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Dear Newbies

Read this webpage at least twice before you post your screenwriting to be evaluated:

http://www.scriptwritersnetwork.org/swn/index.php?page=feature-script-format

It may save countless tears, wasted energy, and inane arguments about trivialities.

There is of course room to weave this way or that. There is the possibility of reinventing the wheel, I suppose. But, without understanding why you're reinventing the screenplay how could you hope to succeed?

The truth is there's a mountain of dreck that most sane people would prefer to avoid. There is so much dreck, so much banal copycat simplistic bullshit floating around, that people who can tell the difference are not all that likely to trust that you're the new prodigy, unless you prove it on page one. And two, and right through to the end without one single miscue. Without missing a beat. Without impressing them that they didn't think of those fantastic ideas first.

That's the way it is. There's really no compelling reason to read amateur short screenplays (or features for that matter) off the internet, unless one is a masochist.

I heard Darren Aronofsky in an interview recently. He was back at film school talking to the students. He said, "The films you're making now... they're not good."

PS.

Then read every one of these columns (twice) before you bother with the next opus.

http://www.wordplayer.com/columns/welcome.html

And, hell, you might as well go here 5 days a week, too:

http://www.scriptsecrets.net
 
I think I'd agree with a lot of that.

If you expect me to read it, it needs to be formatted at least somewhere in the zip code of "Standard".

If you don't have me on page 1 there is only a 50/50 chance I will read Page 2. If you don't have me by page 2, there is about a 15% chance I will read page 3. If you don't have me sucked in by page 3, I'm out. Guys who get paid to do it for a living might have to read beyond that, but most of the rest of us won't.

Shows just how critial the first couple of pages are in a screeenplay from an "unknown" source. The first couple of pages need to be dynamite.

Meant to add, STEP ONE, download and read some scripts, preferably good ones. Beforte starting my new script I sat down and read Chinatown and a good chunk of The Godfather.
 
I offer what reactions I can, but you make a good point, Joe. I think the same can be said for the short film efforts. Although I suppose it is an open board and people can freely post what they want, their quality and content varies wildly from "Hey, that's pretty good." to "Uh... really?"

Good links. I've seen a few of those before.
 
The truth is there's a mountain of dreck that most sane people would prefer to avoid. There is so much dreck, so much banal copycat simplistic bullshit floating around, that people who can tell the difference are not all that likely to trust that you're the new prodigy, unless you prove it on page one. And two, and right through to the end without one single miscue. Without missing a beat. Without impressing them that they didn't think of those fantastic ideas first.

After some thought, I've come to see the irony in the combination of this statement and the links provided, including mine.
 
Interesting post. In my scriptwriting class, we read the first 12 pages of the 'Seven' script (Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman). We then watched the film.

I asked the class if they would have bought the film based on the first 12 pages, not knowing anything else about the project. No one said they would.

So how can a so-so script attract the talent and the funding that Seven did?
 
If you ask that question about a movie you don't personally like you're probably just going to frustrate yourself to the point of madness. Personally I try to study scripts for films I liked and try to get a sense of why they worked for other people, too.
 
It's not always the script that sells talent on a production.

People underestimate the value of conceptual art.

Also, an actor can literally be sold by the money being offered. And, other times, an actor may get involved just to keep working. Also, the actor's agent will talk them into it as soemthing good for their careers maybe because of who is directing or producing the film. I was in a major talent agency one time listening to an agent talking to a talent and giving them a great sales pitch on what getting into some production can do for their career.

However, getting back on point, one of the best scripts I've downloaded and read is THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Not one word was wasted the way that script was written so tightly.
 
shorts v. features

Features have more leeway to get going. It's a two hour journey, and asking people to buy it based on the first 12 pages sort of misses the point.

Shorts may only be 12 pages total. If the story isn't in motion very quickly, it will most likely fail as a short film.

I don't remember the opening to Seven being all that spectacular. The second half and the ending however more than made up for it. Perhaps they were lulling people into thinking it was a standard police procedural, so that they would spring the big twists. It's a valid approach.

I don't see how that excuses crap short scripts though.
 
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