Do you write? If you don’t, I encourage you to start — be it a journal, or a blog. And I’m talking about writing more than just blurbs on your facebook page, or twitter. No, really put some thoughts on paper. It’s proven to be therapeutic for me, and I think it can prove to be that and so much more for you.
Maybe you want to try something different? Maybe you’ve seen a really crappy movie, and said, “Hell, I could write something better than that!”
I said that once, a few years ago, and I decided to see if I could. The first thing I discovered was, I didn’t know how to start. I didn’t even really know what a screenplay looked like — and that was after a few years of working in the production business. (To be fair, I began working in TV production — the only scripts I had seen were the ones we used for tv news…nothing like screenplays.)
I feel like in order for you to write, you first have to be able to read…really read, and comprehend form, style, nuance, and subtext — be it literature, or poetry or straight up journalism. If I was going to write a screenplay, I needed to find some examples of good screenplays, and thankfully I found them on the internet. Isn’t the Information Superhighway wonderful?
Some of those sites are gone now, but the one I go to if I’m looking to find screenplays to read is Simply Scripts. it’s a pretty straight forward site, updated a few times a month, usually with some old scripts and some new ones — mainly features that have just recently been released, and sometimes ones that have yet to be. They’ve also got an archive television scripts as well. Chances are, if you’re looking for a specific screenplay, it’s here. Best of all, it’s free.
Click Here to go to Simply Scripts.
If you’re looking to learn more about the craft of screenwriting, there are tons of screenwriting books out on the market to help you with everything from creating characters, to understanding mythological structure, and writing dialogue – there’s a website called Script Buddy. There you can find books, shooting scripts, software, and even some old school analogue writing materials and supplies (like these Moleskine journals -$8.95 on site! Barnes and Nobles Kahala sells em for $16.95!) for those of you who prefer to deal with words in pen and ink. One thing, though…if you decided to purchase something from Script Buddy…see if you can find it on Amazon first. Just check to see who had better prices.
Click Here to go to Script Buddy.
Good Luck, and write, write, write!
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