So, you want to learn about screenwriting... It's one of the hardest parts of the business to break into. I am not kidding.
April Fitzsimmons, Air Force vet and screenwriter, said it took her 20 years from her first screenplay to break in. She was in the Writer's Guild Foundation's Veteran Writers mentorship program, then earned a spot in the ABC Writing program and got staffed on several shows before landing on the current season of Chicago P.D. (She is really nice and my weekend mentor in the same WGF program.) I got a late start at screenwriting and now I'm "over 40." What does that mean for me? It means I have to work harder and faster. I don't want to see any other talent wait 20 years either and I'm here to help you out, too. What's in it for me? Nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Null. First things first. Let's talk industry standard. I know there are "other" programs out there. Movie Magic Screenwriting is what Paul Haggis (Walker, Texas Ranger) uses, but that is not industry standard. (And we are not the great Paul Haggis!) You have Celtx. I used that when I first started because I couldn't afford the price tag on THE industry standard... Final Draft. (More on that in a minute.) Celtx was free for the desktop but now I think you have to pay a small fee for that as well. Printing from the web version put the webpage address on it, which is not professional. There's also Writer Duet. It was built by screenwriters. It's great and I've used it to collaborate with other screenwriters and to convert PDFs to FDX (the final draft file) but it still has its own set of formatting issues when converting. Fade In is another good one that's a 1/3 of the price of Final Draft. However, Final Draft is industry standard for a reason. formatting is included for a wide range of scripts and you can download new ones periodically. Sometimes software updates are available. But most of all... I have had execs say they know when the software you use is not Final Draft. For the longest time Final Draft was only available for Mac. Now, it's available for PC. It has been for years. My first copy back in 2012 was for PC and it was on CD ROM! I picked up a copy through campus e-store super cheap. I'm still paying for my Mac and my second copy... Now, here's a question. Why do you want to be a screenwriter? I will caution you if you say to make lots of money, run away right now. The current climate of Hollywood is not allowing new (baby) writers to make a seven figure (high six is pushing it) income on a script. That's from listening to producers and other writers talk as well as keeping an eye on the market. But if your answer is "to tell stories," or "to entertain people" then great! Come on along for the ride! Here's another question. Do you want to write TV (steady paycheck) or Features (if you're lucky you get a big enough payday you can live off the proceeds for a couple of years). It matters because TV is written differently from Features as far a structure. (That's for another post.) Speculative (Spec) vs. Shooting scripts - Spec scripts are what you write with the hopes of selling them. Every writer will write these until they get hired to write a project. A shooting script is different from a spec script because it now has camera angles, scene numbers, transitions, and more than likely updates to lines. I won't get into numbers for margins but I will recommend The Screenwriter's Bible by David Trottier (aka Dr. Format). I used the 5th edition in my undergrad work and the 6th in my graduate program. The 6th was updated to include cellphones, email, and TV. I still refer to this book when I have a moment and forget what the heck I'm doing. This book will clear up scene headings and how they should be written. Ex: INT. CASSIE'S ROOM, SMALL APT, WEST SIDE BROOKLYN - NIGHT Go from the smallest to the largest, always end with time of day. There are special circumstances, like if your intent is for the scene to be shot in black and white. Then it would be like this: INT. CASSIE'S ROOM, SMALL APT, WEST SIDE BROOKLYN - NIGHT - B&W I have seen some crazy things in a scene heading. It's really easy to find scripts. Drew's Script-o-Rama, Script City, TV Calling to name a few. Just be aware of Scripts v TRANscript. You can occasionally find real scripts on eBay. I had to return one because it wasn't the whole script and it wasn't even a script that was used in the show. (It was a Flash script. Those darn things are incredibly tough to get!) Take care not to overuse wrylies (aka parentheticals). Overuse could over direct the actor. If I want my character to have a specific accent, that's where I put it the very first time the character speaks, or if I want it in a specific language like Irish Gaelic. Well, let's call that a day for software and formatting! I hope this was helpful!
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These posts were from the Writers Room in the Legion M Forum. "Screenwriting 101" is written by Nikki Ackerman. Don't know what Legion M is? It's the world's first fan-owned entertainment company. Want to know more? Visit Legion M at legionm.com Archives
January 2021
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