FrankenScript

Last Thursday I was feeling pretty good about an outline I was developing, then Friday rolled around and I discovered that I was in deeper shit than I realized. I made the classic rookie mistake. I didn’t know my story. I thought I did, and kept trying to tell myself I did, but deep down, [...]

Today I begin a new script. I’ve written horror and drama genre scripts successfully so far, so this time I’m going to attempt a comedy. I have heard that the comedy genre is one of most difficult film genres to do well and that scares the shit out of me. Am I funny? Will others [...]

I’ve read a lot of screenwriting books. Some stick in my mind better than others and those are the books that I like to put to practice while I write. We know each scene should tell us something new. However, this gem from Matt Stone and Trey Parker I haven’t seen anywhere. I’m sure I [...]

This is amazing, and it is no surprise how well the movie turned out. Coppola knew the story inside and out before writing the script. This is why outlining is so important. You don’t get lost and can focus on the best parts of the story.

There is no question that Paul Schrader, screenwriter of “Raging Bull”, “Taxi Driver” and “American Gigolo” lives by the outline. If he had spreadsheet software back then, he’d be using it to plot out his scripts. More info over at Go Into The Story.

It turns out that I may have been a little too verbose. The outline/treatment ended up being 30 pages and almost 11,000 words. I guess it’s better to have to much than not enough. It should make the actual script easier to write. However, I still would like to give the treatment a rewrite to [...]