Screenwriting Format

[Elwyn]

I’ve written a novel and want to try and sell it as a movie. What format is used for screenwriting? Is it as difficult to find an agent to handle a script as it is for a novel? What’s the process, starting at step 1?

[Aldenard]

cool; is the novel publsihed perchance? or somewhere that it could be read?

[Elwyn]

The novel is finished. I’ve been sending out queries hoping to find someone interested, but I must say that I’m getting very tempted to self-publish.

[odocoileus]

format guides

http://www.screenwriting.info/


http://www.scriptwritingsecrets.com/contents.htm


http://www.oscars.org/nicholl/script.pdf


http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com...rmatarticle.pdf (http://lib1.store.vip.sc5.yahoo.com/lib/screenstyle/formatarticle.pdf)


free formatting software

http://www.celtx.com/overview.html

all about screenwriting

http://www.wga.org/mentors/BestMentor.html

http://www.wga.org/manuals/episodic/episodic_toc.html

http://www.empirecontact.com/magicstar/

http://www.empirecontact.com/screenwriting/

http://www.teako170.com/faq.html#spelling

http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/artweb/playwriting/film.html

bbc info

http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/

[NikeeGoddess]

you have a much better chance of finding an agent AFTER you book has been published....but, published by a company (not yourself) b/c they think, "well, if they thought it was good enough to publish i'll atleast give it a read and consider. it may even already have an audience."

invest in books on "adapting for the screen"

[dpaterso]

Maybe this isn't the forum for this topic, but self-publishing gets a bad name, for both the book and the author. And that's because the internet is rapidly filling up with crap as everyone self-publishes regardless of whether they can string a sentence or a coherent thought together, never mind a novel. The litmus test of whether a novel is good enough to be published, is actually being published by a book publisher who hopes to make profit from sales and is willing to take a chance in investing in your material. Nowadays you have to look twice before you buy anything online unless you actually recognize the author. The number of companies offering an easy route to self-publishing is growing. Even Amazon sometimes features titles that pretend to have been officially published, with nice artwork and ISBN numbers, but when you look for a publisher's name there's just the writer grinning from behind the curtain. Self-publishing and self-respect don't mix too well.

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity. (http://hometown.aol.co.uk/DPaterson57/scripts.htm)
"What's the strategy, sir?"
"Get out of the bloody place before it blows up."
~Casino Royale