I tried and failed.

Had 4 pages that were pretty good, but got bored of it when it went all action...quite hard to write action I think..it just seems totally pointless. Either someone is running, fighting or whatever.

In real life I think I'd just stick:

"They Fight for 2 minutes 32 seconds." and work out what happens with a choreographer and what have you.

Rick, hopefully you're kidding, right?  Please tell me you're kidding!

That is the laziest, weakest, lamest writing possible.  It doesn't read too well, either.

An action genre script does not have to be all action.  C'mon now...

I'm serious.

It's not advice I'd follow as a pure writer, but I couldn't be bothered writing it down as a filmmaker. I'd just have a brief scene outline and then work out the specifics of it on a storyboard or in pre-production...might just make it up on the day with a multi-cam shoot.

Seriously, Jeff.
That's how most fighting action scenes go.

Unless there's cars crashing, helicopters racing over speedboats and explosives involved most inexpensive "body action" fight sequences are just some vague, general suggestions of what's going to happen that are mostly ad libbed on the scene between the actors and the stunt coordinator.

Scripting a low budget action scene is... kinduva weird triplet.

Doable, but weird, IMHO.

OK guys, listen...I definitely understand that most fight scenes come down to a choreographer/stunt man/whatever you want to call them working with the actors and director, and putting together the details in pre-production.

Begin rant...

But, let me say 2 things on the subject...

First of all, we're not talking about pre-production here.  We're talking about a spec script that's meant to interest talent through the written words on the page. No one's saying that a fight scene will play out onscreen exactly as it does on paper, but anything is better than something so weak as, "they fight furiously for 2 minutes before The Hulk finally kills the Jersey Devil."

Secondly, just look at all the absolutely pathetic fight scenes we're subjected to in low budget films.  IMO, it's because no one even cared to try and make the fight come off believably.  If the writer had just attempted to staged the fight in his head, and write it down so it made sense, you'd have to think that between the director, the writer, the DP, and the actors, an engaging and realistic fight could have been staged.  Many, many times, that's not the case, and it's a big issue IMO.

To take this 1 step further, what you're saying is basically what alot of piss poor writers say about poor dialogue - "Don't worry about the dialogue, it will be fixed up between the actors on set." - Yeah, right, sure it will.

Or, let's take it 2 steps further.  Same deal as a lazyass writer who thinks that plot points that make zero sense will be fixed in pre-production. "Don't worry about the details, they'll all be ironed out." - Yeah, ahuh, sure they will."

It's way beyond me how lazy people can be and how little they care about details, planning things out in their head, so they work and make sense.  As far as I'm concerned, it's most likely the biggest problem in film.

Don't be lazy.  Plan out, map out all the details so they make sense. Don't worry hat things will be changed in a filmed version.  there's nothing wrong with that. Hopefully, they'll be changed for the better, and if thought already went into these details, they'll only be better when it comes time to actually turning the w script into a film.

End rant...

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films I tried and failed. Had 4 pages that were pretty good, but got bored of it when it went all action...quite hard to write action I think..it just seems totally pointless. Either someone is running, fighting or whatever. In real life I think I'd just stick: "They Fight for 2 minutes 32 seconds." and work out what happens with a choreographer and what have you.

It's not hard to write action. We do it all the time, just label it under different genres.
But it does get hokey to write a blow by blow fistfight. It is wise to keep it short and sweet. But the challenge was "it's on like donkey kong" so there has to be a buildup to that action sequence.

Quoted from DarrenJamesSeeley It's not hard to write action. We do it all the time, just label it under different genres. But it does get hokey to write a blow by blow fistfight. It is wise to keep it short and sweet. But the challenge was "it's on like donkey kong" so there has to be a buildup to that action sequence.

Maybe I'm way off here, but the DK quote to me, represents rivals.
It's more about establishing the rivalry build up leading to a conflict of sorts.
If PitchFest wasn't this week, that's the angle I would've taken.

It could be rival paper route boys on BMX bikes.
That's cost effective, cheap obstacle course like faire, etc.
That's what I woulda wrote if the OWC was next week.

Two cents inserted.

E.D.

I know where you're coming from Jeff.

Funnily enough, for me, this goes back to theme...the thing you don't really think exists.

Without a powerful theme that brings two opposing forces into conflict...there's no story in an action film and it's just arbitary action..fighting, swordsplay, guns, car chases...it's irrelevant really. The better it's done the better the film is, I suppose, but it's inherently meaningless.

I've got a very intersting concept in my script, but I've not got a strong enough theme, so in the end it's basically a group of guys after another guy, and a large number of the group of guys are going to get killed. I can't be bothered writing it tbh.

Been an educational attempt trying it though...think you need a strong theme, some kind of ticking clock, outside relevance to the action (something that would affect the audience, especially at the climax) and some kind of strong emotion...either hatred for the bad guy, preferably with desire for one party to survive or some kind of noble sacrifice..just something that raises it up a bit.

I haven't time to fix my script, and I can't be bothered writing action for action's sake.

Quoted from Dreamscale If the writer had just attempted to staged the fight in his head, and write it down so it made sense, you'd have to think that between the director, the writer, the DP, and the actors, an engaging and realistic fight could have been staged.  Many, many times, that's not the case, and it's a big issue IMO.

Sometimes what I like to is watch YouTube and/or instruction videos on some self-defense and/or martial arts moves a few times. Then I describe them as best I can without repeating the same words. I also break it up a little, intercut some other action if I can.

I even (off-script) draw a basic map of a location.
this way i know where characters and/or some objects are.

And I know where you're coming from, Rick...  

Just to be clear, it's not that I think "theme" in scripts/movies does not exist.  That's not it at all.

I feel that theme is something that is inherent in story. I think it's something that people like to analyze, rad into, and "tell" those not as intelligent, what themes are prevalent and why they're important.

And, most of all, I do not feel theme is nearly as important as execution or pure enjoyment value, when it comes to film.

When a movie works for me, and when I enjoy spending 2 hours watching a movie, the last thing I'm concerned with is "what was the theme there?".  In fact, it doesn't even come into play in the slightest way.

That's good, Darren.  I do the same, but usually in my head, but as long as you do it some way, you're a number of steps ahead of the pack.

Quoted from Dreamscale And I know where you're coming from, Rick...   Just to be clear, it's not that I think "theme" in scripts/movies does not exist.  That's not it at all. I feel that theme is something that is inherent in story. I think it's something that people like to analyze, rad into, and "tell" those not as intelligent, what themes are prevalent and why they're important. And, most of all, I do not feel theme is nearly as important as execution or pure enjoyment value, when it comes to film. When a movie works for me, and when I enjoy spending 2 hours watching a movie, the last thing I'm concerned with is "what was the theme there?".  In fact, it doesn't even come into play in the slightest way.

But there you go, you see. I can just write "They fight for 2 minutes 13 secs. The bad guy almost wins, but in the end the good guy beats him in an heroic fashion" (which covers 99% of fights in films).

Then film it well.

There have been very, very few decent action films in the last two decades. The Bourne films are probably the last ones. The problem is they're all execution and no story/theme. Bourne has been about the best...a man with no memory trying to put the pieces together while being hunted down by a secret, and immoral military organisation..along the way he discovers what it means to be a man. There's strong themes under the action, so it works.

Transformers 2 on the other hand was just an hour of Robot attacks, gets destroyed. Robot attack, gets destroyed. Robot attacks, gets destroyed. That battle in the desert was incredibly boring...but it was well made you'd have to say tens of millions of pounds worth of effects.


But anyway, look forwards to what people have come up with.

Mine took a slightly different route than typical action. Hopefully that doesn't get frowned upon.

Mine is a comedy drama stage play.  I hope everyone's alright with that.

I haven't really had the time to think about it yet. Plus, I'm still in that writing rut and can't seem to get out of it. First time that has ever happened to me.