I am new. Any tips would be nice.

[Swicegood]

I am a brand new, non-experienced screewriter who would really like some help. But really, and tips would be nice.

I have purchased some screenwriting books, including Screenwriting for Dummies, but I it's just not as useful as real, person-to-person help. So I have started this thread to ask for any tips on the process.

Any at all, including formatting, plot development, character development, and dialogue, which seems to be my biggest problem.

Thanks in advance.

[Ol' Fashioned Girl]

I'm not a scriptwriter, so I don't have any tips for you - but I saw you were new and just wanted to welcome you to AW. I'm absolutely (no pun intended) sure you'll find the help and knowledge you're looking for here.

Again, welcome!

[dpaterso]

Hi, welcome to the forum.

Best advice I can offer you is: read scripts -- secret of the universe.

If you haven't already, check out the screenwriting tips (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24087) thread which contains info plus links that you may find useful, including how to format scripts, screenwriting software, sites with free scripts for educational purposes, etc.

You'll have noticed the Screenwriting Critique Board sub-forum, it's there for you to post loglines/script pages and receive feedback. Take a moment to read existing threads and the responses they received. If you like, you know what to do!

-Derek
My Web Page - sci-fi, fantasy, horror, cyborgs, AIs, dragons, vampyres. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
There's a story going around 'bout how some 20 Redcoats got killed by a ghost or some damn thing, carried a Cherokee tomahawk.

[BottomlessCup]

1. Biggest, best piece of advice: Read a lot of scripts. Write down your ten favorite movies, track down the scripts and read them. Then read twenty more.

2. Site link removed per request of other site's Webmaster

3. Realize that your first script is going to stink. Allow it to stink. Get it done, get some feedback, and move on to the good ones.

4. Don't try to sell anything until you're ready. You'll know.

5. Other good books: "The Screenwriter's Bible" by David Trottier. "The Writer's Journey" by Christopher Vogler. "Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach" by Paul Gulino.

6. Don't be afraid to post some pages. We're not too harsh. :)

7. Never forget that the best way to become a better screenwriter is to write. Books, seminars, feedback, whatever can help a little. But it's writing that makes you a better writer.

[DeborahM]

Welcome to AW Swicegood! :welcome:

I write mysteries, but ditto on their advice. Check out all the boards and their advice. Writing takes time to improve and find your voice. So write and it will happen.

You'll find there's lots of great information and great people here. Enjoy your stay.

[Swicegood]

Thanks so much for all of your advice.
I didn't notice the "Screenwriting Tips" thread at the forum until after I posted this one. But, also, thank you for welcoming me here.
I will use your advice wisely, I hope. :)

And again, thanks for your useful suggestions.

-Swicegood

[RainbowDragon]

Hmm - I don't subscribe to the "your first script will stink" club. Just don't be afraid of revision after revision, and getting an opinion from a more experienced screenwriter you can trust doesn't hurt (trust being key) - if you don't know any such screenwriters, just make the best of whatever feedback you get as you're marketing. Generally it's a long haul, most specs don't sell overnight. Can take years (see Jenna's thread below) Good luck!

[Swicegood]

Alrighty, thanks!

[dpaterso]

And... I'm just mentioning this for interest's sake, not trying to scare you off or anything :) ...several members are gearing up to write a script during November, as a screenwriting alternative to the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge. Check out the NaScriWriMo?!? Anybody up for it? (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43132) thread if you're curious. Maybe this sounds like diving headlong into the deep end of the pool, but it could also provide you with great motivation and incentive to write the hell out of a script. I'm not saying do it, or don't do it... just making you aware. :)

-Derek
My Web Page - sci-fi, fantasy, horror, cyborgs, AIs, dragons, vampyres. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57)
To make you a vampire they have to suck your blood. And then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing. Mostly they're just gonna kill you.

[MrJayVee]

...I'd like to make a minor addendum to Rainbow Dragon's comment of "...most specs don't sell overnight." Actually, most specs don't sell. Period.

But don't worry about selling right now. Learn how to write a solid, saleable screenplay. Read a few book. Read a bunch of scripts. Write. Write. Write. Get professional opinions/critiques. Rewrite. Rewrite. Rewrite. It could take months before you’re able to write something you can eventually option/sell – or it could take years. It’s possible it will never happen. But you won’t find out until you start.

Good luck!

[Swicegood]

Thanks for the advice, and motivation. I think it's motivation. Haha.

And about the NaNoWriMo, or NaScriWriMo, I'm up for it, if I can. I'll try to at least. I guess that's all I can do is try my best.

And that I will...

Thanks!

[scripter1]

the MOST important part!!!

ENJOY this first script.

Enjoy the rush of ideas, the excitement of creating, the beauty and novelty of learning something new.
Play around with your ideas, live them, love them, give them life.
Let EACH and EVERY ONE enjoy a moment in the sun.

Turn your creativity loose and don't let it be bound by any rules.

Plenty of time for that later.


Other then that I agree with everybody else.

WAIT, ya'll forgot Bill Martell's ScriptSecrets!!!
He posts a tip a day and they are wonderful.

[mommyjo2]

I totally agree that you need to go to the Site link removed per request of other site's Webmaster. 60 + columns on screenwriting, and there is a very active forum that you can search, cross-reference, and read archives up to 10 years (I think) back.
You didn't say what kind of scripts you are writing - I'll assume it is full length feature specs.
Read free scripts online at: http://www.simplyscripts.com/ or Drew's Script-o-Rama at http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html

There are a couple of magazines you might be interested in:
Creative Screenwriting, which is revamping it's website to have a lot more info : www.csweb.ws
and Scr(i)pt, which was just purchased by Final Draft (the software company) http://www.scriptmag.com/
This site is very good for beginners:
http://www.screenwriting.info/

I'm also reading Lew Hunter's book, Screenwriting 434, and highly recommend it. Syd Field is also has a couple of how-to books out. His books are pretty much the standard of scriptwriting instruction. Orson Scott Card has a wonderful book called "Character and Viewpoint" which is awesome for any writer. I also recommend anything about writing from Stephen King. He is a master and explains things to new writers in a very lucid way.

Last but not least, watch movies. Choose movies that are in your genre. Get a notebook and watch them with a clock or timer and make notes about what happens when. This will give you an idea of pacing, how to build tension, how to keep raising the stakes, etc.

I'm still working at being a pro, too... I've got some blogs you might like but I don't think I'm supposed to post the links here.

Good luck!

[wordmonkey]

- If you love words, think of a different career.

- "Active verbage" is your new mantra.

- Come into a scene AFTER it's started.

- Leave a scene BEFORE it's ended.

- Nobody really wants to steal your idea, but register your script anyway.

- Your first script will suck.

- You won't realize how much your first script sucks until at best, your third script.

- No matter how bad your first script, it's all loam for what follows. And the most fertile loam is ****.

- Supposedly the easiest spec script to sell is horror. Even a low budget horror will make its money back on DVD.

- Don't EVER pay to have someone read your script. OK, there are script coverage places that are perhaps not quite bogus, but you'd be better working a network of contacts and getting feedback there. And if you know and respect the people giving you feedback, it's priceless.

- NEVER direct from the page. You're writing a script to sell, not a script to be filmed. There's a big difference and you might not even write the filming script to your sold script.

- Never watch a movie and think, "JEEZ! Who wrote this? A trained monkey could do better! I KNOW I could." See the tip above. The script that someone bought was deemed good enough to have people put up a chunk of money (and even a low-budget movie is generally a chunk of money) - what happens after producers, directors, actors, other writers, producers' wives, directors of photography, craft service guys, agents and managers, is a whole different story.

- Your baby will get savagely mauled. And that's if you sell. Best way to look at it, is like a teenager. You gave birth, you raised it, made it the best it could be, now it's out on its own and has to look after itself.

- Someone ALWAYS thinks that if you just made this one change, it would really make the script work. They are usually wrong, but if they sign the check....

- This is a business. Never forget that. You can be as artistic as you want, but the people with teh money are business people.

- If you get lucky, cash the check, smile and move on.

- This is a business. Didn't forget that, did ya?

[nielsty]

And if you are about to give up and need some motivation then read "The first time I got paid for it". It's all kind of script writers telling about a sale that ment something great to them.

[xhouseboy]

Your first script may suck, but that doesn't mean the idea behind it isn't solid, just that you haven't yet mastered how to deliver the story.

An example. A writer sold his third spec. It done all right. He went back and revisited his first script, a pilot for a TV series, applied what he'd learnt. It was snapped up immediately by a UK production company who had US connections. One of the biggest US agencies represented this company's interests in the American market, and are now touting the writer's work to the networks.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. The idea may be good, the craft may require a fair bit of honing.

[Swicegood]

Thanks guys.
Your help is, well, helpful!

But really, thanks.
=D