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SimplyScripts Screenwriting Discussion Board    General Boards    Questions or Comments  ›  I've decided to write a script
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  Author    I've decided to write a script  (currently 5024 views)
9sam1
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 6:53pm Report to Moderator
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Hello, ive decided that im going to try to write a movie script, ive never done this before however its always something ive wanted to do. It will be most likely a comedy. Any tips or pointers you can give me before i begin this project?

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Don  -  April 20th, 2009, 7:50pm
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Hoody
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 9:03pm Report to Moderator
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I'm sure this has been said a million times but--

Read, read, and read some more.  Make a list of your twenty favorite movies and then go up to the simplyscripts search engine and read every single one you can find.

I'd say go buy a screenwriting book, but I think they're kind of a waste of money.  I've read books that basically go tell you to go read scripts like Chinatown or whatever and I'm like, "Why did I just pay 30$ for this?"  Everything you need to know about writing scripts, you can find in already written ones.  Or you can google it.  I'm sure there's blogs out there that can answer your questions on act breaks or whatever(I found a site that discussed the act structure of Jaws in pretty good detail).  Try John August's blog or search through these boards.

This is what I did: on the homepage there's a WGA list of the 101 greatest scripts ever written with links to most of them.  I've read about 85% of them by now and I've learned so much from them.  

And no matter how hard it is to write, finish that first draft.  It's way easier to go back and revise a draft that you can read through first and understand what's going on than coming back to a 36 page draft you ditched months ago and trying to figure out where you were going with it.

Another thing that I'm sure will help a lot is that Dialogue series.  It's basically interviews with top writers and they discuss their rules and how they write and other things like that.  They're just little snipets of the full interview but with all of them combined there's so much you can learn.  Just go to http://www.stage6.com and search "Dialogue series" - You should be able to find a couple on the first page and that will lead you to more.

Hope any of this helps.


Please, read Elvis The Goat or Cold Turkey.  Thanks in advance and I'll make sure to review your script in exchange.
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9sam1
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 9:16pm Report to Moderator
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Thanks that helps a bit.

when you say "Make a list of your twenty favorite movies and then go up to the simplyscripts search engine and read every single one you can find."

Does that mean read the scripts of the films from my list? Or to just read a bunch of random scripts from the site?
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dogglebe
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 9:21pm Report to Moderator
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Reading produced scripts is not necessarily the best way to go.  You should be writing spec scripts and not shooting scripts, as these are the scripts you'll be writing.  Spec scripts are not as detailed as shooting scripts and are written to tell the story.

Read some scripts here.  Go to the SIMPLY RECOMMENDED thread and pick some scripts there to read.  Read thte threads that follow the scripts so you can learn how to critique them.

And then critique them.


Phil
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Zack
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 9:33pm Report to Moderator
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Number one rule... Have fun.

~Zack~
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Hoody
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 10:41pm Report to Moderator
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I meant, read the scripts of your favorite movies because they're gonna be easier for you to read than some random script you've never heard of.  Also, if you own the movie you can read and watch it at the same time.  That's really helpful when you want to understand how a certain scene is written or other little things like that.

I don't see a problem with reading produced scripts.  It all depends on the writer.  I've read purchased specs that were littered with "We see..." and "We hear..." and had twice as many camera angles than the average shooting script and I've read shooting scripts where the only thing that gives it away as a shooting script are the scene numbers(which aren't even a default function on most writing programs, so you don't even have to worry about it).

Just read a lot of scripts and gain an understanding of the general formatting.  There's no correct way to format a script but you'll quickly see that they all have a similar look to them and you can just pick a script that looks like it's formatted correctly and just refer to it when writing(that's what I did).

I highly suggest downloading the Celtx writing program as it is very helpful in formatting your scripts for you.  The learning curve is only about an hour or so because they have videos on how to use it, but I just started writing a random scene and I learned how it worked very quickly.


Please, read Elvis The Goat or Cold Turkey.  Thanks in advance and I'll make sure to review your script in exchange.
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9sam1
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 10:52pm Report to Moderator
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Way ahead of you on the Celtx thing , downloaded it awhile ago. Anyway i posted up a VERY short scene i wrote for what i hope will become a nice comedy short.

Go read it if you want, in the WIP section. (nvm its no longer there , it was deleted. If you would like to read it i can pm it to you, its only like 2 pages)

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9sam1  -  January 9th, 2008, 11:08pm
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dogglebe
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 11:09pm Report to Moderator
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Your WIP thread was deleted, but not before I read it.  Here's what I thought:

This is shock humor and it's not very good.  How much mileage do you think you can get by repeating the c-word over and over again?

Other than that, you should name your characters.  Guy1 and Guy2 sometimes works for walk on characters, but these are the main characters of your script.


Phil
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Murphy
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 11:19pm Report to Moderator
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I'll be honest when I saw it I thought you were taking the piss, I thought it was vile. Vile can be excused if it is funny but that was so far away from funny it was in a different galaxy!

If I was wrong and it was a serious effort that I apologize but as per the great advice you have received above I would spend at least a month on this site reading scripts before you even begin to write anything of your own. I did that and it meant that while my first script may not have been that great at least I knew how it should be formatted and had a good idea of what a good script looked like - makes all the difference.

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Don
Posted: January 9th, 2008, 11:23pm Report to Moderator
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So, what are you writing?

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I deleted the posting.  Generally speaking, new to a discussion community, leading with a shock script is not your best bet.  Show us some of your more main stream work before laying the heavy stuff on us. Also, attention to spelling, punctuation and grammar shows that what you are presenting is not something you've just dashed off, but have put some time and thought into it.


Don


Visit SimplyScripts.com for what is new on the site.

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You will miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
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Don  -  January 9th, 2008, 11:25pm
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The Working Screenwriter
Posted: January 10th, 2008, 1:37am Report to Moderator
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Some good advice here.  But yes, read a book or two about the art and craft of screenwriting, read a bunch of professional screenplays (go to http://www.movie-page.com for a good selection), and check out my website, http://www.TheWorkingScreenwriter.com (be sure to pay particular attention to the Fatal Flaws section).  Also know that at this stage in your “career,” you shouldn’t be writing to sell, but writing to learn.  You might have to write one, two, three or ten additional scripts before you’re in any position to sell anything.

Good luck!
Jim


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Toran
Posted: January 10th, 2008, 9:57am Report to Moderator
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I would recommend checking out the "Writer's Resources" on the homepage of Simply Scripts. Look at the GLOSSARY and SCREENPLAY FORMAT. Both can help a writer tremendously, I look at it whenever I get stuck. It helps me out. Actually, hell, I would check that out if I were you EVEN before you start reading a script. Mostly because you might not know some of the script words that are on here. (Beat, B.g, Insert, Freeze Frame etc..) So yeah, check that out. I think I made my point clear on that.

After reading both of those, I would check out scripts by some of the greats here. Either go to "Screenplay's You Have Posted" (which should really be a sticky) and "Simply Recommended Thread". Mainly because the greats are usually referred in those threads.

I really don't know what else to give, but I hope this helps. Along with all the others advice.


What am I working on?!?
Splatter - Revisions
Bad Hare - Writing
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Don
Posted: January 10th, 2008, 8:20pm Report to Moderator
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So, what are you writing?

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read a bunch of professional screenplays (go to http://www.movie-page.com for a good selection)


Ouch


Visit SimplyScripts.com for what is new on the site.

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You will miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
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ABennettWriter
Posted: January 10th, 2008, 8:34pm Report to Moderator
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Oh, Jim! You're bad!

*heads off to http://www.movie-page.com/

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Don  -  January 10th, 2008, 10:58pm
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The Working Screenwriter
Posted: January 11th, 2008, 4:25am Report to Moderator
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Whoa!!  Sorry, gang!  My bad.  I forgot what site I was on. Sure, Movie-Page is a good site, but so is Simply Scripts.  Really, it is.  Lots of great stuff here.   In fact, forget that other site.  Stay right here and download away.  

Sorry about that, Don.  


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