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The writing script VS the Shooting script

Before, I was writing directly in final draft with the adequate format.


WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was trying to write right a way the shooting script.

I realized it was not the best way to get my story out of me.

Shooting script is for the producer, the art department, the actors ect ect. But it's not for the writer.


So, I decide to write on paper with a "feel good" pen.

Guess what, It was like before a was swimming in mud and now I'm swigging in water with a turbo turbine up my ass.

yes, it's make such a different.

Why?


First you don't need to write clean and clear. You just need to put the idea on paper.

You can use abbreviation that only you understand to make it faster on the process to put down your taught with a good flow.

You can put note on the side for reminders or alternate ideas.

You don't have to respect a format.

But most important, you won't try to make clean and good the first time. Because you know you gonna have to rewrite in the computer with the right format and convention.

And the magic will happen, it will be your final rewrite were you make sure of your decision and you gonna freeze a lot of thing.

It's like working with clay, and the computer rewrite make everything become stiff.

Since I realized this, no way I will write first on the the computer.

Never........ if I'm not to lazy.

Ramz
 
Maybe I am misunderstanding you,
But just because you use a screenwriting software, does not mean
that you have to write like a shooting script.

I write in spec format on the software I use.

But if you want to get the story out on paper, that is an excellent strategy.

I write so much in my notebooks, I typically have to buy 2 per week.
But the story gets on paper that way.

I highly recommend not to start typing a script until after you finish a very good outline.
 
I get what you're saying. When you hold a pen/pencil in your hand you seem to appreciate *it* as the first tangible piece of your final artwork/product, and you're allowed to make mistakes or wildly experiment with that tool. I feel the same way about index cards, tablets....and my trusty old sharpies.:D
 
I find it impossible to just jump on a computer and go. I have to write on paper first. Usually its during my day at work I write a few pages, then at home that night I transfer it to my software. Then its not a matter of creating and formatting, its just dictating and formatting. My creative and analytical brains do not work well together.

I like legal pads, yellow is easy on the eyes.
 
I use the rewrite process.

I write notes on legal pad that generally outline the story.
I sit down at Celtx and write the entire thing, not going back and re-reading anything I have written.
I print out that script, and read it, taking notes in the margins, making chainges, etc... with a pen.
I re-write the script in Celtx based on those notes.

Later, Rinse, Repeat, anywhere from 4 to 6 or 8 times.
 
I'm a computer guy - not the best or fastest typist but the motions of my fingers striking the keys helps open up my mind (plus my handwriting sucks). I develop my characters first (in a spreadsheet and backstory detail in a word doc) then my story in Dramatica/Save the Cat/Contour. Then it's first draft time - where I write with my heart. After that it's re-write, after re-write, after...well you get the picture. I re-write using my head paying attention to the craft and using skill and technique until that baby is done and done.
 
Good input from you people!

Great to see different perspectives on how you approach you writing.

I'm eating a disgusting pudding right now. It's feel like sand mix with something mosh mosh.


And what about writing chronology VS writing from end to start or from beginning, end, middle.

This pudding is awful!!!! :O

But I'm so hungry!!! I need to eat that pudding.










Why this pudding is warm?! :S
 
I'm still writing it the old-fashioned way with Microsoft Word, which I suppose is just silly given all the good screenwriting software about.

I've got Screenwriting Pro on my computer, actually, but I haven't gotten around to using it just yet.
 
I am a very fast typist. Much faster than my handwriting, and more legible.

But... I'm a much faster "brainist" than that. So I keep multiple small moleskine-style notebooks in my pockets. Before I start a new one I number the pages and I keep an index at the back. I write with varying color pens and put skateboard an comic book stickers on the covers so I can find them quickly once they're filled and in "the pile."

While I'm scribbling notes I can also write in marginal thoughts, random to-do junk, small drawings, phone numbers, tangential thoughts, names of useful references, names of people, all sorts of things that would never ever get directly to the screen but that imo are essential for informing and lubricating the process.

Whatever works for you, though. If I was always working on a TV deadline this way of working would be dangerously meandering. But even then -- when I was last working on script on a deadline I used two computers side-by-side because the email and administrative traffic was as busy as the "actual" writing -- at times I'd be on the phone while sending emails while looking at the computer with the script (and maybe discussing it).
 
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