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coolhandsarrah posted:Hey screenwriting goons. I'm currently trying to expand my spec script portfolio to include one-hour dramas (currently I only have sitcoms). Does anyone else here write specs? Where do you get scripts? Specifically, I'm looking for a Treme script/teleplay, I've had no luck finding one online. Any other tips from TV drama writers is appreciated! I have a friend who writes for Treme. But I'd just write it as you see fit. I assume you're a fan of the show if you're going to do a spec for it, so you must have an idea of how the show sounds and so on? Don't bog yourself down in getting everything just so. edit: I see you asked Reddit too. The_Doctor fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Sep 19, 2011 |
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Sep 19, 2011 13:49
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Ever watch a movie and go "Holy poo poo, this is genius. Why couldn't I have written this first?" gently caress David Fincher's Zodiac. He has Fight Club and the Social Network! Can I just go back in time and have Zodiac? Pretty please! Just this once! I'm a writer/director! You don't even have to find another guy to direct the drat thing! Come on, man!
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Sep 20, 2011 01:47
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I do that with every film that features witty zingers because I'm terrible at witty zingers. Speaking witty zingers, today's distraction: transcribing an audience recording of Merrily We Roll Along from 1981 in Celtx. whyyyyyyyyy am i doing this
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Sep 20, 2011 02:06
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I almost want to start a screenplay about some kind of historical serial-killer, but I'm afraid if I do it right after watching Zodiac I'll be too heavily influenced. Should I use this new-found inspiration to just go for it, or should I wait until I'm not so hot to trot? Also, if someone asks me why I write screenplays, I say "Because I can use all the witty zingers I think up after the fact in real life, at the perfect time."
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Sep 20, 2011 02:09
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MixMasterGriff posted:I almost want to start a screenplay about some kind of historical serial-killer, but I'm afraid if I do it right after watching Zodiac I'll be too heavily influenced. I'm sorry that this isn't an answer, but this just happened to me with Drive. As much as I love that movie...gently caress that movie for doing "Dangerous individual in love" better than anyone has done or ever will do. At least you got company. It's pretty hacky company, but it's company. 
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Sep 20, 2011 02:28
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Magic Hate Ball posted:I do that with every film that features witty zingers because I'm terrible at witty zingers. Same here, and it's one of the reasons I'm trying to get out of the habit of writing witty zingers. The other reason is that when I write "witty zingers", it clutters up my pages to the point where 2 pages of dialogue only cover about 30 seconds of dialogue--although that's probably more indicative of me writing too much dialogue. Any tips for someone trying to write (for lack of a better term) "visually" and overcome his dependence on dialogue?
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Sep 20, 2011 03:18
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Post some of that dialogue, you might have a knack for it, though you also might not but it'd suck if you were throwing away a talent.
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Sep 20, 2011 03:24
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The tricky part is though, if you have too many zingers it becomes poo poo. The best dialogue in my opinion is done by Aaron Sorkin. It's quick, but casual. It moves very quickly, but it's not overly superfluous. If your dialogue sounds like it's from Ocean's 11, and the movie isn't Ocean's 11, you have a problem.
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Sep 20, 2011 03:51
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I'd love to see a film where all the dialogue goes as quickly as it does in The Social Network's first scene.
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Sep 20, 2011 03:57
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Magic Hate Ball posted:I'd love to see a film where all the dialogue goes as quickly as it does in The Social Network's first scene. Seen many noirs lately?
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Sep 20, 2011 04:30
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Brick!  EDIT: If I spent half as much time writing as I spent watching "Kitchen Disasters" with Gordon Ramsey, I'd definitely be in a business meeting with Sorkin right now. Digi_Kraken fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Sep 20, 2011 |
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Sep 20, 2011 04:37
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On the same line as witty moments, I have the damnedest time writing very slick/cool characters. Perhaps because that is my antithesis; how does everyone not have neurotic anxiety and crippling self-criticism?
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Sep 20, 2011 16:21
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I actually need a little advice for a project I've been meaning to work on for ages; does anyone know the best way to write naturalized immigrants from another culture? My story revolves around a Hindi family living in Queens (inspired by a lot of my co-workers), but I have no idea how a family like that talks to one another (i.e. 1st-generation immigrants communicating with 2nd-generation children). Is my best bet just to have long detailed conversations with my co-workers or to do more research into films/books like The Namesake or both? Normally I would stick to what I know, but this was an exciting idea for me and the treatment I wrote feels like a winner.
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Sep 20, 2011 16:34
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Gray Ghost posted:I actually need a little advice for a project I've been meaning to work on for ages; does anyone know the best way to write naturalized immigrants from another culture? My story revolves around a Hindi family living in Queens (inspired by a lot of my co-workers), but I have no idea how a family like that talks to one another (i.e. 1st-generation immigrants communicating with 2nd-generation children). Is my best bet just to have long detailed conversations with my co-workers or to do more research into films/books like The Namesake or both? Ask if you can hang out with them, they won't converse with you the way they converse with one another. Go to their homes, eat with them, Hindi weddings are awesome. You want to get YOUR interpretation of how they interact with one another, not their interpretation of how they interact.
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Sep 20, 2011 16:43
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As someone who writes for different media (screen, prose, comics, play), does anyone else have the problem of 'how would this best come across?' Like, I've had a cracking idea turn up in my head (the combination of a few long-brewing ideas suddenly clicking together in a new and pleasing pattern), but now I'm unsure as to what I want to do with it. My first thought was novel because I can see more than one adventure for my protagonist, but I want to make it visual (plus I'm terrible at not having that great an attention span to write something that long), so I was thinking film, but film tends to be one-off, so.. TV? It's a conundrum.
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Sep 20, 2011 21:37
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A film might work best, it's not a good idea to do a TV show or series unless you plan on continuing work for it if it gets picked up. The animated series I'm pitching soon is basically the big thing on my plate, if it gets taken I'll be doing that full time. Big investment. Just throwing that in there, make of it what you will!
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Sep 20, 2011 22:18
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I'm always wary of the fact that no-one offers you a showrunner position first time out of the stable, as it were.  That said, I'd love a few days out in LA, see if I could get to meet some people and pitch.
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Sep 20, 2011 22:30
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The_Doctor posted:I can see more than one adventure for my protagonist, but I want to make it visual... Write one film. If it is good, there is always a sequel. Or lovely low-budget webseries. Some of my old friends seem to think this is the way to go and their small ego-stroaking circle-jerk eggs them on and on and on.
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Sep 20, 2011 23:55
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York_M_Chan posted:Write one film. If it is good, there is always a sequel. What's that Lisa Kudrow thing that's just made it to HBO from being a web series? Although to be fair, it's made by Lisa Kudrow, and not some unknown.
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Sep 21, 2011 00:06
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"Web Therapy" (and it's gonna be on Showtime).
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Sep 21, 2011 00:23
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In retrospect, I think the problem is that I rely too much on dialogue in general; characters tend to just stand around and talk (sometimes walk and talk, which isn't much better), and I can't think of things for them to actually do.
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Sep 21, 2011 02:02
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I have the same problem. I would recommend seeing the film 3-Iron and do exercises, just write short scenes of no dialogue. At least you recognize it is a fault and not a gift like a lot of writers do. (And yes, Magic Hate Ball, I do know that the script you read was too dialogue heavy, and I have been cutting) One of the things I actually took away from film school was CLOSAT. Character, Location, Object, Situation, Action, and Theme (I think). We had to constantly write these down with no connection to the work we were doing. Just, if you see an interesting location, write it down, don't add it to anything, just save it. If you think of an interesting action, write it down. I still do that with my notebooks. Then, if I feel things are getting a little word heavy, I look back to some interesting actions I wrote down and see if any fit. It is always good to have a grab bag of spare parts.
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Sep 21, 2011 16:32
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I love having lists like that. Lists of macguffins, lists of jobs, lists of names, lists of locations. When I was writing a story that involved cops, I wrote up a list of a hundred items that cops would own or come across at work. It turned out to be the greatest writing tool I had for that project. And whenever I was struggling, I would look over the lists and add to them, and suddenly I had ideas again.
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Sep 21, 2011 17:36
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York_M_Chan posted:I have the same problem. I would recommend seeing the film 3-Iron and do exercises, just write short scenes of no dialogue. Just any film by Kim Ki-duk, really. He is exceptional at advancing the plot through actions rather than words. 3-Iron is the apex, but Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter...and Spring, Bad Guy, Samaritan Girl and The Isle would all be massively helpful in terms of seeing how it's done. And that's my gush about Kim Ki-duk.
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Sep 22, 2011 00:39
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Do we have IRC? We need an IRC. Because we need to waste more time not writing. seriously though, I'd be in there a lot.
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Sep 22, 2011 00:41
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MixMasterGriff posted:Do we have IRC? We need an IRC. Well, a lot of goons make channels in synirc: http://cgiirc.synirc.net/ #writersroom ?
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Sep 22, 2011 12:45
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Has anyone written anything based off of a true story? I am stuck working on a piece because I am fighting with the structure too much. I am trying to remain true to the story, but obviously embellishments are being made. I don't want to change too much because i think that is insincere to the purpose of the tale. Thoughts?
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Sep 22, 2011 16:15
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Three quick questions. 1) (screaming at the top of her lungs) - too many words or ok? I wanted to get beyond just (screaming). 2) What do you do for something that comes after the credits. Can you do a NOTE: after the FADE OUT? Actually call for the credits, set up what happens, and then FADE OUT? I don't want to leave the story open and I think a simple audio cue would be enough to get the point across about what happened. 3) What's the best/right way to print out a screenplay? I already know a laser printer, 20lbs three-hole punched paper, ACCO #5 Brass Fasteners, ACCO #2 Brass Washers but after that it gets a little murky. I've heard that's good enough but I have also heard BLANK three-hole punched card stock on top/bottom for protection, print the title page on the first card stock, name of the script written on the side in permanent marker, DON'T write on the side of the script, etc. -------- I'm at the 75 page mark and the end is in sight. The rest of the story is planned out in my head and I have to be careful about how I'm going to fit all of that into 45 pages. Exciting times for me
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Sep 23, 2011 08:57
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Quick question: anyone know of any good resources to read scripts for short films? I've gotta write a few for a class and I'd like to see how the writers have formatted their structure.
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Sep 25, 2011 09:47
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The story structure is different (obviously), but the actual formatting should be the same as a regular screenplay.
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Sep 25, 2011 10:35
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I've just started the second year of an MA in screenwriting and only now do I think to peek in here! When I read the thread, one obvious thing came to mind: Read books about screenwriting. I don't mean it in the sense that you need to slavishly make your story beats follow Save the Cat, but there's been a lot of questions that are covered in most every book I've read on the subject. Examples include formatting (make sure it's correct; grammar too), camera directions (don't do it, it's not 1971 anymore) and naming specific songs (don't do that either, unless you're a superstar). Reading and internalizing even one good screenwriting book can do wonders to help you. Sticking with common industry rules is especially crucial if you're looking to sell your work. It's hard as hell even getting your screenplay read by a person who has the power to do something about them, and they are usually busy people who constantly look for an excuse to toss a script in the rejection pile so that they can cut down on their workload a bit. I'll admit I'm going on borrowed wisdom here but I reckon if the same thing pops up in just about every book, there must be a grain of truth.
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Sep 27, 2011 19:26
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Fire Safety Doug posted:camera directions (don't do it, it's not 1971 anymore) It's pretty incredible how stubborn some writers can be about this one. I can't decide if it's because they secretly want to direct, or they just aren't good enough to imply their direction with language grounded in the world of the story. Little bit of both, probably. edit: Also, as a student at a pretty well regarded screenwriting program I will tell you that 80% of the writers here are irredeemably awful, which kind of gives me some confidence about going into the real world. These are the schmucks I'm competing against? Then I read a Coen brothers script and get depressed again 
T-Bone fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Sep 27, 2011 |
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Sep 27, 2011 21:09
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T-Bone posted:It's pretty incredible how stubborn some writers can be about this one. I can't decide if it's because they secretly want to direct, or they just aren't good enough to imply their direction with language grounded in the world of the story. As someone who's very, very prone to including musical cues (but is trying to cut back on it)...yes, it's because I want to direct. Or at least, I want to greedily control the way the script is read and I feel that adding specific music cues is a good way to do that. Again, though, I'm trying to knock that crap off. If it's a script I'm looking to direct myself, sure, I'll add cues for myself and for friends, and maybe make a version of the script without the cues to show around to financiers/actors/etc, give them a little more confidence that they can take me seriously. But for something that I'm trying to sell, no cues, period. DivisionPost fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Sep 27, 2011 |
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Sep 27, 2011 21:15
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DivisionPost posted:As someone who's very, very prone to including musical cues (but is trying to cut back on it)...yes, it's because I want to direct. Or at least, I want to greedily control the way the script is read and I feel that adding specific music cues is a good way to do that. Sorry, I was really just trying to quote the camera directions part. Specific musical cues aren't as egregious but there better be a drat good reason for one to be there.
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Sep 27, 2011 21:18
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Any cues are basically the writer trying to tell someone else how to do their job. The director and director of photography will most likely regard your camera directions as annoying at best. The actors only need wrylies (additional instructions in brackets) if there's something that isn't immediately obvious from the line itself. And there's generally no point in naming a specific song because a) there's no guarantee they'll spring for the rights, b) it might throw the reader off if they don't know the song and c) again, it's someone else's job to pick the music.
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Sep 27, 2011 22:01
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Fire Safety Doug posted:Any cues are basically the writer trying to tell someone else how to do their job. The director and director of photography will most likely regard your camera directions as annoying at best. The actors only need wrylies (additional instructions in brackets) if there's something that isn't immediately obvious from the line itself. And there's generally no point in naming a specific song because a) there's no guarantee they'll spring for the rights, b) it might throw the reader off if they don't know the song and c) again, it's someone else's job to pick the music. You would be surprised how many produced screenplays call for a specific song. Like I posted a long time ago, two big examples would be Charlie Kaufman - Bang On A Can performing Brian Eno's Music For Airports in the Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind screenplay and Aaron Sorkin - Paul Young's Love Of The Common People in the beginning sequence of The Social Network screenplay. Of course, they are established names so they are allowed to break rules but it is hard for a new writer to figure out what are set in stone no-nos and what are minor faux pas that can be overlooked. I have read a good number of screenwriting books and screenplays...it still feels like I'm scrambling in the dark most of the time.
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Sep 27, 2011 22:24
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Sporadic posted:Of course, they are established names so they are allowed to break rules but it is hard for a new writer to figure out what are set in stone no-nos and what are minor faux pas that can be overlooked. That's really the point. There's lots of screenplays that break every rule introduced in screenwriting books and often several of them, but what it boils down to is that when a non-established writer does it, they are taking a (usually unnecessary) chance. It's worth considering whether or not it's worth it. Again, this is all borrowed wisdom, but personally I think it sounds like sage advice and I try to follow it in my own work.
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Sep 27, 2011 22:47
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Any of you have any experience writing musicals? Or am I in the completely wrong place?
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Sep 28, 2011 06:59
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Jaydebob posted:Any of you have any experience writing musicals? Or am I in the completely wrong place? I'm actually working on one right now, so you're not totally alone.
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Sep 28, 2011 23:37
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How's that going? There are probably dozens of books you guys could read on the subject but Sondheim's Finishing The Hat is nearly priceless (as, I expect, will be part 2, which is due out in a couple months), and it's always, always worth it to read Jeffrey Hatcher's The Art And Craft Of Playwriting. Bookwriters are under-appreciated, remember that in any good musical the songs should come from the book, sometimes directly, in which part of a scene is replaced by a song. For example, "Franklin Shepard, Inc.", from Merrily We Roll Along, was originally a five-minute interview scene that without the crazed figures and patters of the song doesn't have much impact. What kinda projects are these?
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Sep 29, 2011 02:24
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