Trending Lounge Discussions

Me too, Stephen Folker

agreed, one of the best of all time. thanks for offering a friday night plan! whoohoo!

Hard to pick a favorite of the three but I'd say White is probably the most interesting. It's such a twisted story. Karol is a great character played to perfection by Zamachowski. Red seems like a feel good Rom-com after Blue and White.

Marsy Robinson so, how did your Friday night Film watching go, Marsy?

M LaVoie for me it’s Blue, Red then White. Mostly because I love Binoche and Jacob. The cinematography in Blue is magnificent. That scene in the hospital bed that focuses on her eye, is beautiful and poignant.

Claude Gagne, I think WriterDuet can import a pdf. It might not be perfect, but all you would need to do is give it a proofread or too, updated the contact details, and export. That would negate your email address issue.

I believe you can keep deleting and creating new project files as you see fit. As long as you only have three active at any time, it's free to use.

If you do decide to go for a paid tier, keep in mind Script Revolution Rockstar Members get 30% off the subscription price.

"I believe you can keep deleting and creating new project files as you see fit. As long as you only have three active at any time, it's free to use." You're right, CJ Walley.

Technically, the best free software is Windows Notepad. When you're in the process of writing, you don't want to be editing. Seeing little squiggly lines on spelling and grammar makes you want to keep backspacing and fixing things. I start most things in Notepad. Plus, the files are small and don't run into memory issues as the page count grows. Final Draft or other software can import it later.

As an example:

INT. DEFENDER LIMO - NIGHT

Pikul drives. He can see why the limo is an off-road vehicle: the road is terrible, dirt and gravel, stutter potholes and sharp ridges, the occasional fallen tree.

PIKUL

(manic, scared)

I normally like the countryside, don't you? Normally, the country is relaxing and calm.

I use Trelby. Trivial and intuitive, so it is easy to learn.

@Christopher that's so interesting!! What a great idea.

It's certainly useful to putting together the complete package to make the movie.

I have created 22 hours of no-budget films, including 3 comedies which is each slightly more than 100 minutes long. I have never done any storyboarding. But I can understand the value for others.

I know AI is a TOUCHY subject, especially in the screenwriting community (and justifiably so) but just as an FYI, I know of someone who storyboarded their entire script using MidJourney, which is not a function I would have ever thought of for it. I think we can all agree that we don't want AI writing scripts, and frankly, I am not a fan of it being used for any public-facing advertisement art or graphics, but how does this group feel about using it privately for that function to help you better visualize your story or help others see your vision?

It's up to every writer what they wanna use, Tom Lapke, but I won't use AI publicly or privately for storyboards, loglines, scripts, etc. Screenwriters were doing these things without AI before, and we shouldn't need them now.

Tom Lapke I think that's person-to-person. I can understand a creative wanting to complete the process themselves. And I can understand using Midjourney for specifically reference or inspiration purposes: not letting that be the final product, but a jumping-off point. But as you said, touchy subject, and I tend to lean against AI in general.

Welcome to the community, Jesse Garcia! Stay tooned. That's creative! What's your book series about?

Hi Maurice!

It is about legendary creatures from around the world saving their homes from extinction.

Sounds exciting and really unique, Jesse Garcia!

Welcome and one day I will learn more about animation. So fascinating.

Welcome to the community Jesse! I’m really happy you’re here! I would love to recommend you some education to help you with pitching and learn more about you! You can email me directly at edustage32.com :)

OMG I LOVE IT! And I think it shows how "work with what you've got" is the best test of creativity. Thanks so much for sharing!

Very interesting to see how a filmmakers can adapt their storytelling technique to these different budget levels. Very cool analysis!

If you have a great comic book make a screenplay out of it, or even a tv series.

If you have a great comic book script, make a comic book out of it.

welcome

Welcome to the community, David Reiner. Top three things: read screenplays (www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/10-great-websites-download-movie-scripts), write screenplays, and watch screenwriting webinars/take screenwriting classes or labs.

Here are two great blogs for up-and-coming screenwriters:

www.stage32.com/blog/the-questions-up-and-coming-screenwriters-need-to-a...

www.stage32.com/blog/script-analysis-101-understanding-the-key-elements-...

Stage 32 has a lot of other great screenwriting resources:

Screenwriting Lounge: www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting

Screenwriting Blogs: www.stage32.com/blog/tags/screenwriting-25

Screenwriting Education: www.stage32.com/education?search=screenwriting#screenwriting (screenwriting webinars, classes, and labs)

Script Services: www.stage32.com/scriptservices

Hi David Reiner Having done exactly what you're describing, I would say...

1. Take your time learning the screenwriting format. Be patient with yourself.

2. Write scripts.

3. Get them polished. Take your time with that.

Best of all...have fun!

Dan MaxXx Interesting how he added extra spaces between some words. Gives a sense of pacing and makes the page easier to read.

I was told a number of years ago to capitalize AUDIO but just recently I was told that you no longer do that as it is distracting. So I stopped doing it, and I think it does read much more smoothly. I will say that keeping up with do's and dont's like that can be difficult at times.

Yes, Christopher Phillips/@DanMaxx, Shane Black's THE LAST BOY SCOUT was an excellent read.

Christopher Phillips I dont think Black used computers to type then. Could be a typewriter thing. I noticed there are two or three spaces after period. lots of "orphan single word" sentences

Dan MaxXx You're right. Just looked at an old article and he beat on the typewriter with two index fingers to get his screenplays out.

Your post reminds me of something I do when I outline characters, Craig D Griffiths. I think you mentioned that you do the same thing. I'll do a relationship chart kinda thing (I don't have a name for it) where I'll show how each major or minor character affects the other characters (major or minor). And I'll include how they interact and how they feel about each other.

Maurice Vaughan John Truby calls it the Character Web.

Protagonist -> ally(s) -> false ally that eventually turns on the hero

Antagonist ->ally(s) -> false ally that eventually turn on antagonist

Ok, thanks, Christopher Phillips. Yeah, similar to that. I'll really go into detail with them, and it helps me think of backstory, scenes, dialogue, etc.

I believe a character needs to have “skin in the game” (for Aussies a dog in the fight). A character needs to have a reason for their involvement. For example.

You hear a young couple arguing on a bus. He says something dumb, she gets off the bus. You may think of a hundred bits of advice, but you stay quiet, because you are not invested in the outcome. Now if that was your brother, you may give them advice. You are invested in their happiness.

You often see characters that only exist to give advice or information. It bumps us, feels poorly written. When we write them we get told, they are one note, flat or unmotivated. We get this advice because the note giver may not understand why they feel the way they do about the character.

A character needs to have an imprint on your main protagonist's character arc, or at least in the overall grand scheme of things. Otherwise, it's a waste.

I agree with Maurice Vaughan Your Stage32 profile is a great free way to have your screenplays seen. You can also use a free website builder and have additional information on their as well.

What people to see? I've been a professional screenwriter for 34 years now and I don't think anyone comes to my website to look at scripts. If I want people to look at my scripts, I usually query them with a logline or meet people in person, and if they request a script I send them a PDF. Though I do have scripts hidden on my website, those are for my lawyer to grab if he ever meets someone looking for something (which almost never happens). Mostly my website ScriptSecrets.net is a Free Screenwriting article every day (since 1998) to help new screenwriters. Nobody comes to you in this business, you need to go to them.

Carl, you’re in the right place! Make sure you put it up on your Stage 32 profile under your profile section. This way our community of over 1 million people and the thousands of executives we work with can see it!

Got optioned via Script Revolution...also good place, especially for feedback is Simply Scripts...I was approached by a director for one of my shorts recently, I figured he saw it there...

William Martell I like to watch your Film Courage interviews. Good stuff.