Writing Feature Film Scripts
when writing film scripts it is best to remember a few things
1st: people are full of crap.
People will tell you that they know something about writing film scripts. Perhaps they do, perhaps they don't.
either way it is up to you not to listen to them as they are most likely full of crap.
2nd: ignore this rule only on very rare occasions.
3rd: write only for yourself. how the hell would you know what the public want. have they all been around to your house to tell you what they think. are you some sort of clairvoyant?
4th: use Courier font (or whatever font the people in your country want to see) and try and keep to a standard format.
5th: picture a star in the lead role then picture a lesser star then just a good actor.
6th: never write anything clever. there are many forms of stupidity, one of them is cleverness. (that's actually from Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain.
61/2 don't take credit for other people's work.
7th: never hold back thinking you are wasting a brilliant idea. ideas are not to be conserved.
8th: 3 acts good; 4 acts better.
9th: always stay ten years ahead of the rest.
10th: if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.
11th: if you are sick of quotes you are probably getting somewhere.
12th: do not waste other people's breath.
13th: work slowly if need be.
14th: watch old films.
15th: be a craftsman. a bit of timber only turns into a table after it has been through much rough handling. only when it starts looking like a table do we think about the varnish. go try and varnish some sticks and call it a table.
16th: keep writing. things are only not completed when they are left. words on pages can be changed. stories can be changed. characters can be changed. all of these things will change so change them.
17th: think of your script as though it was a fish and chip shop.
18th: create cool characters not cool lines.
19th: go and write a book instead. books account for a very large amount of film scripts, almost from the beggining of filmmaking history. if it can be a book it can be a film and books don't require special formating or having to deal with a trillion artsy-fartsy types who may or may not know what they are talking about.
20th: the only good stuff you're ever going to write, be it a book or a film script, is something that's come from personal experience. not that you've had to go fight the Empire or save some kids from dinosaurs, but you must have known fear, heroism and optimism.
This is my advice, for philosophical guidance see the Zen Cleaning Robot
The Zen Cleaning Robot
Bjork documentary: Bjork
Feature film script: Roast Duck
Non-fiction writing in regards to vegetables: Old Vegie Patch
copyright: j.r.atwood 2007
e-mail:greenpaddocks@gmail.com
