How do I learn to write scripts?
March 15, 2015 3:23 PM Subscribe
I started writing scripts about 6 months ago, kinda outa the blue. I feel like I've gone as far as I can go by myself.
I enrolled in a script-writing class that was scheduled for the 2nd half of this semester at the local community college. It was just cancelled due to lack of enrollees. :(
I've recently started going to an Improv class and I can see how this will help. But its not direct instruction on writing. What can I do?
I enrolled in a script-writing class that was scheduled for the 2nd half of this semester at the local community college. It was just cancelled due to lack of enrollees. :(
I've recently started going to an Improv class and I can see how this will help. But its not direct instruction on writing. What can I do?
Backwards and Forwards by David Ball
The Dramatic Writer's Companion by Will Dunne
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (about writing in general rather than playwriting)
Story by Robert McKee
The Playwright's Guidebook by Stuart Spencer (particularly the section on writing from impulse)
All to be read critically, rather than as gospel.
posted by HeroZero at 4:03 PM on March 15, 2015
The Dramatic Writer's Companion by Will Dunne
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (about writing in general rather than playwriting)
Story by Robert McKee
The Playwright's Guidebook by Stuart Spencer (particularly the section on writing from impulse)
All to be read critically, rather than as gospel.
posted by HeroZero at 4:03 PM on March 15, 2015
Should be noted that my suggestions (with the exception of McKee) are geared more towards writing for the stage than the screen.
posted by HeroZero at 4:06 PM on March 15, 2015
posted by HeroZero at 4:06 PM on March 15, 2015
The Q&A Podcast with Jeff Goldsmith has a ton of great interviews with screenwriters. He really delves into the nuts and bolts of screenwriting with the guests.
posted by puritycontrol at 5:04 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by puritycontrol at 5:04 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
One thing that really helped me as a film student was reading famous screenplays that are available online. You might find them useful too! Just search for the name of a movie whose style you'd like to emulate plus "screenplay" and see what you get.
posted by Hermione Granger at 5:35 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Hermione Granger at 5:35 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Watch a movie you love and try to write the screenplay as you watch it. Then compare what you write to the actual shooting scripts.
posted by hamsterdam at 10:34 PM on March 15, 2015
posted by hamsterdam at 10:34 PM on March 15, 2015
Just personal preference but I prefer Michael Hague to Syd Field.
posted by OolooKitty at 10:51 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by OolooKitty at 10:51 PM on March 15, 2015 [1 favorite]
Buy some old scripts, or books with scripts. Green Apple Books is great for this, as they have a whole "film books" section, but obviously, those would be movie scripts.
Search online and you can see a lot of scripts for every TV show in existence.
Obviously those are only good for inspiration.
Everybody arrives at a script differently. Some write treatment, then scene outline, then each individual scene. Some use note cards (scene tidbits) then rearrange them as see fit. Some write beginning and end and try to arrive at a middle. Everybody has a different approach, and you need to figure out your own. Other than Michael Hague and Syd Field, I'd also check out the book on Scriptwriting by J. M. Strazynski aka JMS, creator of Babylon 5 and many other TV. I wouldn't bother with those "write a script in 3 weeks" or books like that.
posted by kschang at 11:32 PM on March 15, 2015
Search online and you can see a lot of scripts for every TV show in existence.
Obviously those are only good for inspiration.
Everybody arrives at a script differently. Some write treatment, then scene outline, then each individual scene. Some use note cards (scene tidbits) then rearrange them as see fit. Some write beginning and end and try to arrive at a middle. Everybody has a different approach, and you need to figure out your own. Other than Michael Hague and Syd Field, I'd also check out the book on Scriptwriting by J. M. Strazynski aka JMS, creator of Babylon 5 and many other TV. I wouldn't bother with those "write a script in 3 weeks" or books like that.
posted by kschang at 11:32 PM on March 15, 2015
The Scriptnotes podcast with John August (Big Fish, Go) and Craig Mazin (The Hangover, Identity Thief) is really, really good and has a huge back catalogue. They cover a lot of craft questions as well as industry inside baseball stuff. It's great.
John August's screenwriting.io site is also a great resource.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:28 AM on March 16, 2015
John August's screenwriting.io site is also a great resource.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:28 AM on March 16, 2015
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Also...Blake Snyder's Save the Cat will tell you how to get your emotional beats into a screenplay. Again, it's overdone and the examples are a bit non-inventive at this point, but you have to start somewhere.
Finally, just read every screenplay you can get your hands on. Get yourself a copy of Final Draft, so you can write in the correct format without having to do all the formatting yourself.
Then write! Write a scene, give it to actor friends and see how it looks, listen to how it sounds. Write another one! Try filming it with your phone and editing it in a free editing program. When I started screenwriting (25 years ago) the tools of the trade were so expensive that it was like writing blind, but now, you can literally write five pages, shoot and edit them, and get reactions from total strangers online all in the same day!
posted by xingcat at 4:03 PM on March 15, 2015 [2 favorites]