Scene 51: My Top Three Media Websites

Well, its been a busy week for me. I've been editing a short factual film that I also shot. I shall never complain of lack of cutaways again.

I thought I had enough and then before I knew it there were blade lines - I currently use Final Cut Express - and only just enough  shots of random objects to cover them. I also learnt the hard way to manage and clean out my Render Files - I had junk in there from when I first started using my computer! 

Anyway, its been a long week, but I have been looking at gaining more experience out there in the world of media - having been pretty inert the last few months. 

So I've started gathering the cast and crew for a short film I'm going to shoot soon, tried to keep myself motivated with my new script - page 17 at the moment, and I'm wondering whether to keep going and not re-write anything until its finished, or to give into temptation and re-write my second scene now. 

I've also been looking for opportunities to do some freelance writing, and it occurred to me it might be worth doing a list of the websites I use for other media people. 

So here in no particular order here are my three favourite media websites, which I use pretty regularly:

Mandy.com 

A good place I've found, to look for jobs. They advertise not only jobs from independent companies, but the BBC also advertise there. Registration is free, and there is simple form and CV format you can use to apply to a chosen job.

Talent Circle

This site is more for independent and individual filmmakers, and markets itself as the world's filmmaking community. Free to register again, its a good place to look for work experience or collaborations. It also advertises courses and people can pitch their scripts on there too.

BBC Writersroom

One of the top places to go if you're a scriptwriter. It offers lots of advice, including guides to formats, a guide to writing a script and an archive of scripts to read. You can also look at their opportunities page for current competitions and call-outs for scripts. 

Scene 46: Three Scriptwriting Problems and How to Tackle Them

I am going to be honest. I had difficulty sitting down to write this post this week, hence why this post is late again. Last week I really had no excuse, I had plenty to write about. This week I just had no idea what to write about, I couldn't settle on a subject. 

Well now I have one, inspired in fact by the fact I didn't know what to write - today I am going to look at how to tackle the different problems involved in sitting down and writing a script. By this I mean, problems the writer has writing, rather problems with the script itself, like structure, dialogue, spelling and grammar. 

1] Starting It

The first problem you might encounter is actually sitting down and starting to write the script. 

One of the reasons for this might be lack of confidence, as mentioned in the Raindance Writers' Lab book by Elliot Grove - who describes lack of confidence as when you may be filled with inspired to write, but can't when faced with a blank page. 

His suggestion is not to give into this feelings, as it'll just stop you from writing and points out that: 

"...no one said that your end result was going to be any good - so take away that pressure right now. Forget the pressure of winning an Oscar. Writing this script will be challenging and exciting. Enjoy!" 

I would further suggest that if the lack of confidence comes from the idea then going back and developing the idea further until you're happier with it, might be a good idea. You can do this by testing it out on a few friends, or writing it up as a premise or a treatment.

If you lack confidence in your abilities as scriptwriter, well, ability is going to vary from person to person - we can't all be Oscar winners - but you can improve and hone your skills by reading up on the craft. There are plenty of websites offering advice on scriptwriting - the BBC Writersroom has a guide to scriptwriting essentials - and lots of books too. I have also been told that reading lots of scripts can help, and to write regularly - as after all practise makes perfect. 


2] Finishing It

A second common problem is finishing a script once you've started it. Writing requires quite a lot of motivation and discipline, and if you're a scriptwriter starting out, all that has to come from you - there will be no one giving you deadlines or making sure you keep on track. 

This where another of Elliot Grove's reasons you won't wrote you screenplay comes in - procrastination. Procrastinating over the script is generally due to either worries about the script, hitting an obstacle and not knowing how to resolve it, or because you want to avoid the hard work of finishing it. 

Lots of writers seem to have encountered the procrastination problem. In Russell T Davies' book The Writer's Tale - which I recommend for want-to-be television writers -  he mentions spending the day watching television instead of writing the latest Doctor Who script. Whilst Elliot Groves gives himself as an example, saying how he realised that whilst 'writing' a book he had actually ended up cleaning his whole apartment instead. 

One of the best ways to tackle procrastination is discipline and to make sure you write a little everyday. I've already mentioned the three pages a day idea in my Five Scriptwriting Tips post, which can be useful for getting a script done within a set time. 

Setting goals and planning to give yourself a reward every time you reach them may also help keep you writing. 


3] Writer's Block

Writer's block is defined as the inability to write, and in the case of scriptwriters, it's normally that moment when suddenly you don't know what's going to happen next, or how to write the next scene. 

The best I know to overcome this type of sticking point, is to move on to different part of the script, a part where you know what's happening or you're more excited to write, and do that before returning and linking it with the missing scene later. I actually did this with a 45 page script I was writing once. I kept getting stuck on the opening scene, to the point that I wasn't actually moving along with the script. I knew how it ended, and the middle bit, so in the end I started in the middle and wrote to the end, before skipping back to fill in the beginning - and it worked! 

That is if you believe in writer's block anyway - most of the writers in this video about Writer's Block from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website, don't seem to think so. 

Also check out 17 Writing Tricks to Help Get You Through Your Screenplay, which has some good advice on how to keep going with a script when you get stuck. 

Please tell me if any of this advice was helpful in the comments box below, thanks! 

Scene 35: Five Scriptwriting Tips

Scriptwriting, its a tough business trying to write forty-five to ninety pages, depending on whether its film or television, of something that's good - or even brilliant.  

Then there's so much to consider - character, the whole structure, dialogue, scene structure, story arcs, the meaning behind it all!  So, I thought today I'd share a few bits of advice on scriptwriting that I think are useful. 

First though, here's a quick little re-fresher from the American Film Institute that describes what a script is and how to format it, hosted by Sean Astin from Lord of the Rings. 

1] Write it and finish it!

Whilst doing some research for this, I came across Joss Whedon's Top Ten Writing Tips and the first one on the list was - finish the script. 

Although I don't think this is technically advice it is something that's worth repeating. As sitting down  and starting, and then finishing a script can be difficult. 



2]  Write Three Pages a Day

This is a nice idea for making sure you finish that script, bit by bit, and one I have always liked - though not yet managed to stick too.

It's a simple plan - you sit down and write three pages of script a day, no matter what. The three pages don't have to great either - you can go back and revise it later - and if you can write more, that's great, but make sure you stick to the minimum. 

By doing this you should end up with thirty pages of script in ten days. So by the end of a month, you could have a first draft of a script. 


3] Show don't tell

This is a classic rule for screenwriting. It's important for two reasons. First of all television and film are visual mediums. Secondly, it also helps reduce the need for unnecessary dialogue and to much explaining. 

A great example of  this I found in a book describes  a scene between a girl about to leave home to be with her boyfriend, and her older brother who's trying to stop her. The writer wants to get across the idea that the girl is just a child really, and doesn't know what she's doing.   

So, in the first example of the scene the brother and sister argue and the brother tells her quite obviously - "You're just a kid. You're not old enough to understand." - sort of dialogue, which takes up a lot of the page. 

The second example, using the rule of showing not telling, shows the brother arguing with his sister in her bedroom - but this time the script describes the room, the soft toys on the shelves, the band posters on the wall and the old Barbie suitcase the girl packs her clothes in. All this tells us straight away that this girl is still just a kid, without her brother having to say it out loud. 

I've attempted to do this in one of my scripts. I have a character who's into history. How do I get this across? Have him reading historical novels and history books of course! 


4] Formatting, grammar and spelling 

This is really two pieces of advice I've thrown in together, but both are important if you want to make your script clear and easy to read. 

First, checking grammar and spelling is an obvious one. It can be easy to forget to do this, for example I was a few minutes from a script competition deadline, sent off the script - and then remembered I had not re-read it, so I did not know if there was any redundant words or spelling mishaps the spell check had missed. 

Second, make sure you use the right format. There are different formats of script for different types of medium - television, radio and film. To find out what they are, go to Formatting your Script at the BBC Writersroom. 



5] Read your script out loud

This is a tip from an article called Screenwriting Tips from a Screenplay Contest Judge, written by Gordy Hoffman, who runs an American screenplay competition. 

His explains that dialouge can sound fine in your head, but as soon as you hear it out loud, you may feel like jumping in front of a bus - his analogy.  So he suggests you either read your script out loud by ourself, or get your friends to read it.

I once wrote a short radio piece for a community/university station, which had a line that sounded fine in my head,  but sounded like an innuendeo when read out - as my friend kindly pointed out to me. 

So in future I intend to get my friends to read my scripts, as it sounds like good fun as well as a good re-writing exercise.