Fred Gooltz: Playwright, screenwriter and development coordinator in Los Angeles, California.

It involves an extra step, but the STT feature in Office 365 Word is excellent. As long as you don't mind the cut and paste.

Thanks, E Langley.

The only Speech-to-Text app designed specifically for screenwriting is www.talkingdraft.com

Fred Gooltz Thank you.

Thank you for sharing. I will check this out.

I think it's necessary to outline or at least plan something first before writing it. Be it an essay, a script or a novel. Otherwise, you will get lost in abstraction.

Maurice Vaughan Love these types of posts! Educational and great advice!

Me too, Michael. How are you doing?

Just rereading this conversation. Wow, lots of great ideas shared. Thanks all.

Mohanjeet feel free to email me: - contact@rickjayglen.com

While what Dan said is typically true, sales do greatly contribute to an IP’s interest, sometimes studios shop for new ideas. Amazon Prime Video did this when they first launched Amazon Studios. Anyone could submit a script, treatment, or show Bible, for a standard contract option if their concept was accepted by Amazon.

Mohanjeet - go for it!! I found Blue Helmut of Disney+ - looks like such an endearing film, you've got a proven track record with a streamer.

Agree with everyone saying go fo it!

@JenniferStrome That is encouraging. Because I am planning a series, there's room to work on other episodes, and my friend is searching for that thing he wants to do next. He has a strong visual storytelling, and he's literary. he has the components to do it, but the form isn't something he's ever studied. When you see potential in someone... Anyways, your example gives me hope. Cheers!

The book "Writing Movies for Fun and Profit" by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon has an action plan for collabowriting. I’ve followed these rules to a T with a partner and it worked.

@DanGuardino It's helpful to know the pitfalls too. I am trying understand what might work for me, and what wouldn't. So thanks for sharing this.

@FredGooltz, Very helpful. Having a guidelines in the process would help manage expectations. And, also I like the title. It's funny, but I am more stressed writing a novel than a screenplay. Not sure why. I think the screenplay is more difficult to get into the right hands. Maybe this book will help with that too. :)

Craig D Griffiths I do that too! I find it especially good at breaking writer's block.

Stephanie - 1) when he came to nz I was deeply involved in healing from past trauma and recovering from a history of weed. I developed social phobia and ptsd (also depression, chronic anxiety, insomnia, recovering from psychosis) and it took a few years for me to get to a better place. I am still working on going to the movies/theatre and social meetups. Much of my creative projects have been hard to push because I've been devoting what feels like a full-time job to getting better at adulting and life-ing. 2) when I was at university (my second - of 3, successful uni) I majored in screenwriting (creative writing degree) and one of the most valuable things I took away from my time was free writing every morning in a classroom, there were about six of us. and we would take turns bringing in an object. Free writing was twenty to thirty minutes of no-edit writing - first thing in the morning, never let the pen come off the page inspired by the object. fiction was mandatory, medium was whatever you like. optional to share after, but most of us did, because it was so exciting. This was key to helping me transition from a writer of long hauls when inspired, to an every day writer - which is what you almost have to be to turn pro. and I totally agree with the reading thing, sometimes you get out of practise with reading as life is want to do to you, so I've started again at 5pgs/day. to build back up to a regular reader. Stephen King, Card, Greg Egan, F. Paul Wilson, Terry Pratchett, Justina Robson (a very kind human), Douglas Coupland, Harry Harrison, Dale A. Dye, Skinner, Glen Duncan, Lorenzo Carcaterra, Patrick McGrath, Nabokov, Robert Louis Stevenson, Sergei Lukyanenko, Sudhir Venkatesh, Chris Rodley, A. L. Barabasi, Eric S. Raymond (gun nut), Roald Dahl, Andy Weir, Alan Duff, Tracy Fullerton, Brian Sibley, Alan Glynn, Spike Milligan, R. L. Stine, Doug Adams and Stephen Laws are my favourites. Though I'm also fond of Craig Marriner and Stoker's Dracula.

"...and one of the most valuable things I took away from my time was free writing every morning in a classroom, there were about six of us. and we would take turns bringing in an object. Free writing was twenty to thirty minutes of no-edit writing..." Polydina Flynt, if you're still looking to do that, there's a free Writing Accountability Room on Clubhouse (https://www.clubhouse.com/room/m7y4vqgX?utm_medium=ch_room_tec&utm_campa...). There are writing accountability events (Writers' Cafes) in the Stage 32 Writers' Room also, but there's a $39.00 monthly fee for the Room (https://www.stage32.com/writers-room).

I had four non-fiction books published at around the same time I’d started writing screenplays. The biggest transition for me, was to curb my enthusiasm for prose, when it came to writing scene descriptions and action sequences.

But over time I learnt that less is more and what has also helped me is to read screenplays in the same genre as I was wanting to write in. This helped me to get the pace and delivery (language) correct.

Elie de Rosen like Phillip mentioned, generally people try to make each graf correspond to roughly one camera setup. We may not technically direct the camera, but if the graf says "feet clomp along the tile hallway" the reader can infer a low tracking show in close-up.

Elie - no rules. You visualize your story, the Director will visualize your story his way. The action lines are how you guide him/her. Essentially this is where you (writer) lead the Director without and camera directions.

Hello, I would only suggest that you don't make them female led detectives but rather just, "great detectives". I am working on an all female comedy script but if I rely on my characters genders than I am limited. They should be "interesting foremost, their gender second" is how I would approach it. Best of luck!!

This book is excellent: https://www.amazon.ca/Crime-Thriller-Detective-Procedural-Thrillers-eboo...

Thanks for the book reference, Michael!

Hi Leotien, the Talking Draft Method is very helpful to get a first draft done very fast. No awkward voice commands is especially helpful to keeping the flow going.

Because my scripts are based on books I have written, the books become the talking drafts.

I've always outlined outside of Final Draft. It used to be on a spreadsheet. So, Geoff Hall honestly I think of this as the last step of my own outlining stage. I outline for ages, usually using Frank Daniel's very flexible 8-Sequence guide (www.scriptoutliner.com). Usually 90% of my first draft's work time is actually troubleshooting a beatsheet. Then, conveniently, I can improv a talking draft right there on my outline inside the same app.

Wish I'd know about it before I wrote my ten Jolt Survival Scripts. LOL

My second sale was a western, and I have another under option -- so far they are working for me!

I am so glad everyone is trusting their instincts and ignoring “common sense”.

Nothing is dead. George Clooney says he thought he killed Batman. Then we get the Dark Knight Trilogy.

I am writing a Western (bubbling in my brain the moment), I know what it is, just have to get it ready to write.

So I think we all agree. No genre is dead. Some may be budget dependent due to a smaller audience. But they are never dead.

I'm convinced that a lot of times when buyers tell reps that nobody wants Westerns/period they are trying to will it so. They think they're avoiding high production cost, but time and again, audiences show that we love period and we dig cool westerns.

Hi Dennis, yes this is basically the same, except with www.talkingdraft.com your initial improvisation is aloud and the app transcribes your dialogue and action lines -- with you delineating live as you talk "who-says-what" -- by just pressing one key on your keyboard (or phone). Just like you do, the attached outliner portion gives you beatsheet page targets based on how long you want your script. If you can imagine the scene in your outline, you can improv it AS the writing of your first draft!

I don't work this way -- I first write everything down and only then attempt to act it out!

Yes, Kacee, our scriptoutliner tool absolutely allows for "pantsers" -- simply choose the story structure called FREE FORM and you can do a www.talkingdraft.com by the seat of your pants!

www.TalkingDraft.com is ready when you are. And thanks for the read, Maurice!

You're welcome, Fred. Thanks for the link.

Thanks MB. Have fun on your talking drafts!

Actually, one of the writers who uses www.talkingdraft.com a lot does so because of very bad carpal tunnel syndrome. He said the method saved his career. Another user had a broken wrist and a nasty deadline.

There sure is! I suggest using the TV format and adjusting your page target to 30. The beatsheet calculator will automatically adjust your act breaks! When you're done with your outline - just click the MICROPHONE icon on any scene to begin your Talking Draft.

It's my pleasure! I could geek-out about this method for ages, I close my eyes and picture the scene like a director and just sorta act it out - it's so much fun to improvise scenes.