Script writing guides

[Jo Zebedee]

My teen has been writing scripts for a year or so and is getting a little more serious about it. She is including things like stage/actor directions, lighting hints, and I can help a bit with my theatre experience, but I wondered if there were any good, basic gudes to script writing anyone would recommend?

 

[lonewolfwanderer]

My teen has been writing scripts for a year or so and is getting a little more serious about it. She is including things like stage/actor directions, lighting hints, and I can help a bit with my theatre experience, but I wondered if there were any good, basic gudes to script writing anyone would recommend?

Ah gawd... if only you'd asked this a few years back. I did extensive research into screenwriting and found a stack of decent guides, but my search history has since been cleared. I will see if i can find them again though, and pass them forward.

 

[HoopyFrood]

If it's film scripts -- or if she's interested in getting into such -- I'd be happy to help with any questions.

Film scripts are the best, you don't have to worry about lighting and directions and the like, it's just wonderful story telling

Does she have a program to help with writing? Celtx is free and very easy to use, with automatic layouts for film, stage, tv etc. Scripts are beasts to set out properly so such programs are life savers.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

Have you tried the BBC Writersroom? It's fantastic resource (although it was better before the cuts). My daughter uses it for the scripts she writes for her stop motion films.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Seriously, you haven't heard of Save the Cat! yet?

 

[Fishbowl Helmet]

Screenwriting by Syd Field.
Save the Cat by Blake Snyder.
Screenwriter's Bible by Trottier.

Screenwriter's Bible is a great beginner's book, with stuff like format, what to include, and what to leave out. But the other posters are right, she shouldn't be including specific stage direction, lighting, camera angles, or the like. Much more than the basics necessary for the story and it's too much. Tha is if you want to do it properly, ie maybe try to do something with it later, otherwise go crazy.

Hoopy's right about software. If you have Scrivener it has a screenplay format. Final Draft is basically industry standard, but costly. Some Word templates float around the net but I don't know how good any would be.

EDIT: The best way to learn scripts is to read scripts. One of the best sites for free scripts is Drew's Script-O-Rama, here: http://www.script-o-rama.com/oldindex.shtml

Watch it though, some are transcripts, which you don't want if you're trying to learn proper screenwriting. A few Google searches and you can find bunches more. Shooting scripts are especially useful as they're closer to what ends up on the screen.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

That's really helpful Hoopy, thanks. I'm not sure her ICT skills are strong enough for the software yet, although I've set her up a blog where she puts stuff on so that's coming slowly. She does drama and acting, so does use scripts a lot and reads them for that, so she's used to a limited layout. I'll download Celtx to her tablet and see what she thinks of it.

Anya, that link looks good, thanks! Really helpful list, FB, thanks, I'll hunt out the Trotter's books. Lonewolf, many thnaks, anything you could turn up would be great. Dusty :

 

[Boneman]

Look out on ebay for a copy of Final Draft software, there are brilliant tutorials on there, easy to follow, and it'll format her scripts for her without her having to do a thing...

 

[jastius]

here are links to free writing courses and free downloadable guides
courses;

University College Falmouth

Need to Improve Your Screenwriting? Check Out Screenwriting Fundamentals Course (for Free) « No Film School

Introduction to Playwriting

Beginning Television Writing

Storytelling: How To Write Stories That Will Grab And Hold Your Audience

Writing Dialogue for Emotional Impact: Crafting Fresh Dialogue That Snaps, Crackles and Pops Off the Page

Proper Formatting Technique: How to Create a Compelling and Professional Screenplay

Writing the 1-Hour TV Drama

Crafting the Scene

Feature Film Workshop 101

Generating Ideas for Screenplays

Story Development and Outlining

Writing a Spec Script for a Television Comedy or Drama Series

and of course, the free open university courses..

Open Learning - OpenLearn - Open University


guides;
How to Write a Screenplay One-Sheet

MyFlik - Your Free Online Film School | Free Screenwriting Class | Screenwriting Videos


and selling tools;

Pitch and Presentation: Everything You Need to Know to Sell Your Script

she should take a course in language formation in the story as well, to establish nuance. the only ones i know of are run through U Bc, and cost, though...

 

[Glitch]

One feature of Final Draft I liked was the ability to assign different text to speech voices to each character. Other software I've used only allowed one voice for the whole script - but it's been a while since I looked.