Check out this great contest opportunity with the 2012 Olympics in London https://greatbritons.ba.com
I think I said in an online discussion group, that ONE completed script is just not enough.
One of the things I strongly encourage my students to do BEFORE they try to sell a completed script is to have more than one completed. I always urge my students to create a portfolio of their scripts - just like an artist wouldn't have only ONE PAINTING to sell. They'd have several.... to show they were serious about their work. The same principal applies to screenwriting.
So, to further this idea - one of the first things you can do before you start writing any script is to start making notes of story ideas that appeal to you! Have a little notebook or a file folder for keeping these ideas - just toss them in and let them accumulate. Soon you will start finding stories everywhere!! This practice trains your brain to SEE the story in nearly anything.... and that's what you want.
Start that process of collecting ideas today and continue it while you’re working on your current script. You’ll find this is a nifty way to defuse your brain’s built in propensity to get you to ‘switch tracks’ right in the middle of a project. It’s a similar process to keeping a script journal while you write. Every time your LEFT brain nags you about a FIX it wants to take time to do - you write it down. Your left brain is acknowledged, so your RIGHT brain can continue to be creative!
Once you’ve completed your current script; make some notes in your journal about what you want to FIX and set it aside. Now’s the time to wade through those story ideas you’ve been setting aside. Choose one and start to flesh it out. By the time you have 2 or 3 scripts written for your portfolio you can slow the writing process down to outlining the story and then creating a 5 or 10 page treatment for several others. NOW, you’re ready to begin to market your first script. The most chilling producer comment in the world isn’t NO; it’s what ELSE have you got! Especially, if you ain’t got nuttin else!
I hope that helps. And I wish you luck with your screenplay. Let me know when you’ve completed your script. I’d love to read your work!
Showing posts with label how to write a script. Show all posts
Showing posts with label how to write a script. Show all posts
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Sunday, November 28, 2010
How can I CREATE characters that are radically different than ME?
Your question strikes at the very heart of the writing experience....
do we only ever write ourselves into our creations or do we
consciously choose an alternative route and try to write something
other than ourselves and our own experience?
Now, many people will argue that no matter how hard you try to write outside yourself.... YOU are in every single piece you write. And I sincerely hope so... it is your creative energy that makes a piece/or character 'live' and breathe on it's own.
BUT to answer (or attempt to) your question. Whether you actively choose to write characters (& I think we're referring to main characters here) whose emotional 'toolbox' or psychological makeup is radically different than yours is really immaterial. You may write incredibly intense but self- contained characters that really challenge actors to dig deep to express ALL these characters ARE with just a few small gestures - because that's who you are. OR you may study minutely the mannerisms of people you meet that are LIKE the character you want to create.... and bring life to a character on the page that mirrors those mannerisms - even though they are not your own.
You don't have to be a wildly emotional person to create that kind of character on the page. But your characters' emotions need to come from a REAL place inside of you that allows you to project all of the nuances of that person. So you make a study of people you meet that are like your character...and build on that - starting first and foremost with actual emotions - love, hate, anger, jealousy. But I want to reiterate - wildly emotional or intensely withheld doesn't matter.... write what suits the character and the STORY you're creating.
And if you choose to focus on a particular 'type' of character.... and you create a series of films about people who are bright, articulate and very considered with their emotional displays.... actors & audiences will still love them IF they are well drawn and bring us stories that illuminate for us something of our own lives.
I hope this helps. And I do wish you luck with your screenplay . I’d love to read your work at Wordsmythe.ca
Now, many people will argue that no matter how hard you try to write outside yourself.... YOU are in every single piece you write. And I sincerely hope so... it is your creative energy that makes a piece/or character 'live' and breathe on it's own.
BUT to answer (or attempt to) your question. Whether you actively choose to write characters (& I think we're referring to main characters here) whose emotional 'toolbox' or psychological makeup is radically different than yours is really immaterial. You may write incredibly intense but self- contained characters that really challenge actors to dig deep to express ALL these characters ARE with just a few small gestures - because that's who you are. OR you may study minutely the mannerisms of people you meet that are LIKE the character you want to create.... and bring life to a character on the page that mirrors those mannerisms - even though they are not your own.
You don't have to be a wildly emotional person to create that kind of character on the page. But your characters' emotions need to come from a REAL place inside of you that allows you to project all of the nuances of that person. So you make a study of people you meet that are like your character...and build on that - starting first and foremost with actual emotions - love, hate, anger, jealousy. But I want to reiterate - wildly emotional or intensely withheld doesn't matter.... write what suits the character and the STORY you're creating.
And if you choose to focus on a particular 'type' of character.... and you create a series of films about people who are bright, articulate and very considered with their emotional displays.... actors & audiences will still love them IF they are well drawn and bring us stories that illuminate for us something of our own lives.
I hope this helps. And I do wish you luck with your screenplay . I’d love to read your work at Wordsmythe.ca
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