CUT TO: SCRIPTWRITING

INT. FANFIC FORUM NIGHT

How do!!

I've started this thread for three reasons really:

1. For users to look at the pros and cons towards scripts (film, plays, comic books or any other kinds out there which I can't think of right now) as a format for writing fanfics.

SCRIPT vs PROSE! WHO WINS?

2. For people to post links to any scripts they've submitted!

3. To find any other scriptwriters out there!!! Obviously if I'm the only one then this last reason (and maybe this thread) will be somewhat short lived!!

I've been interested in scriptwriting for about 10yrs now! I originally wanted to get into film and television writing which is probably a format I'm most comfortable with and in my opinion is one of the most accessable forms in terms of reading!

Now I'm trying to get into comic book writing and what I've learnt is that regardless to whether it's a novel or a script your writing one thing is the same:

IT'S THE WRITING THAT COUNTS!!!

If script/novel has an entaining enough story then the format makes no differnce!!

Do you agree? Or do you think scripts should keep away from fanfic?

Are you a scriptwriter? If so, I look forward to hearing from ya!!

 

I have written a couple of audio drama scripts, one of which got produced and can be found online. I am also part of group working on the Community Fan Film script (you'll probably find that thread on the next page.) This project has been going since January and is...well, kind of stalled out about 2/3 of the way through. "Master Luke...we've had some problems..."

I also wrote a screenplay adaptation of a novel my husband wrote. I kind of abandoned it because I really really need a screenwriting class to help polish it up, and I can't afford one.

What scripts have you worked on?

 

I've never written any scripts, but I've read a few, and they can be just as engaging as prose if done well. A good story is a good story wether it's in prose or script form.

 

I dunno. I'm a screenwriter, but the two formats are just way too different for me. I write a script to write a script; I write a fic to write a fic. With story-format fiction, you actually get to delve into the world and mind of the characters; know what they feel, see, have done in the past. You don't get that kind of intimacy with scripts. Telling what a character feels or has done is exposition.

Though I might just be biased. IMO, you write a script because you plan on turning it into film, not using it for fan fiction.

 

I've dabbled in screenwriting but didn't get very far. So I mainly did it for fun.

I'm currently trying to get into comic book writing. I've had three rejections at the mo but thankfully they gave me some concrit and I've realised that although my ideas are fine and I've a back story, I'm not putting enough of that on the page so characters have no obvious motivation!

Now I'm going back to basics and doing full character backgrounds, back stories etc so hopefully I'll be heading in the right direction!! Incidently, the script I'm doing is an adaption of my short story on this site (It's not going to be a star wars story though!!)

Have you had any of your work produced Miana?

 

I'm in the process of writing a script right now. It's very different from regular prose - and I find it difficult sometimes, especially when deciding how much detail to put and all of the insufferable stage directions.

Still, it helps when you look at other movie scripts to see how they did it.

- Serena

 

I've only done scriptwriting for two plays that I've written, one screenplay on my own for a short film that was done last year and am now working on the fanfilm/fanfic screenplay that LLL is heading up. I've also done Fanfiction: The Musical!

 

I love reading film scripts. Though it is a completely different way of telling a story than most fanfics, but when done well they are every bit as good as the narrative format.

I've dabbled in screen writing, but I'm a lot more comfortable with scripts for the stage. I have a lot more experience with stage than I do with film or radio dramas, so it's much easier for me to visualize what's going on for stage scripts, which helps a lot with the writing.

*exits stage left*

 

The way I see it, prose fiction is (theoretically) a finished product while a script . . . um, isn't. It requires actors, artists, and others to make it complete.

In my experience - which I admit is very limited since I automatically hit the browser's back button these days - a script leaves too much of the story to be filled in by the reader's imagination. I realize that the same can be said of prose, but it's usually not to the same extent.

- lazy

 

Oooh, I like that interpretation. Trey Stokes of Pink 5 fame regularly talks about how he'd give his main actress a script and she'd then "amy it up." It really emphasizes the fact that the script doesn't have as much punch without the people who transform it.

 

Perhaps it's because I have a very vivid imagination, I enjoy the act of interpretation when I read a story in script form. Not that I would always want to read scripts.

 

Very true, particularly for stage and film.

But I have a little experience in reading scripts for comics, and since that is translating one written form to one that's a blend of written and visual, there's a lot more "character" in the dialogue of a comic script. The letterer doesn't really add interpretation to the words on the page, merely transcribes them. So a person like Brian Michael Bendis has to write in all the verbal tics and "ad libs" straight from the script stage.

Even that isn't the full picture, though. It doesn't account for all the little non-verbal touches the artist adds in. Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League benefits incredibly from the nuance of expression that Maguire has. And of course, especially back in the day, a lot of writers worked with their artists to plot out the story so the script would have loads of space for the artist to have improvisation opportunities.

 

I couldn't have said it better.

 

What a great discussion. One thing I've heard time and time again about my writing of narrative prose over the years is: "Your dialouge is great, but you don't spend enough time describing things or getting inside the characters' heads." I struggled with this in everything I wrote. Then, on a whim, I tried my hand a writing a screenplay. It was fantastic. I could put all my "great" dialouge in there and not have to worry as much about the descriptions. Obviously if you don't intend to direct your script yourself, you have to add some description in there so the director knows what to do and what to tell your production designer to do, but it's not nearly the prose that an actual story would be.

I've written and directed a short film and a scene from a feature length screenplay I wrote. I've also written several other feature length screenplays for eventual production, so I feel I have a concept about this.

As for how I feel about using a screenplay for a fan fic, I'll say that it's crossed my mind. I think if well written, it could play out very well, forcing the reader to use more imagination than reading a standard fan fic would. The writer would just have to be very careful, because believe me, to me fan fic is like karaoke. When the writer/singer is good, they're usuall really good. But when they're bad, they make you want to get up and leave the room and jab #2 pencils in your ears/eyes. I think utilizing the screenplay format would make it doubly so. Just my two cents.

 

@ UJ:

I keep encountering your screen name and reading "UNBAN Jedi!"

 

I completely understand where UrbanJedi is coming from!

That was the main reason I turned to scriptwriting, in that I found myself getting too caught up in the descriptive process and it was slowing me down! With a script there's more of a sense of pace but there CAN be the like of depth that others have mentioned. I personally believe however, that this depth comes down to the writing. Having said that, esp with film and television writing, the imput of others (eg. The director and actors) completes the work: the actors performances creates an extra emotional depth for instance.

I guess this is what puts people off scripts as fanfics. They feel they're not getting a full piece, which is what lazykbys_left was saying.

For me though, I'm an impatient reader. I don't want an author to spell everything out for me in his fiction. I like a pace when I read regardless to wheather it's an emotional piece between characters or an all out fight scence. Giving me enough information to then fill in the rest myself makes the piece more personal and then adding the other details as things are moving on can make things flow naturally, which keeps me engaged.

Like say a character has his teeth knocked flying when he's getting punched over a table, then I don't want half a page telling me such as it makes it seem like the poor blokes stuck in mid air as his as his pearly whites slowly detach themselves. Or if a character (hopefully not the same one as this would have been one bad day) has to deal with the death of a loved one, strip it down to it's core because my own experiences will connect with this and make the emotions described even more powerful.

I suppose I'm an "active reader"!

 

You know, I chose this screen name on a whim almost nine years ago, and I thought it was really cool. Now, it's like...man I'm a dork. Actually, I dig the initials UJ, so it's cool.

The fic I'm currently writing here is the first I've written in probably four or five years. I've been writing screenplays so long, I was actually kind of curious how well an actual story would turn out. One thing I've found is, it's much easier to write after having written screenplays. I don't know why...it just is.

 

The fic I'm currently writing here is the first I've written in probably four or five years. I've been writing screenplays so long, I was actually kind of curious how well an actual story would turn out. One thing I've found is, it's much easier to write after having written screenplays. I don't know why...it just is.


I suppose it's a case of the more one writes the better one gets, regardless of format! I've learnt that it's the same process to writing a good piece of prose as it is a good script..... All I gotta do now is learn the process!!!!

 

From what I've gathered of others' opinions, my strengths (such as they can be called that) are dialogue and plot, so I'd like to try my hand at screenwriting. The biggest hurdle that stops me is not knowing all the proper formatting...

 

Formatting can be daunting when trying to tackle a screenplay. There are quite a few programs out there that you can get that will format the script for you. The one I like to use is Celtix. It's freeware and it has some pretty cool features. My recommendation is to download that program and then check out a couple of actual movie scripts online to see how they're written. After that, it's kind of just trial and error. Let me know if I can help out, Face, as I've written several screenplays over the last few years.

 

Final Draft is what the industry uses, and it's wonderful. Very helpful and easy to use.


For anyone serious about screenwriting, I suggest two awesome books:

Screenplay: Foundations of Screenwriting by Syd Field and Tools of Screenwriting by David Howard. Both books are great instructions for anyone who wants to learn how to properly write scripts.

 

I've used Final Draft, and you're right, it's an awesome program. However, it can be quite costly for someone who just wants to dabble in screenplay writing. That's why I recommended Celtix.

 

Final Draft's demo is free, so you can use that to dabble as well.