Hey, do you know that feeling of hitching up a long skirt so you don’t fall on your face when walking upstairs, and then you immediately become a wretched yet resolute Jane Austen character? It’s a universal thing, right?
It’s like resting a laundry basket against your hip and suddenly you’re a long-suffering peasant woman, wondering if you’ll survive the winter.
a shawl wrapped around the shoulders and you’re wandering the moors in a Brönte novel, feeling melancholic
Looking out the window at the rain and you’re a love-stricken newlywed wondering when your husband will return from the war.
Long skirt billowing behind you while to go down the stairs, you’re a proper Lady in a flowing ball gown being introduced at a fancy social function.
Hair blowing in the wind and suddenly you’re hovering on a cliff by the sea, staring out into the waves and praying your merchant husband will return from his voyage across the ocean
Hood up against the rain and wind and you’re a medieval abbess defying the weather and travelling on foot with your people to find a place to establish a new community.
Wiping your hands on your apron and you’re an 18th century kitchen girl rushing to let in the delivery boy you secretly love.
The cool fall wind catches your skirt, sends leaves swirling around your feet, and catches your hair and sends it flying behind you, and suddenly you’re a enchantress roaming the woods, daring any man to challenge your power.
like notice how nowhere in that lil staff update did they mention getting rid of nazi or white supremacist content. they still get to keep theyre racist and neofascist userbase while appearing to do something useful
Okay, listen up, I love screen writing. Script format is my favorite form of writing. But, I’ve seen too many people go into it without knowing anything about it and thinking it’ll just magically work for them.
1. The formatting is a pain. Use a script writing software to do it. I recommend Celtx. It’s easy to use, shows examples, and it has a free trial that’s basically endless. You don’t get as many features as you do if you pay for it, but most of them are pretty unnecessary unless you’re already developing the writing into an actual production.
2. Easy on the action and description. Only be specific when it is absolutely necessary. Wiggle room is unbelievably important for the actors, director, and photography.
3. Always be open to criticism. You have to be a team player. A good project has many different opinions and the opinions are a good thing because it works out any flaws you may have in the production.
4. One page of script is equivalent to around a minute of actual film. And, you should probably go slightly over the required length. The director will cut what is unnecessary.
5. Monologues are fine… in moderation. People go off on tangents all of the time, but they don’t go off on them constantly. The quicker your dialogue, the better the script. It’s different than regular writing because it should be fast-paced. Since the audience is seeing it, they’ll be a lot more quick to pick up on repetitiveness. It’s a lot easier to bore an audience.
6. Don’t describe every single reaction that a character has. The actors need to be able to interpret it so that way they can actually act in a way that doesn’t feel forced.
7. Practice makes perfect. Do it frequently. Read scripts. I’m being serious. You’ll learn a lot.
8. You’re probably not magically going to magically write a hit movie or TV show at first. Experience, experience, experience. I’m starting my first genuine script experience as a script supervisor for an indie short film. My job is to make sure there’s continuity within the script and production. You’re probably not going to get paid as you first start out and you’re probably not going to have your own script used unless you lucked out with some really good connections or have an excess amount of money. It’s a ladder and you have to work your way up. The more experience you have, the more connections you will have in the industry, and you will be more likely to be successful. That being said, try to make it good experience. Avoid working on projects that you’re sure are going to be terrible just because you want the experience. You don’t want to be remembered for something awful. If it’s a little awful, that’s alright, but just watch out for disasters.
9. Beta readers are so, so important. Take as many opinions as you can get. And, make sure to listen to any advice you can get.
10. Parallels in writing come off so
much more noticeably and beautifully in screen writing when they’re done properly. I don’t recommend reusing the same parallel more than a couple times because of repetition, but a scene that’s similar to another is so much easier to see in script than most other forms of writing and will come across in a very prominent way.
11. Character backstories should exist, but don’t focus too much on every character unless it’s important. Script is snappy and quick. You have to focus on the story more than anything else. There isn’t as much time to mess around as there is in other types of stories.
12. Have fun. These are suggestions, not rules. If you can find a way to break some of my suggestions and keep it interesting, go for it. It’ll make it original and originality is always interesting.