Beloved, writing a blockbuster film is the dream of every screen writer i had ever come across in my 10years in the movie business, that is the reason i concluded to show the willing in heart the way to go about their dream. Lets roll.
1. If the story doesn't work, then the script won't work. If at any given time, your reader is not wondering, "What's going to happen next?"--you've got a problem.
2. Author Julia Cameron says, "The singular image is what haunts us and becomes art." Think about that! At last "a place" to put all of your little insights, moments of truth, fascinations and unique experiences that previously lacked a "file." If you access that "file" while preparing your script and use these hot little tidbits as springboards for scenes, your script is going to be buzzing with honesty and life. This is what audiences crave.
3. There is no such thing as a throwaway or a transitional scene. Scenes should not only add value to the overall story but should also have intrinsic entertainment value as well.
4. Writing a script is relatively easy. The real work is in preparing, building and "arc-ing" out the story and defining the characters. Once the "blueprint" is in place, the writing itself is usually a welcome enterprise. Many writers have trouble being patient enough with this process and it can cost them dearly in the long run.
5. There are many "techniques" for creating and developing characters some of which are effective. However, the single most important thing you can do is to have a strong emotional connection with your character. Intellectual platitudes and techniques are OK, but audiences want characters who are alive. Find your most visceral emotional connections. Don't settle on a character until you do.
6. The difference between good and great material? SOUL. There are some fabulous technicians out there and some great storytellers too, but the bottom line is the emotional impact of a writer's work. When a screenwriter's vision is razor clear and deeply, exactingly rendered, it can have such impact that you the reader feel changed, personally shifted having experienced their art. GREATNESS HAUNTS.
7 "Who is your hero? What is his/her goal? Who or what is preventing her/him from reaching that goal?" (Intense pressure on your hero in an atmosphere of conflict will help keep your story mobile and entertaining).
8. When I've written screenplays, it always STARTED WITH WHAT I THOUGHT WAS A GREAT IDEA. Something that gnawed and nagged at me and that I felt needed to be expressed. I was savvy enough after a while to realize that sometimes you can have a great idea that has no business being developed as a screenplay, so I knew it was important to take a good long breath before investing myself in an idea that might take me the better part of the year to fully execute. After determining that it was a go, my approach would be to start collecting "hot" ideas for scenes, character elements, moments, character arcs etc. and just put them "on the board" without giving them continuity and form...yet. This process involves the collection of assets without the pressure of having to do anything else than collect them. Inevitably, these ideas would spawn more ideas, which would then spawn a sense of trajectory and order. At some point when the quiver felt full, I would get into more advanced stages of identifying placement over the acts and giving it all a sense of storytelling. I would avoid writing at all costs, letting the passion to do so percolate while I did my critical spade work. Once I had a fully developed game plan; full stories, a real sense of a beginning, middle, end and scenes that could "write themselves, "I'd happily get into the writing process as if it were my wedding night.
9. Surrender to this fact: writing is rewriting.
10. EXPERIMENT: take a couple of pages out of your script. Are your characters distinctive enough that, if you REMOVED THEIR NAMES from the pages, you could tell who they are JUST FROM the dialogue? If not, you need to do more work.
11. Rule of thumb: get into scenes as late as you can and get out early. Forget about the "glad to meet you's" and the "what would you like for dinner's." "How can I start a scene as close to the end as possible?"
12. Before writing anything, you should be able to tell someone the story (and have it worked out so smoothly) that it's practically ready to “write itself.”
13. Planning a script is an act of simplifying rather than the opposite. And above all it's a blueprint for a practical, doable approach to getting something down on paper.
14. When it comes to dialogue, less is better. Pick up the most successful screenplays and you'll notice great economies when it comes to words.
15. WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW or about what truly fascinates you. Recognize and take advantage of those areas of experience and interest for which you are the sole proprietor! This will give you an automatic leg up in your writing. However you may inevitably need to shape and dramatize the material in order to make it entertaining for the rest of us. (It doesn't have to be based on 100% of the truth. It's enough that the truth is your inspiration and catalyst). Remember there are certain things that you've been “researching” for your whole life.
16. As you bubble and percolate, AVOID the temptation to write at all costs! Instead, let the DESIRE to write build up as you dabble. Let your energy be expressed in the proliferation of creative nuggets randomly thrown on a page or on index cards. Collect them and give them form but don’t start your script until you’re truly ready.
17. ACCEPT THE FACT that the only writers who get the chance to write without grueling preparation are those who are not getting paid. The typical Hollywood writer has to jump through preparatory hoops before she/he will get the chance to initiate the actual writing of the script. Many pros spend about 70% of their time prepping and 30% writing. Many newcomers do the exact opposite. This is a big mistake. Prep thoroughly.
18. STRUCTURE: Screenplays are big and unruly. You can get lost in their breadth. Three (or four acts, (ie: an act 2 break) help to ground it, make it more bite sized. Additionally, it also gives you at least three moments in the script that are going to be extra climatic (ie: the end of act one; the end of act two (part one); the end of act two (part two) etc. Finally, it gives you something to go for. (For this reason TV movies can be much easier to write than features because they require seven acts (that's six act breaks - plot twisting, climatic, breathless moments to look forward to). Think of each of them as an oasis).
19. STAGE DIRECTIONS ARE OKAY. Someone spread a FALSE rumor that you shouldn't tell directors and actors what to do. Physical actions/gestures/attitudes/reactions etc. described in narrative or parentheses that enhance subtext and cinematic action are called stage directions. Don't hesitate to use the very tool that can help make or break your script.(IE stage directions)
20. The predicate of all successful films, plays and TV episodes is CONFLICT! JEOPARDY, OBSTACLES.
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