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

letti cook

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:mjcry: Brehs... I haven't written in so long. I seem to have lost the desire all together. I still shoot music videos and stuff but I yearn to write. Everyday I think about writing, just can never bring myself to it.

:mjcry: Help MrScum get his groove back
i feel you... Been writing a webseries for the last 2 years and keep running into brick walls cause me and my partner cant get on the same page. Cant even bring myself to get back at it with this project and its super frustrating.
 

steadyrighteous

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i feel you... Been writing a webseries for the last 2 years and keep running into brick walls cause me and my partner cant get on the same page. Cant even bring myself to get back at it with this project and its super frustrating.

What made the two of you wanna write it together in the first place? Maybe if you can remember that and keep that goal/spark in the front of your minds you can come to some sort of compromise.
 

CodeBlaMeVi

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I've been procrastinating on finishing the first draft of my first feature.
 

ghostwriterx

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Been some month since since I actually wrote something new and not a rewrite, but the past 2 days I did 9 pages.

What's the consensus on how much dialogue is used for one scene? I have 9 pages worth of it that takes place in 2 different settings.

No consensus really, but make sure you break up dialogue with action. Generally you don't want a ton of dialogue unless you're great at it (Tarrantino, Sorkin), try to think visually. If you have 2 settings, that's most often two different scenes.
 

MenacingMonk

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No consensus really, but make sure you break up dialogue with action. Generally you don't want a ton of dialogue unless you're great at it (Tarrantino, Sorkin), try to think visually. If you have 2 settings, that's most often two different scenes.
Yeah, I know about the last part. And the thought of using action came to me after I wrote my stuff. I do try to add as much action in as I write. I'll touch up stuff later.

The saving grace, if I can say that, is it involves 3 people. And I'm not writing speeches; really just back and forth short conversation. But it's for TV and I need to know my limits.
 
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steadyrighteous

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Yeah, I know about the last part. And the thought of using action came to me after I wrote my stuff. I do try to add as much action in as I write. I'll touch up stuff later.

The saving grace, if I can say that, is it involves 3 people. And I'm not writing speeches; really just back and forth short conversation. But it's for TV and I need to know my limits.

That would also depend on what genre and level (cable, network) it's for.

9 pages of dialogue on Two and a Half Men wouldn't work, but it might on True Detective.

I always gauge scene length/dialogue length by comparing what I'm writing to a show in a similar realm to what I'm writing. I think to myself:

"Parks and Rec woulda ended this scene a page and a half ago, so I have to find a way to trim a page and a half off of what I've written"
 

MenacingMonk

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That would also depend on what genre and level (cable, network) it's for.

9 pages of dialogue on Two and a Half Men wouldn't work, but it might on True Detective.

I always gauge scene length/dialogue length by comparing what I'm writing to a show in a similar realm to what I'm writing. I think to myself:

"Parks and Rec woulda ended this scene a page and a half ago, so I have to find a way to trim a page and a half off of what I've written"
I'm aiming for the show to be on basic or premium cable. It's a comedy.
 

steadyrighteous

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I'm aiming for the show to be on basic or premium cable. It's a comedy.

Without being able to read it, I'll just give you some advice I've had before:

Unless it's incredibly important or incredibly funny, you probably want to find a way to cut down 9 pages of dialogue down a little.

Also, read it through, and around the end of the first page or into the second - is there a place/line of dialogue you can use to start the scene? Find a line there and delete everything above it. Here's just a shytty example.

1.Yo

2. What's up?

1. Chillin'. 'Bout to go home and play 2k.

2. You're not gonna clean the grill?

1. I'm clocking off, you clean it.

2. What you been doing all day?

1. Binge watching Stranger Things.

2. So instead of cleaning the grill you've been hanging out in the upside down all day?


If that was the start of your scene, you could x out everything above the bolded.

Again, shytty example, but just a way to show how you could trim the fat. I try to do it too after a scene/script is done.
 
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