Brian Butler: Screenwriter, script consultant and content creator in Chicago, Illinois.

Registering with the WGA may give you peace of mind; however, if you ever have to defend yourself in court it will not protect you. Only a copyright will protect you against infringement should it happen. And no, you do not really hold a copyright once you create something; copyright is attained by registering with the Government; I know it is said once you create something you are the owner/creator by virtue of doing But this will not hold up in court if you are infringed upon.

hahaha I hope no one take "good artis copy, great artis steal" literally in their professional life. Mike Childress

If one bothers writing a script, a professional will bother protecting the work with a proper copyright . . . something that will hold up in court if the work is compromised. So do not heed someone saying "I wouldn't stress over it..." that is simply poor advice. Consider yourself a professional and act accordingly. As Mike pointed out you are protected in the act of creating the work... but one shouldn't think this jungle cares about that. Protect yourself with something that will truly stand up in court. You may have that "great idea" that someone will steal for . . .

They'll ask for the synopsis, script, and (sometimes) concept art. I've seen lots of projects come in with 10 pages of concept art capturing the look and feel of the story. A few pages of art is easier to digest than 870 slide story board. Don't oversell things!

I agree with Lindbergh E Hollingsworth - storyboards are really a director's tool and should be created with the director involved. I always try to send the script first alone to get a read as its so easy to read a synopsis and skip the full read if the synopsis doesn't connect. I've seen some artwork or a playlist embedded into a script to enhance the read, which was cool. It's awesome that you have all of these assets and they can all come into play but I always try to get a read of the script out of the gate and then share other assets as requested.

Hi, Brian Butler. I’m a Stage 32 Lounge Moderator. I wanted to let you know I moved your post from the Screenwriting Lounge to the Your Stage Lounge because you posted the same thing in the Producing Lounge. If you change the post that I moved significantly, you can put it in the Screenwriting Lounge. Or if you want to put the same post in different Lounges, you can put the post in one Lounge one day, then put the same post in another Lounge on a different day. Let me know if you have any questions.

This is where everyone learns screenwriting. Take a look. https://youtu.be/wrR8ggeD4h4?si=5fHXO-6yHNOS4EZq

CJ Walley At doing it thar way, CJ, doesn't it unbalance the story. Would it not jump around and be free flowing? I like to keep it continuous as I write watching my plot points are hit at the right time. It must be raining lots where you are cause all it does is rain here. (Northern Ontario) Best to 'ya.

Claude Gagne it's surprisingly dry here lately, which is good because my roof is leaking LOL!

I don't find that prewriting/scriptments cause the story to jump around. If anything, it helps me build a rigid framework that I write within. I guess it would depend on the writer.

Exactly. Friends develop short hand. I have a friend that worked with me years ago. We involved in issue that involved a person that had a tennis court and the size was wrong. This thing dragged out for a year. It ended up being nothing. If my friend wants to tell me something is a waste of time he say “tennis camp”.

Craig D Griffiths I lean toward what Doug Nelson suggested.

show not tell

A feisty granny teams up for a slice of the ransom with her own kidnappers who were rejected by her estranged son who rejected them for a bank loan.

You're welcome, Adam Harper.

After their loan application gets denied by a cruel banker, a desperate couple kidnap the banker's estranged yet feisty granny, but when he refuses to pay the ransom, granny teams up with her captors, in exchange for her own cut.

Action lines may differ considerably due to available budget. EG Big car chases with weapons for big studio to a character does a simple walk in the park in lower fund Indie. However, money and big props do not necessarily buy audiences feelings. A simple walk can be made more interesting by how character walks, cumbersome gait or sprightly dance up path?Do they stop to pick up an injured bird? Stop to give a tramp a dollar? OR Push someone out of their way on path while jogging? Spit on ground after passing someone they don’t like the look of? Devil is in detail. Character does not need a speeding big car with an AK47 to look bad or save someone from a towering inferno or to look good. Any action line, big or small should move story forward or reveal something in plot. Action for the sake of it happens in some films and it’s then time when most folk to go to the fridge etc.

Subtle layering of props BEFORE an action line can indicate the frame of mind of character and help audience understand their reason for behavior, providing an intellectual forethought. EG In this scene baby step actions before raising a sword to protagonist, stroking a bottle of whisky and fake film award with a dust of cocaine on fingertip. (The guy's an alcoholic and druggie thinking about his life.) Props never need cost big bucks, I got books and empty bottle from a stockroom, the cocaine is a bag of sugar off a hotel table. (Sorry rambling about film and we are talking script) So, going back to question about video action lines, unless it's a "Random" event eg a thunder storm happens and character runs off park bench, instead the character may find a letter from their husband to another woman and then run off. In some cases an object or another person is a good preemptive strike for an action line, can build up tension in reader so they are excited to find out what character is going to do.

Re original question "Writing" the action line. I tried to write with screenplay spacing the other night but thread box kept shoving it all into one sentence so I photographed what I was trying to write. As I mentioned in earlier posts, action line can reveal character and not necessarily be a plot mover or spectacular visual show in blockbuster.

Doug Nelson Ant music for Ant people.

Everyone on our pit crew had a nickname - To Tall and Adam Ant were a pair to draw to.

Go to the Google or Bing translate, look up the history of the word, etymology, then find a translation. O R, look for synonyms in a thesaurus, or find one of the shakespeare lists, he has plenty of colorful other ways of describing people. I can tell you the chinese word for child is pronounced rung, heavy on rolling the "r" sound, I can't tell you how its truly spelled. The word diminutive comes to mind, but then so does an old mark twain saying, never use a fifty cent word when a nickel one will do. And what that thinking goes to, is keep in mind you're writing to the masses, if you want big numbers of people to be interested.

Great idea, Dan. Do you have to pre-register a time to talk to them?

Cinando

See Stage 32 Blog.

P.S. The script is available for download. I encourage you to take a look at it.

Is the script still available? I haven't been on Stage32 much lately.

Stage 32 has a written guide book to pitching you can download. I'm not sure where I found it. You just have to look around the site.

If you go in to book a pitch, below the area where you would fill out your payment information, you'll see a small window where you can download the guide book for pitching.

Hey everyone! Great question Shahin. There have been quite a few examples of written pitches resulting in requested material from Stage 32 writers. In fact, one of the most recent examples was a pitch by writer Braden Chase who worked on his pitch with Anna Henry through Stage 32 script services. They developed the pitch through consultation calls and it was just requested by Jim Young at Animus Films who said it was "Excellent" and "Super well thought out." If you are struggling with your written pitch, you may consider enlisting help from execs on the Script Services roster.

And to answer your question Ian Cai Mercer, the Star Wars pitch was not written by George Lucas (although that would be a super cool piece of Hollywood history) it was written by a member of the Script Services team as an example.