Have a good idea, Need a screenwriter

[TheGlobber]

Hello people,

I tried learning screenwriting for a year now, but find it a bit hard to fully complete a project. I have come up with an idea for a trilogy around football ( soccer ). I have laid out the general story and i would like to find someone to work with to write the movie.

I have studied the basic principles of screenwriting and i won't have a problem co-operating with someone. I have read some other posts and i want to say that i am not looking for a co-writer. I am looking for a good screenwriter to work with.

Any experience in sports, particularly football ( soccer ), would be nice.

Any questions are welcome. You can PM me as well if interested.

I hope for the best to all of you.

Regards,

Antonio

[Cyia]

I'm sorry if this sounds snarky, but you're not likely to find anyone who's willing to write your ideas for you. It's a common problem with writers - everyone has an idea they think is gold, but they don't know how to execute it, so they want to find someone to "help" them with it.

The fact of it is that ideas are worthless without execution. What you're asking is for someone to do better than 90% of the work. Once they start writing, their execution will no longer be your idea - it will be theirs because it's their interpretation of it. Ideas don't account for nuance and action, nor do they handle backstory or dialogue or character interaction.

If you really want to do this. Learn the craft. Try again. Get someone to critique your own writing and see what your weaknesses are so you can fix them. It's the only way you're going to get YOUR story told as opposed to someone else's interpretation of your idea.

[gophergrrrl]

I would actually love to try working with another writer. I've written so many of my own scripts based on my own ideas, I'd like to try some collaboration or co-writing. I know you said you're not looking for a co-writer, though.

Unfortunately, I have no understanding of any sport.. haha. I'm a total geek. I loved playing volleyball in highschool gym class, though.

Maybe if you're up for another genre or idea I could join up with you. Like I said, I'm just interested in having the experience of working with another writer. Also, I'm starving for some writer friends. :(

Anyway, enough of my whining. I'm all up for some collaborating if anyone is interested!

[dpaterso]

There's no harm in asking.

Antonio, it's likely everyone is busy working on their own projects, but who knows, someone might be interested enough to contact you for more details. Everyone's always saying, "Why don't they make more football films?" so maybe you're picking a popular topic.

-Derek

[AdamH]

I tried learning screenwriting for a year now, but find it a bit hard to fully complete a project. I have come up with an idea for a trilogy around football ( soccer ). I have laid out the general story and i would like to find someone to work with to write the movie.



Just a question from what you said above: When you said "laid out the general story" do you mean an entire outline (beginning, climax, ending), or is it closer to "I've got some good characters and they should be centred around football (soccer) like Friday Night Lights (north american football movie/tv show)"?

If it's an outline you have, you should have no trouble filling in the blanks for the script itself. Maybe have us be beta readers to give you feed back. You only grow if you keep trying.

If it's the other option where you have a nugget of an idea but nothing pulled together, you could benefit in a brainstorming session to work out an outline.

If you hire a screenwriter outright with only a nugget, you have to expect they'll run with their own vision and not yours. However, if you go the co-writing route, it may benefit as part of your learning curve.

Lots of if's there...but we're all here to help and speak the truth...even if it's hard to take it.

[TheGlobber]

Thank you for all the replies. Well i have an outline but i just need some work with the dialogues. So, i will probably try again and come back with something for you to read.

I just got discouraged after a point, because i couldnt fit some scenes.

As a matter of fact let me ask you something.

Lets say we have a real football game that was played in the past. And i want to add scenes directly from the game. Maybe change them a bit with the intervention of the computer. How do i do it? What do i use in my script?

Regards

[Jim McLain]

Welcome from the frozen north. Remember the only real rule - "Writers write." Keep at it until your fingers bleed and then buy bandaids.

I'm not sure what you are asking about incorporating directly from a game. That sounds like you are maybe trying to do a film editor or director's job. What i would suggest you do is get on the net and look at a dozen or so screen plays to see how it is done. There are a lot of them out there. Why not check out some that have already done what you want and that will give you a bit better of how to write it.That might give you a better idea what you actually want to do.

[gophergrrrl]

I just got discouraged after a point, because i couldnt fit some scenes.

The best advice I was ever given was don't marry your ideas. If a scene doesn't fit, no matter how much you love it, how funny it is, how dramatic it is, how well you think you've written the dialogue... CUT IT. This applies to characters, sub plots, anything.

I've written scenes that I thought quite impressive, only to have some freak technical error cause me to lose my progress. I'd always be glad, though, because the second version was usually better anyway. :)

Good luck on your script!

[Raghu]

Antonio,

Like the others mentioned you are going to find it very difficult to find a collaborator simply because there are too many people out there with too many ideas and these guys are perfectly capable of transforming their ideas into decent screenplays all by themselves. They don’t need to team up with a novice!

50,000 screenplays are written each year and they are begging to be sold. At any point in time it is believed that there are close to ONE MILLION screenplays waiting outside the gates of Hollywood, trying to gain entry. So you see you are up against some pretty tough competition.

However out of the thousands of scripts being written only a handful gets made into films, which suggests that ordinary screenplays with ordinary premises end up in the dustbin.

To cut the long story short, tell me you have an extraordinary premise, one that will make me sit up and say, “ WOW, why didn’t I think of this?” A premise pregnant with immense possibilities to create suspense, tension, conflict and every other ingredient necessary to cook up a great script and I will be happy to collaborate with you.

You don’t have to pay me and I don’t need any credit. I will spend my time and energy just for the pleasure of working on a great premise.

So, what say you???

Raghu.

[TheGlobber]

I dont really know if it is that promising. So what i am gonna do is take a shot at it again and if i fail we talk.. Thanks for the free offer btw..

[Hang of Thursdays]

Also keep in mind that the chance that the idea isn't actually all that good. Since you're a new writer, it's probably not, and committing yourself to trying to write a trilogy about it might a) send you spiraling into madness or b) disillusion you, because you've made it too hard on yourself. You're new. Write small. Work your way up.

I've only been focusing on screenwriting for a few months, but I've been writing for 15 years, and I'm just now getting to the point where I can weed out the ideas I think are good but really aren't from the ones that don't suck all that much.

[TheGlobber]

Thank you Hang i will keep it in mind..

[icerose]

Thank you for all the replies. Well i have an outline but i just need some work with the dialogues. So, i will probably try again and come back with something for you to read.

I just got discouraged after a point, because i couldnt fit some scenes.

As a matter of fact let me ask you something.

Lets say we have a real football game that was played in the past. And i want to add scenes directly from the game. Maybe change them a bit with the intervention of the computer. How do i do it? What do i use in my script?

Regards

Here's what you do with those scenes. You create a SCRAP folder in your documents. Everytime there is a scene that you can't bear to delete but isn't fitting, you cut it, paste it in a blank window and save it in your scrap folder. You haven't lost anything you love, you're simply taking them out of a place they don't belong. They may later find a home somewhere else in another piece or inspire you for another scene, or collect dust, but at least they won't be cluttering your story where they just don't belong.

[TheGlobber]

That is a good idea icerose.. I ll keep it in mind.. It is just that sometimes you have a great scene but it is nearly impossible to fit it in. Im sure everyone has been to this position.. I will just dump it or otherwise i wont get my script finished..

As a matter of fact a question came to my mind just now.. Which online dictionary and/or thesaurus do you recommend? I have searched here and there without much success.

Thanks in advance

[icerose]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/

[Team 2012]

I'm sorry if this sounds snarky

Doesn't sound snarky from here. It's always astonishing that people think screenwriters know how to write a script but don't have any ideas of their own.

To be a little more responsive: one learns in the writing game to stay away from anybody who wants you to write up their ideas that they can't write down themselves. If you can write an idea down, do a script or treatment, however clunky, somebody might look at it. But it's provably insane to try to organize and write the ideas of somebody who for some reason can't do it themselves.

Unless, of course, there's a big chunk of money upfront.

[WMcQuaig]

First of all I can understand what your talking about, about not being able to finish projects. I think every writer knows what they have to do in order to finish writing a story.

For myself, make it past page 10. After that, Make it past page 20.

If I can keep myself interested in it to that point, I'm golden. One trick you may want to try, You mentioned you were new to the screenwriting thing, get a journal. A writer friend of mine told me that you need to carry a journal with you EVERYWHERE! You never know when something will hit you. I also employ the motto of the lead guitarist of Linkin Park. "If it's good enough to remember than you don't have to write it down." I carry the journal for all the things that aren't good enough to remember. But you can grow them.

To respond to your post exactly: I don't think you need a co-writer, co-conspirator, co-anything. You can do it yourself you just need to figure out what you need to do to be able to finish it. That's the proverbial "voice" people talk about when talking about writers. It sounds like you need to develop your voice. If there is any help I might be able to give you, your welcome to PM me and I'll give the best advice I can.

[TheGlobber]

Thanks WMcQuaig.. I have already started by re-reading some books i have and i might use your idea with the journal.

As for icerose thank you for the dictionary..