Why choose to write scripts?

That's a maxim for any sort of fiction writing, not just screenwriting.

And I prefer screenwriting I love movies.

For me, it's about time and effort.

I write novels and scripts: scripts provide a greater monetary reward for the least amount of effort (pages).

I got a $30,000 advance for a novel that took me seven months to write. I got $75,000 for a script that took one month.

I like movies; I love books.

Interestingly, my book agent is seeking to sell the film rights to one of my novels. Maybe I will be assigned to write the script -- no one would know since I don't write my novels under the name I use for screenplays.

For me, it's just passion. When I was growing up, all I could ever see myself doing was being a novelist, because books were all I knew. Now I'm older, and that is not the case. I realize that my passion for film is much stronger, now that I've taken up acting, and I have a much stronger desire to write screenplays than books.

I actually write other stuff; I think I'm better at fiction because I know how to convey emotion better without naming the emotion.

I was brought into writing because I'm an actor that has not made it yet and it seems to be the only way to get access to material that I like and I'm pretty much guaranteed to play without an audition!

I've read so many crappy indie scripts and edited five crappy indie films that were made from mediocre scripts and I thought... I can do this better! In fact, as an editor I realized that my ideas after the fact, during editing, if recognized during filming would have made the project much better if only they were there during shooting. Lines of dialog, cutting certain unnecessary exposition. That's the major issue with every film I've edited, it's over-written, under-developed and under-directed. So, I'm giving it a shot. Next year I'm producing a script of mine and we will see if I'm just full of crap or I have the goods. If that doesn't work out... I'll move into editing full time! Here we go!!!

I started writing screenplays because I thought I could make good money. I know it's possible, just look at the WGA minimum agreement.

Some people say, oh, I have a story that must be told. Well good for you, but we all have a story that must be told. Problem is, 99% of us end up telling our stories to housepets.

I write all kinds of things, scripts are just another outlet. I have completed 5 novels, nearly a dozen scripts, more short stories than I can count, children stories as well as some poems (I hate poetry but now and then I get something that won't shut up and forces me to write it). Out of all that I have some small credits. I have no idea which venue will actually help me to succeed if any, but at this point writing is writing and I love to write.

I want my novel on the screen.

I'm writing screenplays because of the numbers.

I write because I want lots of folks to read my stuff (eventually).

However, book reading is not only declining across the board - but the percentage of decline is increasing. And you can see that it will continue to go that way. Youngsters simply have too many other activities competing for their attention spans: Cell phoning. Text messaging. Ipodding. Computer gaming. Web surfing. Emailing. Chat rooming. 500 TV stations for tuberino watching. Book reading is way down there, and will drop through the basement flooring eventually.

So: Screenwriting - maybe - increases the chances that people will have the result of my work, albeit in visual form.

They're having a Cell Phone Film Festival now. Omigod. How short can the attention span be shrunken down to?

Jolie Blon said:

For me, it's about time and effort.

I write novels and scripts: scripts provide a greater monetary reward for the least amount of effort (pages).

I got a $30,000 advance for a novel that took me seven months to write. I got $75,000 for a script that took one month.

I like movies; I love books.

Interestingly, my book agent is seeking to sell the film rights to one of my novels. Maybe I will be assigned to write the script -- no one would know since I don't write my novels under the name I use for screenplays.

Click to expand...

A Canyonite! I love it. Lived there myself at one time, some of my best years. Have lots of pals there.

Congrats on these successes!

Say hello to the canyon for me!

Kosh said:

I actually write other stuff; I think I'm better at fiction because I know how to convey emotion better without naming the emotion.

Click to expand...

Screenwriting IS fiction writing.

In film you don't have to name an emotion, just describe the character's behavior.

TACK
Arty, your mother was a slug.

Arty leaps to his feet comes across the table like a rattlesnake takes Tack by the throat and chokes him to death.

No need to say anything about anger.

Show don't tell.

I got nudged into scriptwriting by a writer buddy and haven't found my way back out yet. It's just... too much fun. Which is about as unprofessional an answer as you'll get.

Can't argue with Jolie's reasons.

-Derek

Write_At_1st_Light said:

I'm writing screenplays because of the numbers.

I write because I want lots of folks to read my stuff (eventually).

However, book reading is not only declining across the board - but the percentage of decline is increasing.

Click to expand...

Actually literacy is at it's highest in history and more books sold last year than ever before, so really it's inclining, it's just it has stiff competition and with literacy so high the percentage of the literate who read is smaller than it used to be, but the actual numbers are higher than ever.

Food for thought.

Oh and the number of books published has also grown quite a bit.

Goodwriterguy said:

Screenwriting IS fiction writing.

In film you don't have to name an emotion, just describe the character's behavior.

TACK
Arty, your mother was a slug.

Arty leaps to his feet comes across the table like a rattlesnake takes Tack by the throat and chokes him to death.

No need to say anything about anger.

Show don't tell.

Click to expand...

I know; what I'm saying is that fiction allows you to use so many more words and analogies and even small details in the scene that would get a screenplay thrown in a roaring fire. You can do some of that in film, but so much more in fiction.

Goodwriterguy said:

A Canyonite! I love it. Lived there myself at one time, some of my best years. Have lots of pals there.

Congrats on these successes!

Say hello to the canyon for me!

Click to expand...

Thank you! I will! Was there a marauding herd of ex-pet pot-bellied pigs roaming the canyon in your day? Every morning: howling coyotes and squealing pigs... then squealing coyotes as they run for the hills. A 60-pound coyote being no match for a 200 pound pig, much less a herd of them. Ah, the joys of canyon life!

Kosh said:

I know; what I'm saying is that fiction allows you to use so many more words and analogies and even small details in the scene that would get a screenplay thrown in a roaring fire. You can do some of that in film, but so much more in fiction.

Click to expand...

I think the problem here is semantics. You're using "fiction" to describe short stories and novel writing, right? "Fiction" actually means not non-fiction and is a generic term for imaginative writing.

Most screenwriters are fiction writers.

You might want to say "novel writing" or "short story" writing simply to be clear in this forum.

Just a suggestion

I like the challenge of screenplays.

You need that narrative economy - finding a shorter, more clever way to tell the story. In prose, you can just say it. In scripts, you try to find a way to make the audience realize it on their own.

In a good script, the story is greater than the sum of the words. It's like the story exists between the words. I guess you could say that about good prose, too, but it's more pronounced in scripts.

And I enjoy the restrictions. The relatively tight structure, the page limits, the "rules." I like trying to create something amazing and creative within those strictures.

Also, in high school I was trying to woo an actress and it kinda snow-balled from there.

icerose said:

Actually literacy is at it's highest in history and more books sold last year than ever before, so really it's inclining, it's just it has stiff competition and with literacy so high the percentage of the literate who read is smaller than it used to be, but the actual numbers are higher than ever.

Food for thought.

Oh and the number of books published has also grown quite a bit.

Click to expand...

Guess it depends on what sources one goes to. I wish you're right, I hope you're right - and since I'm a devourer of books I'm always trying to sell people on the idea of reading them.

But - I don't dispute the decline that has been reported - not at all. I'm also seeing that decline directly, within my circle of people. Family, friends, biz associates. Books aren't discussed like they used to be. I get blank faces when I mention authors, whose names should be familiar. When I say I'm a throwback because I read books? No one disputes that statement, or thinks I'm joking. They just kind of nod.

Of course the decline is occurring more rapidly amongst young people and THAT is the cause for concern. They'll be running things one day. And that will be a world where they'll snicker at the idea of people spending an entire weekend - reading a good book.

I think there is a parallel in film. There may be tons and tons of films being made - but who is watching them? It's weird. I'm in SAG, get the SAG magazine, and I remember being appalled at some stats in one of their issues. In the year 2000, there were about 12,000 principal roles handed out to SAG actors in main distribution films. In the year 2004 - the number was down to 6,500. I don't dispute it. As a SAG member in Hwood I've seen the decline at point blank range.

Anyway I will continue to read voraciously and write friggin' screenplays because I enjoy both immensely. And who knows? Book reading and film watching may make the big loop and head upwards again. Once people get tired of the moronic computer games...

Write_At_1st_Light said:

Guess it depends on what sources one goes to. I wish you're right, I hope you're right - and since I'm a devourer of books I'm always trying to sell people on the idea of reading them.

But - I don't dispute the decline that has been reported - not at all. I'm also seeing that decline directly, within my circle of people. Family, friends, biz associates. Books aren't discussed like they used to be. I get blank faces when I mention authors, whose names should be familiar. When I say I'm a throwback because I read books? No one disputes that statement, or thinks I'm joking. They just kind of nod.

Of course the decline is occurring more rapidly amongst young people and THAT is the cause for concern. They'll be running things one day. And that will be a world where they'll snicker at the idea of people spending an entire weekend - reading a good book.

Click to expand...

Yet bestsellers are selling more than ever and the average is higher than ever per author on book sales, excluding self publishing of course. Look at JK Rowlings' Harry Potter and Lemony Sniket's a tale of unfortunate events. Hundreds of Millions of books sold per each book in the series and the vast majority of their readers are kids.

I am not saying there aren't problems with the industry, the short shelf life is one of the biggest, but it is easier to get read and published and there is a wider audience than ever before. There really is. In the end write and read what makes you happy but that doesn't mean one industry is collapsing because of the other.

Three words...

I LOVE MOVIES.

R

Jolie Blon said:

I think the problem here is semantics. You're using "fiction" to describe short stories and novel writing, right? "Fiction" actually means not non-fiction and is a generic term for imaginative writing.

Most screenwriters are fiction writers.

You might want to say "novel writing" or "short story" writing simply to be clear in this forum.

Just a suggestion

Click to expand...

yeah, I use the words differently for some reason. Sorry for the mix-up.

icerose said:

Yet bestsellers are selling more than ever and the average is higher than ever per author on book sales, excluding self publishing of course. Look at JK Rowlings' Harry Potter and Lemony Sniket's a tale of unfortunate events. Hundreds of Millions of books sold per each book in the series and the vast majority of their readers are kids.

I am not saying there aren't problems with the industry, the short shelf life is one of the biggest, but it is easier to get read and published and there is a wider audience than ever before. There really is. In the end write and read what makes you happy but that doesn't mean one industry is collapsing because of the other.

Click to expand...

In its writers guide, Reader's Digest changed its reading comprehension grade from 10th to 7th (or something like that) not long ago, a reflection of their estimation that literacy is in decline.

Any survey of the field shows a very mixed bag out there, with indicators showing all kinds of seemingly contradicting data, from High School grads who can't read to huge sales of books like Rowland's, who's readers are, as you note, mostly children. Very hard to get a handle on what's going on. The rise of computer gaming, video watching, expanded cable offerings, and web surfing tends to push youngsters away from books, with little by way of countervailing forces or trends. Reading is not considered a "cool" pasttime among most youth.

Books will liklely always be with us, but their command appears to me to be steadily losing against the onslaught of other media.