EWB Screenwriting Group

[GA!]

I'll take a look.

[Gene Kiniski]

PM'd. Thanks a ton.

[Numbahs]

Three pages of a feature-length?

I'd check it out...

[Gene Kiniski]

Thanks, Numbahs, but GA took care of it already. Question for anyone though - how would this properly be written?

Mr. Foreman sits in his chair again and pulls out another folder from the same desk drawer. He opens the folder and slides a piece of paper across the desk towards Mathew.

Is that correct? I am working on adding more detail instead of the "enter, exit, enter, exit" formula.

[HeartlineTwist]

Thanks, Numbahs, but GA took care of it already. Question for anyone though - how would this properly be written?

Mr. Foreman sits in his chair again and pulls out another folder from the same desk drawer. He opens the folder and slides a piece of paper across the desk towards Mathew.

Is that correct? I am working on adding more detail instead of the "enter, exit, enter, exit" formula.

It seems like you can get rid of a lot of those words based on them being repeated actions or references to a location.

My fix, which may not be "correct" would be as follows:

"Mr. Foreman sits back down and removes another folder from the drawer. He removes a piece of paper and slides it across the desk towards Matthew."

[Jimmy]

Would I be wrong in saying you can make it even more snappy and direction like as

"Mr. Foreman sits back down. Removes another folder from the draw. Takes a piece of paper. Slides it across towards Matthew."

I could be wrong, however.

[Numbahs]

Thanks, Numbahs, but GA took care of it already. Question for anyone though - how would this properly be written?

Mr. Foreman sits in his chair again and pulls out another folder from the same desk drawer. He opens the folder and slides a piece of paper across the desk towards Mathew.

Is that correct? I am working on adding more detail instead of the "enter, exit, enter, exit" formula.

If you've already referenced the desk drawer, you can probably get rid of it.

I would go with something like...

Mr. Foreman sits in his chair again and pulls out another folder. He opens it and slides a piece of paper across the desk toward Mathew.

It may not apply here, but take advantage of actions. They are one of the only ways you get to direct as a writer. If you've written that he "sits" multiple times, change to word to "plops" or something that gives indication of character though situational action.

[GA!]

Would I be wrong in saying you can make it even more snappy and direction like as

"Mr. Foreman sits back down. Removes another folder from the draw. Takes a piece of paper. Slides it across towards Matthew."

I could be wrong, however.

It's too snappy given the context of the scene. I'd go that short for an action scene, but that's about it.

[Lord Nibbler]

Look what Santa brought me.

[GA!]

The Syd Field book is good.

[Numbahs]

They're all good. And in my opinion...

Syd Field is fine, if a bit basic. That's the only book of his I would bother with. All of the others seem just like his original, as he includes the same examples and explains the same ideas as he did in that book.

McKee is excellent at making you understand the difference between films that come out and award winning films that come out. If you are able to understand and absorb his writing and opinion, his ideas will be the ones that stick when you rewrite...the only problem is he sheds little to no light on the format of screenwriting, which makes me believe he's hardly written anything.

The Save The Cat book is alright. There's a good amount I'd recommend over it.

For the formatting, pick up...

or

I think those have already been mentioned, but I'll throw in my two cents...

[HeartlineTwist]

They're all good. And in my opinion...

Syd Field is fine, if a bit basic. That's the only book of his I would bother with. All of the others seem just like his original, as he includes the same examples and explains the same ideas as he did in that book.

McKee is excellent at making you understand the difference between films that come out and award winning films that come out. If you are able to understand and absorb his writing and opinion, his ideas will be the ones that stick when you rewrite...the only problem is he sheds little to no light on the format of screenwriting, which makes me believe he's hardly written anything.

The Save The Cat book is alright. There's a good amount I'd recommend over it.

For the formatting, pick up...

or

I think those have already been mentioned, but I'll throw in my two cents...

I have all three of those that you added, and I think I mentioned them. They are ALL fantastic books. The Bible is pretty good for formatting and general things like story formation. The Screenwriter's Manual helps with some formatting issues where one may be unsure of how to format. I haven't used The Hollywood Standard as much, but it seems helpful enough. These books mainly focus on the technical, format side of things for the most part, except the Bible which really helps you through the entire process.

[Lord Nibbler]

I'm hoping to do a screenwriting course next year, and I imagine those three (or at least the Syd Field and Robert McKee books) will be recommended reading.

Can anyone suggests a book that deals with screenwriting for television, specifically? Obviously the basics are the same, but I'd like a book that explains things in the context of television rather than film. Particularly the three act structure.

[Numbahs]

How To Write For Television by Madeline DiMaggio is part of a local college's course. Having read it, I'd say it helps you understand hour long dramas more than anything else. Some of what it says is very, very dated. They use Starsky & Hutch as an example, IIRC.

I have Writing Television Sitcoms by Evan S. Smith. I'd definitely recommend it. It goes over how to write comedies, in general. Definitely an extremely easy book to understand...

The act structure of television depends on the show. Three acts is fine for anything, but you may find that existing shows like South Park are built on two acts and dramas are built on four acts.

I would take a look at South Park on SouthParkStudios.com. Notice the commercial breaks. There's no break for the first half of the program. Then the second half breaks before it's last quarter...only to come back and deliver the conclusion. I would view this as two acts, but you can employ a three act structure on it as well.

[Gene Kiniski]

I am juggling a couple of screenplays at the moment and I think I have finally found my groove with my current.

Anyone else working on anything interesting?

[TKz]

I had a pretty in depth story and mythos of a show written down before reading it back and realising it was just Supernatural with slight alterations.

[Gene Kiniski]

I did similar types of things when I first started trying to write. Honestly though, if you really think about it, everything has already been done. It kind of comes down to how you do it differently.

[Jimmy]

I've been busy with school work and have found it really hard to find my groove. I had some script which was quite happy with, but I got my new laptop which doesn't have final draft on it; so I can't continue it without retyping it all up. Which I could do - but as I said, I've kinda lost my groove right now, despite wanting to write.

[slain]

I hate to bump a dead topic, but I was thinking about starting a screenplay for a Grindhouse-style exploitation double bill. I'm going to school next year for film broadcasting, and was wondering if I should wait until I've learned more on the subject before I go ahead and start writing. It would be my first ever writing project. I'm looking into purchasing the Screenwriter's Bible from Amazon, and was also wondering if this would be a good place to learn the basics of screenwriting.

[HeartlineTwist]

I hate to bump a dead topic, but I was thinking about starting a screenplay for a Grindhouse-style exploitation double bill. I'm going to school next year for film broadcasting, and was wondering if I should wait until I've learned more on the subject before I go ahead and start writing. It would be my first ever writing project. I'm looking into purchasing the Screenwriter's Bible from Amazon, and was also wondering if this would be a good place to learn the basics of screenwriting.

I will stand by The Screenwriter's Bible as a pretty awesome way to start out because it covers pretty much everything.

As for me, I just started writing a crime drama, but we'll see how it goes.