Writing Up a Frenzy

There's something happening next April that just might give all you aspiring TV and Film writers the kick you need to finish your scripts and then start producing

When I finished up writing my novel in thirty days last week I was left with a big void in my life. A void like when you finish reading a novel, not just any old novel, one of those hard-to-read classics, thousands of pages long that you were engrossed in and are left wondering what to do when you finished reading it.

The good people at National Novel Writing Month were kind enough to provide me with a link of yet another hectic month of writing abandon. However, this time it’s not about novels this time it’s about something that appeared earlier this week in BrightSky’s Three Ps of Pre-Production: Script Writing.

• BrightSky’s Three Ps of Pre-Production
• Plot – Structure and screenplay writing
• People – The team you’ll need to assemble
• Practice – Try and try again

Script Frenzy challenges people every year to write 100 pages of original scripted material in the 30 days of April. This can take on the form of a screenplays, TV shows or short films (stage plays and graphic novels are also welcome but we’re only concerned with something for the screen here).

For many people, ideas come into their heads, stick around for awhile and if they’re not put into action, they’re gone. Then, sometime in the future you struggle to recall these ideas rather than nurturing new ones. It can be a vicious cycle for many writers.

Well now it’s time for many potential film writers to take these ideas and pen them in April’s frenzy and complete the first of the three Ps – Plot. While many people may see it as too stressful and demanding on their time, others will jump at the opportunity, now that they have finally been given a deadline for their work.

Let go of the going-nowhere ideas and embrace the death knell of the deadline. If you want to be a film writer then get yourself out there and write it. Don’t talk about it. Write it!

“Don’t talk about it. Write it!” After thirty days you could have your entire movie screenplay written and then you can move on to getting it onto the screen. Even if you don’t reach 100 pages in the 30 days you will learn how much effort it takes to write your story and you will become aware of what you need to do to get it onto screen and moving on to the second and third Ps: People and Practice.

Even if you’re fresh out ideas, completely unprepared or if you have recently finished off another screenplay Script Frenzy has a friendly little Plot Machine in the top right of its homepage that can help you along (Who knows those three little boxes might turn you into a star).

Don’t forget to Let it flow and write without distractions, including editing and spell checking, all of that comes afterwards when you copy your script into a program like Celtx, which looks after script formatting for you.

As of today there’s 118 days to go until Script Frenzy kicks off but if you’re serious about film making, or TV shows, sign yourself up now and get those ideas spinning around in your head. Being given a deadline might just be the best thing that ever happned your career as a filmmaker.

Tags: Film/filmmaking/National Novel Writing Month/Ps of Pre-Production/screenplay/script/script frenzy/sriting/Three ng
Posted in Blog by Paul |