You made Don cry....


Phil

Quoted from The Working Screenwriter 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.

Your right to call us 'gang' is taken away.

My suggestion, is take some courses in screenwriting, like starting with the basics of FTV60A if you have no prior experience.  Because when all is said and done, you can't learn basic story structure off a website, it helps a lot, but you gotta learn first.  And like everyone else said, start reading some produced scripts, or highly looked up upon scripts around here.  There are some great scripts around here that you should definitely read to get a feel of formatting and story structure.  But like I said, taking the courses, and reading screenwriting books like "Writing Screenplays that Sell, The Ackerman way" By Hal Ackerman will help big time, namely the courses.

Hi, I am new here and have no experience in screenwriting. You say:

Quoted from Hoody 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?"

I can not confirm that statement. You have probable grabbed the wrong books. They are not waste of money at all. I think it is a bad counsel to claim “they're kind of a waste of money “ in general.  I’ve got two good ones I am citing from under http://www.simplyscripts.net/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?b-screenwrite/m-1073084912/.

Quoted from Hoody Just go to http://www.stage6.com and search "Dialogue series".

http://www.stage6.com has been shutdown.

Hello

I'm so sorry for writing in such an old topic but I didn't found a more recent one and didn't think there would be the need to create a new one.

As you may see I'm new in this (great) forum and also in this "screenwriting business". I've written some short stories in portuguese (I'm portuguese) so you wouldn't understand.

I've read your advises and I'll follow most of them (I've downloaded a lot of professional scripts for example). I won't have much time in the next month and a half (until the holidays) due to school work and swimming and water polo practice 'though.

I'll be posting my doubts and even before I finish my first work I want to participate in the threads, you know, even if just to give my (humbly) opinion about some other works.

I would like to congratulate everyone who helps maintaining this iniciative, I find it amazing

Thank you.

PS: I'm sorry if there are some terrible grammar mistakes.

Best tip I can give you... other than my sig.   Don't write a comedy first. They are the absolute worst screenplays to tackle. Writing comedy is harder than any other genre there is. Why? Cos' comedy cannot be taught. Not "REAL" comedy... Comedy can be duplicated, but never taught.  If you're not funny, you're not funny. That's that. I feel too many people try to hard when they write comedies and that is why a great number of them, over 97%, fail with me at the box office.

Comedy has to come from your own experiences in life to be funny. I firmly believe this. The only problem with my way of thinking is that even if I find it funny... you all might not. See how tricky comedy can be? It all comes down to the other party and we all know how hard the other party is to please.

I wish you luck on your venture and hope it turns out well. I've only written one script in my life that was comedy and would never go back for another one. I try to add subtle humor, realistic humor, into my scripts but never full on comedy... It's a tough act to get right.

Quoted from Baltis. Cos' comedy cannot be taught. Not "REAL" comedy... Comedy can be duplicated, but never taught.

you're wrong.

I don't think he is wrong. You're funny or you're not. That's how I see it too. There's nothing worse than a guy in work who tries so hard to be funny, all he gets is blank stares, no laughs. He keeps trying, his jokes get worse, he gets irritating, I can't stand him anymore.

Comedy can be duplicated. See every stoner movie ever made.  

Quoted from JamminGirl you're wrong.

Perhaps... But ask me if I found "Knocked up" to be funny. If I said it was one of, if not the worst, comedy I had ever seen... Would I be wrong? Or, could you say it is just my opinion?

You saying I'm wrong is an opinion. I could hang around Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David all day long and not be any funnier. I'm sure I could have some funny stories to tell, but are they my stories to tell or their stories to tell?

Comedy is just not something you can teach in clown school. My opinion on comedy is this - If it's not forced it's funny. If someone is on stage trying their best to make me laugh it just won't happen. They are trying too hard.  Case and point... movies like "superbad" "Knocked up" "Anything with Ashton Kutcher" and a ton of other movies just aren't funny. They try too damn hard.

Comedy isn't about trying... It's about being.

Quoted from Baltis. ...Writing comedy is harder than any other genre there is...

This is true, but only as far as the readers taste and the delivery of lines.  Sometimes dialogue isn't funny to read but can be if delivered in a humorous way.  So that's where the actor takes over.

We all have different tastes and styles of writing.  And for me, the toughest genre to tackle is drama and easiest is comedy.  Cause I like writing nonsense.  But most writers usually steer away from it.

Tackle whatever genre you feel most comfortable and go with it.  You can't make everybody happy.

Comedy can be taught, but then it's just paint-by-the-numbers stuff everyone's already seen before.  But that works for some people.

Quoted from Baltis. Perhaps... But ask me if I found "Knocked up" to be funny. If I said it was one of, if not the worst, comedy I had ever seen... Would I be wrong? Or, could you say it is just my opinion? You saying I'm wrong is an opinion. I could hang around Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David all day long and not be any funnier. I'm sure I could have some funny stories to tell, but are they my stories to tell or their stories to tell? Comedy is just not something you can teach in clown school. My opinion on comedy is this - If it's not forced it's funny. If someone is on stage trying their best to make me laugh it just won't happen. They are trying too hard.  Case and point... movies like "superbad" "Knocked up" "Anything with Ashton Kutcher" and a ton of other movies just aren't funny. They try too damn hard. Comedy isn't about trying... It's about being.

...so you don't find "that 70's show" funny then? Well comedy is subjective. What you may find dull and boring, I may be rolling on the floor(well not really) for. I don't find Chris Rock funny but some swear he's hilarious.

There are various techniques that one can use successfully to gain laughter from an audience. Once a person understands the anatomy of a joke or funny situation, they should be able to successfully  create one.

Anything doable can be taught. (Script)writing was considered unteachable once...

EDIT to add: "Knocked up" was a good film, comedic or not. It depicted realism.

Baltis, welcome aboard...or welcome back, I guess!  I have to agree 100% with what you're saying, as well as the examples you gave. I absolutely hated those movies.  I literally almost got up and walked out during "Knocked Up". It was awful, as was Super Bad.

Funny thing is that they did so well at the Box Office and now, anything these guys do gets immediatley greenlit and makes another batch of moola.  I don't get it at all.

As I've said so often (like you did), most comedy isn't evven remotely funny to me, because it's so forced and fake.  There are numerous flicks that I find funny, but nothing recently other than the first 3/4 of "Heartbreak Kid", but the last 20 minutes or so was painful...really painful!

Comedy is hit or miss on a personal level. The lambs seem to laugh at anything they're supposed to, and that to me is just downright WEAK!!

The fact that you would consider any part of 'heartbreak kid' good/funny makes me raise my eyebrows at you...

Quoted from Dreamscale The lambs seem to laugh at anything they're supposed to, and that to me is just downright WEAK!!

That doesn't really give people credit at all.  

For someone who takes the "hit or miss" stance, you seem to be pretty harsh on people with opposing viewpoints of comedy.

(Note: Not trying to start an argument, but a discussion)