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Golden Bee posted:You have to write to be a writer. Write even if you don't think it will work, then read it over again. Talk to someone about it and you'll realize "OH, that will work in another way. I need to move this to X, depict this instead of that", and you're well into your second draft. This is good advice. Get it on the page. Engage that right brain and let the left handle things later. The beauty of being a writer is that you can always *gasp* - edit! But please do edit. Edit and edit some more, I'm a screenwriting double major and it's obvious when people come into class with first drafts. More advice (or more aptly, more poo poo I want to get off my chest): 1) Get rid of adverbs whenever you can. They slow down the action and they don't give anything visual. Avoid them in parentheticals too; An actor/director (speaking as a double major in theatre performance) will usually get that a character is meant to say something in a certain way, and if they don't, a larger rewrite is usually the answer - not the insertion of a lazy adverb. Use an adjective if you have to; They're much more suited to the sensory nature of film. 2) Brevity! You're not Faulkner and you're not writing a novel. Give us what we need and nothing more. You want to keep those pages moving. Readers are looking for an excuse to throw your poo poo out - don't give them one by making them flip back five pages. 3) For god's sake people: Show! Don't tell! Film is completely VISUAL. Think in terms of the picture. There is no internal thought in a screenplay (unless it's in a voiceover, which is to be used sparingly), and there is no point in putting anything in that won't be in the movie. You can't give the internal emotional life of a character on the page (that's the actor's job anyway). Give clues through action and style that lead the actor in a certain emotional direction, but never spell it out. Write like you're watching the thing unfold in front of you in the theater... 4) But don't put in camera directions. This is an easy way to get your script rejected (it's the mark of an amateur and directors hate it), and it takes the readers out of the story (yes, the screenplay is a blueprint for the film, but it has to hook the reader as standalone story first). Find a way to give perspective without utilizing camera shots. 5) Exposition and on the nose dialogue. Always reveal plot through action, not dialogue. Character can be given through dialogue but it should mostly be given in speaking style and subtext, not necessarily content: The dominant style of film is realism, and while MacBeth may say what he means, Michael Corleone does not. If you're going to be direct, use it for special effect, so that when you are on the nose, it really means something. As someone whose strength in writing is in dialogue, I know how difficult it can be to not rely on it as a crutch - but it is always more satisfying for an audience member to build the story on her own rather than have it be told to her through exposition. Don't confuse them, but let them connect the dots. 6) Find a critic you can trust. Most people don't know gently caress all about writing. Find someone who you respect and understands what you're trying to accomplish - a professional if possible. Find someone who is going to be hard on you but is constructive as well. 7) Get a good book on style and final draft. It doesn't matter if your poo poo is brilliant, if it doesn't look right on the page, it's going to get thrown out. Know what the current accepted style/format is and stick to it. 8) Know the trends, but don't write to them. Find out what's selling, but don't slavishly write for the sell either. Always start from a place of passion. Something like 70% of what's being sold right now is adapted material. Does it mean you can't sell your original script? No, but everyone has got to eat. Know how to pitch your material based on current trends. 9) READ AND WATCH! Fucccck I can't stress this enough. Bad writers borrow, good writers steal. Find movies that you love and take from them; find writers that you adore and rob their style. Watch movies, watch teleivsion, read screenplays, READ BOOKS (take lit classes!). Yes books have internal thought and we can't do that sort of poo poo, but books (and poetry - READ POETRY) have some of the most beautiful and succinct visual descriptions ever written, and that's a huge part of our game. They also can be a great source of inspiration for character/plot/dialogue/style/whatever. It's incredible how many writers (especially screenwriters) there are, who don't loving read! It shows in their work every time. These people usually don't research, either. Please research, it only takes one glaring factual mistake to take the reader out of your story. Oh, and read nonfiction too (read the news!). I've seen great scripts written from two column articles. 10) Observe. People are loving crazy. Now, usually they're not crazy enough to warrant a character in a film (despite being dominated by stylistic realism, film isn't reality, it's heightened reality), but the crazy loving people in your everyday life can be a goldmine for character in your story. I'm writing a script that takes place in the modern day south, and you better believe I'm using the four years I spent in rural Tennessee for constant inspiration. I'm sure there are more but those are some of the pressing issues that have been pissing me off in student screenplays this semester. If I sound condescending I'm sorry, but it's frustrating to see writers who intend to stake out a career in one of the most competitive industries in the world not knowing or respecting their craft. T-Bone fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Nov 29, 2010 |
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Nov 29, 2010 12:37
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the Bunt posted:I actually find it better to have a character "speak" the silence with an ellipsis. I like this because it shows precisely who the focus is supposed to be on during that pause. I only write stuff that I film myself so it's not an issue there. It helps me in remembering certain camera shots without having to mention a specific angle in the script. Yeah, I used Beat. for a little while but meh, rereading it just seemed to take me out of the scene because it's a term that comes directly from writing. It's the same reason why I refuse to use camera shots or any bullshit technical jargon. Why take someone out of a scene if you can find a better way using language that comes directly from the story's world? (it's also lazy) Anyway, it would seem to me, that in writing, I usually intend an ellipsis to mean a shorter pause, than well, a Pause. That is (to butcher syntax but you'll get the idea): JANE: Johnny...I love you is a shorter delay than: JANE: Johnny. Pause. JANE: (cont.) I love you. I'll even sometimes use Silence. in a situation like this: JOHNNY: Jane, I'm gay. Silence. JANE: Johnny, I hosed your brother. I use Silence. as a response pause almost exclusively (that is, the silence is centered on Jane). I very rarely use it to break up one character's speech. I'll also sometimes do this if I want the pause/silence to be centered on the responder, but I want the pause to be slightly shorter: JOHNNY: Jane, I'm gay. JANE: ...Johnny, I hosed your brother. I don't know if that's proper or whatever but I like the effect and no editor has ever given me poo poo about it. The best thing to do, of course, is just putting an action description line there (assuming one works): JOHNNY: Jane, I'm gay. Jane shrugs. JANE: Johnny, I hosed your brother. If I don't want the shrug to indicate a pause I'll put in in a parenthetical: JOHNNY: Jane, I'm gay. JANE: (shrugging) Johnny, I hosed your brother. Also as for parentheticals, gently caress speech descriptors 99% of the time - god are they lazy and distracting. edit: I'm also one of those assholes who use commas or hyphens depending on the effect or the cause of the pause I want in the speech - yeah I'm that guy but it works drat it, gently caress grammar double edit: I've also seen more lyrical playwrights like Charles Mee use this for a pause, I don't think it really works well for film but here goes: JANE: Johnny. I love you. T-Bone fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Aug 17, 2011 |
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Aug 17, 2011 06:41
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Fire Safety Doug posted:camera directions (don't do it, it's not 1971 anymore) It's pretty incredible how stubborn some writers can be about this one. I can't decide if it's because they secretly want to direct, or they just aren't good enough to imply their direction with language grounded in the world of the story. Little bit of both, probably. edit: Also, as a student at a pretty well regarded screenwriting program I will tell you that 80% of the writers here are irredeemably awful, which kind of gives me some confidence about going into the real world. These are the schmucks I'm competing against? Then I read a Coen brothers script and get depressed again 
T-Bone fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Sep 27, 2011 |
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Sep 27, 2011 21:09
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DivisionPost posted:As someone who's very, very prone to including musical cues (but is trying to cut back on it)...yes, it's because I want to direct. Or at least, I want to greedily control the way the script is read and I feel that adding specific music cues is a good way to do that. Sorry, I was really just trying to quote the camera directions part. Specific musical cues aren't as egregious but there better be a drat good reason for one to be there.
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Sep 27, 2011 21:18
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DivisionPost posted:Also, though I haven't finished it, I enjoyed what I've read of The Sequence Approach. This guy is the head of screenwriting at my college - and yeah it's a pretty good approach, especially for action/adventure type fare.
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Nov 12, 2011 11:36
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Man screenwriting class is at once the most depressing and encouraging thing ever. Depressing in that 90% of the scripts (and their proprietors) are completely and utterly irredeemable, and I have an entire semester to figure out new and exciting ways to sugarcoat notes about them. But also encouraging, because - hey the immediate competition kind of sucks. But, gently caress, I'm always wondering if these poor sacks of poo poo just don't put in the effort, or if this is really the best they can come up with. I go to one of the better film schools in the US, and it's stunning to me that they would ever admit such lazy/untalented writers. I think a big part of it is that they don't read. And by read, I mean anything, scripts/books/whatever. I don't believe you can write screenplays by just watching movies, but I have a feeling that's what most of these students are trying to do. It's like they get Final Draft and watch Inception and just go at it. I don't know what I'd do as a professor. It seems that with truly bad writers my profs just kind of try and stick to macro poo poo like three act structure and continuity, but what these kids desperately need is to focus completely on style. I don't care if you've got the best god drat idea in the world, if you have no voice, or craftsmanship, you're hosed. T-Bone fucked around with this message at 08:19 on Feb 10, 2012 |
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Feb 10, 2012 07:58
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Golden Bee posted:If you read this thread, not even all of US have what it takes to be compelling, so the average first-time writers are going to lag behind -that-. These are people in their fourth year of a competitive program at a competitive school doing their thesis. It's ugly, man.
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Feb 10, 2012 20:26
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Adverbs loving suck. There's this script I'm reading now in class that has them in every god damned description line. It's like he's trying to make up for his complete lack of voice by making everything as flowery as possible. Action lines have never been my strong point, and even now that I've gotten semi-passable at them I stick to brevity. I don't know why anyone would write more to cover up a flaw.
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Feb 10, 2012 21:06
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Yeah, if your professor is also an idiot, you're in trouble. re: first drafts - I find that my first drafts convey pthe assion of the work and that I tend to lose some of it when I edit. I'm trying to find a way to keep the confidence of the writing without sacrificing story, but sometime that can be a hard line to toe.
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Feb 21, 2012 11:10
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Mike Works posted:So this is semi-off topic, but do any of you have any familiarity with stage plays? I've done a little playwrighting. I think it would be based on whether you wanted the people speaking doing it live every night (then they would be characters), or having it recorded (which would make it an audio queue, and as you said, probably in the italicized action line). edit: Golden Bee is a better authority than I but I swear I've seen it done both ways T-Bone fucked around with this message at 21:53 on Apr 6, 2012 |
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Apr 6, 2012 21:44
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DivisionPost posted:We Bought a Zoo has a good chunk devoted to it as well if you can handle Cameron Crowe's sentimental tendencies. Warrior and Quiz Show have some great father-son fuckery. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggahVsREztM (spoilers of course) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TL4oF69Yd8 (again spoilers) Two of the best father/son scenes on film.
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May 12, 2012 22:30
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A lot of Spielberg movies have strained father/son relationships as well. Walken/DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can is a really well done one: (spoilers) Catch Me If You Can: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm0VI3Nej-Y
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May 12, 2012 23:29
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