The Blog Snorkeller: December 2004 Archives

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December 22, 2004

Writing Film Scripts III

Now, you need a story idea for your script, right?

It's a blog about "Actual, honest to God query letters I've received in Hollywood". Stuff they really shouldn't make filums about.

Here's a sample entry (letter):

"The Messiah or the Fuher...is one about to return?
Dresden, 1945: A secret Nazi experiment takes place to bring about the savior of the Third Reich. Are they trying to clone Hitler or are the Germans up to something much more sinister? Whispers of this monstrosity reach the Allies and bombing ensues.
Rome, present day: An urgent communique informs the Pope that the Shroud of Turin has gone missing. Who could have stolen it and what are the possible ramifications not only for western civilization, but also the world?"

As yer man points out, look at all those logical inconsistencies, eg if Hitler were alive, why would he want to clone himself?

Posted by mick cunningham at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 20, 2004

Writing film scripts II

(The carnage continues)

When writing a film script, always remember the golden rule of your feckin' producer: time costs money. Some elements can take longer to film, so they cost more money. So you're supposed to come up with a creative way to get around it, by reworking your script. Here are some elements I've come across...

Too many speaking parts
Too many locations
SFX and firearms
Opticals
Stunts
Exteriors on public roadways or pavements
Night exteriors
Crowd scenes
Weather and seasons
Specific music
Period pieces
Animals and Children
Trains and cars
Uniforms, "official" vehicles
Heavy make-up or hair demands
Errors and Omissions Insurance

Of course, my ideal script would have all of the above.

Posted by mick cunningham at 05:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Things I've learned about writing film scripts

There is no one single "standard" or "right" format for laying out your script. Actually it varies a lot between firms and sectors, and between, say, TV scripts for "The Bill" and a one-off TV drama.

But in film scripts, they generally tend to use a Courier font and a big left-hand margin. The layout also needs to distinguish clearly between:

Scenes (all caps), which spell out whether it's an interior ("INT") or exterior ("EXT"), and whether it's day or night, eg "INT. OFFICE IN LUCAN. DAWN"
Action in the scenes, eg "MICK takes the gadget from Q, and points it at the aliens"
Characters' names (centred, upper case, and remember to keep their names consistent)
Dialogue - which gets a massive indent too.

And how do you do all those awkward little indents? Find a scriptwriting program on the Net, or simply download an MS Word template for PCs and Macs called Script Smart, which the nice people at the BBC have come up with, at:

As for what you put in it, that's another kettle of fish.

Posted by mick cunningham at 10:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack