I showed a rough second draft of a screenplay I wrote to a friend who's a successful screenwriter,play write and lyricist in Australia.Long story short he ended up reading it and the first draft which was written as a musical.Twelve songs lyrics and music still need orchestration and arrangement and a thematic leitmotif.He strongly suggested to me to rewrite it as a stage musical rather than change it into a none musical with a couple of musical moments screenplay as I was doing.I've never written a play and haven't read one since school so any advice on structure or links to anything that would be useful would be much appreciated.
Screenwriting : Turning a Screenplay into a Play. by Craig Prickett
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Craig, I don;t think you need some special formatting for a stage play. From the ones I've read, actions are usually from the left, dialogue in the middle, nothing special. I suppose same for musicals too, maybe adding music cues... Plays are considered literary works and are usually published unlike screenplays, so I think you shouldn't loose too much time into proper formatting, rather then actual re-writing.
I myself can see some of my scripts transferred into works of prose, however just can't force myself to try :)...Although I've written short stories, poems etc, screenplay is my favorite format as I see it as most concise way to write.
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why don't you just ask your friend to mentor you? You said he's a successful screenwriter, lyricist and playwright. He must know.
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Hey Craig Prickett, that is a great blog that CJ Walley mentioned. We also have a few playwrights on Stage 32 who can help you with rewriting the project. Feel free to reach out to me at j.mirch@stage32.com and I will offer some further thoughts.
Thanks everyone for your input.Nick I actually think setting is one of the things that caught his attention.I'm so aware of shooting costs I try and write to minimise them at all times I try to avoid or minimise firearms along with vehicles,special costumes,CGI anything that'll increase shooting costs.And I'm thinking that's why he see's a play in it.