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New to Screenwriting!

Printed From: NYC Midnight : Creative Writing & Screenwriting
Category: GENERAL DISCUSSION
Forum Name: Screenwriting Bar & Lounge
Forum Description: Discuss NYC Midnight Screenwriting Competitions or Screenwriting in general.
URL: https://forums.nycmidnight.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=14473
Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 7:48am
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Topic: New to Screenwriting!
Posted By: lisafox10800
Subject: New to Screenwriting!
Date Posted: 25 Feb 2017 at 3:48pm
Hello!

I just registered for the 2017 screenwriting challenge and am really excited... and nervous.  This will be my third NYC Midnight competition (Flash 2016 and Short Story 2017) but I've never written a screenplay before.  Any advice?

Many thanks and hope to see you on the forums!





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lisafoxiswriting.com
My short story collection, Core Truths, is now available wherever books are sold.



Replies:
Posted By: De Chelonian Mobile
Date Posted: 25 Feb 2017 at 6:49pm
Yay lisafox10800!

I haven't registered yet, but I'm really thinking about it.  I haven't written a screenplay before either, but I have written several 10 minute plays, a couple of them have even been produced.  I checked out the formatting guidelines and while it would be easier to use a program like Final Draft, it shouldn't be too hard to format manually.  

Playwriting is all about keeping the stage directions down to a minimum.  If I feel something is super important I write it in, but I like to keep things minimal so the director and the actors have more freedom to add their creativity and talent to the play through their interpretation of the action, scenery and sometimes other props.  However, dialogue is king.  Everything relies on the dialogue.  Unlike a story, you can't write a great backstory to catch your reader, or audience up.  You could write a backstory scene, but again, it's dialogue that is telling the story.  Also, continuity is much more important. In short stories you can have several scenes, but in a play, and I imagine a screenplay is the same, you can't time jump nearly as easily.

12 pages, I think that is what the first round limit is, would run about 10-12 minutes as a play, so imagine a 12 minute film, or TV episode, beginning, middle and end.  It's pretty short.  A 10 minute play is usually around 1000 - 1500 words, including the stage direction.

I hope this helped at least a little. I'm interested to hear from screenwriters to know how similar to playwriting it is. 

I'm sure you will have a great experience! 


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https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic24007.html" rel="nofollow - R1 G28 In a Mountain Meadow


Posted By: De Chelonian Mobile
Date Posted: 25 Feb 2017 at 6:54pm
By the way, I read about 50 of the posted stories in SSC. Yours was one of my favorites.  "The Art of Rejection" could be adapted into a fun 10 minute play!

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https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic24007.html" rel="nofollow - R1 G28 In a Mountain Meadow


Posted By: lisafox10800
Date Posted: 25 Feb 2017 at 7:27pm
Originally posted by De Chelonian Mobile De Chelonian Mobile wrote:

By the way, I read about 50 of the posted stories in SSC. Yours was one of my favorites.  "The Art of Rejection" could be adapted into a fun 10 minute play!


Thank you so much for the kind words! 😊

And for the advice on play/screenwriting. Immersion in the dalogue will be a fun challenge as I tend to focus more on atmosphere and description in my writing. I may try to play around with format a bit before the comp so it doesn't freak me out too much...

I hope you decide to do the screenplay challenge as well. I look forward to seeing more of your work!

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lisafoxiswriting.com
My short story collection, Core Truths, is now available wherever books are sold.


Posted By: DanielaRD
Date Posted: 26 Feb 2017 at 5:27am
Hello! 

I've never heard of these challenges but i'm super excited to start! I am doing a degree in Scriptwriting at University and am really looking forward to the screenwriting challenge! If you have any questions about anything, let me know and i'll try to help :) In terms of formatting, which software do you use? I would definitely recommend Celtx.com . It's entirely free to use, I use it for my coursework and personal screenplays and i love it, it formats everything to industry standard without you having to worry about it.

Also, I don't know how much you know about screenwriting, but kind of like De Chelonian Mobile was saying, the general rule is 'a page a minute'. Everything you write in the screenplay runs in real time, so every new line of action would be like one new 'shot' on screen. So for example a 12 page screenplay would be a 12 page short film. And also, don't write camera directions or anything like that-you should imply them. So instead of saying 'panning', describe what we see on the screen.

Hope this was a little helpful, and good luck in the challenge! :) 


Posted By: adreens
Date Posted: 26 Feb 2017 at 5:58pm
Hello!  

I would add that a screenplay is essentially a blueprint to making a film, which is where it varies the most from writing prose.  Screenplays are written to be filmed, as opposed to written to be read, which is a big thing that I have to keep reminding myself of haha.  So it needs to be very visual, everything written needs to be able to play out in your mind.  It should also be more visual and action based and less dialogue based than a play.

Like was said in a previous comment, you shouldn't include camera angles, musical score, or anything like that, because that's up to the director, etc.

Sentence fragments are totally cool in a screenplay (something else I'm still getting used to).  So, for example, if you're describing a room, instead of saying "There are boots sitting in the corner and a round table in the middle of the large room.  Alexis enter.  She is 31 and has long brown hair,"  you could say, "A large room.  Boots in corner.  Round table in the middle.  Alexis, 31, long brain hair, enters."  It's much more concise and to the point.  Again, it's a blueprint, not a story.

I would suggest reading a lot of the scripts on the forum to get a feel for the style (the winners from previous competitions are on the website, so that's a good place to start).  Also, watching short films helped me a lot to get used to that style.

As far as software, I also use Celtx and love it, it's so easy to use.

Hope this helps!  Let me know if you have other questions or anything.  I love screenwriting, hope you do as well :) good luck!


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Posted By: lisafox10800
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2017 at 1:55pm
Originally posted by DanielaRD DanielaRD wrote:

Hello! 

I've never heard of these challenges but i'm super excited to start! I am doing a degree in Scriptwriting at University and am really looking forward to the screenwriting challenge! If you have any questions about anything, let me know and i'll try to help :) In terms of formatting, which software do you use? I would definitely recommend Celtx.com . It's entirely free to use, I use it for my coursework and personal screenplays and i love it, it formats everything to industry standard without you having to worry about it.

Also, I don't know how much you know about screenwriting, but kind of like De Chelonian Mobile was saying, the general rule is 'a page a minute'. Everything you write in the screenplay runs in real time, so every new line of action would be like one new 'shot' on screen. So for example a 12 page screenplay would be a 12 page short film. And also, don't write camera directions or anything like that-you should imply them. So instead of saying 'panning', describe what we see on the screen.

Hope this was a little helpful, and good luck in the challenge! :) 

Thank you!  Insights much appreciated.  I will definitely check out Celtx.com.  :)


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lisafoxiswriting.com
My short story collection, Core Truths, is now available wherever books are sold.


Posted By: callmedeb
Date Posted: 27 Feb 2017 at 4:17pm
Welcome! Going from prose to screen writing is not easy, but I have found the challenge really rewarding. As a newbie I, personally, would invest in the http://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=the+screenwriters+bible&tag=googcana-20&index=aps&hvadid=152425911527&hvpos=1t1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=9962182021091688677&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9061009&hvtargid=kwd-435380105&ref=pd_sl_7urhq3qt3i_e" rel="nofollow - Screenwriter's Bible  as I have found the examples and formatting to be really helpful. There's always the internet to google if you get stuck, just make sure you don't get sucked into the rabbit hole of "research".

Best thing you can do before the challenge starts is read as many screenplays as you can to get a sense of the flow. There are a bunch http://www.simplyscripts.com/" rel="nofollow - HERE .

I am taking a break from the next one, but best of luck and have fun!!!

Cheers,

Deb


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R1H78 - https://tinyurl.com/y7wntr28" rel="nofollow - THE CHILDREN OF LIR
Writing is easy. You just open a vein and bleed.


Posted By: NilesPerry
Date Posted: 28 Feb 2017 at 9:45pm
There's some good screenwriting information and resources here:

http://www.makemovies511.com/resources.html" rel="nofollow - http://www.makemovies511.com/resources.html

It's worth having a look, especially the links to screenplays that you can download and read.

Good luck.


Posted By: DBA Lehane
Date Posted: 06 Mar 2017 at 1:38am
Originally posted by adreens adreens wrote:

Hello!  

Screenplays are written to be filmed, as opposed to written to be read


I'm not sure I agree with that completely. Most scripts are initially written to be read by a studio reader. If you ever get past that hurdle then each subsequent rewrite becomes a blueprint for a film.

And in this competition they are most definitely written to be read. The difference from prose is the format, structure and brevity of words wherever possible. Also a Screenplay is not just about visuals it's about sound (and silence) just as much.

But otherwise, good advice. :)



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Screenplay Challenge 2020 Finalist.
SSC 2014 Finalist.
FFC 2015 4th Placed Finalist.


Posted By: tonicwater79
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2017 at 10:36pm
Wow, lots of great info here.
 
I just registered for the Screenwriting Challenge 2017, and have never written a screenplay before! I love a challenge (as if being assigned our 'genre, subject and character' isn't enough, right?).
 
I took part in the Short Story Challenge and while I only got an HM, I'm pretty satisfied with it since I also happened to draw the one genre I didn't want. (political satire)


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"She holds the pen that spells the end, she traces me and draws me in."



Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 23 Mar 2017 at 10:51pm
Me too!

I wrote a radio play which was produced, but I was winging it, and the director indulged my ignorance.

For a contest I want to do it right!

Any basic advice? It's always a mystery to me how to determine what thing goes where, and how to style it.


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Pithy sayings are for the apt. For a longer message, you need a condo.



Posted By: aerolissa
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2017 at 10:14am
Hi! For software, I would highly recommend WriterDuet as a tool for writing screenplays. The main features you would need are free. ( https://writerduet.com/" rel="nofollow - https://writerduet.com/ )

Same goes for Celtx ( https://www.celtx.com/index.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.celtx.com/index.html ), though I have been having better luck since discovering WriterDuet from a screenwriting competition I entered back in January. Regardless, both are cloud-based and require a log-in, so good news is you can take it anywhere, bad news is you have to be online. As aforementioned by another user, they do all the standard formatting for you.

If you are someone who prefers physical resources as opposed to web searching formatting answers, I would recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Standard-Complete-Authoritative-Script/dp/1932907637/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1490367243&sr=8-2&keywords=hollywood+screenwriting+guide%20" rel="nofollow - https://www.amazon.com/Hollywood-Standard-Complete-Authoritative-Script/dp/1932907637/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1490367243&sr=8-2&keywords=hollywood+screenwriting+guide - I had to buy it for a screenwriting class back in 2012 or so and I still reference it constantly for all kinds of questions.

For an all-around tip: only describe that which can be seen (when it comes to action lines). Leave feelings out of it. This comes up for show/tell rules in fiction, too, but it's even more of a rule in screenwriting. So, for example, in your screenplay, you would not want to say: "Marta cries because of her dead cat." or "Pablo feels confident.", you would want to go more the route of: "Upon seeing her dead cat, Marta cries." and "Placing his hands on his hips, Pablo struts up next to Marta and grins widely, puffing out his chest." Do your best to focus on the visual and what can be seen/heard without reading minds and your screenplay will come to life.

As always, however, sometimes rules can be broken.

One last quick thing, everything must be in present tense. Sounds obvious, but I always have to catch myself switching back and forth.

I lied, one more thing: white space can be your friend... in the sense that you don't typically want big blocks of action/description or dialogue at one point in time. Try to break it up with action, dialogue, or just make a new paragraph (this can give your screenplay more emotional impact and set the tone, especially if you have a genre like suspense or drama). This is where reading other screenplays, as previously suggested, might help a lot. Tarantino is always a fun read: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~ina22/splaylib/Screenplay-Inglourious_Bastards.pdf

Hope this helps and best of luck! I'm still deciding if I want to try the screenwriting challenge.

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SSC Ch1 - https://bit.ly/38R2yM5" rel="nofollow - Simplicity
SSC Ch2 - https://bit.ly/36KSmSB" rel="nofollow - Trojan Horses


Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2017 at 10:47am
Thank you! I now have a Writer Duet account and will use this to create/format my screenplay for the contest.


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Pithy sayings are for the apt. For a longer message, you need a condo.



Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2017 at 10:50am
And I ordered the book.

Thanks!


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Pithy sayings are for the apt. For a longer message, you need a condo.



Posted By: lisafox10800
Date Posted: 24 Mar 2017 at 1:30pm
Originally posted by stephenmatlock stephenmatlock wrote:

Thank you! I now have a Writer Duet account and will use this to create/format my screenplay for the contest.

Stephenmatlock, I too now have a Writer Duet account.  It seems pretty easy to use.  Look forward to doing Screenplay with you!


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lisafoxiswriting.com
My short story collection, Core Truths, is now available wherever books are sold.


Posted By: nicayal
Date Posted: 25 Mar 2017 at 1:04am
Thanks to everyone who offered tips and suggestions. I registered as well and I've never written a screenplay either.

I ordered The Screenwriter's Bible, by David Trottier (possibly recommended here?) and was planning to use Scrivener's screenplay template, although I may look at Writer Duet. It sounds a little more intuitive.

I'm looking forward to this, even though I'm pretty intimidated to try something new like this under a time crunch. That may be the only way I ever try writing a screenplay though, so cheers to new things, right? :) 




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SSC 2017: R1 H43 - http://bit.ly/2nQXWMR" rel="nofollow - Spoiler Effect (Honorable Mention)
SSC 2018: R1 H28 - http://bit.ly/2Eb58u7" rel="nofollow - Crossroads


Posted By: Guests
Date Posted: 26 Mar 2017 at 7:28pm
Despite writing screenplays for nearly two years, I haven't committed to screenwriting software yet. I'm a bit 'old school' when it comes to giving control over to a program and I found how to build a template in MS Word. This template http://www.awn.com/blog/how-turn-microsoft-word-terrific-screenwriting-program" rel="nofollow - http://www.awn.com/blog/how-turn-microsoft-word-terrific-screenwriting-program has been really useful. Maybe if I ever become a commercial success I'll feel compelled to pick a software program.

The only pieces of advice I would offer are to be cognizant of Show vs. Tell...very cliche, but oh, so important. And if you have a favorite screenwriter, take the time to read through some of their available scripts on sites like IMSDb or SimplyScripts, pay attention not only to the format but also to the structure of the plot, subplots, plot points. My personal favorite is Billy Wilder, who was not only a great director but also a great screenwriter.


Posted By: Ash2356
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2017 at 7:32pm
Hi Lisa

I've signed up for the contest too though I've never attempted a screenplay. I figure the pressure to have something "finished" by a date would be the best way to get me in.

The thing I'm worried about the most right now is formatting and such! I'm taking a look at the free software out there...


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Ryan
R2 Gr. 2
https://forums.nycmidnight.com/topic34743_post362276.html#362276" rel="nofollow - Ripe Wisdom Fairytale/Fantasy


Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2017 at 7:42pm
I bought the recommended book "The Hollywood Standard," finished reading it today, then set up Writer Duet to convert my short-story challenge effort into a script. (By "convert" I mean "I typed it in as if it were a script and not a short story.")

This is hard work!

The dialog part is difficult enough, but handling the change in POV is hard, as well as how to frame screenplay shots correctly.

Well, the best way to learn is to try.


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Pithy sayings are for the apt. For a longer message, you need a condo.



Posted By: lisafox10800
Date Posted: 02 Apr 2017 at 8:33pm
Originally posted by stephenmatlock stephenmatlock wrote:

I bought the recommended book "The Hollywood Standard," finished reading it today, then set up Writer Duet to convert my short-story challenge effort into a script. (By "convert" I mean "I typed it in as if it were a script and not a short story.")

This is hard work!

The dialog part is difficult enough, but handling the change in POV is hard, as well as how to frame screenplay shots correctly.

Well, the best way to learn is to try.

I agree.  I played around with the Writer Duet software but didn't get as far as you with conversion.  I think I may just frame out my story, focus like mad on my dialogue, and then leave at least a day or so to get things formatted right.  At least that's the plan for now.

Should be interesting!  The good news is I am going in with 0% optimism for the contest, advancing... any of that nonsense.  Tongue I'm looking at it as an opportunity for a prompt, a deadline, and a chance to try something different.   No pressure.  No expectations.


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lisafoxiswriting.com
My short story collection, Core Truths, is now available wherever books are sold.


Posted By: aerolissa
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2017 at 12:28pm
Originally posted by stephenmatlock stephenmatlock wrote:

I bought the recommended book "The Hollywood Standard," finished reading it today, then set up Writer Duet to convert my short-story challenge effort into a script. (By "convert" I mean "I typed it in as if it were a script and not a short story.")

I think converting a short story into a short script is a fantastic way to practice! 

Originally posted by lisafox10800 lisafox10800 wrote:

Should be interesting!  The good news is I am going in with 0% optimism for the contest, advancing... any of that nonsense.  Tongue I'm looking at it as an opportunity for a prompt, a deadline, and a chance to try something different.   No pressure.  No expectations.
 

That's the spirit! You never know... once you get a knack for the fundamentals, it might all fall in place and be your new preferred means of writing Wink Or not, but at least you will have tried!

If either of you, or anyone else, too, would like an extra set of eyes during the competition or otherwise, feel free to drop me a PM. Power to you both for trying something totally new.


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SSC Ch1 - https://bit.ly/38R2yM5" rel="nofollow - Simplicity
SSC Ch2 - https://bit.ly/36KSmSB" rel="nofollow - Trojan Horses


Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2017 at 1:36pm
Thanks, aerolissa!

I'll keep you in reserve.

I am finding that the hardest hardest thing is transitions!


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Pithy sayings are for the apt. For a longer message, you need a condo.



Posted By: aerolissa
Date Posted: 03 Apr 2017 at 1:56pm
Ooohh yeah, they're hard to make as smooth as in short stories. Confused Just remember that "CUT TO:"s and "FADE TO:"s are best used sparingly. 

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SSC Ch1 - https://bit.ly/38R2yM5" rel="nofollow - Simplicity
SSC Ch2 - https://bit.ly/36KSmSB" rel="nofollow - Trojan Horses


Posted By: stephenmatlock
Date Posted: 08 Apr 2017 at 2:10pm
Originally posted by nicayal nicayal wrote:

Thanks to everyone who offered tips and suggestions. I registered as well and I've never written a screenplay either.

I ordered The Screenwriter's Bible, by David Trottier (possibly recommended here?) and was planning to use Scrivener's screenplay template, although I may look at Writer Duet. It sounds a little more intuitive.

I'm looking forward to this, even though I'm pretty intimidated to try something new like this under a time crunch. That may be the only way I ever try writing a screenplay though, so cheers to new things, right? :)


I used Scrivener's Screenplay template and it was OK.

1. I was using Courier Prime as my font for the PDF output upon compile, but there's a truly weird bug in the compile feature when using Courier Prime: the very bottom of the script page includes the tips of the next page's first line. Only the very top dots, so it looks like Morse Code. Setting the output font to Courier New solved that. I haven't tried Courier Final Draft yet, but I might.

2. The output isn't smart. There are specific rules that are rules and not just conventions or suggestions, such as "Don't break dialog where the character name is the last line on a page and the dialog is the first line on the next page." If there's a setting in Scrivener to work around this, I couldn't find it.

This led me to compile my script as a Word doc, then use Word to check for inappropriate line breaks and insert a manual page break.

I love Scrivener and have been using it to publish books since 2010, but I've found that for certain things, it's easier to compile it into a Word doc and then use Word to do the final steps.

I might look into purchasing Final Draft as a software product for screenplays if I do ore of them.


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Pithy sayings are for the apt. For a longer message, you need a condo.



Posted By: tonicwater79
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2017 at 4:22am
This will be my first screenwriting competition ever...and now that we have our assignments, I'm super excited to get started!
 
Screenwriting is completely new to me, but I've read a heap of plays to get the general feel about what is important and what isn't, and how to best communicate things to the audience.
 
Good Luck everyone!!


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"She holds the pen that spells the end, she traces me and draws me in."



Posted By: Reez
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2017 at 7:20am
There are a couple of scripts that are generally considered structurally perfect by the pros and I think it's really helpful to read these.

Chinatown
Network
Shawshank Redemption
Rosemary's Baby
Pulp Fiction
When Harry met Sally

There are also some great specific genre screenwriters who are exemplary of the craft such as Shane Black for Action adventure or Nora Ephron for Romcom.

Obviously the list is far from exhaustive but I think it's a good start and it would be great to get suggestions to add to it.

Hope it helps. Let the imagination rip and have fun writing.


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MFC/Final https://rb.gy/iboxr" rel="nofollow - A Whistle and a Cry
MFC250/R1 https://forums.nycmidnight.com/r1-g13-expecting-ghost-story_topic57098.html" rel="nofollow - Expecting



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