Dear Stage32, I wrote a novelette about 3 years ago, and by chance, it happens to be a "great" treatment for a screenplay. Backing up, I started writing poetry about 12 years ago, thinking I was a poet. I wrote a few good poems, got some of them published in respectable print journals, but I learned the hard way that I wasn't "competing" in poetry. So I thought I'd try fiction writing, and failed again. But the fallout from fiction left me with this perfect little ruby of a treatment for a script. Now I start browsing books on screenwriting. I had no idea how literally formulaic is the world of (Box Office hit) screenwriting. So I just want to say hi in the forums. I'm 38, living in suburban Texas, and have no filmmaking experience, but I'm a trained web developer and semi pro photographer. I've edited poetry for my own online journal, including a Pulitzer prize winner. But I have writer's block, fear of failure, maybe fear of success! I need all the help I can get. So, does anybody want to talk to me, and help me along with drafting this beast? Sincerely, Jess
Screenwriting : First Script Woes by Jesse Crockett
First Script Woes
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Welcome Jess, if your novellete is acting as your treatment I'm not sure what stopping you jumping in and getting some scenes on the page? Which bit/where are you stuck? Anthony
I'm stuck on identifying the precise emotional change within the scenes, and the conflict. I've written up to 7 scenes, mainly Act I, but the story is tricky because it seems to call for one actor to play two or three characters, thus the hero is also the bad guy. Black Swan comes to mind, crossed with Good Will Hunting, set in the future.
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So it's a little non standard ;-) I wouldn't worry about actors as yet, concentrate on getting it down on the page and go from there. Do you have a logline or synopsis? Be useful to understand your conflict/challenge in the story.
Logline ver. 1: "Dreamer tries to win over an uptown girl by making a movie about her." But it doesn't say anything about the conflict or the setting. I guess you'd have to read the treatment.
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Yeah, definitely need more in your logline... e.g. An idealsitic dreamer attempts to woe the girl of his dreams by making a movie with her as the star, as her friends and family try to stop the movie at every turn. Obviously that's not based on your synopsis or anything, just top of my head. But it could play out a little like the woeing section of Bigfish, where he has to overcome the odds to win the girl of his dreams.
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Jesse, you should answer a few basic questions before starting a draft. Have you outlined your story? Have you constructed your story in a sequential structure as well as a 3 act structure? Do you know the theme of your project, that one golden moral that helps shape every scene and structure? Do you know what motivates your characters? And considering that you have one character split into several personalities, have you decided which one is your lead character? Writer's Block is, in opinion, is a myth. It's a term synonymous with being unprepared to start a draft. It s like trying to find Miami in the dark without a car or a map. That could be a little scary.
I've written about 40 ultra basic notecards, but they are vague.
Be less vague. Work out some of the big details and story points.