Monday, August 18, 2014

Tips To Become A Good Film Writer

By Linda Ruiz


Thousands of writers each year produce movie scripts that they want to get produced and be successful. The reality of the situation is that the film writer rarely sees much success, though. There are endless amounts of scripts that pass through movie studios, with so little movies made in comparison.

Have a good idea about what your story is about and the genre. You should brainstorm, go headline fishing, and do some sound boarding to get some ideas. Be sure your story has a solid beginning to end.

You should understand all the unwritten rules of every genre. In a horror movie, for example, the hero will always have some flaws that he or she must overcome. Also, the antagonist will be completely evil, there will be a lot of tension throughout the film, and there will also be a lot of false alarms. You'll also want to put the hero in grave situations and make the fate of the antagonist a mystery.

You story will be outlined into three different acts. In the first, you'll need to have a great hook in the opening scene and introduce all the characters and the problems the hero will face throughout the story. In the second, the hero must dive into the issues and be too involved to leave it behind. In the final and third act, the hero will go through hopeless states but end up resolving the issues.

If you want a realistic script, research all parts and information included in your script. It must also be formatted correctly with single-spaced 12pt Courier print. There also needs to be a header, which starts at the second page. It should have the title, page number, and be right-justified.

The cover page or first page of the script shouldn't be numbered. All this page requires is a title, author's name, and a note about the copyright. This information must be centered on the page. You should also include your contact information after you space down and left-justify the cursor.

Write out "FADE IN" in your script before you open your story up. You'll end the same story with "FADE OUT". When using dialogue, add the character name after you tab inward 4 to 5 times. Spell out the character's name then space down. Tab in 3 times to write the dialogue out, and keep the width under 2 tabs.

If the dialogue block is long and spills over the next page, you'll have to write "CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE". Afterwards, you'll write "CONTINUED" on the new page. You should also keep in mind to capitalize all character names and keep the voice of the script in present tense. For example, don't write "His father moved away from the sofa and walked to the room." Instead, you should write "His father moves away from the sofa and walks to the room."

Whenever you open a scene, you need to make sure and label it appropriately. If, for example, you have a scene in the master bathroom at night, you will write "INT. MASTER BATHROOM - NIGHT". If you have a scene in the backyard during the day, you should write "EXT. BACKYARD - DAY".




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