Screenwriting : What are you more comfortable with? by J.B. Storey

You really have to understand the visual medium in order to understand how to write for it. Reading screenplays is a great way to start, but you have to start learning film theory as well. Someone once told me that if what you are describing can be seen in a photograph, then it isn't meant for MOTION pictures (thus, keep your verbs active). Ironically, a filmmaker's job is to find a way to convey the essence of a scene in a single frame (check out Every Frame a Painting on YouTube).

Part of what makes the transition to screenwriting difficult is understanding your audience. For a book, the audience is direct - each reader can enjoy it as their own director/actor/editor/cinematographer, 'cause its all in their head. Having the liberty to go into so much detail is so freeing, and it's absolutely too much for the visual medium - there are lots of other people that will make those decisions down the road.

For a play, it's written only for the actors and directors to interpret, really. Everything else is left to your production designer and director to concoct. So the leap from addressing just the actors & director to informing actors, directors, cinematographers (for camera), gaffers (for lighting), sound mixers (for audio), production designers (for locations, sets - this is true a little in plays, but not nearly as much), and then you have all the post-production people, too! Hell, the cadence of your writing informs the edit, which definitely isn't a factor in plays. Once you understand that you're writing for them, and how they are inspired to interpret your work, then I think it will come easier to you.

Yeah. I’ve been writing for the better part of 20 years. Mostly screenplays. So, while I certainly appreciate the insights, I’m also very much attuned to everything you have laid out. My question wasn’t about what I find specifically challenging… but rather, asking the opinion of others and what they have experienced and which of the categories do they either prefer or find more challenging and if so, why? Don’t get me wrong, I sincerely appreciate the thought you put into the response. But seeking advice, was not the aim of the question, if you see what I mean. More about just gauging what other writers think….

Have written a couple of short stories (some published) but that's the as far as I'll go into prose...my mind always functioned via motion images so I think I do best presenting words like that...

I've written three kids books (only one published), a non-fiction historical memoir (not published), a book of humor essays and screenplays and out of all of them prefer screenplays. I enjoy how confined they are, generally 90-120 pages and the challenge of making it all happen in that space. I love trying to get the most information across in clever ways without being able to tell the audience directly (kind of like a game). In a book I can tell the reader how a character is feeling but in a script I've got to show it and I personally enjoy that requirement on focusing on the little things to translate the big things, if that makes sense.

Started as an author (23 novels all over 90K words). Started screenwriting about 7 years ago. First project was to adapt two of my novels into a TV series (which I optioned earlier this year). Adapting my own work into a script was the hardest literary thing I've ever done. Probably won't do it again. But between novels and scripts, I can't say one is easier or harder. They're very different animals. The biggest challenge if you do both is shifting mental gears between the two mediums.

Plays are very different from screenwriting, because theater audiences welcome artificiality, compared to television and film audiences. There are also differences between what will work with a camera, compared to a theatrical stage, and vice-versa. The checkered film career of Julie Traymor illustrates the reluctance of general audiences to embrace anything but photographic versimilitude.

I wrote about 20 novels, of which 15 were published, along with a few shorts stories published in collective collections. I'm currently writing 2 scripts: 1 feature and 1 pilot for a series. I have several other projects as well.

Oh... and I find screenwriting difficult, as well. Some aspects are so different from novel writing.

I believe a story has a form. Finding that form is the skill of the writer. I love writing screenplays. I have tried writing a novel. But it didn’t fit me. It was basically a screenplay in prose.

Very interesting responses. Thanks for your thoughts. Fascinating to see which saw this as a general open question to them about; ‘have you experience with writing for all formats and do you have a preference’, and answered accordingly. Also really interesting that one or two read the question as seeking advice and requesting guidance. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Highly insightful and instructive.

Dirk Patton as fate would have it I think I read ‘V Plague’ books 1 and 2! Yes, I think adapting a novel or play to screen is very hard from what I understand from those who have done it successfully. Damn near twice as hard when it is your own work, I’d imagine. Even Stephen King made mention of doing this before, and how tricky it was. Well done and congrats on the option. Is there a good chance we will see it coming to our TV screens soon?

I've tried writing books, and I imagine I'll end up going back to it when this screenwriting malarkey simply doesn't work out. I much prefer screenwriting, tbh. I prefer the style of writing. Doesn't mean that I'm necessarily that good at it, but I find it a lot more enjoyable and by virtue of enjoying it more, I get a lot more done.

I wrote plays after studying/performing Guildhall and LAMDA, some produced in youth theatre. Only thing I find harder play to script is “psychological” screenplays need different juxtaposition of exactly where each conversation takes place as dialogue overkill does not make good cinematic vision. I understand needs visually as a director but my characters take over when I write so I end up cutting a lot out. Recently an executive said my psychological drama would work as a play rather than film so I’m refining dialogue scenes so screen vision appears way more fluid. I find action and horror way easier to put in a script than drama. I’m starting to write novels for a Transmedia project and pleasantly surprised to find it a smooth ride cos you can just state what is inside someone’s head and a load of other “unseen” stuff.

Hannah Miyamoto agree with what you mean from a visual perspective. Play audiences value authenticity, emotion, and immediacy above all. Yes, the sets can lean into imagination. But take a story like Street Car… the authenticity of the relationship, and emotional subtext of resentment and the sense of being a fly on the wall, is what makes it, and so many wonderful plays effective. It is probably the best format when it comes to equal collaboration between writer, director, and actor.

J.B. Storey - What I mean to emphasize is that a theater audience, unlike a film or TV audience, accepts that they are seeing a representation of reality. The unreality of theater is so extreme that, whenever reality intrudes on the scene - a prop is dropped or an actor is suddenly ill -- the audience inevitably presumes that what they saw was intentional. As a result, one actor, a blank backdrop, and a bare stage can be enough for theater -- I once saw two actors perform all seven parts of "The Tempest" without scenery and minimal props. Film and TV, on the other hand, have sought verisimilitude from the days of the Lumiere Brothers and Thomas Edison, and the cost of achieving the expected standard for these media has escalated ever since.

More comfortable with? Screenplay - I'm a visual thinker so that format/structure makes natural sense to me. I try to stay out of my right brain as much as I can.

I had a story to tell so I tried writing a book and couldn't even make it past beyond page 50 before I gave up. It was grueling. A few years later I accidentally came across a book on how to write a screenplay so I decided to give it a try. I found writing screenplays a lot easier for me and have been writing them ever since. A few years ago I was asked to adapt a novel and I like that even more although some are easier to adapt than others.

It's really funny and interesting to see the different perspectives from everyone. :)

As one who is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright, I can say that I'm comfortable with all of them. It depends on the story I want to tell, whether it's a long, long story or something that can be done better visually and in a shorter form like a feature. I don't do much with shorts, though I have. There really is no difference, except what I want to say.

Evelyne Gauthier Very much agree. Fascinating responses. Great to see so many diverse experiences. And perspectives on their experiences with each format. Sounds like a few folks have dabbled in all of them. (I'd love to be @TL Davis - sounds like he has mastered his own comfort level with them all.) Wish I could say the same!! Frankly, I find all forms of writing to be challenging. All for different reasons. I'm not a brilliant, successful, swimming-in-money 'writer'. I love the challenge of being a storyteller, though. Like with any craft, it's all about practice and improvement, for me. The journey, 'n such. Most importantly though, I just enjoy the process of creating and sharing stories. Very cathartic.

Thanks, Barry. That's very kind of you.

I thought screenwriting would be easier than advertising due to lack of client involvement and less stringent target market considerations, but with 120 pages instead of 1, there's quite a few more things to think about - unsurprisingly. But they are fun challenges.