Screenwriting Basics

Want to write a good screen play? Well, then why not learn how not to first? Let me go ahead and recommend a very good book to you;

“How Not to Write a Screenplay; 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenplay Writers Make” by Danny Martin Flynn, 1999

The author suggested the biggest mistakes made are in form, content, and development. I tend to agree with them having tried to write a screenplay myself, and not been comfortable with what I had produced, therefore I scratched it, and someday I may have to start over.

All good screenplays are unique, all bad ones are the same,”

…says the author, and I chuckled as I read that.

Danny explains to us that screenplays are read by people who love to make movies but they can’t stand reading. Then in the year 2000 there were 37,000 screenplays written and registered by the writers Guild of America; “and 99% sucked!” said Danny. And he’s probably right, he knows what he’s talking about and it’s pretty funny.

Some of the most common mistakes are ones that you obviously already know; spelling errors, syntax errors, over writing, lack of clarity, but he also suggests that screenplay writers make mistakes as people don’t actually talk to themselves in real life, and it’s hard to depict a character talking to himself in a movie. On the content side he suggests the importance of writing very good structure and completing a scene rolling into the next. He also wants to make sure that the screenplay writer knows that whatever they put down, if it is ever made into a movie, it will get changed around.

Some of the stupidest things that screenplay writers do he says is they forget to put their name, address, and phone number and/or e-mail on the title page. Authors of screenplays often make subtitles, but movies don’t have long subtitles like books and he also says try not to suggest music, because the creative directors and all the other folks in Hollywood are really good at that and they have their own friends and pals they support. Finally he suggests using 12 point Corrier Font. Indeed I help you please consider all this.

Author: Lance Winslow

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