I've been obsessed with movies since I was about 4 and always dreamed of making my own. Growing up I had insane abilities to write stories of all kinds and always did in my spare time. As I got older I lost my ability and I'm really trying to build myself up and get that ability back.
I've had that happen at least two times in my life, both with filmmaking and composing. The worst film lull I had was five years of nothing. A lot of that had to do with a relational break up, and relocating to another state. It took me those 5 years to settle myself. I came back with a vengeance, writing, shooting, composing multiple projects.
I would always hear music in my head, but there was a period of time where it stopped. Eventually, it came back, even stronger. It feels like divine inspiration. Any sound will trigger melody or harmony in my head. Weird sounds, like an electric paper towel dispenser, a table leg scraping along the floor, etc. It's really cool, because I didn't used to hear sounds like that.
To get your story mojo back, what works for me is exposure, such as watching movies in a genre that I like. Watch big budget and no budget. Often times, it is the indie movies that I find approachable, because they have more flaws, where I find myself thinking, "How would I do that?" I know we all get busy in our lives, so we blow off watching movie and reading books. They can be very inspirational
I'm just starting out and am not even really sure about formatting so everything you can tell me helps.
We were just discussing,
on another post, about how
The Screenwriter's Bible was good about teaching format. My buddy was recommending
Screenwriting For Neurotics, as a good starter book.
Several programs will do the formatting for you. I use Wordpad, and just format it myself. Another member, DirectorRik had some great format advice, for those of us just winging it:
Left Margin is 1.5 inches (appx.15 spaces)
From Left Margin justified left tabs:
Character name is appx. 25 spaces
Parenthetical is appx. 21 spaces
Dialogue is appx. 15 spaces
Dialogue should not run longer than 3.5 inches.
Use an unjustified 1.0 right margin.
1.0 inch top and bottom
