How to Read and Write a Screenplay

[LtBroccoli]

@LtBroccoli What is the particular attraction of the screenplay format for you? The challenge of working within the strict limits imposed by the form, the possibility to visualize the action?

That's a very good question. There's a few answers, and a lot of them stem from the fact that I'm a huge movie nerd. I went to film school. While I started writing traditional stories, I really didn't find my voice until I started writing for visual formats. Web forums, roleplays, commercial work, student films, news shows, I've done them all.

For what they bring, they allow an easy way to visualize and create the images and scenes described. If you ever get some time, find a screenplay or teleplay of a movie or show you like, preferably one where the director and writer are different people. Sometimes a writer will cheat on their script if they're shooting it. But watch the movie and read the scenes how they're described, and see how the director interpreted those.

I love the challenge of restrictions. It's just the way I am. Tell me I can write a story about anything, and I'll stare at a wall all day long. Tell me I have to write a story about a blue pen and it has to be 3k words or 20 pages, and I'm writing like my hands are on fire. Screenplays force me to write active voice and only what I can show. I can't fall back on what a person thinks without a narrator. How can I hear the protagonist's thoughts? How do I know he's depressed if I don't describe him being so. They also have to get to the point. I can't spend 500 words describing how the smell of her perfume reminded him of happier times, I only have a sentence or two to show it. I can show him taking in a deep breath as she walks past and him smiling, then looking at her longingly as she walks away. Then I'm on to the next shot.

The script version I'm writing and publishing are the initial versions, before the director and producers get their hands on it. Producers will mark up their copies for various things they need to do to make the scene happen, like what locations they'll need, what actors are on set, if extras are needed, what SFX are needed, etc. Directors will take their copy and create a shooting script, where they'll mark what shots they want to use. I normally keep camera directions out unless I really, really want the reader/viewer to see a shot a specific way. I have one scene where MC is interviewing the Big Baddie and the camera does a slow spiral down, starting from the ceiling and focusing on them as they each talk. They go back and forth, the motion is meant to draw the viewer in, like they're being drug down a drain or whirlpool, until it settles on the Baddie as the MC says the big reveal, shocking the viewer. Normally the Director will mark the script with what they want in each scene, like close ups on characters, wide or two shots, establishing shots, etc. They'll then take the shooting script, make a shot list and make/have made for them storyboards or a pre-viz. Storyboards are basically the Director's comic book, showing how they want to shoot the story. That gets broken down further by various staff who make it happen.

When I write, I picture the story how I want to see it. Even traditional narratives, I see them like a movie. I like telling stories both ways, but I really feel comfortable with the script. And it's a change of pace.

Thanks, those were very good questions, and I went deep into the rabbit hole.

[Shocker]

I’m not intending to diss your work, I like it too much, but as I stated before on a now defunct site. Screenplays and Dramas are not really meant to be read, they are meant to be experienced in the actual performance. Macbeth is simply not that good to read, but a hell of a play to watch.

The story is still there, and I can appreciate the challenge to tell it in a dialogue driven form, I’m simply the wrong reader for it. I love your stories, and I will keep reading them in whatever format it pleases you to publish them.

[Vela Nanashi]

Also Broccoli I got your file, and I will once I am less broken try to get some bbcode tags written for you to use that will make it a little easier to format the text like that document, I am not quite capable of that yet though, right now I can barely sit without pain, and stand is worse, so it will take me a while.

For me the format is really on the extremely opposite end of what I want (I am not put inside any of the characters, and without a good actor or actress to convey things in a way that my brain can then convert via empathy it falls flat for me). However I want to make different formats available so we all can be creative in the way we want to be. Maybe your format will be more suitable for conversion soon to actual video via AI, given how scary good those things have gotten, giving them a screen play written well probably will give you the result you desire out of them.

[LtBroccoli]

Also Broccoli I got your file, and I will once I am less broken try to get some bbcode tags written for you to use that will make it a little easier to format the text like that document, I am not quite capable of that yet though, right now I can barely sit without pain, and stand is worse, so it will take me a while.

For me the format is really on the extremely opposite end of what I want (I am not put inside any of the characters, and without a good actor or actress to convey things in a way that my brain can then convert via empathy it falls flat for me). However I want to make different formats available so we all can be creative in the way we want to be. Maybe your format will be more suitable for conversion soon to actual video via AI, given how scary good those things have gotten, giving them a screen play written well probably will give you the result you desire out of them.

Thanks Vela. You take care of yourself first.

Is there a way of saving/loading PDF's to the forum? One idea if we can't get the formatting to work is to attach the PDF of the script, if people would prefer that.

Mentioning actors just gave me an idea. When possible, I can list the actors I had in mind for the roles. I know for one of the stories I'm working on, almost every character is based off of an actor. For those not based off of them, I can always find a "close enough." For example, Bob is based off of an old buddy of mine, but he looked like Jeff Bridges a little bit.

Making AI videos is probably a bridge too far for me now. I might start off with making character pics, maybe move to trying storyboards/graphic comics one day. Though I'll have to run AI locally for that work.

Any chance of getting a Screenplay tag added?

[LtBroccoli]

I’m not intending to diss your work, I like it too much, but as I stated before on a now defunct site. Screenplays and Dramas are not really meant to be read, they are meant to be experienced in the actual performance. Macbeth is simply not that good to read, but a hell of a play to watch.

The story is still there, and I can appreciate the challenge to tell it in a dialogue driven form, I’m simply the wrong reader for it. I love your stories, and I will keep reading them in whatever format it pleases you to publish them.

Thanks Shocker. It depends on what I'm in the mood for and which I think is the best for the story. I've thought about going further with them in the past, but my photoshop skills were never good enough to turn them into a graphic novel. But Vela brought up some good points with casting and using AI to make something out of them. I'll contemplate what I need to do to even think about getting that up and running.

[Vela Nanashi]

I have not looked super hard into the screen play thing @LtBroccoli, but I did create two more bbcodes today that maybe will let you do what you want somewhat:

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[align=center][dwpx=100][align=justify]100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide100 pixels wide100 pixels wide100 pixels wide[/align=justify][/dwpx][/align]

100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide100 pixels wide100 pixels wide100 pixels wide

You can also use dwp that gives you a way to specify percentage of container's size, and you can combine various alignments and other bbcodes to format things further.

33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide

[LtBroccoli]

I have not looked super hard into the screen play thing @LtBroccoli, but I did create two more bbcodes today that maybe will let you do what you want somewhat:

Code: Select all

[align=center][dwpx=100][align=justify]100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide100 pixels wide100 pixels wide100 pixels wide[/align=justify][/dwpx][/align]

100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide 100 pixels wide100 pixels wide100 pixels wide100 pixels wide

You can also use dwp that gives you a way to specify percentage of container's size, and you can combine various alignments and other bbcodes to format things further.

33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide 33% wide

That is awesome Vela, thank you. I will test this out with a quick scene or story, see how I can incorporate it.