Newbie Write Need Help! - Writers Forum

Mojo_Tastic · 04-23-2007, 11:10 PM

I want to begin working on a movie script and wanted to know if anyone could tell me what the best writing software is to buy?

I have heard of Final Draft and Movie Magic, but could use a suggestiob from other writers!

forcedkeystroke · 04-24-2007, 01:03 AM

It depends.

Final Draft is awesome if writing movie scripts is a hobby of yours.

If you're looking at writing a movie script for anything more then a hobby, then I seriously suggest you consider what you're aiming for. You are going to need a lot more then just some writing software.

As a matter of fact, from a professional perspective, if you want to write a movie script then write it. If you don't know how to write a basic script, then like I said; you are going to need a lot more then just some writing software.

(this doesn't mean that if you put nine months of research and dedication into some professionally written script it would get anywhere. No, it just means that you learn from a good experience.)

mammamaia · 04-24-2007, 07:12 PM

final draft is the best, whether for hobbyists, or pros...

however, screenwriting is the most specialized of all the written arts and it will most likely take several years for you to get good enough at it, to be able write a script that can be taken seriously by agents or producers... the average first sale by a newbie is the NINTH one s/he'd written...

if you want a format guide, 'tools of the trade' list, tips from the pros, info on the basics and/or help learning the craft, just drop me a line, as i mentor many aspiring screenwriters, along with all other writing breeds...

love and hugs, maia
maia3maia@hotmail.com

Kimba · 04-25-2007, 06:52 PM

I personally use Screenplay but only because I'm too broke to afford any other program

wmd · 04-29-2007, 05:25 PM

I agree that if you are serious about writing a script than just write it. You do not need expensive programs to help you format it, there are plenty of sources online to tell you how to do it.

Quote:

the average first sale by a newbie is the NINTH one s/he'd written...

Is this statistic right? I am not questioning the fact I am just wondering how hard it is to sell a screenplay. (I know it is hard, but was wondering how hard)

mammamaia · 04-29-2007, 06:08 PM

VERY hard!... and yes, that statistic is generally considered valid...

newbies submit scripts by the hundreds of thousands every year... out of all of those, only a relative handful are ever optioned or bought... go to my pal jimmy vines' website for the skinny on this... he's a full time working screenwriter who helps newbies in his spare time...

www.theworkingscreenwriter.com

and i help/mentor them [along with all other writer breeds] full time, so if you need help and he's not available, you can always drop me an email...

love and hugs, maia
maia3maia@hotmail.com

Pacze Moj · 04-29-2007, 06:15 PM

Sophocles is another decent program. As well, there are screenwriting templates for Word floating around the Internet.

wmd · 04-29-2007, 06:36 PM

Thanks for the link mammamaia.. It looks like it will help me in my research of screenplays.

Would you say it is harder to get a book published or a screenplay produced/optioned.

I would assume the best way to go is find an agent to rep your work, but is finding an agent for a screenplay the same as finding one for a novel?

mammamaia · 04-29-2007, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Thanks for the link mammamaia.. It looks like it will help me in my research of screenplays.

...glad it'll help... you can't do better than pay attention to what a long time and full time practioner of a craft/art has to say...

Quote:

Would you say it is harder to get a book published or a screenplay produced/optioned.

definitely the screenplay... you can always go to a pd or other pseudo-publisher to see your ms in book form, if no one thinks it's good enough to pay you for it... but you can't make your own feature-length movies, unless you've loads of loot and plenty of experience...

so, you have no alternative but to sell it to a producer... and even getting an agent to want to read the full script will take lots of time and plenty of rejections, if you're lucky enough and good enough to get that far... then, for the agent to be able to shop it around till it's optioned or sold, will take more time... and luck...

Quote:

I would assume the best way to go is find an agent to rep your work, but is finding an agent for a screenplay the same as finding one for a novel?

basically, yes... but they won't necessarily be the same agencies... many who rep novelists don't rep screenwriters... and you really need to have an agent in the LA/hollywood area, to be successful as one... a few in ny are ok, but the center of the film universe is still hollywood and your agent [and you!] will have to 'take meetings' and if not in the area, can't do that...

Shawn · 04-29-2007, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pacze Moj

Sophocles is another decent program. As well, there are screenwriting templates for Word floating around the Internet.

I use Final Draft... but that's just 'cause I'm fancy.

The best I've ever gotten with a script was a high school fall musical, though.

Yeah... I suck.

mammamaia · 04-29-2007, 07:53 PM

'fancy' isn't what fd is about... it's about being 'professional'!... so, if you want to write scripts as a career, it's worth the expense... if you're just writing for fun, you can get a ms word script template upgrade or even set up your own...

Shawn · 04-29-2007, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mammamaia

'fancy' isn't what fd is about... it's about being 'professional'!... so, if you want to write scripts as a career, it's worth the expense... if you're just writing for fun, you can get a ms word script template upgrade or even set up your own...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. FD is a nice tool to have for anyone who wants to put their script in a professional format.

Important thing with a script:

It's not like writing a novel or short story, you have to plan everything beforehand. Comic relief, jokes, wordplay, dialogue... everything. If you don't, you are going to be really lost and your script isn't going to make much sense.

mammamaia · 04-29-2007, 08:38 PM

Quote:

It's not like writing a novel or short story, you have to plan everything beforehand. Comic relief, jokes, wordplay, dialogue... everything. If you don't, you are going to be really lost and your script isn't going to make much sense.

i beg to differ... to write a novel, you have to plan ahead and outline, to keep from getting tangled up in your plot/subplots and avoid plot holes...

a script does not have to be planned out any more thoroughly than a novel, though it can be outlined a bit differently, due to being divided into scenes, unlike the novel which is more narrative... many of the pros often work that way...

a seasoned screenwriter can write a script without doing all that planning you mention... if i know the characters and have the plot fairly well defined in my head, i can just let the script 'write itself' with a bare minimum of pre-planning...

Shawn · 04-29-2007, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mammamaia

a seasoned screenwriter can write a script without doing all that planning you mention... if i know the characters and have the plot fairly well defined in my head, i can just let the script 'write itself' with a bare minimum of pre-planning...

As stated before, I suck at screenwriting.

I can't write a script without extensive pre-planning, but I can write lengthy prose without becoming tangled in it.

Then again, dealing with a belligerent Russian composer for music really doesn't help.

Gosh, your experience card always trumps mine.

Pacze Moj · 04-29-2007, 10:36 PM

It's also important to remember that the screenplay isn't, in its written self, a finished work in the way a novel is a finished work. A screenplay's merely an outline, a plan, for a future film. I don't think anyone (in their right mind, of course!) reads screenplays for fun. Most who do read them, read them because they want to learn to write them.

However, in my experience, writing screenplays has helped my prose writing a ton: planning and organizing a plot, giving it structure, with regard to narrative; and, in the actual writing, succinctness and clarity. In other words, learning some screenwriting, even if you don't succeed at selling any of your scripts, will probably help all your subsequent writing -- of any kind.