How To Make Your First Movie - Phase 1: Writing
- October 26, 2008
- 28,128 Views
Music
The Way It Is
Voice Over Artist
Marci Fine
Writer
Jake Bakkila
The screenwriter Gene Fowler once said, “Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.” Here’s how to make the process a little less painful.
You Will Need
- A formatting and pagination guide
- A realistic sense of limitations
- Source material
- Script formatting software
Step 1: Decide on source material
Decide if you want to write a script from scratch, or adapt some other work, like a novel.
For adaptations, you’ll need to secure rights to anything that’s not in the public domain. Be prepared to pay dearly for the rights to popular books.
Step 2: Learn script formatting
Learn how to format a script. This is very important—many studios won’t even look at a script if it doesn’t follow industry standard rules for spacing and style.
There are many scriptwriting programs that will automatically format what you’re writing, as well as adapt previously written scripts to the standard style.
Step 3: Brainstorm
Come up with some ideas for a script. Everyone has his or her own creative process, but most people find that sitting down at a computer without some ideas just leads to writer’s block.
Step 4: Be realistic
Be realistic. Don’t limit your imagination too much, but if you’re planning to film your own movie, remember that a sprawling war epic with battle scenes and period costumes is going to be difficult on a $50,000 budget.
Follow the old adage, “Write about what you know.” But beware of writing about yourself—most people are not nearly as interesting as they think they are!
Step 5: Develop your characters
Think about your characters before you start. Develop them deeply and then imagine them coming into conflict in interesting ways. Once writing, a good trick is to avoid having them say exactly what they’re thinking—how often does that happen in real life?
Step 6: Write a first draft
Once you’ve got some ideas, sit down and write a first draft. Don’t obsess over the details or try to edit at this point; just get the framework of the story in place.
Step 7: Critique
By yourself, or with the help of your director or others whose opinions you admire and trust, critique the draft. Only accept the unvarnished truth; you want a good script, not insincere compliments.
Listening to others’ advice is tricky—if you don’t think something is a good idea, don’t do it. But at the same time, be tolerant of criticism and open to suggestions.
Step 8: Write a second draft
Write a second draft of the script, based on the feedback you’ve received and your own assessment of the first product.
Because movies rely on spoken words, pay close attention to your dialogue. A conversation between two people might look fine on paper but sound stilted and fake when spoken aloud.
Step 9: Critique it again
Critique the second draft. Ideally, you or your partners will be more satisfied with this one, but if you’re not, don’t get discouraged; many scripts go through dozens of drafts.
Step 10: Write a final draft
When you’re happy with the most recent critiques and you think you’re close, make a final draft of the script. It’ll probably still change, but calling it “final” will give you a sense of accomplishment.
Sony spent $20 million on the story rights and $10 million on the screenplay for Spider-Man 2.
Something wrong? Report this How-To
Comments (8)
playlist?
over 3 years ago by jimmy
We've got a total of eight coming. And they get a lot more specific than that!
over 3 years ago by Seaworthy
SWEET! how many phases are you planning to make?
Phase 1- Writing
(?)
Phase 2- Filming
Phase 3- Editing
is that right?
over 3 years ago by sarge657
No, the first is Concept dev.,then Treatment,then First draft etc.,etc. Then pkg. it ,Then theres finding a director, casting, then pitching it to a distributor or broadcaster so you have the money to make it (which is almost imposible if you are a first time writer/director), then shooting it, all your post production, editing, haveing a publisit market it to festivals and so on and so on. Dont forget all the legal issues and reg. with the W.G.A., the S.A.G. and other union agreement oh yah...insurance as well.
over 3 years ago by Petercarr
Love the ";writer's block.";
over 3 years ago by HeatherMenicucci
This short should be called ";Writing Your First Script Phasa 1 not Makeing Your First Movie";
Way to vauge and stilted. Every film idea is based on a film idea that has already been produced. What makes your idea original is how you as the writer / film maker envision and present it. So basing your property on something that isn't in 'public domain' isn't a writers concern. Also, as a writer you don't worry about the cost of production. That is the concern of the Producer or Studio. There is lots of freeware avail. for script writing ie www.Celtx.com and for help you should contact W.G.C.
over 3 years ago by Petercarr
cool
over 3 years ago by Bernard_Safatli
Great Video, I have found this channel , it has a live telecast of the Winter Olympics ongoing as of now, try the link if the stream is still there. http://winterolympicsin2010vancouver.blogspot.com/2010/02/figure-skating-pairs-short-program-live.html
over 2 years ago by violatoroger
Sign in or create an account to post a comment. Or, sign in using your Facebook to comment
and share your activity with your friends