Welcome to TPub Comics!: Screenwriting

Showing posts with label Screenwriting. Show all posts

Final part of Charlie Brooker's interviews with great writers

My notes on this section:

2nd and 3rd drafts are much easier. The first is the hardest. Some people do 20 drafts!
A lot of what you write will be binned, but you have to ignore that.
You have to re-write and re-write. You're honing it each time and making it sharper each time.
People don't seem to like writing!

Watching this reminded me of a great quote by Steven King. He said that 'with the first draft you are telling yourself the story, with the second, you are telling others'. Now I'm paraphrasing here - I don't know his quote directly, but it was a very useful thing to hear.

Part 4 of Charlie Brooker's interview with top screenwriters

My notes from this clip:

Avoid exposition in dialogue - "i'd rather be confused for 10 minutes than bored for 5 seconds"
If you want to see an example of goos stage direction, read the screenplay for Ultimate Force. I tried to find a link to it, but couldn't! Might want to try the script for Lethal weapon
Action direction is important, but don't make it lengthy. The action directions should be as exciting as the story.

Someone once pointed out to me that in supermarkets it should be '10 items or fewer', not '10 items or less'. Once you see an error like that, it sticks out. It's the same with bad dialogue. After watching this clip, bad dialogue in the future will stick out like a sore thumb.

Soooo, if you are a writer, it's a great thing. If you're not, you might not want to watch!

More tips from some famous writers!

My notes from this clip:

How do you avoid cliches for stock characters? Well, sometimes cliches are great because they are funny.
When creating characters you can base each character of 3 or 4 people. Usually people you know, but you can base them on actors
Once you pick an actor that matches a character perfectly, you can read with lots of other actors to see who gels. [They did this on Twilight after casting Kristen Stewart.]
A technique for writing dialogue is to write it, then keep removing words. As long as it still makes sense, remove dialogue until it is as tight as it can be

More advice from top writers.

Lessons learnt from this clip:

Many writers have long periods of not completing anything!
Some need external discipline to make sure they have written.
People take things that they find funny/interesting and twist them to use them in a new way.
Some people (like me) are very structured, others (talented bastards) can make it up as they go along, but most DO have a rough structure in their heads.
The first draft can be just a bunch of notes that needs to be re-done

To complement Charlie Brooker's videos on screenwriting, here are some tips by guest writer John Halas

Are you seeking a screenwriting career? If you are determined to have a screenwriting career, there are two key survival elements you must endure. The first to screenwriting success is learning how to earn money and work as a screenwriter in the marketplace. This refers to searching for paid gigs where you write for other people and earn a living from that.

The second key element to having a screenwriting career is establishing your voice and creativeness as a screenwriter. This is where you get to write your own work and develop your own story ideas and then sell them to a producer. Now a lot of novice screenwriters will make the mistake of thinking they have to choose only one element. The truth is you should never limit yourself to just one.

If you want a screenwriting career then you should be writing your own scripts as well as scripts for other people who are paying you. That way you can make money and get as much experience as you possibly can as a screenwriter. Remember this is the profession you have chosen, so you should be devoting your time to screenwriting. If the paid gigs are taking up a lot of your time, then try devoting at least an hour each day to writing your own screenplay. If that is not possible, try writing one page of your screenplay each day. After 100 days, you will end up with a 100 page script of your own while consistently working on paid gigs throughout this time. Remember, this is screenwriting survival. You have to use every bit of time you can to work on both elements, even if it is 15 minutes per day.

How to Start a Career as a New Screenwriter

If you are a new screenwriter seeking a screenwriting career, then you need to learn about the film industry first before marketing your script to anyone. The best way to learn about the film industry is to read books, attend film festivals, make contacts, and learn about film contracts. The next thing you want to do is have a professional in the industry, like another screenwriter, review your script. This isn't going to be someone you are selling to at this point. This is someone who is going to give you their objective opinion about your screenplay and then provide you with feedback as to how it can be improved. Let this feedback serve you as a tool for learning from your mistakes and becoming a more knowledgeable screenwriter as a result.

Of course, there is nobody who is going to be a perfect screenwriter. The rules of having a screenwriting career are not set in stone, which means many screenwriters might have different opinions about things like formatting, sluglines, scene structure and so forth. What you want to do is focus on the basic rules that everyone agrees with and then choosing your own path of writing that makes sense to you. Later on if you come across a producer that wants their script written in a particular way, you will know how to accommodate their wishes.

Source