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General Advice on Scriptwriting
by Ian Pegler (www.freefilmsoftware.co.uk)
Writers write! This is standard
advice for anyone involved with writing of any kind. Get into the habit of
writing. Write consistently and continuously. Make it a part of your daily
routine. Write every day. Write, even if you're stuck and you think what your
coming out with is poor. You can always re-write it later. Keep on writing and
never stop.
Write down what people say. Take a note book with you where ever you go and
write down things you hear. If you over-hear someone with an interesting turn of
phrase or patter, write something down. If you hear people arguing, what kind of
things do they say? What ploys do people use to defend their position?
Become an observer of Life. Observe ordinary people doing everyday things, even
if they might not be so interesting to you. Observe the subtle nuances, the
gestures, the facial expressions. Write it all down or draw it.
Plan what you do. You need to plan your script before you start writing it. This
is one of the reasons that ScriptMaker has an index-card system. It's also the
reason I wrote SLang. A more traditional way is to write ideas down on index
cards and stick them up on a cork-board. Use whatever way suits you.
Don't omit the planning stage. You may think that this stage will slow things
down, but bear in mind that for any substantial project you will spend a lot of
time re-writing your script. Some of this can be avoided by re-planning rather
than re-writing.
Film is a visual medium. Writing a screenplay is not at all like writing a
novel. Avoid excessive amounts of narrative, let the characters and the action
tell the story.
Plan the look of your film. Because film is so visual, you will need to plan the
look of your film. This is especially true if you are directing it yourself.
Storyboard Tools is an excellent tool for visually-planning your film,
shot-by-shot.
Write in terms of what the audience sees and hears. Screenplays are written "in
the now". Don't over use the phrases "we see" or "we hear" but think along those
lines and then reconstruct your sentences to omit those two phrases. That way
you'll be just giving us the action as and when it happens.
Use a three-act structure. Every screenplay has three acts of approximately
equal length - a beginning, middle and end.
Avoid self-indulgence. The characters in your screenplay should act with
purpose, whether for good or evil or whatever. If you don't know why a character
is acting in a particular way, or you are too embarrassed to explain their
actions to script-readers, then you are being self-indulgent and you need to
re-write the scene. If you are the only person who understands what your script
is trying to say you are being self-indulgent. If an actor asks you "what is my
motivation here?" and you find that you can't reply, you're being
self-indulgent. Don't try to avoid this problem by casting yourself.
Don't cast yourself. In the early stages it may be acceptable to cast yourself
or your friends if you can't get hold of suitable actors, however there comes a
stage when you must move beyond this. If you always cast yourself as a matter of
course then you're being self indulgent again.
Be clear about what your screenplay is trying to say. Every film has an angle,
even a "factual" film or a biopic. DON'T adopt the approach that "it's for the
audience to decide" or fudge the issue by declaring it "post-modern". Don't be
afraid to try and put your message across. If you haven't got opinions on
anything then you're not a film-maker and you should give up.
Keep dialog short. Don't have pages and pages and pages of nothing but dialog.
Remember that film is a visual medium, and it is the screen that will be the
primary focus for the audience's attention. Let the action tell the story, not
the dialog or the narrative. The image on the screen must MOVE. Film is about
movement, otherwise you might as well be watching a slide-show.
Don't write "flowery" directions/action. The audience can't see the text of your
script. If it can't be seen or heard then it's non-existent to the audience!
There is no point in writing non-functional directions with loads of long words
with lots of syllables. Remember that you are not writing a novel.
Re-write! Re-write! Don't be afraid to re-write your ideas. Show your script to
family and friends and get it past them before you go seeking professional
advice.
Kill your darlings. If there's one scene that is your particular favourite, look
at it carefully to make-sure you're not being self-indulgent. You'll probably
find that you are, and you'll need to re-write it.
Get the look right. A well written, properly formatted script with no
spelling-errors or bad grammar (except in dialog) is a basic requirement.
ScriptMaker is specially written for formatting your screenplay to professional
standards.
Excitement! You want to show something to your audience right at the start of
the film that will grab their attention and then maintain it for the whole
length of the movie. Take them on an "emotional roller-coaster" of highs and
lows. Vary the pace of the action, vary the length of your scenes.
Make your characters real. Give depth to your characters. Take time to plan your
characters and understand them, to the extent that you always make then act "in
character" and never "out of character". Don't make them do stupid things for
the sake of self-indulgence or for the sake of getting a nice shot. Even mad or
evil characters will act according to some logic, even if it's a very twisted
logic. Know what that logic is and be consistent about it.
Work on the characterisation. What are you characters' traits, habits, turns of
phrase, quirks, likes, dislikes? Does he/she have a dark-side? A troubled past?
Work on the back-story.
Make the audience care about your characters. If your central character behaves
badly, indifferently, has no depth, no personality, why should the audience care
whether he lives or dies? What happens in terms of the action in your film that
will make your audience empathise with your main protagonist?
Have a single protagonist. Be clear in your own mind as to who the central
character in the film is, and write your script around that central character.
Have conflict and resolution. Your central character will need goals, and
obstacles that between him/her and achieving those goals. You will need to
figure out what the goals are, what the obstacles are and how the protagonist
will overcome those obstacles.
How do your characters develop? Be clear about how your characters start and
finish the film and how they develop and change as they learn from their
experiences. This concept of a character changing over time is known as a
"character-arc".
Introduce your characters early as possible. If you introduce your characters
early on in the movie, you'll give yourself more flexibility to develop a
character-arc for each of them.
Software
Screenwriters News
Website exclusively for screenwriters
Coverscript.com
Script writing and analysis service
ScreenPro
ScreenPro eliminates the drudgery of complying with the industry-standard
movie script format, freeing your creative energy for the story-writing process.
Rough Draft
RoughDraft is a donation ware word processor designed with the writer in
mind.
ScreenForge
ScreenForge provides the means to easily write a screenplay in the accepted
Hollywood format. It frees the writer to concentrate on the expressive
craft of writing rather than the rigid rules of formatting, while maintaining
the familiar interface and functionality of MS Word.
Scriptware
With Scriptware scriptwriting software you have the
fastest, easiest and most powerful way to get the story that's in your head onto
the page in the format professionals demand.
Sophocles
Sophocles is a new screenplay software program that emphasizes the
writing process. While other script writing software puts the focus on
margins and page breaks, Sophocles was conceptualized from the start as a
story creation tool for screenwriters. By allowing you to easily navigate
and manipulate your story elements, Sophocles helps you craft a tighter,
smoother flowing screenplay.
DramaDog
This product is all you
need to quickly and easily complete a screenplay. It is packed with tools and
features and is very widely used.
Dramatica Pro
As your creative writing partner,
Dramatica Pro takes you to a special place- a story development environment
where together you'll solve the plot and character problems that prevent many
good stories from becoming great enough to sell. Also check out Movie
Magic Screenwriter by the same company.
Scriptmaker
ScriptMaker is a tool for automatically
formating screenplays and produces high quality, professional looking printed
output comparible with equivalent commercial tools costing hundreds of dollars.
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