Screenwriting : What inspired you to become a screenwriter? by Bintou Kaba

I have also been writing since I was like 9 or probably even younger to be honest. Ever since I could speak, I was creating stories using my toys and I would play them out and develop the story through play. As I got older I started to write the stories down too and eventually finished writing an entire book series at like 16ish and had writen other books as well in between. I don't know what ever made me start writing and creating but I literally cannot stop. It only felt natural then, and an obvious move, to start working on screenplays and scripts overall. Especially after I had recieved encouragement from one of the people who read one of my books. They said the dialogue was real enough for TV and that I should consider writing scripts and whatnot because of that.

For me writing is an enjoyable form of expression, Bintou Kabam, though growing up I didn't write much. That came much later. Instead I was behind the movie camera making homemade movies, including one short film in high school. When I did settle down to write, I started with two novels and graduated to screenplays. If I had to say what the underlying inspiration was, I'd go with the love of movies and storytelling.

Bintou Kaba Like you, I made the jump from books to screenplays and I like here a whole lot better. Feels like home!

Great questions Bintou, I love reading everyone's stories!

At a young age I found that I enjoyed being disrespected, ignored and talked down to - I told my guidance counselor this and she instantly said "You should be a screenwriter."

kidding... kinda sorta

I never considered or even wanted to be a screenwriter. While in a bookstore I accidentally stumbled across a how-to-write screenplay book and decided to give it a try. After writing one I decided to write another and so on. I’ve written over 30 so far. I seriously doubt I’ll write another one but I still like communicating with other screenwriters here.

Bintou Kaba the Universe cornered me one day, and being the Universe it was a pretty big corner…so I said yes!

Smart

Does anyone else get annoyed when you written pitch to 10 ppl then later that day you catch all the typos

I used to watch a lot of movies with my dad on the weekends as a kid, and I decided I could create my own movies. The movie Adaptation, in particular, made screenwriting seem interesting, albeit in a crazy, unrealistic way.

Keep up the writing bro sounds like you got a bright future

I couldn’t really read when I left school. I narrative stories had come from TV (old films) and cinema. I would also improv role playing campaigns for my friends. So every Friday night for a few years I would tell a story.

Then decades later, my brother in-law was telling a story, his version of a novel he had read. I thought I could do a better version as a movie. So I did.

I had already made some short films with my daughter would was a budding director at the time. She has given up on that preferring to be an Apple creative.

That was the “inciting incident” that showed me that i need to do this. For about the last decade I have written, written about writing and for a few years had a youtube channel about writing.

I am addicted and proud of it.

I found a copy of "Office Space" online, Bintou Kaba. It was during computer class in 12th grade. Screenwriting looked like a cool way of writing. It was unlike any other kind of writing I ever read. I think I was actually shocked by the way the script was written. I wrote my first short story at 13 though. I started writing because of the movie "Harriet the Spy." She wrote in a notebook when she spied on people.

I proofread my treatments, pitches, scripts, etc. by using the Read Aloud feature in Microsoft Word, Bintou Kaba. I also read along with the Read Aloud feature. Hearing the treatment, pitch, etc. read out loud helps me catch spelling errors.

I got this X-Files magazine way back when and they'd show little snippets of scripts for a particular episode in each issue and I was curious about the format. I fell in love with it immediately.

Thanks for sharing your story Bintou Kaba! For me, when I was in high school my cousin wrote a parody pilot episode of the 80s soap "Knots Landing" that we were watching reruns of and I automatically wrote the next one and we just kept going... we'd always filmed parody movies growing up but this was different because there was a lot of thinking of the larger plotlines, character creation, and sort-of world-building. I was reading books on screenwriting all the time and filling notebooks with ideas. We ended up writing about 150 episodes (we were obsessed) over several years... at that point I was already putting in so many hours writing that making a career out of it seemed the only possible choice lol

That's a lot of episodes, Emily! A lot of practice!

I was in college and wanted to make a movie and couldn't think of a way anyone would hire me, let me or want me too... so I wrote my own.

Call it an Enlightenment, call it a sudden spark of inspiration... I think it just called to me. Mind you, I haven't written my first script yet, but I was inspired to embark on this journey nevertheless.

I have a M.A. in History and I like writing... a lot! To the point of publishing my first book this Fall (if all goes well). Leaving my academic background on the side, I've been writing poetry, short stories, fan fiction and essays for a long time. My urge to tell a story took over last year and it made sense for me. I needed that creative output in my life to feel more fulfilling, I guess?

I love watching movie trailers. That feeling of, "...damn, I got to see that!" is the best. If an idea I have plays as a great movie trailer in my daydreaming mind, Inspiration to write the story soon follows. So, the answer to your question is... it's exciting!

Writing is in my DNA. My grandmother and mother both wrote poems and encouraged me when I wrote my novels and screenplays. A huge surprise came after my mother passed and I discovered a half completed script among her personal items that she had written when she was a young woman. I had no idea!

Bintou, I bought a paperback copy of the script for the 1973 movie "American Graffiti." (This was in 1979, when I was still in college.)

Reading that screenplay turned me on enough to take a screenwriting class in college...and after watching movies over the previous five years like "Blazing Saddles" and TV shows such as "Good Times" and "Sanford and Son," I wanted to write my own comedies.

Thanks for posting...and here's wishing you all the VERY BEST (as well as a happy 19th birthday)!

Ever since I was a teenager, I used to write and tell stories; they were so good they almost got my family in trouble compelling stories. I never pursued it until a couple of years ago. I have all these ideas coming into my head all at once. It is like a flowing waterfall. My imagination is wild. Ideas come to me naturally, sometime in mid-swing, so I always have my phone or iPad near to write them down. But the funny thing is my ideas stay in my mind and don't leave. That's what inspired me to write again. And I went to school for radio broadcast/ TV Production, how to be a director and hold a camera.

I've always loved telling stories, particularly on screen. There's no better feeling than moving people through your work.

I have always been an avid reader and have always wanted, since childhood, to be some sort of writer. However I don't think I have what it takes to be a novelist so, due to my love of film, I sort of gravitated towards screenwriting.