Where did you learn

[Starry eyed]

Hi all,

I have been writing novels for years (unpublished), but my heart is in writing dramas mainly for television in the UK.

I have never written a script before and have no idea where I should start, so where did you all learn how to write scripts?

I have been looking at a few courses, but they are very expensive and I'm not sure if they are really needed or not.

Thank you in advance.

Starry eyed xx

[Miss Plum]

There is tons of information on the internet and in bookstores about screenwriting for Hollywood. If scriptwriting for the UK is different, search accordingly. But my gosh, there's so much free and cheap advice out there, I'm surprised you managed to avoid it when searching up classes. Just get googling.

[dpaterso]

If you haven't already, check out the links in the screenwriting tips (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24087) thread.

-Derek

[Summonere]

I learned at my local university. Screenwriting was offered among a batch of "creative studies" courses in the Liberal Arts department. Instructors were all working in the biz in one fashion or another. I also read batches of scripts and books about screenwriting. Seems my favorite of the latter was one by J. Michael Straczynski, The Complete Book of Scriptwriting. Next trick, of course, was to write about a dozen scripts before finally getting things worked out.

Among those things: cutting down to the bare bones of description in stage direction (I started trying my hand at scripts after first having written a bunch of novels, in which I really enjoyed descriptive latitude), and adjusting storytelling tempo to a different idom. That is, to use the old description: novels are about internal events (both in terms of the psychological development of its characters and how the medium is perceived), while screenplays are about external events (in that we see it first, internalize it second).

As others have said, there's lots of info on the 'net. Grab some screenplays (the more recent the better) and have a look at how they're written. Add a book like Straczynski's, then start writing.

[Starry eyed]

Many thanks, I will look around again now.

[Rolkus]

I learnt by reading many of my favorite movies' scripts.

[Stijn Hommes]

I learned everything I know about screenwriting online in amateur filmmakers forums and in places like AbsoluteWrite and online script writing software like ScriptBuddy and Scripped. I agree with the idea that you should be googling. It's hard to miss.

[Starry eyed]

Thank you, I will try to get hold of some scripts. I think the problem I have is that I cant download the software needed on a lot of the sites, for example adobe will not load for some reason, my laptop is not one of the best, I dont have office either so everything has to be written via notepad.

Thanks again x

[Miss Plum]

Wow. That's what I call technologically challenged. Can't you afford to upgrade? Not being able to read a .pdf is quite a limitation, and you'll waste a lot of time formatting a script in Notepad.

[icerose]

I learned by reading lots and lots of scripts and asking lots of questions and getting feedback on my scripts. I also was given a copy of final draft. Do not write your scripts in notepad. It's so silly when there are plenty of free softwares out there. Check the sticky thread. If your laptop is your problem, I say invest in a better laptop or desktop. You must have it if you wish to submit to much of anyone. For one thing if you get an electronic release form chances are extremely good it'll be in a PDF. If you want to take writing seriously, you'll need to get access to these programs. It's not because people are all stodgy about it, but rather it's a basic form of communication between you and them and if you aren't able to properly communicate that's going to cripple you. It's hard enough to get noticed in this business let alone without access to the very basics.

[dpaterso]

Maybe if you're having problems downloading and/or running software applications, you should start a thread in Tech Help forum stating your platform (Windows, Mac, etc.) and software version (XP, Vista, etc.) and listing the errors you get. The problem could be something as obvious as not upgrading to the latest service pack, that kind of thing.

If you're just starting on writing scripts, I doubt if sending files in the correct format concerns you just yet. Notepad is better than nothing, I use it myself for the roughest drafts, then import to MM2000 which does a flawless conversion.

-Derek

[Enzo]

I learned it on the Internet, then attended a couple of seminars in LA around 98-99, bought books about writing scripts and some scripts of top movies while I was there. But right now, everything is on the Internet: good advice like on this forum, courses, the scripts themselves.
There's even free scriptwriting software, like Celtx.

[clockwork]

Read and write is the best advice you'll get, IMO. Courses are great, and scriptwriting is a craft, but you also need to develop a unique voice. It's something that takes years, but reading other people's work is a great help in figuring out what works best for you.

[whacko]

Notepad's okay for basic word processing, so a script shouldn't be a problem.

If it's a question of formatting etc. try the BBC's writers' room:

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

[nmstevens]

Maybe if you're having problems downloading and/or running software applications, you should start a thread in Tech Help forum stating your platform (Windows, Mac, etc.) and software version (XP, Vista, etc.) and listing the errors you get. The problem could be something as obvious as not upgrading to the latest service pack, that kind of thing.

If you're just starting on writing scripts, I doubt if sending files in the correct format concerns you just yet. Notepad is better than nothing, I use it myself for the roughest drafts, then import to MM2000 which does a flawless conversion.

-Derek

It just seems as if there are bound to be free generic word processing programs -- or even free on-line script writing programs that would do a bit of a better job than Notepad.

I mean, you can buy an old, used copy of Microsoft Word for next to nothing on e-bay and download a template for free.

Before Final Draft I wrote scripts in Word for Windows, Wordperfect, Word.3 for MSDos (beautiful font, by the way) Wordstar with it's ghastly dot commands, and before that an electric typewriter and before that a manual typewriter.

Jeez, I've been writing a long time.

It just seems to me that, of all enterprises one is apt to pursue, the cash investment for writing, even screenwriting, is relatively modest. Less now, even then before -- because you used to use a hell of a lot more paper and the cost of paper, believe me, really used to add up.

These days, in the professional movie world, almost everybody accepts -- even expects electronic submissions. I barely ever use my fed-ex account number.

On the downside, in this world of electronics, is the fact that computers and software have a finite life -- I've held on to my copy of Final Draft 5 through around three generations of computers, and I'm probably going to have upgrade the next time I change computers -- but I doubt I'll jump to the current version of FD. I'll buy the cheapest older version I can find that they still provide service for.

In the end -- our poster is sort of stuck in the same technological dilemma although, again, for his purposes, if he can simply get a program that's even a slightly more sophisticated word processor (say one that can do macros or that can re-adjust margins at a key stroke) it's really all that he needs at this stage of the game.

I didn't even have that when I was writing scripts that I was selling early in my career. I just had to tab across and sort of guess when the length of a of a line of dialog looked as if it was about right to space down to the next line.

The trick isn't the formatting -- it's figuring out what to write.

[mario_c]

Well done all. I went to film school in the days of flatbed editing and Macs with 64k of RAM, where I learned absolutely zero about how to format, develop and market a screenplay. Or how to promote a career or budget for indie film, or pretty much anything else useful.*
Anyway, I learned from a couple books - Syd Field, Blake Snyder, Dave Trottier. I read the insight and opinions of anyone who had ever written an actual movie. (See Derek's list up top of the page.) And I wrote six screenplays, gathered criticism, and took the many pages of notes and discussions to heart. I also read hundreds, many hundreds, of scripts and write coverage and notes every weekend. I'll always be learning as long as I have the energy to lift my hands onto the keyboard and write.

*I'm taking classes to get back up to speed in the new world of filmmaking. New York Film Academy is near me and has great classes and alumni references, but have you had any experience with it? You can PM or message me to keep this thread on topic.

[clockwork]

It just seems as if there are bound to be free generic word processing programs -- or even free on-line script writing programs that would do a bit of a better job than Notepad.

I mean, you can buy an old, used copy of Microsoft Word for next to nothing on e-bay and download a template for free.

Before Final Draft I wrote scripts in Word for Windows, Wordperfect, Word.3 for MSDos (beautiful font, by the way) Wordstar with it's ghastly dot commands, and before that an electric typewriter and before that a manual typewriter.

Jeez, I've been writing a long time.

It just seems to me that, of all enterprises one is apt to pursue, the cash investment for writing, even screenwriting, is relatively modest. Less now, even then before -- because you used to use a hell of a lot more paper and the cost of paper, believe me, really used to add up.

These days, in the professional movie world, almost everybody accepts -- even expects electronic submissions. I barely ever use my fed-ex account number.

On the downside, in this world of electronics, is the fact that computers and software have a finite life -- I've held on to my copy of Final Draft 5 through around three generations of computers, and I'm probably going to have upgrade the next time I change computers -- but I doubt I'll jump to the current version of FD. I'll buy the cheapest older version I can find that they still provide service for.

In the end -- our poster is sort of stuck in the same technological dilemma although, again, for his purposes, if he can simply get a program that's even a slightly more sophisticated word processor (say one that can do macros or that can re-adjust margins at a key stroke) it's really all that he needs at this stage of the game.

I didn't even have that when I was writing scripts that I was selling early in my career. I just had to tab across and sort of guess when the length of a of a line of dialog looked as if it was about right to space down to the next line.

The trick isn't the formatting -- it's figuring out what to write.

Celtx (http://celtx.com/)is good software if you're starting out, especially as it can save in PDFs. I don't think there's much transference between Final Draft and Celtx.

I still use FD6. Funnily enough, I tried FD8 again just this week (having forgotten why I didn't like it) and soon discovered why. Not sure if it's a bug in the programme I got or what, but it does this very annoying thing whereby the programme can't seme to keep up with what I'm typing, and I'm not a super-fast typer by any stretch. Very annoying though. FD6 doesn't do it at all.

Back in the day when I first started writing (at about 12-13) I was lucky enough to have a computer, but it was one of those treacherous IBM floppy disk black-screened motherfuckers that would corrupt your file if you so much as looked at it funny, and I once wrote a story so long that it ran out of memory. It simply would not let me type another word. I think it was about 29k words. God bless progress. :)

[dpaterso]

It just seems as if there are bound to be free generic word processing programs -- or even free on-line script writing programs that would do a bit of a better job than Notepad.
*subtle cough* :) I did link to the tips (http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24087) sticky thread above, which includes links to Movie Magic Screenwriter (http://www.screenplay.com/products/mmscreenwriter/index.html), Final Draft (http://www.finaldraft.com/), Celtx (http://www.celtx.com/overview.html) and Rough Draft (http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Text-editors/RoughDraft.shtml), plus the MS Word screenwriting templates from BBC Writersroom (http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scriptsmart/).

-Derek

[JoyMC]

I took classes (mostly in playwriting, but also screenwriting) while getting a degree in theatre at University. But like any other genre, I would suggest reading, reading, reading scripts you admire. And then read some more. :)

[kullervo]

Master's degree in screenwriting from UCLA. Here's what I learned: http://www.kullervo.com

[nmstevens]

Celtx (http://celtx.com/)is good software if you're starting out, especially as it can save in PDFs. I don't think there's much transference between Final Draft and Celtx.

I still use FD6. Funnily enough, I tried FD8 again just this week (having forgotten why I didn't like it) and soon discovered why. Not sure if it's a bug in the programme I got or what, but it does this very annoying thing whereby the programme can't seme to keep up with what I'm typing, and I'm not a super-fast typer by any stretch. Very annoying though. FD6 doesn't do it at all.

Back in the day when I first started writing (at about 12-13) I was lucky enough to have a computer, but it was one of those treacherous IBM floppy disk black-screened motherfuckers that would corrupt your file if you so much as looked at it funny, and I once wrote a story so long that it ran out of memory. It simply would not let me type another word. I think it was about 29k words. God bless progress. :)


From personal experience, and from what I'm constantly hearing about FD, every new version of their program tends to be incredibly buggy. I stayed with FD4 for as long as I possibly could after I bought their inexpensive early-deal upgrade to 5 - and the thing would freeze and crash and given how fast I write, take pages and pages and pages of work with it every time it did -- and when I wrote and complained I got nothing but a really snotty reply telling me that, well gee -- it wasn't a mandatory upgrade and they'd be happy to send my money back if I didn't like it.

And they really tend to be like that -- a fundamentally good program surrounded by some really serious Bad Attitude on the part of the company that makes it.

Ultimately, by the time my version of 4 was no longer usable, they'd fixed all of the problems with 5 -- but wouldn't it just be nice, for once, if they actually fixed the problems *before* they got thousands of people to lay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to act as their free beta testers?

NMS

[icerose]

Microsoft is just as bad. XP was released with over a million bugs. I learned a long time ago to always buy behind the curb when it came to software, adobe is the exception. I've never had a problem with any of their upgrades. My favorite quote from Bill Gates has to be "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" And the whole "Windows 98 is our most stable program ever." Cue blue screen of death.

WOW is just as bad. Any time they release a patch they spend the next two week fixing all the problems it introduced. I think it's just an attitude within the software industry. When they can freely release patches and upgrades why wait to ring the dinner bell?

That being said I love my FD6. I have never had a problem with it but again it had already been out for at least a year before I got it and I haven't upgraded yet and refuse to until I have no choice.

[nmstevens]

Microsoft is just as bad. XP was released with over a million bugs. I learned a long time ago to always buy behind the curb when it came to software, adobe is the exception. I've never had a problem with any of their upgrades. My favorite quote from Bill Gates has to be "It's not a bug, it's a feature!" And the whole "Windows 98 is our most stable program ever." Cue blue screen of death.

WOW is just as bad. Any time they release a patch they spend the next two week fixing all the problems it introduced. I think it's just an attitude within the software industry. When they can freely release patches and upgrades why wait to ring the dinner bell?

That being said I love my FD6. I have never had a problem with it but again it had already been out for at least a year before I got it and I haven't upgraded yet and refuse to until I have no choice.


That's why, when I was buying my new computer and everybody was saying -- Hey, why don't you buy it with the new Windows program -- Windows Vista! -- I said, skip it, let me have it with XP, at least I know that one's been de-bugged.

Now, strangely enough, it seems as if Vista has gone the way of that other great Windows success -- Windows ME -- and hopefully the next time I switch, I'll be able to get somewhere in the middle of the Windows 7, where they'll have actually managed to get the thing working.

As for FD -- until they figure out how to get the new version to turn out scripts that are readable by every other version of FD, instead of giving excuses about it -- I'm going to hold off on it.

[WriteKnight]

I started with SCRIPTWARE - which in my opinion, is still the simplest, most elegant and stable screenwriting program out there. They suffered from being under-promoted or perhaps 'out promoted' in the early days and are no longer supported. I moved to Movie Magic because a writing partner used it and I find it clunky compared to Scriptware. I tried Final Draft for a short script - fifteen pages - and it crashed three times.

Sigh - like the early days of VHS and Sony BETAMAX - OR the battle for HD/Blue-Ray -the 'best' format did not win out.

[rainsmom]

When I was a teen I wanted to write for TV. I put that aside for many years, then in my early 30s, I wanted to give it another try. I started with the classes here: http://www.tvwriter.com/

I got a ton out of the classes and really appreciated Brody's feedback. Ultimately, I wrote two screenplays. One won a couple of small contests and got optioned but no produced. The other was a semi-finalist at Nicholl. Brody DEFINITELY helped. (I also used Final Draft and studied a lot of existing scripts.)

BUT -- and this is a huge BUT -- I saw an awful lot of people taking the classes who simply weren't very good. Brody probably helped them get a little further, but he's not god. He can't take someone with no skill and turn them into a working screenwriter.

[Starry eyed]

Thank you all for your replys, I will look in to your suggestions x