The Coli's Screenwriting/Filmmaking Thread [Share tips, etc]

[Ol’Otis]

I have not been taking this area of my life serious

18 months of film school for nothing

 

[MenacingMonk]

Started a new draft on a pilot I'm working on. Need 2 more scenes and I'm done. I'm 90% sure this is the one I can use.

 

[Slangtonomo]

I've been making horror/scifi since I was 12. Im 40 now...I have horror I'm just waiting to unleash!

I believe horror is severely lacking now.

What do you guys think about...

...naw I'm going keep this idea and implement it first...

 

[steadyrighteous]

Haven't vented in here for a minute. Might as well

People complain about tropes, complain about "same old same", complain about cliches and formulaic shows, movies etc.

You write something, people read it, say it's good, but when they give you notes and you really dig through them and skip what they're saying and try to get to the meat of what they actually mean, what you figure out is...

They're basically saying "Where are the tropes? There's a formula for how things are done, and you've managed to bypass a few of them, you should consider putting them in!"



Sometimes it feels like as much as people say they want new stuff, different stuff, what they actually want it something they already know wrapped in the clothes of something different. Even people who should know better, insiders, people in the business etc. They say they want different shyt but what they want is a story they've already read but with characters with new names.



I'm tired of writing

 

[ORDER_66]

Just did two pages of my comic book script to send to my artist... I hate the fukking format...

 

[PlayerNinety_Nine]

Just did two pages of my comic book script to send to my artist... I hate the fukking format...

I'm working on a joint right now.

I basically spent last Winter writing like a lunatic - Pretty much the first 50 issues. Found a dope artist - we're just in the process of getting our pitch together.

Are you writing 20 page issues, breh - or are you going for a graphic novel?

 

[MenacingMonk]

Just did two pages of my comic book script to send to my artist... I hate the fukking format...

What's wrong?

I have several ideas for comics, but I'm focusing on screenwriting first.

 

[ORDER_66]

I'm working on a joint right now.

I basically spent last Winter writing like a lunatic - Pretty much the first 50 issues. Found a dope artist - we're just in the process of getting our pitch together.

Are you writing 20 page issues, breh - or are you going for a graphic novel?

Yeah im converting my novel into a graphic novel... 22 pages each issue...

What's wrong?

I have several ideas for comics, but I'm focusing on screenwriting first.

I just hate the way the format is structured... is all...

 

[PlayerNinety_Nine]

Yeah im converting my novel into a graphic novel... 22 pages each issue...

I just hate the way the format is structured... is all...

Nice. Good luck with it, breh.

I've written mine in 20 page issues. Most of the arcs last 5 issues, apart from one which goes for 10, so if we get it published it lends itself to being put in collected trade paperbacks.

 

[KravenMorehead™]

Art of the Title

 

[Drew Wonder]

Question for @Conz or anyone else who could help me, I'm writing a script with a lead character who is constantly seeing random, quick images in her head. I'm wondering what's the best way to convey that format-wise. Should I use "Series of Shots," "Flash Cut," "Flashes of Images," "Insert" or something else?

 

[Conz]

Question for @Conz or anyone else who could help me, I'm writing a script with a lead character who is constantly seeing random, quick images in her head. I'm wondering what's the best way to convey that format-wise. Should I use "Series of Shots," "Flash Cut," "Flashes of Images," "Insert" or something else?

i honestly have no idea, but i tend to think shyt like this gets overanalyzed. Trying to think how I would go about writing it (then subsequently be told I'm wrong by nerds on the internet despite the point getting across clearly)

she sees them in her head? or has hallucinations? on either of those, it has to be established very early. I don't know. I might do mini-slugs if it all takes place "in her head," but that could bog the script down if you do it often. How would these things appear on screen? write it like you would want to see it. do we get an image projected in her hollowed out head like in a cartoon? say she sees a ghost - does it just flash on screen and no one else can see it? b/c in that case i'd just establish she has visions early, and write them in almost normally. I'd probably capitalize them or put them in italics to distinguish them as something out of the ordinary for the reader to focus on.

as long as it's not confusing, which it is right now for me without knowing more. gimmie an example from a movie that uses a similar technique

 

[Drew Wonder]

i honestly have no idea, but i tend to think shyt like this gets overanalyzed. Trying to think how I would go about writing it (then subsequently be told I'm wrong by nerds on the internet despite the point getting across clearly)

she sees them in her head? or has hallucinations? on either of those, it has to be established very early. I don't know. I might do mini-slugs if it all takes place "in her head," but that could bog the script down if you do it often. How would these things appear on screen? write it like you would want to see it. do we get an image projected in her hollowed out head like in a cartoon? say she sees a ghost - does it just flash on screen and no one else can see it? b/c in that case i'd just establish she has visions early, and write them in almost normally. I'd probably capitalize them or put them in italics to distinguish them as something out of the ordinary for the reader to focus on.

as long as it's not confusing, which it is right now for me without knowing more. gimmie an example from a movie that uses a similar technique

Kind of a mix of hallucinations and subliminal images. So basically, she takes a drug that keeps her in a state of euphoria and it transmits "happy" images into her head. This is how I wrote it in the treatment

Eva closes her eyes and relaxes. She sees random images of peace and tranquility. Animals nurturing their young, flowers blooming, a child laughing, a butterfly, people holding hands. Eva smiles.

As far as other movies? Hmm, maybe Requiem for a Dream with the random quick cuts, though my script wouldn't be nearly as frantic as that as far as the random shots.

Scenes are too quick for me to write it as a flashback or montage, more like a series of quick images meant to convey that they're flashing quickly before her eyes

 

[Conz]

hmm, i don't know. If it's a running theme, I'd probably establish it early, then just roll with it. or do something like.

Eva falls into bed.

EVA'S VISIONS - a purple dog shyts on the lawn

Eva's eyes shoot open. she sits up in a cold sweat.

EVA
That dog was fukkin purple!


but i can see something like that getting tedious. i'd just try to find a movie that did something similar, than copy how they wrote it. no matter how you end of writing it, some know it all jackass is gonna tell you he was confused and it "halted my read" and wasn't clear, and blah blah

 

[Conz]

sometimes you can get away with a NOTE in the script, but everyone hates that and will tell you it's wrong.

like say you wrote (NOTE: All of Eva's visions will be written in italics) the first time you do it, and then just follow that pattern... but again, it'll get shyt on.