Screenplay writing

barnabyjones77

I have an idea for a film, and am beginning to put it on paper. First time to do ever do this and googling it gave answers mainly for more experienced writers.
I don't know whether to write it like a novel or a screenplay, or just write an unedited, non constructed piece and then edit later.
I'm still finalising the story and this is just a first draft. Any hints welcome!

echo beach

Get it down on paper as quickly as you can. Save your drafts and do multiple back-ups or send to cloud based storage in case of computer failure, fire or flood.
When you are done then think about what you will do with it.

Brian Lighthouse

I was preparing something like this myself recently and from speaking to lots of people in the movie/TV production side of things this is my understanding of how you get something produced.

1, Research the industry and see who it is you are going to send the (we'll call it script for now) script to.

2, contact them with a log-line - Basically one to two sentences which outline the whole story.
"boy meets girl, parents disagree, both elope to Siberia - he's killed in a knife attack, she's all alone and can't return to her family and the killers want to put her to work in a brothel, her brother comes to rescue her and both himself and the predator kill all the baddies and she returns home, lesson learned..." type stuff.

3, If they get back to you and ask you to tell them more, you send them a more detailed synopsis - I'll come back to that in a minute - If they don't get back to you try to follow it up with a phone call or arrange an appointment to see them in person.
Now back to the synopsis - the synopsis should be written with all the skill you have. Draft it, edit it, draft it, edit it, basically pull out all the stops, so to speak, to create the greatest short story you have ever written. Include all the elements of story telling that prove to these guys that you can actually tell a story that is entertaining, dramatic, thrilling etc etc etc - you know for the genre.
It doesn't have to be long, but it has to be good.
Something like three paragraphs (set the scene, introduce conflict) for Act 1, six (how conflict leads to crisis point) for Act 2, and three (final conflict and denouement) for Act 3 just as an example.

If you are not great at putting sentences together, you could consider using bullet points, but if you research who you are sending it to, you'll have an idea of what they like to receive.
Essentially - it's the story and story alone.

Seriously, don't skimp on the quality of the synopsis - it should only be the story, nothing else. And it should be brilliant. This is your shop window, this is your hook and any other metaphor you want.

4, If someone is interested after that, then you send on a "treatment" - which gives details of the characters, the who, what, where, when, why and how of the story.
More detail on the screen side of things like act structure, locations, plot, even who you might want to play the parts. Don't worry too much about this stage just yet.
If someone is serious about making the movie a lot of time will be spent working on the final script.

I spoke to one director recently and his movie was filmed over three weeks, but the script was being finalised over two years. It has since gone on to win six awards globally.
Another guy I spoke with told me that you cannot beat the personal touch. At every stage he organised a meeting with the backers of his movie and even though his story was fantastic, he feels he couldn't have gotten the movie made without these guys having gotten to know him over the few months.
One final piece of advice is if you tell someone you are going to do something - "I'll email the synopsis in the morning" - you had better do it.
The majority of movie makers will be polite but if you are not reliable in sending an email, well, don't expect someone to throw €400,000 euros your way to make your movie.

I hope this helps somewhat.
Brian

DavidKeane

barnabyjones77 wrote: »

I have an idea for a film, and am beginning to put it on paper. First time to do ever do this and googling it gave answers mainly for more experienced writers.
I don't know whether to write it like a novel or a screenplay, or just write an unedited, non constructed piece and then edit later.
I'm still finalising the story and this is just a first draft. Any hints welcome!

Did you ever progress with this, and if so, how is it coming along?

barnabyjones77

Was put on the back burner for while but now trying to get as many words down on paper, very unorganized as my first attempt I spent too long on structure and wasn't getting many pages done. Figured if I can get the general outline on paper I can go from there. Anyone else doing something similar?

DavidKeane

Good luck with it.

I've worked on quite a few scripts in the past but currently editing a novel. It can be tough to get the momentum flowing sometimes. Stick with it.

barnabyjones77 wrote: »

Was put on the back burner for while but now trying to get as many words down on paper, very unorganized as my first attempt I spent too long on structure and wasn't getting many pages done. Figured if I can get the general outline on paper I can go from there. Anyone else doing something similar?