I have always wanted to be a screenwriter. I had a few friends who were, but since I was in the 9th grade, that was about it. I’ve always been interested in how the process works, but given my experience, I really didn’t know what sort of things I should be writing. I watched David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, and loved how he did it the structure and pacing was perfect. But it was hard for me to do an experiment like that (since there are so many different factors involved). So for a long time, I just wrote whatever came to mind. I would also read scripts and just start thinking about them as stories.
Then one day when I was reading some scripts by other people, and they were all so different from mine that they could hardly be called “screenplays” at all!
I thought to myself: “Maybe writing screenplays isn’t such a good idea after all. Maybe it needs to be more like writing books?” (and this made me even more curious about how the whole process works.)
Many new screenwriters feel they’re lacking something in their craft, that they are not as good as other screenwriters. In fact, recent statistics show that a surprising number of screenwriters have never written a screenplay. This isn’t because they aren’t good at it. The problem is that many new and emerging screenwriters only start writing scripts after they finish college or graduate school and then continue to write them for years afterwards. They may also be frustrated by the lack of support on how to improve as a writer, which is why writing coaches like Tucker Max and Michael Patrick King (who do not claim to be professional writers) have become so popular. Here are some tips from those who know:
1) Get more reps as a screenwriter. A lot of people think that if you’re going to be an accomplished writer, you need to go to film school or get a PhD in something like English or Latin. This is simply not true: there are plenty of people who have gone into writing without ever having had any formal training and still managed to do very well at it (and some even did it better than the professionals).
2) Study the rules first. Many new screenwriters think they can just sit down and write any script they want without getting into any kind of structure or formulating any kind of idea first; but this is a bad way to go about it. Many times, the actual process involves defining your idea in its most primitive form, then breaking up what you have into separate ideas — which means you need to actually develop your skills in how to break down big ideas into smaller ideas before you can focus on developing them into full-blown scripts (or just make yourself fall asleep).
3) Read more books about writing (and read more books about anything else). There are lots of blog posts out there saying how great The Writer’s Handbook was when I was in grad school but I never read it because I didn’t want someone else telling me what makes for great writing — I wanted my own experience of making decisions about how I wanted to write and why. There are also tons of books written by actual professionals who went through training programs — many of which are free online — such as The Book Whisperer Chronicles , Writing Coach , Lulu Writer , Creative Steps , Antonya Nelson‘s Notions , James Wilt‘s Complete Guide To Script
Screenwriting is a craft. Writing a screenplay is a process. There’s a long, drawn out set of steps and disciplines that can sometimes seem like they take forever. It’s that process, the writing of your script, that will help you become better at what you do.The rules are simple:• Don’t start with a “know-it-all” attitude• Never try to memorize everything in the book• Reread and study your script before submitting it (or tape it)• Remember…A good script wins an Oscar; This one doesn’t!
A screenwriter knows that he or she needs to write one scene at a time, and the rest of the movie is just a series of scenes that help to develop it. That doesn’t mean, though, that there isn’t anything else involved in writing a script. There is plenty more. One important thing about scripts is that they are about action — a lot of action. And action is what you need if you want your screenplay to have any chance at success.The first thing you need to do as a writer is figure out what kind of story you want to tell and then come up with a good outline for it. In order for the outline to be effective, you need to know very well what kind of story you want and how much time it will take to tell it — because that’s exactly the kind of outline your outline should contain: You can get an idea of how well this works by using both your outline and your story board. The storyboard shows you how each scene in your script should look like on stage (and where); an outline shows exactly what happens in each scene on screen (and where). It’s pretty obvious why the two are so useful together.
Screenplay writing is a very difficult and time-consuming craft. There is a lot that needs to be learned and practiced in order to be successful. One of the biggest mistakes that most screenwriters make is to assume they know what they’re doing, when it comes to their craft.
However, if you continue to read this blog regularly you’ll have noticed that I have written at length on screenwriting and screenwriting tools , so I am going to write more of the same here as well. Many people struggle with screenwriting and many of those people think they can’t do it because they don’t know enough about writing or because they just don’t “get” it. But in reality, the process of learning anything new is a slow one, in which you need to invest significant amount of time. You couldn’t learn how to drive a car properly all at once; you’d have to put in a lot of practice first before you could take your driving license test (and do very well at it).
Similarly, you can’t learn how to create compelling fiction all at once; you need some practice first before being able to write compelling fiction (and produce it *all* by yourself).I find that if anyone has any problems learning something or feeling overwhelmed by the task at hand (like “I don’t know enough”, “I’m not good enough”, or “I don’t like this”) then I recommend using something called the “Didactic Method”: It’s basically just telling someone what he needs to do but giving him no hints or instructions on how he should go about doing it (or even why he should do it).
This method works because nobody really knows what they’re doing right off the bat: Most people are floundering around with no idea where they’re going and without any guidance from anybody else. The Didactic Method is designed as an easy way for someone who has never done something before (like learning how to drive) to start out confidently and successfully by simply supplying them with clear guidelines – something that’s hard for most people who are trying out their own techniques for the first time.As an example: Let’s say you want your story idea for your screenplay based around merging two characters together into one…you want them both to be family guys who live far away from each other – in fact, one has never met another person outside their family until now – but each also has romantic feelings for each other – so there’s lots of tension between them
It is said that “Writing is rewriting”, and that is true: the process of writing a screenplay is the same as the process of getting a story down on paper. And yet, it’s not…Screenplays are made from scenes, which are then broken down into scenes. A scene might be one second long, or ten seconds long, or three minutes long. Some scenes might include dialogue; others might be action-packed (the kind you see in movies). Some scenes might be framed in an open and natural way… Others might be set up as a series (a set-up), followed by a full-on action sequence. In short, all of these things can make a good scene; they just all have to fit together in order for it to work as a movie (or at least something close).In the case of writing scripts—and even putting together your own screenplay—you need to become more proficient at writing scenes. And you have to do this in order to get better at writing scripts. Or more exactly: you have to learn how to write better scenes.This has two big benefits:
It will help you get better at screenwriting generally when you’re looking for projects — and other writers with whom you’ll be working — in the future — whether they’re making films or otherwise.In this article I want to talk about how that can happen for screenwriters and filmmakers everywhere who don’t already know how to write better scenes — but who would like to do so now and improve their craft on both fronts. It’s also worth noting that there are no “instructions” here; what I’m proposing is not some magical formula – it’s just some suggestion on how good screenwriting could become possible for anyone with enough time, dedication, patience and determination – read below for details .