Hello, I am new to screenwriting and I am currently based in Sydney Australia.
I have been a cop. I have been a martial arts instructor. I have been a lawyer I am now a private investigator specialising in workplace issues.
Some people say that truth is stranger than fiction but in my experience that's not the case. I have often been told that I should write a book , however if you knew me you would know that writing a TV show would be more my thing so that's what I did.
My first 2 scripts, The Investigators and The Dojo are based on my life, I am the character of Paul McKnight in both.
The other characters are composites of people I met over my years as a Police Officer and Investigator and 30 years as a martial art instructor. The situations are real, although I have embellished somewhat for dramatic effect.
I enjoy writing comedy however I do have a couple of other non comedy scripts partially completed.
I would love to receive advice and feedback and happy to collaborate.
I am also pretty new to writing but my advice would be to start with some local film makers and get a short done. You could get yourself noticed on vimeo if you could get a really awesome short made. Otherwise it can be a real nightmare to get an agent or manager. I recently went to a film festival and met some big time literary managers in person and even got a contact with a Netflix producer. The thing is that these people are so busy all the time with their established writers and work that they are most likely not going to even bother with you until you have won 1st place in a big time screen writing competition or produced some really amazing low budget movie or short.
Expect to have to break in from the ground up. Otherwise you are playing the lottery.
Welcome, Phil.
Hi Kay
I have two scripts, the first is based on my 30 years as a martial art instructor. In this one I am the character of Paul. All of the characters in the script are based on the real people or composites with some embellishment.
Logline - Paul is a martial arts instructor. He runs the Dojo. A serious business that attracts unusual people and farcical situations.
Everyday there are gung ho students, eccentric black belts, odd ball instructors and new people who want to be the next Chuck Norris. Paul has 2 frustrations, local Gyms in competition and Gordon his serious, officious and everything by the book second in charge.
The second script is The Investigators. This is based on my time in the Police Force and also my 10 years in private investigations. I this one I am also Paul, in this case a minor character, the main character being Alan. Once again All of the characters in the script are based on the real people or composites with some embellishment.
Logline - Alan a dreamer who always wanted to be a cop but failed the exam. Now he's a workplace investigator. It's not the exciting life he'd hoped for but it's full of strange and unusual situations and people especially his hippy pot smoking boss Kyan.
Alan takes his job very seriously but lacks a filter (and often common sense) when dealing with people. Alan's nemesis is Frank an old time detective who never misses an opportunity to poke fun at him.
The Paul character is in both as they is exactly what it was, private investigations by day and a martial art instructor at night.
I am happy to send you more details if you are interested.
Hi Phil! Fellow Australian screenwriter over here!
1 person likes this
Hi Matthew
Nice to meet you
1 person likes this
Hi Phil. Here's some advice I received to help with loglines.
As they are pretty generic try to sculpt it something like this..."when [our hero] does [inciting incident], he [overcomes something] otherwise [there's no happiness]", in 30-40 words
You can also leave out real names and describe the character with traits that show his personality. Try to make it one action filled sentence.
Here's a new take on your Martial arts script logline:
When a humble martial arts instructor butts heads with his uptight assistant, he faces competition from an opposing Dojo that he can't handle without the help of some oddball students looking for glory.
Best wishes!
Thank you Adam, much appreciated.
Thank you for adding me! Memorable loglines are our best chance to hook someone to our script/idea. They are our "Elevator pitch" so make them tight and concise.