Your Screenplay, Time to Write It
1.
As someone who has written a few of these things my advice for
the beginner is just to get it down on paper. Beginning, middle and end
as fast as you possibly can for this reason, gravity will take over other
wise. What I mean by Gravity is the pull of the other (dreaded better)
idea. The story that you are trying to write will not seem nearly
as fresh or as interesting as the one you have just come up with.
Gravity is the weight of everyday life. The normal doubts
about whether or not you can do this thing. After all who do you
think that you are trying to write a screenplay.
Other people write movies, but not me.
They are so long and so complicated.
These are the myths that will weight down.
Allow me to kill these two myths.
First screenplays are not that long. 90 pages and less than
20,000 words on average.
What?
90 pages sounds like a lot.
Unless you are writing a silent movie over half of these pages will
be dialogue. That is a lot of white space.
I don’t know the format.
Really?
Really, I do not know the format.
Fine, go online. Google your favorite movie, search for the
script and read it. It will not take long to read. A good script is a
quick read. The cool thing about doing this you will read where there
were changes made that are not even amongst the deleted dvd scenes.
Also the software that you pick may help you with the formatting. Last
bit of advice on this subject and it is the best writing advice I ever
got. Get a notebook and a pen. Sit down and hand copy 3 pages
of the favorite screenplay that you have read. By doing this simple
exercise you will learn so many subtle details you missed by just
reading it.
Secondly, it is not complicated. Bad scripts are complicated.
Good ones are so simple that you wonder why there are not more
good movies.
My girlfriend loves the Notebook. As a guy it makes me
cringe. As a writer it makes me smile. On the surface it looks complicated.
Only because it bounces back and forth along the time-line to keep
you guessing. The truth is that it is just a boy meets girl story. Boy loses
girl, boy gets girl back, boy loses girl to illness and each day boy gets
girl back again. Wow, that is so complicated.
Need more examples?
Fine.
Lunatic tortures people to make them appreciate their lives more, Saw.
Young couple falls in love on doomed ocean cruise, Titanic.
Brain dead couple make all the wrong choices when dealing with a violent
supernatural entity, Paranormal Activity.
Get the picture?
Not that complicated at all.
But my idea has twists and turns and surprises and is filled with deep
symbolic elements.
Good grief who let M. Night in here? Who told mister Happening,
mister The Village where we would be having our little chat?
Fine, okay, I can deal with this.
A group of strangers discover that they are trapped in an elevator with
the devil, The Devil. Story by our good friend M. Night.
Cut this nonsense out and make an entertain movie or all the studios
will stop answer your calls is a great motivator huh?
Now you need software.
Final draft is the best. It cost a good amount.
There is also Movie Magic screenwriter and Script Wizard.
You could go for a free program. There are 3 that I like.
Scripped is a site where you write and save your screenplay at their
online site. You can even register it there.
Celtx is a nice little free formatting software. It also will help you
with the full production of your movie, but that is another article.
I really like a freeware program called Roughdraft, it is bare bones
basic, but if you already know the elements of screen writing then it is a
solid program.
Good luck with your screenplay and remember if you write just
3 pages a day for one month you have a screenplay.
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