Screenwriting : Working on a 2 minute 20 secon… by Stephen Melling

First, the standard rule of writing what you know. Second, write it really friggin short. Seriously, I would simply take something that you really like and try to drill it down to a short moment or two for the time alloted.

Yeah - its a real challenge! Most of my ideas seem to be 5 minutes up.

Tricky is not the word. Think of it as a commercial almost......try SERIES OF SHOTS or FLASHBACKS to chop down your 5 min. ideas.

Yeah - probably the best way. Pixar shorts style I guess. I've moved on to try and collaborate with writers for it now. I'm wondering if you would want to get involved? All the details can be found on my projects. Thanks Meek.

I would still tell a STORY in 3 acts. Begining, middle, and end. With 2 minutes 20 secs (140 secs) each act should be roughly 46 seconds long... With this frame work: 1. come up with an idea or concept 2. outline that idea or concept 3. write, rewrite, complete 1st draft 4. put it down, have someone read it 5. start at step 2 and begin process again until you "feel" it's right.

Keep it simple , make it good. good story, good characters.

always think of less is more if you have less money use less actors and then you can develop your characters more I recently had to do a 2 min film for college so I made a promo video of my film company other ideas included a day in the life of a homeless person and "the life of feet" going from birth to old age showing what the feet did over the years i.e. the mother with child walking around, 1st steps, 1st dance at wedding etc hope this helps

Get to the point!

I entered a 1-minute competition in 2010 and I approached it as almost like telling a joke. One setup, one payoff. Maybe look at trailers too, as they tend to tell a story, but stick with the beginning, middle and end as mentioned above. Here's the competition I entered, some great shorts here for inspiration: ([www.filminute.com/2011/][1]) Hope that helps, keen to collaborate if you need me. [1]: http://www.filminute.com/2011/

Thanks a lot guys. Brendon, which film is yours?

Actually didn't make the cut, so it isn't online. Was about a guy who was in a fallout shelter being bombed, then we revealed that he was actually a lego man being bombed by a kid playing.

when is it due?

The festival deadline hasnt been announced yet, but it was some time around May / June last time I think.

Stephen there are no rules, its your story and your image, thats all that really counts. Good luck with it though.

Thanks Tim. Feel free to check out my current projects. I'll be putting a new one I'm working on there soon.

You should check this out: "The Secret to Creating Real, Exciting, Authentic Characters that Resonate" By Seymour Englander, Professional Behavior Analyst & Writer Watch and listen as professional Behavior Skills Analyst & Writer, Seymour Englander of TheBehaviorFactor.com, discusses what is needed to create GREAT CHARACTERS.... [www.holdonlog.com/pages/AN-CharacterSecrets.html][1] I attended his class and found some great things to bring to characters on the page and in my performances. [1]: http://www.holdonlog.com/pages/AN-CharacterSecrets.html

if it doesn't move the plot.... lose it! ;) cheers geo