ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXHow You Can Become a More Productive Screenwriter
12 years, 4 months ago - AndBut Films
Would be interested to hear from more members -- including people who rarely post here or even haven't posted here before:
If you are experiencing a productive year please tell us!
Have you completed some feature scripts or shorts? Perhaps you haven't posted to Script Pitch Network, but would you be willing to post a logline here so others have an idea of the kind of thing you do?
Perhaps one of your projects has been produced or optioned.
Or:
----Do you have outlines or treatments that you have completed but need help writing a first draft?
----Are you revising your completed scripts?
----Have you been sending out scripts for feedback or asking producers if they want a look?
----Are you sitting on several completed screenplays and now wondering what to write next?
---Are you primarily a producer, director, or actor and have written something that seems unfinished but for whatever reason have not yet found a writer to collaborate with?
---What help would you wish to find from the Shooting People community or elsewhere that could assist you in moving forward with:
IDEAS
OUTLINES
DRAFTS
REVISION
MARKETING
Only members can post or respond to topics. LOGIN
Not a member of SP? JOIN or FIND OUT MORE
12 years, 4 months ago - Q-ell Betton
I'll go first then. I recently finished making my first short film. I had always seen myself as a wannabe scriptwriter, but a good friend of mine, who is in the film and television business, bullied me into making my first film. It is the best thing I have done for a long time.
Though emotionally draining - when it's your own work, even the most pragmatic person cannot help but become involved - it was still a fantastic learning curve and it has really given me impetus - something that had been a little lost - to write more. Also, something that can get lost, even if you know it logically, is how collaborative a process filmmaking is. Writing - unless you're lucky enough to be part of a US comedy writing team - is solitary. It taught me so much - how my script worked (or didn't), what could be shot (just about anything, except bright sunlight!), what to watch out for (continuity), post production editing and sound, so much.
The biggest itch I have to metaphorically scratch, with regards to writing, is going from short film, idea; to something longer and structurally sound. How do you do that?
12 years, 4 months ago - Lee 'Wozy' Warren
I came back to the industry this year after a self imposed ‘holiday’ of about five years. Before this break, I had written two feature scripts and about 30+ short scripts.
My film career started at the age of eleven, writing stories in the back of my school books during lessons. Yes, I know, I know… Then at weekends would shoot the films with friends as heroes and parents as villains. We’d shoot on Super 8mm at first as video didn’t yet exist in a friendly format. Then as I grew further would save up more and shoot 16mm (even before s16mm).
This eventually led to me directing music promos in London to pay the bills as I continued writing and developing ideas that fascinated and intrigued me. Then in 2007 I was given the opportunity to direct my first feature. I worked extensively on refining the script prior to production which was a complete joy – no honestly. And one of the things I found as a director is that the script didn’t always work in some ways or some areas that as a writer I thought it would. This experience was invaluable to me as a developing screenwriter. I also got to work with one of my hero’s, who I grew up admiring as a British BAFTA winning director, and who supported me as a mentor, to which I’m eternally grateful. You know who you are ;)
Since my return, I have been amazed at how quickly I have settled back down into the role of writer and filmmaker again. Work seems to be coming in again nicely as I’m nearly finished my come-back short film script, I’m penned to direct a crime thriller feature later this year and I’m working on a TV drama spec with the support of an old colleague who was co-producer on one of my favourite crime TV shows.
The one big change that I have made to my writing style over the last 10 years is to how I structure a story. I’ve given up relying on the old fashioned 3 act structure and now utilise the Truby 7 and 22 step structure which I have found very liberating. Other than that, my characters all have flaws, needs, beliefs, goals both psychological and moral. I’m now starting to feel like my work is starting to be more real, more professional, more marketable.