Getting Ideas - Page 1
| Author: | elliot |
| Date: | Fri, 05/05/2006 - 10:06 |
| Category: | Filmmaking > Writing |
An extract from "Raindance Writers' Lab: Write + Sell the Hot Screenplay".
Writing a screenplay is very hard. Writing a good screenplay involves a good amount of fortune, and a strong belief in the first biblical reference. But like everything else, I believe that there can be a plan. And with a good plan you stand a better chance of succeeding. The key to becoming a successful screenwriter is really very basic - get great ideas, write them down in a distinct personal style, circulate each finished script in the film community and as soon as one script is finished, start the next. If it is so basic, why isn't everyone doing it? Because writing a screenplay is difficult. Writing a truly great screenplay is very, very difficult.
My first suggestion is not to try to write the world's greatest screenplay every time. Write according to the structural details I have outlined. Yes, so write stories from the heart. Write stories that you are familiar with, and appeal to you. Make sure that the characters are well developed and that you really know them. Write the screenplay knowing that it is a screenplay.
A saleable screenplay in fact. But not your best work. Every couple of years, try to write the world's greatest screenplay. Write it in a timeframe that you believe is reasonable, workwise. If you feel yourself getting writer's block (lack of confidence) then you know it is time to set it aside for a while and get on with one of the journeyman pieces that might be able to help you pay the rent. If in the writing of this great screenplay, you solve one of your inner problems and truly become a better person - then I believe that the act of writing a screenplay has already been worthwhile for you.
Understand Genre. Genre is really the key to a successful career. Choose a specific genre and study it inside out. Then learn another. Writers should specialize in two or three genres. Hollywood only buys genre, and prefers genre mixes like romantic comedy, sci-fi horror and thriller love.
Hint: John Truby's Writers Studio is the most advanced place to study genre in the world.
