Alert Screen Writers!

[Terry Lee]

Hello all!

I am in search for ANYTHING that can teach me the step by step process of writing a screen play. I have been thinking of some great ideas lately and have been writing them down. However, I have no idea how to organize them into a "professional" format so that I can communicate the ideas with my team. I need to know everything from story board to cut and print!

Thanks everyone!

[Chris Coulson]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/writing/tips.shtml

have a look here - particularly for scriptsmart. it's a free word template/macro that you might find helpful?

[Richard Alvarez]

Another free screenwriting program

http://www.celtx.com/


There are dozens of books about format, structure and theme. Any of them will help you get started. I own a shelf full, and find myself using two of them more than others.

"How to write a movie in 21 days" by Vicki King

"The Writers Journey" by Christopher Vogler


You can also drop by www.absolutewrite.com and puruse the screenwriting forum.

[James Stone]

I use The Screenwriter's Bible by Dave Trottier. It breaks everything down from dialog format to Intercuts etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Screenwriters-.../dp/1879505843

James

[Terry Lee]

Awesome. I will check those sources out. Thank you all.

Anyone else who has a suggestion please feel free to reply!

[Brian Keith Moody]

The number of screenwriting books on the market today will soon outnumber cockroaches.

When I began writing scripts back in the 70’s, there were roughly five or ten such books (and people in Hollywood were a helluva lot nicer than they are today). I learned plotting and such from books on novel writing. That’s all I could find. Today, anybody who can spell has written a book on screenwriting. I won’t attempt to recommend any books because I stopped reading those things over a decade ago. However, I will recommend a site where you can download professionally written scripts to famous movies you’ve probably seen. One such site is The Daily Script at www.dailyscript.com

There are other such sites and The Daily Script link page will list them for you. Again, these are professionally written scripts and will teach you the correct format. Format, by the way, is the least of your concerns. Format is easy. The language of screenwriting is easy. Plot is relatively easy. Bringing a character to life – now that’s freaking hard! Good luck.

[Terry Lee]

Originally Posted by Brian Keith Moody

The number of screenwriting books on the market today will soon outnumber cockroaches.

When I began writing scripts back in the 70’s, there were roughly five or ten such books (and people in Hollywood were a helluva lot nicer than they are today). I learned plotting and such from books on novel writing. That’s all I could find. Today, anybody who can spell has written a book on screenwriting. I won’t attempt to recommend any books because I stopped reading those things over a decade ago. However, I will recommend a site where you can download professionally written scripts to famous movies you’ve probably seen. One such site is The Daily Script at www.dailyscript.com

There are other such sites and The Daily Script link page will list them for you. Again, these are professionally written scripts and will teach you the correct format. Format, by the way, is the least of your concerns. Format is easy. The language of screenwriting is easy. Plot is relatively easy. Bringing a character to life – now that’s freaking hard! Good luck.

Thank you for your wisdom Brian. I will certainly take a look at the site. I initially started looking at the script for American Gangster to get an idea of what I was up against. And you're right, there isn't much to writing a scene down on paper. I had it in mind before that there was going to be certain other side notes for the director, such as the mood of the scene, whats happening in the back ground and other thigns I can't think of off the top of my head. So therefore I was alittle concerned with format because once I am standing behind the camera man with the script in hand, then what? I mean, I'll know how I want the film to look and feel from scene to scene, but I didn't know if there was any format that sorta made it go easier and made it more professional.

Thanks again!
-Terry.