Screenwriting : Sika Senshi (Screenwriter needed) by Cee Whirx

Hi Cee,

You’ll hear this a lot. Writers work for money.

Those of us (like me) that write specs (working for free) to sell. We own 100% of the copyright of the created material.

Your offer is that a writer should work for free for a share of something. You will bring an idea (writers have millions), which will change considerably during the writing process.

Even if you have been thinking about (developing) your idea for five years. It will be a drop in the ocean of effort to make it into a saleable script.

This is meant as polite insight. So you know why people keep turning your offer down.

Hi Cee - I was in a similar position. I tried for YEARS to find a way of getting a writer to script my story, and I thought that if I could secure enough interest from a production company, then I could somehow bootstrap the development of the project with the production company encouraging the writer, and the writer feeling there was a production company on board. It failed, as many told me it would. In the end I decided there were only two ways forward: pay a writer, or write it myself. I chose the latter, studied the craft, solicited feedback and ended up a year later with an episodic period drama that told the story how I wanted it told. What happens next is in the lap of the gods, but it's been a terrific lesson in biting bullets.

I wish you luck, but hope you don't end up wasting a lot of time like I did.

Cee, I'll go with the old good diy approach: write it yourself. I totally agree with Steve Mallinson , you'll end up having exactly the story you had in mind.

If you like it, learn to write it. Creating a story is process through which you grow. Never turn your back on the opportunity to learn something new.

Alternatively. Write it in prose, even as a short story. You will have a completed story. You will have worked out the kinks. Adapting something can be more attractive to a writer than creating something from a person “great idea”.

I write my features as a short story first, up to 15 pages. I use it to help write the draft in script format. Some things I stick to, others I re-write or add to or delete, as I go along.

I used to paint and draw. You can check my painting if you like https://www.instagram.com/rohit_hmm/ Just recently picked up my old hobby painting to help myself; to relax and spark my creativity of younger days. I will tell you why I am saying this.

Personally IMO, NEVER get any writer, scriptwriter if you are an animation filmmaker. I have friends who are into animation filmmaking too. I often tell them NEVER ever bring another writer or screenwriter to write a story for something related to Anime or Manga or comics or any of such nature.

REASON IS SIMPLE: Animations are made for capturing a flow of an object or an image.Writers, Screenwriters already have an visual imagery which doesn't correlate to the freehand nature of animations. You can better get a storyboard artist who can get you fast snaps of how the story be, but if you bring in writers and screenwriters it will be anchoring to the creative aspect of art in itself.

Hand drawn or even computer animation directly comes from strong association of Subconscious mind and a little of conscious mind's story telling. So when an animation artist is painting any scene they have direct contact to their subconscious mind and tap in conscious mind only a little bit.

Writers, Screenwriters however have a juggling between a strong Conscious mind and a part of very less Subconscious mind. This is why you see most movies are predictable, formulaic and not that long lasting impactful as animations or comics are? Don't believe it? Think of any superhero movies and comics. Most of Writers have strong influence of Conscious mind decision making in their stories. So is why you can see whatever a novelist or writer writes and director, cinematographers captures in their own nature having huge variations in the final product. This often is so discomforting for the writers/novelist/screenwriters too. You can ask any novelist whose work is turned into film or even animation. They all agree it's not their vision somehow but they have adjusted to the end product out of discomfort.

For example, I love Miyazaki films, he never writes script or even short stories. His first draft is in itself a picture or his movie script and his team works on what he drafts like a story board. That's why Studio Ghibli could stand even till today for it's brilliant work. No writers ever can do write what they did in the animation industry. Even I would say what we all are doing like screenwriting and feeling so proud of it, we are actually doing nothing much in real sense than those who are novelist. More over we all are trying to flaunt a formatted story elements and claiming, look this is some new profession out because we framed a boundary of how it should be. Do people really read scripts? No they read novels. Scripts needs to be made as a film.

So is why most script-writing is often have hard time earning. Many don't get why, but I said what's the truth behind it. I'm not like downplaying the effort, but most of the screenwriters IMO should concentrate on writing just stories and later can think of "FORMAT" as such. That really helps writing good stories. Because we are in a way hurting our subconscious mind and covering that up with 3 ACT STORY structure to claim, "Look we did quite amazing story which a studio will buy and make film".

For example, Kumar knows who is Satyajit Ray, the world renown filmmaker he never wrote scripts as we are told to do so in modern times. He would scribble, do a rough sketch of it. There are many as such great filmmakers who are such or even turning novels directly to a film. So in true sense, you are basically sidetracking from what supposedly the right method of story telling falling into the glitz of screenwriting business of modern days as a means to tell a story. It often destroys people's subconscious mind.

So you can understand why I said I'm picking up painting and told you that even I'm working to balance that subconscious and conscious connection to whatever story/script I'm writing now.