William Georgi's Lounge Discussions

Contribution!

I'm typecast by my agent as a henchman. I'm in New Mexico for the 'GET SHORTY' tv series, Jan 11/13. As a screenwriter, I'm in LA on the 18,19 for business meetings. Pitching a one-page for a feature to a pop star and the S32 HAPPY WRITERS MEETUP. Our company BIG BOSS FILMS just got our short fully funded yesterday with one meeting with a one page, script, poster, storyboards, cast and crew budget. We're flying S32er Dave McCrea in from NY to direct 'HOLLYWOOD ENDING'. Shooting starts the 28th. In the meantime, I'm hitting the gym hard. ... all of this came about from almost three years of solid social networking on S32. All of my success has come from my network on S32. So basically I would treat S32 Networking like a job until you find your team/champions of your work. Then you'll be booked all month too. I can't write our next project fast enough. S32 works if you work it!

Open up more to others, especially other creative artists; be more trusting and less hypercritical; and meditate more (this helps my overall ability to focus and not get stuck on errant feelings that sap my creative energy and motivation!)

I am analyzing my last years efforts in the industry and try to work twice as hard. Networking is going to be a big thing for me this year. Your network is your Networth!

My two keywords for the year are "strategic planning". I think it's important to know your goals and list them and read them all at least once a week. And if something new sparks up, write it down, and again come back to it, prioritize and apply. If you're looking for software solutions for planning I recommend wunderlist for mobile devices or asana if you're a computer person.

I am fortunate enough to have a boss and coworkers that completely support my acting career. Because of where I live, I have to travel far when I book a job or audition. Communication is key in any job so just make sure that when you ask for time off, have a solution ready to go to show that you are responsible. If you have that down, the rest is gravy. Good luck!!

MOST actors have day (or night jobs, such as bartending) jobs to support themselves between gigs...

A difficult balancing act. Where are you in your journey in life? Why are your current needs besides shelter, money and food? What are you willing to forego to have the flexibility to leave for an audition at a moments notice? If you land the part, what kind of jobs are going to be okay with you leaving for a few days, week, month?

I'm in an office job. I've used my vacation days for background and part time work. My boss saw me on TV recently and cant stop talking about how awesome it was. That may help me take off in the future. Being honest and upfront has made a difference on that. I would love more flexibility, but so far so good. I plan on acting classes which will require me leaving early one day a week after the first of the year, hopefully he'll be supportive of it also

I am a Deputy Director for the Federal Government. I supervise a staff of 21 people and my Secretary cannot even keep up with managing my calendar. It's definately a balancing act for me to work my day job and try and audition for gigs. I have been on this path for about three years now of trying to transition from the Federal Government to Acting. Believe it or not, there are quite a few of us at the Senior Leadership level that are trying to make the transition. The love of our craft and dedication is what keeps us on this path. Good luck to everyone, Acting is a life long journey!

Outline, use notecards, synopsis... anything to get the solid idea on 2-10 pages. Develop the characters and their personalities. Start with a grand opening scene and make sure the ending is equally interesting. Check on the 3 act structure to fill in the rest.

Beyond the books mentioned I'll just emphasize: Read feature scripts. (You can also pick up most of what you'll find in books in articles online). Just remember that some of them are final drafts and can contain camera shots, cues to roll credits, etc. which yours should not have. The big transition for you though may be learning to chop those rich scene descriptions and narratives to the bare minimum. Note how feature screenplays, particularly recent ones, handle it. Good luck!

If it is still out there, try going to Drew's Script-o-rama...lots and lots of scripts...

Read, write, read some more, rinse, repeat.

FADE IN:

Okay. Thanks, JL.

When I wrote "Kedesh, Martian City of Refuge," I did research on Mars, atmosphere, rock types, topography, ice caps, etc. I treated the planet as a character...

That's cool, William.

Sneak description into the actions. Don't bore us with pages or paragraphs of detail in the opening of the screenplay where you should be hooking us. I have a chapter on worldbuilding in my first ten pages book.

^ yeah, exactly that. I've dabbled in "otherworlds". For me, it helps to move the action if I understand the planet/topography etc. I've gone as far as making maps of towns, mock globes of the planet, even modelling the moons so I understand fully now the lights would reflect etc. Prewriting you can go all out on what the planet is, and made of etc. It always helps me to have the details - even if those details never make it into the script.

Movie Magic. But theses are tools, and what's most important is what you use the tools to build.

So true, William. One can have all the tools in the world to write with, but if there isn't a story and substance behind the pen, or in most cases, the keyboard, then nothing will be of use.

Guys, thank you all so much. I'm completely overwhelmed by the responses to my post.

I know my boy Bill is a MM guy, but I'm FD. But again, it's not just the software, it's the input.

It doesn't look like anyone answered a key part of your question. Why you need it. First and foremost, it will properly format your script per industry standard. That is the most important. As far as which to use, a lot will come down to HOW you'll be using it. If all you're doing is writing, and you don't plan to go into production, one of the simpler and free ones will do. If you need things like formalized scene numbers, more's and cont'ds, revisions, the ability to import and/or export to other industry programs like Scheduling (for script breakdown), then you'll want to start looking at programs like MM and FD . Will you be working with other screenwriters? If so, pick a program that has some kind of collaboration tool. You really can't go wrong with any of these suggestions. Even Amazon has a web-based program that's free called Amazon Storywriter (https://storywriter.amazon.com/). It actually allows you to submit your script directly to Amazon. And it imports from and exports to industry standard formats: PDF, FDX (Final Draft), and Fountain. Whatever you select, make sure it can 1) import/export Final Draft (by far the industry standard) and 2) PDF (to give to folks to read). The most important thing though is to write. Don't let not having one stop you from writing. From what I understand, Woody Allen still writes by hand and/or a typewriter. And as I end all my podcast episodes, "If the story sucks, I don't care what you shot it with, or cut it on." And I could add, "...what you wrote it on either." :) Good luck!