Calling all SCREENWRITERS...?
 

As you know everyone "thinks" they can be screenwriters and I guess I am one of them. Funny how I can say that when I have no real clue what it takes and how to actually get anyone to read one, but what the heck.
I think everyone had at least one good personal story to tell, so everyone should write at least one movie.

Can you PROs help this "want to be" on what I should do??
-- Good script writing software??
-- Should I take classes?? buy mags or books??
-- partner up with one of you experts and make $$$Millions......


How about it Jack! Want a good story!!!


Since I have not seen you on the Oscars, I hope there is still room for growth..:D:D

I think the engineering gig is really starting to get old. 23 years, and all I have to show for this is an old Porsche!! I want to be one of those Hollywood types with either a turbo or an RSR....

Help a brother out!!:cool::cool:

I'm not a screenwriter but I do make money writing - most boring stuff but it pays well.

Software: MS Word

My suggestion is not to take any classes. You would be better off teaching them!

As for partnering up - tricky business. The person you will partner with is either better than you or worse. If better than you, what is in it for them? If worse, whats in it for you? Advice and insight from someone else is great. Even a well placed quote is a good idea but careful when partnering. Its never 50/50.

As with most things, I imagine it's not what you know, but who you know. . .

Bingo for Jeff!

A buddy in town was in the Toronto film business and he said the same thing.

Get some software and play around with it for a while. Or download something off the net to check out it's format.

+1
On NOT taking a class.
I could see it being more detremental than useful.

There are some software out on the mac that turns your screen into the old monochrome (green types) of yesteryear. the cool thing is that you won't get distrubed by all the stuff on your screen like email and PPOT ;)

Read scripts of good movies that you haven't seen.

At worst, you'll have a heightened viewing experience. At best, you might learn something about telling a visual tale in text. How to describe action/images.

If you haven't seen it, I'd suggest reading "Do the Right Thing". Spike Lee writes as though he is selling each scene as he is describing it. I wanted to watch the movie the second I was done reading it. The Coen's and Woody Allen also come to mind as good suggestions. And maybe...as I am writing this it is occuring to me...it is critical that the writer have some production/direction control for this to be of benefit. Seems like the first scripts that came to mind fit that pattern.

Anyway...I have no expertise in this area, but you might find the -read then watch- experiment enlightening...or at least motivating.

Or you could just do what the big boys do and write it and have Jack or Carrie Fisher fix it for ya.

If all will notice, (or not) Jack hasn't been posting a lot here lately...
Maybe he's figured out that Mulholland "runs" just might be illegal???

Wickd89.... if you can find the Jack Olson GQ article from a couple of years ago, maybe it is online somewhere or Olson can get it for you...it would probably show a few things about how the industry works. Lots of the top stars will only work with their chosen writers and even if they get a good script, often their writer will step in and do a re-write and the original screenwriter gets pay but no credit... as with most things in life, it takes persistance and contacts to get something actually going....

in the opposite direction of that are screenwriters who have taken it upon themselves in an entreprenerial sense...to finance and possibly direct their own projects.... (aka 'pulling a Tarentino') this works particularly well for the indy-film type of thing...and if it is good...then can get into some of the festivals etc. and generate some buzz...but you will need some level of financing and some contacts to get that done...

Here is a great link on screenwriting that you can find a ton of great advice and columns...these 2 writers, Elliott and Rossio....started out like you and i...didnt have anything going other than their work and persistance and now they have quite a few films under their belt, including Pirates of the Carribbean etc. They are totally honest and candid on this great website... link:

http://www.wordplayer.com/

In addition...read lots of scripts to get familiar with the format, and maybe take some acting classes so you can actually work through some dialogue (and you will find that most written dialogue sucks lol!) and when you act it with other people...you find yourself thinking about rewritting the garbage on the spot...but you usually cant! good experience though...

Like you I have some ideas.... the one script that I have started is a comedy-farce that is very much in the Will Ferrell vein... Ive got that one sketched out and work on it from time to time... the other idea takes place in the early 70s 'Easy Rider' in a roadside bar type feel..

with the musical projects and composing that im involved in though, i have little time to spend on these... unfortunately...

I know nothing about "hollweird biz"...This, I'll admit. So? I'm going to shut up as far as speculating why Jack may have shut up.

A lot in the industry use http://www.finaldraft.com/.

Fade in:
Boy meets girl
Boy loses girl
Boy gets girl back
Roll credits

Thanks for not laughing everyone. You never know...

A couple of screenplays I like are "Goodwill Hunting" and the "joy Luck Club" and I hope to write in a similar format.

I agree, I think there are a million scripts out there that never get done. You will know if mine makes it when you see me post pics of my Gulf blue and orange 911RS clone done from scratch by TRE.

Oh come on Craig, that'll never sell!

My two-cents is this. Scripts like "Juno" is what H'wood is looking for these days. What that means is deep story with well-honed honest characters. Story is coming back into vogue, even in action movies. The newest Batman is a good example.

And if you think someone outside "the industry" can't get a script made into a movie, look again to "Juno." The writer, Diablo Cody, was a secretary, a stripper and well-known blogger.
http://images.starpulse.com/pictures...CSH-034323.jpg
Now she's an Academy Award winner. :cool:

I have a finished script, but can't get anyone but my friends and family to read it. And they all say it's better than most movies they've seen lately.

It's funny, but I'm so busy working my relatively low-paying "day job", that I don't have time to market my script. But if I could just get my foot in the door, perhaps I could make a lot more money. I have ideas for many more scripts. Conclusion: my job is keeping me from making money!

I figure the odds of publishing a book are better, so I'm writing two books; one fiction and one non-fiction.

I'll check out some of the links here. I'm still hopeful.

Charlie,
Write it up as a book. Publish it then pitch it as a movie. AT least you will have some street cred when you pitch it. Even if you only sell 10,000 copies.

Wicked89, the best way to get your idea read is to do a synopsis and a "treatment". That will make it easier to shop. Here's some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_treatment

Also, the way you format a script will help sell it. PM me and I can e-mail a sample script to you so you can get a better idea of a final draft. HTH

Thanks for the advice, Lube.

It could be a novel, but the movie is written already. Besides, I am more than half done with a novel that will help to at least get me somewhat known. And it, too, would make a good movie. In fact, I started it as a script but switched to novel form pretty quick.

Wish me luck. And congratulations on your literary endeavors.

I heard that Diablo's agent actually found out about her and her blog while surfing for porn on the internet. She exploited her past as a stripper quite well to gain attention, though now there is some backlash against her. In this generation it makes sense that this would happen: porn, tats, mixing with mainstream movies. Everyone needs their break no matter how you get it!

I have not seen Juno, but some of the previews to me suggest that the dialogue for the 16 year old girl character is quite advanced and perhaps a bit beyond what a normal 16 year old would use in real life...but that is ok if it works for the film which it obviously did.

Probably the biggest elements in getting this done is persistance to continue writing every day, not getting to critical over your first drafts just keep refining, and then having the social ability and sack to go out and shop your material. The http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/welcome.html website has a lot of articles and columns from the authors who have successful careers, on how to successfully pitch your material and get it in there.

writing is rewriting

you need an agent and/or an "in". It is who you know.

Sonic - you're correct.

Todd - you're correct as well.

Exposure is key - this week we were in the New York Art Expo with an artist who's known mostly in pulp comics and on DC Comics titles. Now, since the show, his stuff is selling very well - original oils for $4K and up (though we also have less expensive prints). I think we've sold six this week alone.
http://clampettstudio.com/images/new...lackmailer.jpg
We act as agents and publishers. But we would have never known about this guy unless he approached us.

So the rule is: execute and send it out. Sooner or later someone will notice your work and potentially purchase it.

And never fear agents, publishers or studios. They have more to lose by not looking at your work than by you sending it to them.