Screenwriting : One good screenplay please by Tui Allen

Thank-you - will check those out. I've also found an online script for the lion king and am comparing the opening scene of the script to the opening scene of the film itself on youtube. Very enlightening. Script so exactly matches the film down to every detail.

I've also heard about storyboards. Am I correct to think that storyboards come between the script and the movie? Or do they sometimes come first?

Tui, check our Hitchcock for amazing storyboards as well. Incredible examples out there.

hope this helps.. http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Kung-Fu-Panda.html

Thank-you - I will check out Hitchcock and the link provided by Chaitanya

wow - That's a huge list. Thanks Chaitanya. That will keep me busy for hours.

What is Hitchcock? I thought it might be something here on S32 because Christine called it "our Hitchcock" but can't find it. Perhaps she meant "check OUT Hitchcock?"

Also, something else you may be able to help me with. I heard there is some very good screenwriting software you can download that all but writes it for you. But I can't remember the name of that software to search for it.

Hi Tui! Yes, I meant check out Hitchcock's works on storyboards. They are amazingly detailed and plenty of them are available on the various film blogs, etc. For free screenwriting software that gets good reviews, check out Celtx.

I use Final Draft and it's awesome, but it isn't super cheap. Also I'm currently working on an animated screenplay! But it's not done yet. :)

I have used both, Celtx is good to start learning with.

Here's one to read http://la-screenwriter.com/2012/04/16/script-cars-2/

If you are thinking of writing for screen. You are a screenwriter ;) x x x

for screenwriting need 2 factor... 1-aptitude and 2- some standard rules... and rules is not important couse u can learn it in an hour

There was a recently released movie called "Hitchcock" It basically an insight of the director Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie "Psycho" Alfred Hitchcock is a well know director from the 20th century.

But I don't think Psycho was an animated movie. I'm particularly interested in animated, but I've found some now so that's fine. I'm just wondering about getting the screenwriting software and think Final Draft may be the one that was recommended to me. Apparently I can get a free trial for a week so that is what I might do. My problem with screen-writing coming at it from my novelist's direction, is that my reason for enjoying writing is the wordplay - the weaving of word-magic. Not needed in a screenplay. I imagine you just want clarity and accuracy - forget the poetics.

Feel free to argue with my huge generalisation above. I'd love someone to tell my how wrong I am.

I just KNEW someone was going to tell me that! :( Perhaps I'm not cut out for this. (Joking) It will be a discipline for me to try.

Good final point Justin, one I needed to hear. I can certainly see myself scampering away with tail positioned exactly as you describe. I do not at all imagine it to be easier than novel writing. I think it must require a whole different (and much greater) discipline. Almost a re-positioning of the brain. My old creative writing teacher was always urging the class to study filmscripts. He believed doing so would make us better novelists. I should have listened to him and did as I was told back then perhaps.

I don't totally disagree with these thoughts, but I do think the language in a screenplay is still crucial. I do coverage for a management company, and therefore read about ten scripts a week. A huge factor that separates the good ones from the not so good is the language. It's not just about being concise, but choosing the correct words to convey an image. It's the language and choices the writer makes regarding language that allows a script to say so much in such little time. I would not be discouraged from trying this form if you have a way with words. In addition to writing screenplays, I also write flash fiction, which is probably as close to poetic as a fiction writer gets. I find the two forms inform each other. If you have a strong command for language manipulation, write away.

Hey there Tui, I write children's stories myself. I started writing script, before penning children's stories mind you. Not sure if that makes a difference. I think one style lends to the other. Once you get the understanding of how to... you won't look back, nor stop learning how to perfect it for that matter. Go for it!

Jenna is making a strong point there. I suspect the most important needs for screenplay language are accuracy and conciseness, and aren't those also the same two most important requirements for poetry? Those two qualities carry their own natural beauty. Perhaps I won't need to take Jacqueline's advice so seriously after all.

Tui, re: word play. Watch "Get Shorty". Much of the great (now late) Elmore Leonard's wordplay is still there. If you're good at it, keep it in there. And as a fellow novelist attempting their first screenplay, good luck. I'm adapting my latest book and its turning out to be a lot more difficult than I thought it was. Surprisingly...

Thanks Mark. Useful thoughts.

Okay Jenna, I have now downloaded the Final Draft trial version. I think that must be the one that was recommended to me elsewhere too. It is the industry standard is it not? Now to have ago with it and see if I can work out how to use it.

imsdb.com

You lost me Patrick

There is a small independent film-maker who is showing considerable interest in my story and so a faint possibility has arisen that my story could become a film. I'm fully aware of the low chances of it actually happening, but if one film-maker has shown such interest, so might others, so I am not discounting the possibility. I heard that sometimes the author of the original book can get work as a screen-writer on the film of their book. I thought it might help my chances if I had the foggiest idea of how to go about it. This thread and its discussion of the kinds of language required has really piqued my interest, especially the comments made by Jenna. I DO have great skill with the written word. I do have a great story to tell which I have already told and which is receiving terrific responses from readers around the world. Why not take it once step further. Later I might write other stories and then I would need to re-use the software. Just now I have not yet bought it - I've only downloaded the trial and am working my way through the tutorials. It seems amazingly well set-up for the job.

However Jacqueline, I do appreciate your suggestion about Celtx. I am definitely considering it and will probably look at that too.

Go to dailyscript.com. Good produced scripts for all genres.

Thanks Tui. I'll do that.

Thank-you - that's what I NEED to hear. Am I wasting my time then? I'd heard otherwise to tell the truth. Perhaps I was misled.I'd heard the original author could get work as a screenwriter - perhaps working with the help of others. Is that all nonsense?

I am so ignorant of the whole world of film, so much I have no idea about. I just like going to the movies really.

you ever go to simplyscripts.com? they have lots of professional scripts for you to read

I have no interest in writing a screenplay about other things than my existing work. If that means I'm not a screenwriter - then I'm not and so be it. I don't think I want to try to write a new story as a screenplay form scratch as you suggest. I'm just too old to learn such a "new trick" (I'm 61) Probably best to continue what I know and can do well, and leave the rest to others better qualified and more experienced. I WILL continue to pay around with FD but not be too concerned about where it leads me. Love the software so far. Can't do any harm to just know the software. I think a screenwriter is like a playwright - very different from a novelist. I'm working on a new story and have no wish to stop writing it as a novel and suddenly switch it into screenplay mode but very happy to play with turning existing stories into screenplays, just as an exercise.