First of all, hello! I'm new here. Let's get right to the point! I spent the summer with my cousins in the Bronx. Cursing is part of their vocabulary. They use it as humor also, which gave me an idea for a screenplay. Now..., do I stay true to the character, or is cursing frowned upon. Also, slang. How is that taken.
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Using curse words
- Thread starter dorio
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Wasn't Planes, Trains, and Automobiles one those thousands of films laced with fuckity fuks that went nowhere?? 
I LOVE that scene! One of my all time favorites...
I LOVE that scene! One of my all time favorites...
It made over 49 million in 1987 but if they would have taken that scene out just think of what they could have made.
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=planestrainsandautomobiles.htm
When you have a non-F-bomb movie that makes 50 million+ (there are several of course) you can tell everyone not to use the word.
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=planestrainsandautomobiles.htm
When you have a non-F-bomb movie that makes 50 million+ (there are several of course) you can tell everyone not to use the word.
Wasn't Planes, Trains, and Automobiles one those thousands of films laced with fuckity fuks that went nowhere??
I LOVE that scene! One of my all time favorites...
This subforum is about writing.
Knightly and Fantasy are writers. Among other things, I'm sure. They like to write. So they write.
Which seems appropriate on a subforum that's about writing. See above ^.
I for one very much appreciate their taking the time and making the effort to carefully and sincerely express their views and engage in dialogue. I found both of their "dessertations" to be interesting, helpful, and stimulating. Pithiness is cool, if you want to be pithy.
Otherwise, I say, go ahead and write the hell out of it, boys, write the hell out of it.
=)
Knightly and Fantasy are writers. Among other things, I'm sure. They like to write. So they write.
Which seems appropriate on a subforum that's about writing. See above ^.
I for one very much appreciate their taking the time and making the effort to carefully and sincerely express their views and engage in dialogue. I found both of their "dessertations" to be interesting, helpful, and stimulating. Pithiness is cool, if you want to be pithy.
Otherwise, I say, go ahead and write the hell out of it, boys, write the hell out of it.
=)
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Humm. Interesting. In my humble opinion if reading a book destroys your creativity, then how creative are you really?
That's right. So.... go follow the book. Go on, and make sure you tell us when you have some success. Even small successes. As long as it was screened, that's the only prerequisite.
And, seeing as fit people are less likely to die from smoking related illnesses, maybe you should get yourself a fat cigar while you're at it.
Really? That's your only prerequisite? Okay, well I meet that. My debut feature won the prize of Best Feature Film, from the Columbia Gorge International Film Festival. But they gave out a lot of awards. And I don't think filmmaking should be a competition, anyway. So that's really no big deal, but it does meet your prerequisite.
A few posts ago, you said that I'm "preaching a formula". I'm doing no such thing. I appreciate the wisdom I learned by reading Save the Cat, but by no means do I treat it like gospel. Conversely, you vehemently deride it, and anything similar to it, but we both know you've never read the book. How, exactly, do you so confidently condemn something that you know nothing about?
You're like all of those Republicans who try to refute Global Warming and/or Evolution, but can't actually carry on an intelligent conversation on either subject.
You are the only person in this thread who has chosen to stand on the pulpit and preach. Everyone else has taken an open-minded attitude, but for you there is only one way -- your way.
Here's the difference between you and me -- I honestly support your decision to write with your chosen methods, because they work for you. Can you not do the same for me?
I'm still winding my way through this thread, but just wanted to address this point by saying a) this statement is kinda ridiculous, and b) yes, I have sold a script to a production company.
Grammar is something you learn in school, by learning and following rules of grammar. It isn't something you pick up through clocking up hours of writing. If you don't know rules of grammar, you don't learn them by writing more. Grammar isn't a muscle you can exercise into shape without knowledge of what you're doing.
gelder
Yeah, well, steve, the thing is, I.... am living proof. I didn't even graduate from an English speaking high school, so how the hell did I learn grammar? And I've never read a book about English grammar. So how did I learn the rules if I didn't study them?
hmm?
I actually don't think any of you have studied grammar. If I asked you what a notional subject is, you'd have to google it ( like I did):
notional subject: a term used to refer to a subject which is placed towards the end of a clause, and which is represented by an anticipatory subject (it or there) at the beginning of the clause. The notional subject after anticipatory "it" is always realized by a clause, while the notional subject following the existential "there" is usually a noun phrase.
E.g. It is useless to learn more about grammar.
Or how about nominal function: nominal function: the syntactic functions typical of nouns and noun phrases, viz. subject , direct object, indirect object, predicative, complement of preposition. The term is most commonly used when clauses or phrases other than noun phrases have these functions.
E.g. They believed that grammar could be learned.
And this one:
epistemic modality: the use of modal auxiliaries to express the speaker's judgement as to whether or not something is true. E.g. maralyn must have studied grammar. Her ability to write seems to prove it. When modal auxiliaries are used epistemically, they may express strong probability (e.g. must), or weak probability (e.g. might). See further explanation here. In combination with the perfective aspect , epistemic modals refer to a past situation; otherwise they generally refer to the present. Epistemic modality may also be expressed by marginal modal auxiliaries (That grammar book might not be hers), or by modal disjuncts (maralyn probably studied grammar).
I just can't help but think you're going out on a limb telling them to study grammar. To me the suggestion seems sort of crazy.
I didn't tell anyone to study grammar. I said you have to actively learn in order to learn grammar. You didn't just pick up grammar by typing. You might like to think you did, but you were taught, either by making mistakes that others corrected, or being taught by a teacher of some sort, or picking up a book, or something. You don't just learn grammar through blind repetition. You don't.
gelder
Hey Maralyn, take it easy. Finderskeepers was being rhetorical and funny (very funny I thought), and you're swinging at him with a blunt axe. calm down.
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I have to agree with gelder on this one. If you have no idea what the rules are, you can't spontaneously learn them without some frame of reference.
@Maralyn. I happen to agree with your stance about freeing oneself from rules. But most people actually do follow rules. Most hollywood films do follow the 3 act structure and the arc and everything. I may not like it, but the truth is that they do. So if somebody else thinks they should replicate that style it's not 'crazy.'
I happen to think that it's not necessary to follow those rules and the audience will like my story if there is something inherently interesting about it, and not if it follows structural rules. That being said, it's not 'crazy' to suggest rules. It's not crazy to suggest structures. Some people actually like them. I tend to disregard such advice. But nobody here is forcing anybody to do anything.
The passion in your writing seems to suggest that you think that people here are forcing people on this board to follow rules. They're not of course.
I also agree with your stance on grammar by the way. I never learned grammar formally. I used to hate grammar class. Thank God it was optional for me after 8th grade. People who couldn't speak English did better than I did in grammar. I still can't tell you what something as simple as a past participle is, but I know when I read bad grammar, because it sounds out of place, and not because it breaks a rule I can name. But Gelder also has a point. If someone has really poor grammar, how can it hurt to improve oneself?
I'm a firm believer in no rules, but I don't believe in that as a rule either. No rules if I feel like it. Rules if I feel like it. Neither is bad. Whatever suits the moment.
Cheers,
Aveek
I happen to think that it's not necessary to follow those rules and the audience will like my story if there is something inherently interesting about it, and not if it follows structural rules. That being said, it's not 'crazy' to suggest rules. It's not crazy to suggest structures. Some people actually like them. I tend to disregard such advice. But nobody here is forcing anybody to do anything.
The passion in your writing seems to suggest that you think that people here are forcing people on this board to follow rules. They're not of course.
I also agree with your stance on grammar by the way. I never learned grammar formally. I used to hate grammar class. Thank God it was optional for me after 8th grade. People who couldn't speak English did better than I did in grammar. I still can't tell you what something as simple as a past participle is, but I know when I read bad grammar, because it sounds out of place, and not because it breaks a rule I can name. But Gelder also has a point. If someone has really poor grammar, how can it hurt to improve oneself?
I'm a firm believer in no rules, but I don't believe in that as a rule either. No rules if I feel like it. Rules if I feel like it. Neither is bad. Whatever suits the moment.
Cheers,
Aveek
He just needs to get his work proofread. There will be big red circles around his mistakes, and he'll find that those mistakes are inherent, and eventually he won't make them again. You don't have to study grammar.
You don't HAVE to. I didn't. But you could. I think that's what these guys are saying.
So he needs to pass it off to someone who DOES know the rules. And he's left on his own to LEARN the rules to make the corrections. It would have been better for him to learn them beforehand.
Fortunately for him, there are those of us out here who are WILLING to proofread spelling and grammar for a modest FEE. And script doctoring is a slick business that can really take the new screenwriter's money. And there are a lot of scams out there for the unwary.
Better to spend some time learning upfront on his own (ie., FREE) than having to pay a more competent writer to check his work.
And trust me, some scripts are PAINFUL to read and correct! 
I've seen clever ideas lost in the wasteland of poor spelling, grammar, and formatting. A class at the community college would fix that. I felt I earned my money correcting some of those pieces. By working to allow them to keep their own writer's voice, it's sometimes sad that they can't see beyond their current efforts to take it to the next level. That's just a result of their level of experience.I don't like taking money out of anyone's pocket, but if one is going to be a writer, one needs to understand how to properly craft with words. Filmmaking is visual, using sound, lights, and camera angles to give nuance to a story. Screenwriting is verbal, using words carefully to tell a story. I can't be a ceramics artist and not care about clays, glazes or firing temperatures. I can't be a pro-football player and not care about the how the game is played. Not every high school athlete makes it to the big leagues, but many do make it onto college teams. But even if you're going out for high school sports, you need to know the rules or associate with people who know the rules.
Every talented writer I've ever met or spoken with has sweat equity in learning the rules. And being forced to learn them AFTER you've committed your time to writing, I find, is more disheartening than just taking the small effort of researching them BEFORE writing that magnus opus. Why write fifty haikus only to learn that you have to keep it to 17 syllables after the fact?
If he needs someone to check his spelling, grammar, and formatting, I have a reasonable per page rate.
And if he acts before midnight, I can give him coverage for a slightly higher rate. But that's not all. For a smooth easy series of payments, I'm happy to scriptdoctor his work into a stunning masterpiece which will include all of the previous. So have those paypal accounts ready when you email! Offers like this are few and far between. Beware of those other competitors that have 'sensitive eyes'. Hurry, this offer expires at the end of this thread or sooner! 
Thank you Rayw. I'll email this to all my contacts making sure to use improper English in the subject heading.
CAUTION!! GRAMMAR IS
AN OPPRESSIVE IMPEDIMENT
TO CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT
Please make sure you spell grammar as grammEr in that heading.
FWIW, I'm contacting my children's school system about throwing grammEr classes out the window.
More betterer kreeativ sigh-en-tifick resurch kan B ahchiefed thru fonetik kumunikashin and Yoda-Spanglish in da dissiminashun of intel.
We shood juss do WeTH we want when riitin, home bake!
FWIW, I'm contacting my children's school system about throwing grammEr classes out the window.
More betterer kreeativ sigh-en-tifick resurch kan B ahchiefed thru fonetik kumunikashin and Yoda-Spanglish in da dissiminashun of intel.
We shood juss do WeTH we want when riitin, home bake!
Thase still teechin' that
war yooz iz?
I'z thinkin' bout rattin' a, skreneplay 'bout a boy named, Jed who wuz married or somethin' an lived with his nees and nefyou who iz supost tu get hitched when they find themselfs some oil under the grown in the woods when he'z huntin up some, grub cause they ain't nun of um workin or
. Now Jeds' mom iz reelee a jenee found by hiz daddy who war un astronut b4 he gots himself lost in space with this other family where the captain is all hot to
the oldest daughter but all they iz iz dees lil booth and id be cool if they all run arown in thare undies and stuff. Butt granny she like wikles her nose an
hapens. An hiz nefyouz like a seekrt agent that, the govermet rebilt with awesome
arms an legs an eyes an ears an a teleskopin vibratin'
to drive all the womin crazy. But then thaze all up an moov to Idaho an setl down on a farm septin the girl who gets highrd on to a krooz ship ware evreewun keeps fallin in love and
each other senseless. And yah we need more undeez shots an maybee sum are nekid! An the granny stars heppin the cops solf thar crimes an ritin' books lak "Homicide Granny Solfs" or somethin' cleverer like that. An weth ol that oil munee, Jed highrs these three models with big boobs to go on mishuns for his detektiv agentsy an thare konstantly strippin down to thar undeez! An I dont no how to end it yet but I wuz thinkin that mebee aleens mite visit like wats that show with the guy with pointee eres--Spok?--yeh, like thay kom down an safe them all from zombees! Ahsum rite?!
So ya think ya'll kan hep me? I'z ben told I nede ta rite some goddam skrip foremat an I don reely wanna lern no
wayz of ritin' that, il krunch my kreaytivtee. Iz a grate storee ef yoo wanna hep me rite it ide efen giv yoo, kredit for heppin me an split enee munee wez be makin kuz this will be big like the next Afitar or sumthin'. I mene I ain't, too grate at that spelin and gramer
but the story iz like so ahsum! Shit thay I goze ugen on my sopeboks. Sahree my krayon brokez itself.
fuckin' shit
I'z thinkin' bout rattin' a, skreneplay 'bout a boy named, Jed who wuz married or somethin' an lived with his nees and nefyou who iz supost tu get hitched when they find themselfs some oil under the grown in the woods when he'z huntin up some, grub cause they ain't nun of um workin or
shit
fuck
shit
fuckin'
cock
fuckin
So ya think ya'll kan hep me? I'z ben told I nede ta rite some goddam skrip foremat an I don reely wanna lern no
fuckin'
krap
FUUUUH-CK MEEE!
Gimme a HAFF ANN OUR 2 REDE AWL DAT, PLEEZE!
GODDAM
AWRITE.
MI Cheecs iz hertin' frum grinninin and gigglinin at dat, FancySifi!
Skapresheeadit!
PS: Yo puter scream muss B cock full O' red wigglee lines.
I doan no how U kann rite dat mush wivout yerr iiis berninin.
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