/swg/ Screenwriting General

Screenwriting General

What are you working on anons?
How's the script coming?
Have any new ideas you need help developing?

Chat, share, critique, and help each other out.

and make sure you post lots of good stuff, too, my shekels are running out

Other urls found in this thread:

drive.google.com/open?id=0B6uwaxNQt5HReUZObGxJUTltTEU
drive.google.com/open?id=0B6uwaxNQt5HRQzFhZ2JwbHlCZW8
screenwriting.info/
drive.google.com/file/d/0BxdOPvt4UK3JRDlVSHBmTDFrSEU/view?usp=sharing
youtube.com/watch?v=ycfdfinG_P8
youtube.com/watch?v=hXDNGS9V4Us
youtube.com/watch?v=m4DyTjrruVo
youtube.com/watch?v=JcVGDV67L-g
youtube.com/watch?v=o_rz1bluG_k
youtube.com/watch?v=JLUjMWRCzic
fictionpress.com/s/3206139/1/
knowyourmeme.com/memes/keit-ai-finds-a-way/
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

I've had writer's block so bad for the last year that I've turned to every drug I could get my hands on to try to overcome it. Caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, weed, LSD, shrooms, DMT, benzos, amphetamine pills. NOTHING works. Fucking NOTHING WORKS.

People have read my old stuff and said it's good but I can't bring myself to do it anymore.

And I'm getting to a point now where I sit down to try to write something and I don't even fucking care enough to try anymore. I don't have anything to say, and I seriously wonder if I ever did.

When is it okay for me to give up?

It's okay to give up whenever you want. If you feel like you can accept quitting then go ahead. No one will judge you. I've quit lots of things, no sweat. Quitting is much easier than doing. Sometimes it's better in the long run. So if you're okay with it, go ahead and quit.

>72983707

Is this really going to be the only comment in this thread? Seems about right.

>>>>>>>>>>>
i knew the risks when i made the thread

How old r u guys really?....

Im 28 got 4 originals.... still nothing

MGM studios is like a 30 min drive frm me...

Hi y'all, /r9k/faggot here who used to post his scripts in these threads a lot.

Here's my personal least favorite of the ones I've written.
drive.google.com/open?id=0B6uwaxNQt5HReUZObGxJUTltTEU

And here's one that was stolen wholesale from an anthology book about a machine that tells people when they're going to die with 100% accuracy. Just a name and a cause, but the cause is always frustratingly vague.
drive.google.com/open?id=0B6uwaxNQt5HRQzFhZ2JwbHlCZW8

Going for a night drive and a smoke, will read upon my return

I'm 21. Mainly a playwright, have had some shorts staged. 2 complete full length plays, no interest from anyone. 3 complete feature scripts and way too many shorts, no interest from anyone.

dont try to come up with something worth writing

meet people and places and steal their stories, they won't mind. everyone has a story about something extraordinary that has happened in their lives, and given the opportunity they will be happy to share it.

Trying to write this psychological thriller/ action and its tough cause I am trying to make sure no plot holes happen or if they do they are minor that don't break the plot

21. I intern with a studio in town so I am trying to write more so maybe they'll pick up my script.

probably won't happen

Im doing one about a talking space cop dinosaur

Who are his enemies?

What kind of problems are you running into?

I want to do something about a guy who disappears from people's memory/ becomes invisible to them after 30 days. He travels from town to town, causing a ruckus and making a mess, but every month he finds that not a single person remembers him or can acknowledge him in any way.

Touch on themes of isolationism, and the effect being an outcast has on a person.

The story has a character with a special gift and I wanna have a consequence to go with his gift to make it balanced but I need to figure out a way to set the rules and balance that don't cause too much complex to the point of plot holes

That's a good idea, I like that a lot.
I am thinking about starting outlining an idea with vaguely similar themes. It's about a total loser who one day wakes up in a graveyard and discovers that people no longer notice him. No one talks to him or even sees him. He starts seeing ghosts and learns that though he didn't die, he is basically dead to the world since he's such a loser. He starts rotting and turning into a monster. He figures the only way to fix this is to find love and be a normie, so he starts trying to get a living gf. But the fact he is dead turns his romantic activities into horror movie stuff, like he is literally a monster to these girls. He ends up doing crazy shit like sending them their dad's severed head, trying to write a love not on one's car window but he uses his own blood to write "I WILL EAT YOUR FLESH" and things like that. Eventually he realizes he has to find love with a dead girl so he ritualistically murders his oneitis and tries to resurrect her but it doesn't work. Not really sure how to end it

Oooh, shit have you posted this before? I think I remember this, same plot thing with the oneitis murder.

I have an awesome story but I am too lazy to get started on it and get easely distracted. Thing is I havent really difured out how the 1st act its going be so that is what's stoping me.

Yeah but it's been a long time. Surprised you remember

Go to the earliest point in the story that you have figured out fully, then work backwards and decide how they got there.

I'm 28 and have had a feature script produced, I also produced the feature.
It came out limited release, little over a million dollar budget indie.
Trying to get another film off the ground I intend to direct.
I day work in the industry, writer, director, producer.
Music videos, commercials, etc.
Its a fucking hussle during the summer but it pays good.
On set tomorrow.
Was on set yesterday.

My new feature has investors interested... a lot pressure on me to have a great script..
I'm lucky enough to have some solid connections as well.
Curious to hear more from people on my sort of starting level in the industry.

Any tips or advice on making those connections? Like how did you get into the industry?

Space zombies

Nepotism detected

are they zombie dinosaurs?

Long fucking story.

Basically 2012 I was a poorfag working in retail management.
I went to community college for writing but didn't really do anything with my shitty AA.
Anyway, I realized one day I always wanted to get into film. So I did by researching and finding out the best way, reading tons of books on theory, directing, production, budgets, and just tons of screenplays.

I BS'd my way onto a 50k horror indie as a 1st Assistant Director because of my retail management background. I researched what that role was and fucking didn't have any idea how much work i was getting into.
Oh did I mention I did it all for free while working full time?
6 months...

Anyway, that afforded me some currency in film credit to get some paying gigs as an AD and learn more. I then began directing my own short films, produced them and wrote them. busted my ass, spent my own money, entered 48 hour contests.

I got lucky enough to make a really solid film quality 48 hr and win like all the awards. I then had an ambitious short script that found its way to some legit local commercial producers.

****Will continue this story in a bit have to drive brb.

I busted my ass for those connections and got super lucky.

gas urself kike

what programs do you guys use?

celtx cuz poor

Sounds like a plan!
Alright, Ill give it a shot tomorrow.

I just turned 28 and this is the year that I want to make my screenplay into a movie. I know I will film this in Mexico thought.

Stinks of nepotism.

Are you a jew?

notepad. i'm full of half-baked ideas right now
and yeah celtx if there's something interesting to keep on going

so i want to get into screen writing, where the fuck do i start?

final draft because im not a poor, retarded nigger.

screenplay by Syd Field

screenwriting.info/
Get Celtx or some other free shit
Outline first
Get to work

Also read Aristotle's 6 Elements of Drama
Read lots of screenplays and see lots of movies

This read a lot of screenplays

dont be a nigger and cheap out by listening to this guy. go on amazon and buy screenplay by syd field
do this.

both of those people are me :(

so, you are right but also a cheap nigger

haha fucking idiot.
I use pirated version of final draft, because it is simply the best.

over rated.
just read screenplays, and a fuck ton.

what do you do when you got an idea and idea of characters and alot of locations and areas but how do you fill it in with details and make it interesting?

don't be a retarded nigger.

also go to film school. pic related. i start autumn semester.

>being this retarded

I know someone who went to USC and has shit to show for it.

Don't waste your money or time. Have passion and make great content.

>going to film school
but why

why not use that money to make a movie

why would you do what basically every director, including the ones that actually went to film school, tell you not to do

>I couldn't get in.

don't listen to losers like this guy. they try to bring you down.

connections nigger. i have tons of friends that make some good mulah through meeting people at college. some of us want jobs other than directing and producing

>why would you do what basically every director, including the ones that actually went to film school, tell you not to do

congratulations, you fell for the college is bad meme. enjoy memeing it up in the fast food industry.

>getting a pointless degree
>thinking everyone who disagrees with you is out to get you and not someone who is just wondering why you're doing stupid things
>thinking everyone who isn't going to film school is doing nothing
lel

Maybe you made the right choice if you want to be a keygrip or something, but otherwise you're throwing money into a pit.

college is great if you go out for a useful degree i.e. not a film school degree
if you actually want to be a writer you're better off writing instead

>this guy

m8, you don't need a weather man to know which way the wind blows. and theres nothing wrong with going to a university to have more opportunities. it's not for everyone. i know people who are basically limited because they do not have a college degree. it is a lot more difficult for them to progress. my opinion based on experience. everyone has different paths, but it doesn't mean to say that college is 'hurr durr' retarded.

true desu. if i had gotten into any other college i was going to do stem. got lucky

Working on a story currently. Short hand is that it's about aliens that feed off of thoughts and use that energy to construct on their plane of existence (this is all super subtle though, don't expect a big dumb spaceship, at most you'll get a snapshot of a dream sequence). While they are feeding they somewhat gain control of an individual proportionate to their mental capacity but also have a harder time "cracking in" to these individuals heads. Because of this, smart or creative individuals are a treat. The main character is an intelligent writer but a bit of a shut in. He starts losing days in his memory, but also has these dreams of being other random people ( what's happening is that somehow he's formed a connection with an alien that's feeding off of him, and is doing the same thing to others). He becomes addicted to these dreams as he gets to live all sorts of lives and have experiences he would never have himself as a shut in. It all falls apart though when one of his dreams of being someone else, he runs into himself and his body starts trying to kill him. He manages to scratch "himself" in the dream and wakes up in bed with a scratch on his face. I have a few ideas of where I want to take it from there but the main thing to take away is that I don't want all of this explained (the aliens and shit), but just shown (maybe one scene where his first dream is a snapshot of the alien world and that's how his connection is different because it kind of backfired and now he is also feeding off the alien as it is doing to him) and makes you very uncomfortable somewhat like Enemy.

This changed a little from what it started as though. Originally I had it that it was just him being taken over, and slowly he starts doing weird things or different things. I want it to be kind of like a puzzle for what scenes are him and what scenes are the alien in the control towards the start. Maybe something even as subtle as he's left handed and one scene he does something right handed without anyone pointing it out. It was more like a doppelganger story where it affected his friends and relationships

Fuck, you guys still do these threads? Don't let this die.
I'll be back in 6 or 7 hours.

I decided to buy a notebook and fill it full of useful moviemaking/screenwriting tips/quotes.

How do I get into the industry? My plan was to just submit to the Blacklist.
Any ideas for a low budget feature/short? All my ideas are way too big, I don't even have a job.

Just think about reasons why these characters would know each other or be at these places and go from there. Find a good concrete part of a story you want to tell (can be a whole ending, a middle part, just one brief image) and fill in the rest of the blanks like a puzzle.

I'm in very early stages with an idea for a body horror movie about some sort of entity that crawls into a wishing well in a small town. The town is only known for this stupid well and is caled "Wishing Wells", the football team is the Well Wishers, etc. One day a young school nerd goes to the wishing well to wish for his bullies to leave him alone. A tentacle shoots up, rips his head off, pulls his spine out, and sticks some sort of large larva thing in his body, then sticks his head back on. The larva controls the body and goes into town.

Honestly not really sure where to go from there. I want it to be a really nasty horror film with a point, but I can't quite find a real fear or theme to lock onto just yet. I definitely want the majority of the townspeople to go nuts at some point and our hero (probably an out of towner just passing through) has to fight like a couple hundred Thing type zombie dudes. Maybe the well is connected to the water or something. If it ever gets made I would direct it myself hopefully and insist on using only practical effects. Any thoughts on further developing this would be much appreciated.

How do you make the jump from extended outline or first draft? Just get through it as fast as possible and start the real work afterwards, or try to learn about the story as you write it?

Indie director here, I post in these threads every so often
I've managed to fix my new short but a key scene needs to be replaced with a new scene and I can't film it for a month

I wrote the outline of a really cool film the other day though, a Guy Ritchie-esque spy drama
Think Lock-Stock meets Taken
It's a short, but my issue is that, because it's so fast-paced, I'm scared about how easily I could really make it. Especially since I also have an unrelated degree I'm finishing next year

Either or could work. I usually sit down and try to finish at least one scene per day, but I tend to do more. These scenes don't have to be in order, I skip around a lot and do the ones I am feeling the most in my head. But sometimes I write chronologically. A lot of times I just write it without making changes but every now and then I will have a breakthrough or something that will affect a lot of the story so I will just adjust the outline and write from there.

>want to write a film
>literally anything I come up with sounds like the wank fantasy of a Tarantino/Matrix-worshipping 90's Columbine kid.

EVERY FUCKING TIME

I just want to write a good film, but it always comes out film-school edgy. Why can't I fucking kick this habit? Am I not watching enough films?

Hey, does anyone know where I can find Linklater's Everybody Wants Some screenplay?

I'm writing a script about 4 burnout film school drop outs who are trying to make a sequel to Inland Empire. They're really pretentious and pieces of shit, but I'm having trouble making them pretentious in an endearing way.

I've tried taking some notes from Sup Forums but most of this board is just pretentious in an obnoxious way. Any ideas?

This sounds like a ton of fun desu. You could create some sort of underbelly with the older generation in the town, a kind of cult-like worshipping of the monster and a need to offer some sort of sacrifice. Would be a cool thing to tie in at the end if you lay the right threads down.

Working on a basic comedy pilot at the moment.

Trying to focus on how to segment out the dialogue, because I can have them sit there and talk but it will get boring for the reader or audience.

So trying to think of things for the characters to do during the dialogue scenes

it wasn't called that. it was called "Walk On" and was written like twenty years ago.

i've never been able to find it online but i was given a copy by my film school. good script.

How do you get ready to write a movie? Do you watch movies similar to what you intend to write? Or do you deliberately steer clear?
I'm trying to a movie about someone who finds their supposed dream world/job, but things aren't really as they seem. Do any of you know any movies like that?

I usually just have a neat image in my head and try to run with it.

That's it? And how broad of an image are we talking here?

What software do you guys use? Memedraft 7?

one more bump before i go to bed
why can't these threads ever stay up long

Any screenplay you read that really helped you?

you've got to address the problem that is causing your writer's block. trying to "drown it out" with drugs won't work. do you not like the way your writing is turning out? are you afraid of writing something bad? do you not like the stories you're writing?

quit if you want, no one's stopping you. but if you want to continue it sounds like you need to do some serious self-reflection.

Sometimes they do. Always fun.

It depends. Sometimes I'll have a whole opening scene mapped out in my mind, sometimes it'll be literally like a single frame and I want to figure out how I get to that frame, and what comes afterwards.

Something else that always inspires me is music. There's like some sort of visceral thrill in a certain song that I'll want to capture, and I try to just plot a story around that.

It's a shitty way of writing scripts but that's how I do it.

I'm starting on a project inspired by the concept of Another Earth/Melancholia. I wanted to do a sci-fi/comedy about a portal linking our earth to another world and how we gear up to find out whats on the other side. It turns out that it is a literal copy of Earth right down to the people and a huge campaign develops to justify killing the entire populace of the other world so we can take over both worlds. The campaign would be ridiculous of course, having posters of "Join the X Brigade and kill yourself"

I'll post the treatment when I have it finished.

Does it turn out that the other earth is having the same campaign?

you write what you want to see. this must be exciting to you in one way or another or you wouldn't be writing it.

I don't know if anyone was in the thread from yesterday? Or maybe a few days ago?

I'm moving to LA to try and make it as a t.v. writer.

Any suggestions on where to live?
And how can I go about getting an Office PA position?

I have no connections and no prior experience working as a PA so I feel like getting that first job is going to be tough. I have about $10,000 saved up though so I hope that can get me through.

>post yfw your style shifts away from the writing and more towards the style/mood/atmosphere and you realize you absolutely have to direct (and cast, and edit, and maybe even dp and do the sound) because the "script" in the hands of the wrong people will absolutely get butchered and now you're overwhelmed with how much you need to learn

i want off this ride

I get that, but I can't pinpoint what makes it so appealing to me.

That's the thing with a lot of teenage/college writers, they think writing a cool and edgy script with freeze frames, fast cuts, gun violence and shit like that BLATANTLY ripping off Tarantino/Guy Ritchie and his kind is gonna be good filmmaking but it's always skin-deep. They don't think about just WHY those stylistic choices were made, what sort of significance those guys were going for with it, and (perhaps most importantly) if they can pull that off in a way that's unique to them.

I try and figure out what sort of shit I want to incorporate and how best to do that. Sure a lot of it is "it looks cool" but I'm extremely conscious of the fact that there should be more to it than that.

I went to LA and stayed in a really Jewish area in Beverly Hills, but it wasn't very glitzy or anything. It's a big town so try to to find a place near whatever studio you want to work for (like maybe try and get the job before you move). Honestly the place is so big and I wasn't there very long so I didn't even make it down town or really even into Hollywood, so I don't know where the cool parts of the city are.

No, turns out they were #refugeeswelcome :^)

you'll never do any of those things

ah, true. well i assume everyone ITT is young. like early 20's or so. i'd like to think a lot of this will just come with age and experience. i mean you already know what you need to work on which is probably more than half the battle.

Anybody wanna read some edgy shit I wrote when I was 15?

drive.google.com/file/d/0BxdOPvt4UK3JRDlVSHBmTDFrSEU/view?usp=sharing

It's not too bad, I guess. Better than mine (see: ). Edgy as fuck, as you claimed, but it seems like it'd be fun and neat with the right actors.

A boy falls in love with a girl.

Unable to confess, he is gifted by a deus ex machina with the girl's phone number. Never minding the strange area code, he immediately calls her, and is overjoyed to find out that she has a crush on him as well.

But, the next day, when he recounts the previous day's confessions to the girl, she only looks at him with a perplexed expression. After some investigation, he finds out that the girl he called is not the same girl he fell in love with. In fact, she doesn't exist in this universe at all. She is the girl's alternate universe counterpart, who has fallen in love with the MC's own AU self, who too is blissfully unaware of her crush.

Hijinks ensue as the two strike up a deal to give each other their darkest, most private secrets in order to equip the other with the weapons they need to conquer the heart of their other selves. While the two chase their respective loved ones, DRAMA ensues as they begin to fall in love with each other instead and question the NATURE of LOVE.

OP: youtube.com/watch?v=ycfdfinG_P8
ED1: youtube.com/watch?v=hXDNGS9V4Us
ED2: youtube.com/watch?v=m4DyTjrruVo
PV: youtube.com/watch?v=JcVGDV67L-g
EP 1: youtube.com/watch?v=o_rz1bluG_k
EP 13: youtube.com/watch?v=JLUjMWRCzic

...

Thanks. How much was your rent?

Stop posting that because it's already a thing.

fictionpress.com/s/3206139/1/

Sounds bretty good. Is this an anime?

WHY CAN'T I ESCAPE!?

It's already a meme, so you don't need to post it anymore.

knowyourmeme.com/memes/keit-ai-finds-a-way/

...

Thanks. I like Murder and Suicide but I don't really understand it. I think your dialogue and concept is pretty good but I think I'm just missing something. I don't see how sending messages back in time could possibly work from that. But I also just got up so maybe y brain doesn't work yet.

I've definitely read The Deal before another time you posted it. I think the ideas are decent and some of it works but overall I'm not really feeling it

Oh I was just there for a few days, I stayed in a hotel. Shit's pretty pricey there though

Nobody on Sup Forums likes your pitch or your maymay, Sup Forums.