site. Ahh. Get's ya all moist, huh?

Quoted from Forgive Get's ya all moist, huh?

I mean in the eyes not in your underpants ...

Dude, you're quoting yourself...

That's funny shit.

Shawn.....><

Quoted from Ledbetter Dude, you're quoting yourself...

Yeah - and that's just got to be so wrong ...  

Fade To White

Frostbite

These lead me on the right path...

Quoted from stevie Fade To White Frostbite These lead me on the right path...

Only Adam Levenberg has seen Frostbite... unless he breached confidentiality then Huston, we have a problem.  Actually, it's entered into Page this year, so we'll see how it fairs.  Spent enough money on it over the years to be a contender at bare minum least.

This is to give you a feel for what it's all about, though...  Did this real quick like a few months back.  Need to go back when I get my new PC and do a better one... Got me a new tablet, dual screen flip and nothing to use it on.  

Quoted from stevie Fade To White Frostbite These lead me on the right path...

Suck up!  

Quoted Text The first script I read was... BEHIND THE GREEN DOOR. The climax was better on film. Shawn.....><

I believe that calls for a rim shot. . . . . .

Quoted from steven8 Suck up!   I believe that calls for a rim shot. . . . . .

No, the rimming would be in any Rocco Siffredi film...


And on the subject of freckles, Balt's monster in the poster looks like Jeff if he had 8 festered anuses...

Holy crap, this brings back memories.

'Christmas on Division Street' was the first screenplay I ever read.  There's kind of a story as to how I came across it.

It was 1990.  I was in fourth grade and our class was selected to be extras in a movie called 'The Hitman'.  (I don't think filming ever finished.  Or the movie was never released.  I've never came across it anywhere and still can't find it.)

We did two days of filming and after the second day, the producers or director or whoever they were kept my friend Josh and I, (our parents had to be called since they had to get the rest of the class back), and they had us read from the script 'Christmas on Division Street'.

They called my parents a couple days later, and I went and read again.  Never heard anything else though until about a year later.

For some reason, before Christmas break, our class got a copy of the shooting script for 'Christmas on Division Street' (it was printed like a newspaper) and right on the opening page was Fred Savage's smiling face.

Needless to say, Josh and I bashed the Wonder Years whenever we heard anybody talk about it.

A couple weeks later after I had gotten called back for another read, my friend Josh got a call and he got to go audition for 'Cop and a Half'.  I forget who ended up getting that part.

But yeah, since I was even writing back then, I copied 'Christmas on Division Street's structure and formatting for all the stories I wrote after that.  Even numbering my scenes and everything.

Quoted from steven8 I believe that calls for a rim shot. . . . . .

YES!!!!

Somebody got it!!!!

        

Shawn.....><

My uncle worked as a writer in Hollywood many years ago, primarily television.  His credits include MASH, Newhart, Magnum PI, and for you hardcore TV trivia buffs, the infamous SuperTrain.

He wrote the first script I ever read -- a pure spec, called The Gypsy Flyer -- a historical piece about a couple of hard-ass dudes that ran a bus service in Latin America -- then they (and their armoured bus) got sucked into some kind of civil war going on down there -- complete with a sadistic General and a hot, fiesty Latina damsel in distress.

A really nice action piece that was apparently considered by Paul Newman at one point.  Or maybe it was Steve McQueen.  Anyway, really big names at the time, and lots of buzz around the script, but as is so often the case, nothing ever really came of it.

I was just a kid, but have been hooked on scripts from that point forward -- proudly penning CLAWS while still in middle school -- a thriller that concerned giant, killer crabs.  Good stuff, that one.

My uncle long ago quit the business -- sick of it, I think -- studied theology and is now an Episcopal minister.

Which just might tell you all you need to know about Hollywood.

Quoted from bert I was just a kid, but have been hooked on scripts from that point forward -- proudly penning CLAWS while still in middle school -- a thriller that concerned giant, killer crabs.  Good stuff, that one.

Now THAT is a movie I'd love to see!

Quoted Text My uncle long ago quit the business -- sick of it, I think -- studied theology and is now an Episcopal minister. Which just might tell you all you need to know about Hollywood.

Amen!!  

The first script I read was "Die Hard" in October last year. The first one I read through it's entirety here on SS was "Pub Lunch" by Alffy. 

For me, it was Sherlock Holmes, about 2 years ago. I never finished it, was just curious on how they wrote the action scenes. But that's the one which got me into everything.