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

[steadyrighteous]

I am now a proud member of TBWA Worldwide as a copywriter

Congratulations man! I was trying to get into copywriting before I went freelance.

Closest I came was an interview at Interbrand a couple years back.

Salutes for getting in the door breh

 

[StraxStrax]

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

 

[duckbutta]

My writer brehs, I've always wondered this, but never really heard anyone talk about it in a concrete way.

On an average to good day, how many pages can you write?

What's the most you've ever written that was actually good or useable after you came back the next day and read it again?

I tend to write sporadically, not touching FD for days, even a week or two, but always thinking about the script and only feeling like I need to write once I've "watched" the scene in my head 5 or 6 times. Then I'll sit for an hour or two and bang out 7 or 8 pages.

On my first draft...I can do about 8 -12 pages...

But that's just getting thoughts and ideas out of my head onto paper to see how I am going to frame the story...

On the second draft when I actual craft it into a coherent story...2 - 4 pages a day

But those 2 - 4 pages needed very little if any editing

 

[Lanny Piffo]

I am now a proud member of TBWA Worldwide as a copywriter

Congrats, get your Don Draper on.

 

[pete clemenza]

First drafts are supposed to suck. That's why they call it the vomit draft. It's takes several drafts to break a story. Just keep going because 90% of what's in that first draft is gonna eventually get changed or cut anyway.

90%

I can see 25 to maybe 40% changes but 90%.. That means you wrote a crappy script.

 

[Lanny Piffo]

90%

I can see 25 to maybe 40% changes but 90%.. That means you wrote a crappy script.

First drafts are always trash compared to the finished product.

 

[pete clemenza]

First drafts are always trash compared to the finished product.

Not always true.. Of course there's going to be rewrites and newer drafts but it should never be 90%, that's basically a different movie. That's like saying you wrote 'Driving Miss Daisy' and then six drafts later it ended up becoming "The Matrix". If 90% of a script is changed then you basically wrote an entire new script

 

[Lanny Piffo]

Not always true.. Of course there's going to be rewrites and newer drafts but it should never be 90%, that's basically a different movie. That's like saying you wrote 'Driving Miss Daisy' and then six drafts later it ended up becoming "The Matrix". If 90% of a script is changed then you basically wrote an entire new script

I guess it depends on whether or not somebody would rather outline or do a treatment rather than jumping into writing the script. Writing a lot of drafts lets me explore the world of my story from every angle. Once you get the spine of the story nailed down you start playing with different scenes, plot points, characters etc. You figure out what works and more importantly what doesn't. Dialogue alone gets a massive overhaul from me since I tend to use placeholder dialogue until I get the story figured out.

But If a screenwriter can get his story down in 2 or 3 drafts then my hats off to them, that's impressive. It takes me at least ten... But my point was that dude shouldn't beat himself up because nobody is gonna see that first draft but him.

 

[TheGodling]

First drafts are always trash compared to the finished product.

Speak for thyself, kinsperson.

 

[Yoda]

What does everyone here write about ??
im more into sci fi shyt. aliens and the future. alldat

 

[steadyrighteous]

I guess it depends on whether or not somebody would rather outline or do a treatment rather than jumping into writing the script. Writing a lot of drafts lets me explore the world of my story from every angle. Once you get the spine of the story nailed down you start playing with different scenes, plot points, characters etc. You figure out what works and more importantly what doesn't. Dialogue alone gets a massive overhaul from me since I tend to use placeholder dialogue until I get the story figured out.

But If a screenwriter can get his story down in 2 or 3 drafts then my hats off to them, that's impressive. It takes me at least ten... But my point was that dude shouldn't beat himself up because nobody is gonna see that first draft but him.

I tend to not write until I've thought about and "watched" my story/scene/show/movie in my head for months, so my fist drafts aren't really "vomit" drafts. I've hammered and nailed the shyt to death in my head beforehand for weeks, sometimes months.

Stuff certainly changes (dialogue, blocking, even the direction the scene is going sometimes) but I never sit down at Final Draft not knowing what I'm writing for the day.

 

[pete clemenza]

I guess it depends on whether or not somebody would rather outline or do a treatment rather than jumping into writing the script. Writing a lot of drafts lets me explore the world of my story from every angle. Once you get the spine of the story nailed down you start playing with different scenes, plot points, characters etc. You figure out what works and more importantly what doesn't. Dialogue alone gets a massive overhaul from me since I tend to use placeholder dialogue until I get the story figured out.

But If a screenwriter can get his story down in 2 or 3 drafts then my hats off to them, that's impressive. It takes me at least ten... But my point was that dude shouldn't beat himself up because nobody is gonna see that first draft but him.

I thought we were talking about typing out the actual script. If you typed out a competed 90+ page script and 90% is going to get tossed then basically the whole script is thrown in the garbage and the script is trash. That was my whole point. Of course after you write your first draft you have to spell check, shave off excess dialog and descriptions, change a few scenes, add some scenes and dialog, change a character, etc. That's the extra drafts but that should be no more than 10% changes in my book. When you start physically typing your script you should have your story down pat. But to each his own, I digress

 

[Lanny Piffo]

What does everyone here write about ??
im more into sci fi shyt. aliens and the future. alldat

Drama, War Drama, Dramedy... working on a sci fi script right now actually.

 

[steadyrighteous]

What does everyone here write about ??
im more into sci fi shyt. aliens and the future. alldat

Comedy mainly. Working on a cable type single cam now.

Have an idea for an Action/Comedy hour that I might work on after. Maybe even animation.