r/scriptwriting

I’ve been writing a screenplay for over a year about two best friends with completely opposite lifestyles. I only shared a small part of the idea with people, but the reactions were pretty negative. Now every time I try to continue writing it, I start doubting myself a lot, even though I still believe the full story has potential.

How do I deal with critique and hate without getting it under skin? I just wanna write this story for fun and maybe one day it gets produced, maybe not, but some poeple thinking that definitely not makes me question if I want to even continiou on this story.

I am not new to writing, I'm 21 and have been writing scripts since I was around 15... now those scripts are nothing I'd ever want anyone to see, but I am used to this.

However, I have hit a moment where I feel so unsatisfied with everything I write. I don't know how to get that kick. It is not because I have fallen out of love with it, it is because I literally feel like I cannot create something I myself adore. I'll always start writing and think "man I love this" and get twenty pages in and then find myself not wanting to go back to it.

How do I go about this?

For reference I have never actually completed a feature script due to this. I have however written 60-70 pages of one and 50-60 of another, but then I run back through and mutilate them because I feel like this this and that don't work and so on. I've noticed this happen a lot after seeing something I truly think is great, when I watched I Saw the TV Glow or now after seeing Obsession I think "well there is no way I'm ever topping that."

Also, I feel like I am missing a piece of writing. Idk if it is not outlining, not using some hidden thing I don't know about. I truly just feel so lost, more than I ever have.

I've only written one script before, but it was nowhere up to the standards in terms of formatting and rules, but I'm more worried about getting the content right. I'm too used to writing stories, and it's harder to transition them to scripts, so I'd rather work on scripts from scratch.

To get around, what scripts should I read? Should I just start off with movies (hope I don't sound too dumb)?

Can you guys tell me how to write a script just out of vision like a storyboard or imagination of a scene.

I have a scene in my mind and trying to write a script for that scene and it's confusing and difficult.

Suggest me some ways to overcome this problem.

I'm working on a personal animated project. It is a pilot (I know, very original) and I have script down, a good chunk of the character sheets and even a cast of VA for most roles.

I have had some experince in the field. I worked inside Hoorakhs studio as an intern and worked on "Juliet and King" and since then I have been pursing my own path.

I am not looking for a professional in the field, but someone with the basic undrestanding of script/screenplay writing.

The project is a teens supernatural mystery. It has very heavy inspirations from OXENFREE and Night in The Woods. So if those are up your alley I would love to have you on board.

question 1 - Is it still acceptable to bold and underline scene headings or should I just stick to plain?

question 2 - if I’m a writer-director can I include camera directions and transitions?

question 3 - what is the minimum page count for a feature film?

Thanks in advance

Hi all,

Are there any Final Drafters out there?

I’m working on a script and struggling to re-number it. Every time I do, the scene numbers for scenes 1, 2, 3 go to 1, 1, 2. I’ve tried renumbering from the first scene and keeping the ‘renumber from current scene’ ticked (which seems to work anywhere else in the script, just not with these scenes). I’ve also tried going to the scene headings of the first two scenes and using the ‘ELEMENT’ tool to designate them as scene headings, but the numbering still stays as 1, 1, 2.

Has anyone had this issue or knows how to resolve? I’d be so, so grateful!!!

"Get busy living, or get busy dying."

We dig through Frank Darabont's box office bomb turned all-time classic THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION to discover where the salvation lies within this prison drama and what screenwriters can learn from it.

LISTEN HERE: https://pod.link/1650931217/

Screenwriting Topics on this Episode:

• Institutionalized Genre
• The Plain-Spun Narrator 
• Character Tensity
• Mini-Plot VS Arch-Plot
• Setups, Payoffs, and Twists
• And Much More!

Available wherever you get your podcasts.

What screenwriting techniques did you learn from the movie?

Hello new to scriptwriting and im just unsure about what to put in a script- and on professional format. Do i need to worry about it being professional for my first time? Do i add where the camera is and how it moves? How do i write scene changes? How do i compute how long my film will be by the length of my script? Is a script basically a book? Do i have to be able to write really good to make a script? Im not bad but by no means am i a John Steinback. What are all those letters on scripts like INT and ENT? Am i just overthinking this? What is a good free preferably online site i can write scripts. Thanks for any advice.

so for the past couple weeks i’ve been writing this screenplay, but for the past few days ive been really interested in this new idea i’ve come up. that is more unique, exciting and works better. it follows a better, more clear 3 act structure. i have the full outline of the movie. but i don’t t want to abandon this current project, as i have a tendency to do and then once i get onto this next project do the same for that one once i get a new idea. what’s the best thing to do in this kind of scenario?

This is an UNFINISHED project and I am aware there are probably many grammatical errors and the format is probably very messed up and hard to read this is one of my first projects

It is inspired by Tyler The Creators "I THINK" and is sort of a music video rather than film

DON’T BE SO EAGER.

INT. HOUSE – DINING ROOM – DAY (BLACK & WHITE)

The song I Think by Tyler The Creator plays, and it as you hear the fuzziness in the song, you can see a man sitting at a little dining table, three chairs around the table in total, he is sitting in one, the other two are empty, he is looking slightly down at the table, and his hand is on the table, tapping not to the beat, not to the song, just tapping, its an unsettling sight, there is a couch in the back that's torn up, the place is kind of a mess, but its a home.

INT. COLORFUL WORLD – DAY

Then the piano and Tyler starts singing, and it cuts to a wonderfully colorful world, maybe too colorful, all we see is a view of a mans eyes, although blocked by sunglasses, we can see lots of people and flashes in the sunglasses, he takes them off, then the camera begins to back off, he begins to smile with gold in his teeth, and he is waving to the paparazzi, and then gets in his limo and drives to him home that is similar to the other, but much more colorful and touched up, and he gets near the dining table and grabs the chair and picks it up and slams the chair onto the ground, breaking some of its legs off, he then sits in the other chair.

INTERCUT – BLACK & WHITE / COLORFUL

Then we cut back and forth from the black and white world to the color ful one, first we see the B&W (Black and white) get up from his chair and walk of camera, and it flashes back and forth between as he does this, eventually they are both in their bathrooms washing up, when they look in the mirror, and the B&W sees himself and more color then he has ever seen before, and the colorful one sees a world of peace and a version of himself where he does not have to deal with being famous.

INT. BOTH WORLDS – CONTINUOUS

And when the song says “while curiosity killed the feline gone”, they touch hands and then interlock, the CF (Colorful)  shows him around his house, and the B&W shows him around his, they both realize that each other's homes is exactly what they long, so they switch places, B&W living his life to the fullest, not being lonely anymore, let alone famous, everyone loves him.

INT. BLACK & WHITE WORLD – DAY

And CF goes to the B&W world, and its everything he wanted, he was finally left alone, but he then realizes by doing this he is losing everything he worked for, so he goes back to his world while B&W is living CF’S LIFE to the fullest, CF is searching the house and finds him in the dining room, and they begin to wrestle, and after tumbling over each other for a bit, B&W full on grips on to CF’s face, and the color begins shifting to him, and he is absorbing it, CF is losing his color by the bit, and eventually all of it is gone, then there's a still shot where B&W (now CF) gets up and his head pops into frame and he flashes a gold smile and fixes his tie, after a hard fight, B&W who is the new CF then takes him back to the B&W World and places him at that lonely dining room table he once sat at.

It’s one thing.

Your script needs to have its own world. With its own characters, and its own way of talking.

If you don’t know what that world is yet, you’re not ready to write yet.

Your script cannot be trying to tap into an already existing films world.