How's your script going? You are working on your script, right?
My problem is is that the only stories I can get myself motivated into writing out fully are often larger than life sci fi fantasy epics that are probably a no go for a first time filmmaker.
How can I get myself motivated to write more down to earth and personal stories that would be easier to film?
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Either take one or two important scenes from your epics and produce them
Or else watch some more 'indie' films that are highly-rated
(And by indie, I mean low-budget)
poopoo peepee
My script about a NEET who shitposts on an Indonesian Idiosyncratic Idiom Boards, gets catfished, and then kills himself is coming along nicely. You'll be seeing 'Tendies' in a theater near you.
drive.google.com
You've already sorta been beaten to it
He doesn't get catfished, but he does learn the value of normie-dom
(this is essential reading for any wannabe writer on Sup Forums btw)
poopoo peepee
i got offer for two project, but I cant get started. I just have ideas for random scenes, but no plot.
what do?
This is really good actually. I'd watch this
ive been here before
hit me up with your specific questions and ill try to help. film school was expensive, might as well share some knowledge.
>film school was expensive, might as well share some knowledge.
Why didn't you go straight to flicks?
Is going to film school worth it, or is just putting work out there the best way to go?
Im stuck with my work. I have characrtes some scenes and all that, but im still lacking coherent main story. any tips?
Vignettes my friend
so I should just start writing each sketch and wait if it turns into something more?
Yeah why not, Maybe you get a similar theme or something going and run with it
How did you get offered? What stuff have you done before?
folks had money; im not a footfag
at this point i'd say put in the work but don't get mired in just being a PA/set-monkey, try to keep an upward trajectory
elaborate, gimme some info means well but doesn't know what he's saying
what??
He is right, I have no idea what I mean by vignettes. I just like Clerks and Slacker
If you have a main character - find something that forces them to change.
Everyday joe finds out his wife is cheating on him. Boom, that's an inciting incident. Or he finds out he's about to get fired. Or new neighbours move in that are weird. Or he finds a magic fucking ring with a bunch of lame fuckign midgets.
The story kinda writes itself if you have an idea of how it starts. As a writer, the beginning is really important.
I'm trying to write my first script (it's not english) but i think i'm overdetailing the scenes and getting too much into descriptions. Is that a problem?
Also, any guides you guys would recommend?
Just finish the first draft, get it all on paper, don't worry if it's not perfect. Then you can start editing and revising
best advice: read a few scripts (let's say two from films you really like (from different writers), one from a film you haven't watched) and see how much description and action they put in
Medium advice: less is more, the writer's job in filmmaking is only a portion of the overall creative process. Let the director and casting director and art director, script coordinator and so on choose the colour of X, the hair colour of the protagonist, the size of the building, the amount of action, etc.
Your job is to get the plot from the beginning to the end and make sure the characters sound good and are interesting.
Do i need to make descriptions of the scenery and talk about the camera showing elements or that's redundant if i just wanna get the description of the scenery and i just leave that to the photography director to figure?
Like, describing the camera going through the scenery and that kind of shit. Lights blinking etc.
...
If it is absolutely vital for the scene, put it in as briefly as you can (think you're hemingway and find the least amount of words you could possibly use), otherwise NO do NOT put those elements in.
What I do if I want the camera to focus on (for example) a desk, a pen and a notepad would be this
INT. Office - Night
user (30, wizard) sits at his parents' DESK, he looks at his father's PEN for a moment before picking it up and scribbling on his NOTEPAD.
so i mark elements with caps?
Like I said, look up some scripts. You can't write without reading. Look up award winning screenplays (oscar, cannes, whatever) and see how they do it.
Try to find the original spec scripts and not shooting scripts (slight difference) and you'd learn all you need to learn.
You can't just write in a new paradigm without knowing anything
No you don't. If you're at the point that you don't even know if you have elements in caps or not you shouldn't be actively tackling a script. Read through everything on screenwriting.info
If your script isn't in precisely the correct format it won't be read by anyone. I know it's a snobby thing to say but I've just instantly closed scripts I've gotten that are written as word docs or in different fonts or whatever.
Might as well. I have an appointment pretty soon but I have a little time and I'll be back later.
This is part of a script X-Files spec script for movie or episode arc between S1 and S2 I've been working on since maybe late March and I've shared my ideas before as well as some excerpts but here's just a whole scene.
That's actually really well-written what the hell
I finally got my first draft of my short script inspired in part by 80's movies like Escape From New York (inb4 Kung Fury and Turbo Kid)
Been shilling the fuck out of it in the /fmg/ threads, but here's my first full draft. Only 9 pages, quick read.
>read a few scripts (let's say two from films you really like (from different writers), one from a film you haven't watched) and see how much description and action they put in
Caveat: Don't use Tarantino or Shane Black scripts.
>>
how to do this
got a word file but idk how to make png>
oh god, good catch.
Fucking shane black
A project I really want to do now is a sort of semi-surreal supernatural story involving a gas station attendant and a delivery driver.
Told in sort of a Clerks style, though actually I think I'd like for it to be even less focused. Just a series of events happening to these guys that get progressively weirder, though it doesn't seem to change their perception any.
Listen to the first episode of Welcome To Night Vale and you'll get the vibe I'm going for here.
I know there should be a through-line, a loose thread tying the stories together, but this is just my initial pitch.
Screencap and Paint desu.
Good filmmaker, but he's writing scripts he's planning on directing.
Shit won't fly literally anywhere else.
Think you posted this in the wrong thread buddy
She is right tho
How do you focus, instead running away from the paper and binging on Sup Forums and porn?
Wait until the muse smacks you in the face
Listen to music. Watch movies. Read books. Develop the idea almost subconsciously.
Then, let loose.
>from the paper
from what paper?
surely you're not trying to start writing a screenplay by actually sitting down at a computer and opening a blank document and trying to write a screenplay?
ill just paste
----THIS WAY UP----
INT. HOUSE – OLD HOUSE - EARLY MORNING
NAN (Old women, early 90’s, delicate and quite slow in movement) is sitting in her house staring at the television. Wearing old women clothes and sitting in a large recliner chair. The room is quite dark as the sun is rising.
CUT TO:
TELEVISION (Flat screen) News is playing discussing war and other topics.
CUT TO:
Nan twitching her fingers and still staring at the TV picks up the house phone and dials a number.
CUT TO:
INT. HOUSE – SHOT OF DIFFERENT ROOMS
Shots of the house are shown while Nan speaks on the phone.
CONT'D
NAN
Hello
POST OFFCIE
Hello
NAN
Hello. Yes I have been waiting for a parcel to arrive.
POST OFFICE
Ok. What’s your name and address?
NAN
Pardon?
POST OFFICE
Your name and address please.
NAN
Yes. 7, Robert Street. Manselton
POST OFFICE
And your name.
NAN
Sarah Lewis.
NAN
Hello
POST OFFCIE
Hello
NAN
Hello. Yes I have been waiting for a parcel to arrive.
POST OFFICE
Ok. What’s your name and address?
NAN
Pardon?
POST OFFICE
Your name and address please.
NAN
Yes. 7, Robert Street. Manselton
POST OFFICE
And your name.
NAN
Sarah Lewis.
No, no.
Fuck off.
Do not post your script in a thread like this.
No.
CONT'd
POST OFFCIE
I have on parcel for this address with a delivery time for 9am.
NAN
Ok.
POST OFFICE
Is that alright?
NAN
Yes.
POST OFFICE
Great, thank you.
NAN
Yes, thank you. Bye
CUT TO:
INT. HOUSE – LIVING ROOM – MORNING
As the phone call ends Nan turns the channel over several times before turning it off.
Nan slowly gets up off her chair and begins to walk to the toilet.
CUT TO:
Nan sitting in kitchen chair next to table with medication and an empty plate with a glass of water in front of her.
INTERCUT:
Shot of the cutlery and medicine from eagle view (showing the empty plate)
CUT TO:
She sits there for a long period of time, looking up at the clock.
INTERCUT:
CLOCK (7 o’clock) shows the hands ticking for an overly long period of time.
CUT TO:
Nan (still sitting in the kitchen) gets off the chair and walks to the sink to put the plate in the sink.
CUT TO:
Nan washing the dishing for a few minutes. She then looks out to the window and sees a snail moving along the patio in the back garden.
CUT TO:
EXT. OUTSIDE GARDEN – MORNING (SUNNY)
Snail moving along the patio slowly (Nan in background of shot)
NO
GO FUCK YOURSELF
POST IT IN A DRIVE LINK OR A PASTEBIN OR ANYTHING BUT THIS
the only answer is establish a pattern (same time every day, that kinda thing) and turn off wifi and your phone and hammer through.
>sharing your scripts on an imageboard visited by capitalist americans who would kill their relatives for $1
Are you all retarded?
You're all getting your ideas stolen.
What do you do when you have a story, but you can't figure out the plot?
Like, I have exposition and background information, but I don't know what should actually happen in the movie.
I'm also having a really difficult time solidifying my characters, I can't get a good image of them.
Still working on that pilot and starting the outline of an indie coming of age film about a bunch of suicidal high school seniors.
Whether or not any of my shit sees the light of day, I really love coming up with ideas and outlining them and shit. Doing creative shit like this helps me not be depressed all the time
>being this paranoid
I've seen you posting this earlier.
If you have the world of your story built up, toss a wrench in there that sets your characters on a journey to correct it.
kill davis
him and father are plotting against and laughing at you
go to his room and stab him
>toss a wrench in there that sets your characters on a journey to correct it.
What?
I used to be on a skype group with some of you guys. You all chatted so much shit though, I had to leave.
I'm imagining Dazed and Confused with a suicide pact, which could be brilliant.
An inciting incident, like what said.
excellently. right now I am making my shots and then I will get back to my script. 74 to go.
What's nice about being a director is I don't have to worry about stupid shit like formatting. I write everything by hand, in pencil and pen, film, and as I film change anything that becomes unnatural that I've written. The screenplay in many ways is one of the least important elements of filmmaking I've found. What's important is the story.
Oh, I have the inciting incident already, but I don't know where to go after that.
I don't know how to explain my problems with explaining the story, but I don't want to post my ideas publicly.
What is the incident? It surely rocks the main character's world, and it surely sets him on a journey - whether he likes it or not, whether he knows it or not. Right?
I have a problem with length, where I'm writing way too much. I'm 40 pages in and still on the first "Act" (I mean in a 5 act structure, not 3). I write in a lot of description and action that can be cut in a second draft, but still. At this rate I'm looking at a 200 to 250 word script by the end, maybe more.
How do you fit it at all in 100 or 150?
>afraid that someone is going to produce his "failed barista comes to terms with life" semi-autobiographical indie drama screenplay without his permission
lmaooo
also
>what is copyright
spoken like a true rookie
The incident is the main character, a cop, being ordered to take down a highly dangerous criminal.
But then he finds out the "highly dangerous criminal" is a teenage girl.
I'm trying to figure out what stops him from just killing her.
I had this plot point about him having a little brother that died, but I scrapped it because it was convoluted.
Just hit 70 pages a couple of days ago. I'm feeling really good about this one, everything is flowing smoothly when I write and I'm hitting the plot beats and character developments that I wanted to.
I think I'm going to aim at a little under or around 120, but I don't mind going over and editing later anyways. Plus, now that I'm out of school, I can dedicate more time to writing and shooting when I get a camera.
The plan is have a rough, rough draft done by the end of the month, and start the editing process after letting it sit for a couple of days. I also came up with a new idea I'm dying to dive into, the usual high-concept, low-budget sci-fi. This is cheap enough that I think I can shoot a short based around the concept, and see how it goes from there.
>The incident is the main character, a cop, being ordered to take down a highly dangerous criminal.
ok, I've heard worse
>But then he finds out the "highly dangerous criminal" is a teenage girl.
Ok... and what's so crazy about this? It's not a good enough twist and it's not exactly an inciting incident.
IIs are something that you cannot turn back from.
In your case it would be something like "he gets his photo taken observing her criminal operation and has to make sure his family/cat/laptop stays away from danger and figures the only way to do so is to take her down"
The teenage girl was being experimented on by the US government in hopes to create a super soldier/human atom bomb, she just escaped the lab and now has psychic powers.
call me retarded but I really need to know this
How do they add CGI to film?
CGI machines
im bored. im going to write something maybe. context is the star trek universe:
>scene begins with a crew hostage
>the captain, cornered by a team of romulans, is under interrogation and duress while one of the members is being picked apart
>the scene expands to the entire set, there are corpses of crew members off to the side.
>we see a ship approach
>its the enterprise D, heavily damaged on one side of the saucer section, decks are exposed
>one of the romulans walks towards the leader and whispers
>the leader speaks "now?!!!"
>he looks towards the rest of his party and signals his hand
>he commands "on screen".
>we see commander Data
A noir parody about a detective whose only job is to make chalk outlines around corpses, but takes it way too seriously. I don't know how else to further develop it.
Some niggas use After Effects
Pls Critique
Anbody know any good horror/psychological thriller/"serious" genre folklore? I prefer to either make a film based of any of those or write a short interpretation of any suggestions.
is there a recommended website on here to learn how to do screenwrite? i wanna get into it
do you want to learn the formatting, or do you mean, actually learn how to write a screenplay?
for the latter, you need books (and blogs, why not. not like there's only one correct way to do it)
the former, sorry i shouldve clarified
>pastebin plain text dump of a script with no formatting
Straight into the trash it goes.
Does no one else see your scripts once you've finished with them? Handing a pile of scribbled pages to actors or producers is insanely dumb.
chill man, we're all friendly here
I'd literally just suggest starting a dud screenplay and googling whatever detail you're confused about, though. You can't go too wrong.
If you use a program like final draft or celtx or writerduet or whatever, you don't really even need to concern yourself with the actual actual formatting itself (like, margins).
And for getting a general gist of what's acceptable, read some actual produced screenplays, but focus on the ones where the writer and the director were two separate people. Actual spec scripts by actual begginer spec writers are the safest bet, because those writers also had to conform rigidly to the Hollywood conventions.
Thanks!
How hard is it to transfer in? I was thinking about NYU and USC since their top-teir schools for film, any recommendations for portfolio for transfer?
How is my formatting?
I'm using Word but with a strict template for script writing.
It's fine. Honestly I'd change the dialogue a little bit feels weird. It's fine, but honestly im thinking of something just give me a few minutes.
It's a crime movie right?
Meeting a potential agent in 2 weeks
Stoked
Hour long spec pilot
>I will never be Shane Carruth
jdimsa
How did you go about getting an agent interested in you?
jj
Formatting's okay but you could work on your language a little.
Al Green Odyssey
drive.google.com
Wrote this at UCLA, gonna shot some test footage next month. Slay me.
Fuck you
Fuck YOU
>requires permission.
FTFY
fuck you
i was talkin about nyufilmfag
Im writing a script about an old creepy grandparents that start to make porn videos. Any ideas?
Then quote him.
That sounds like idea enough.
Also came up with an idea for a teen sex comedy back on /r9k/
>guy is a decent looker but kinda creepy and autistic
>creeps out this one Stacy
>Stacy sends Autist a snapchat of her with cum on her face saying "You still want to ask me out?"
>Chad ex-bf gets wind of it, hooks autist up with a close friend of Stacy
>autist sends a snap of his cock in the Stacy's friend's mouth: "Nah, I think I'm getting over it."
>becomes an endless snap war of them sending sex pictures to each other to try and get the other jealous
At the end they fuck.
fuck you too kid
Oh ok