“Reject the tyranny of picked. Pick yourself.” ― Seth Godin, Poke the Box
Hi. Today I’m going to talk more about my screenwriting journey, which was a highly unexpected direction for me to take. I really did not expect to go into screenwriting when I started out as a fiction author. I just figured I would write books, but I’ve always had an interest in screenwriting and I’ve always loved movies and television.
Hi, I’m gonna talk a little bit more about screenwriting and producing and their relationship. Uh, yeah, the first thing you need to know, if you’re gonna get into screenwriting is to be serious about it, because if you’re not, you’re gonna wanna give up after the 10th or 20th or 30th version of “No”. And you’re gonna hear a lot of no, or a lot of things like, I don’t understand what you’re saying here. This needs to be clearer. Uh, what? No, this really doesn’t do it for me. Things like that.
One of the most essential skills for a screenwriter is to learn proper screenplay format. Unlike novel writing, screenplays have a strict format that developed from the early days of cinema.
Film has always been primarily a visual medium. It started with simple one-scene scenarios and developed into longer pieces made up of scenes. Because the first films were silent, early screenplays were essentially shot lists for the director’s use.
This video is the first in a series I’m doing on writing tips for prose fiction vs. screenwriting.