nofilmschool » screenwriting

Five Screenplay Transition Tips to Improve Your Script from John August & Craig Mazin

Christopher Boone — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:26:30 +0000

When we initially put together our stories for our screenplays, we typically think about all of our major story beats, jotting them down on notecards or writing bulletpoints in outlines. Everything looks great on our whiteboards or corkboards or cinema displays and we’re ready to dive into the screenplay itself. We come to the end of our first scene and realize something is missing. Transitions are the glue that holds our screenplays together, the peanut butter between our scene-size crackers, the chewed-up gum in our MacGyver writing contraptions (alright, I’m trying too hard here). Without transitions, we’re left with a bunch of scenes and no cohesive story. On a recent episode of the Scriptnotes podcast, John August and Craig Mazin offer the following five tips on screenplay transitions to help you keep the reader and the viewer engaged in your story. (more…)

Comedy Writing Masterclass with 'Peep Show' & 'Fresh Meat' Creators Sam Bain & Jesse Armstrong

V Renée — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:18:54 +0000

How do you teach comedy? Comedy writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, creators of the award-winning British sitcoms Peep Show and Fresh Meat, attempt to do so, or at the very least offer some tips on how to make your comedy better in this BAFTA masterclass. The two sat down to talk about breaking into the industry, how to write funny characters and scenes, and even attempt to answer the age-old question of why we laugh. (more…)

Win-Win Redux: Donate to Heart Walk, Get Your Screenplay Read by a Professional Manager

Christopher Boone — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:36:16 +0000

Last year, we posted about a great opportunity for screenwriters to donate to a great cause and get their screenplay read by a professional manager in return. If you missed your chance last year, screenwriter Joe Nienalt and Benderspink manager Daniel Vang are back to help Joe raise money for the 2013 Heart Walk. Last year, with Daniel’s promise to read screenplays from Joe’s Heart Walk donors, Joe raised almost $45,000 for the American Heart Association (up from over $8,000 the previous year). Over the past two years, two writers and a writing team got representation as a result of Daniel reading their scripts through the fund drive. Joe appreciated our nofilmschool post about his Heart Walk campaign so much last year, he linked to it from his own post to help people understand why they should donate. Joe reached out to us again this year to help him spread the word, and we’re happy to do so. To find out how you can help a good cause and your own screenwriting career, check out the details below: (more…)

Need to Improve Your Screenwriting? Check Out Screenwriting Fundamentals Course (for Free)

Christopher Boone — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:23:24 +0000

Literally thousands of people write screenplays every year, and for many of these writers, these screenplays are likely their very first efforts at screenwriting. For screenwriting newbies, several books exist that cover the basics of screenplay format and story structure, and more and more screenplays are available online for new writers to read and study. If you’re just getting started with screenwriting or if you have written one or two screenplays and want to hone your craft, a new online course from lynda.com, Screenwriting Fundamentals by Mark Tapio Kines, may be just want you need. And the best part is you can check it out for free (and any other lynda.com course) with a 7-day trial subscription. (more…)

Writer/Director Shane Black Explains Why Screenwriting Never Gets Easier & Why That's a Good Thing

V Renée — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:06:06 +0000

For those of us who have experienced the throes of screenwriting; from the writer’s block, the sleeplessness, to the social awkwardness felt when communicating with people outside of your story world, the message from Writer/Director Shane Black is strangely comforting. After years of writing, bolstering your literary toolbox, and seeing your efforts fail more often than they succeed, Black consoles us with the promise that it never gets any easier — but that’s a good thing. (more…)

Screenwriting Meets Simplicity: A Review of the New Screenwriting App Slugline

Christopher Boone — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:23:43 +0000

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the introduction of Slugline, a new Mac app for screenwriting from Stu Maschwitz and Clint Torres of Act Focused Media. The concept behind Slugline is to keep the app simple so screenwriters can focus on the writing. Slugline uses Fountain, the screenwriting markup language designed by Maschwitz with screenwriter John August, and adds a slight veneer of GUI to separate it from a plain text editor. Thanks to a review copy provided by Act Focused Media, I’ve had some time to work with Slugline to provide nofilmschool readers with a more in-depth review of this new Mac app. (more…)

Final Draft Writer App for iPad 40% Off Until May 15th

Christopher Boone — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:17:43 +0000

If you write your screenplays in Final Draft (like me) but didn’t have an iPad when Final Draft Writer originally debuted at the sale price of $30 (like me), but now you have an iPad and wish you could’ve gotten Final Draft Writer for the cheaper price (like me) so you’ve waited for a sale (like me), you’re in luck. Until May 15th, Final Draft Writer is available for $30, 40% off the regular price of $50. Need a little more info about the app? Check out our recap below from when the app originally debuted. (more…)

Paint by Numbers? Hollywood Rewriting Scripts Based on Statistical Analysis to Boost Box Office

Christopher Boone — Tue, 07 May 2013 20:39:04 +0000

If there is one axiom about screenwriting for the studios that holds true above all others, it may be this: your screenplay will be rewritten. If you’re lucky (depending on how you define “lucky”), you’ll get to rewrite the script yourself. You may even get fired off your original screenplay only to be rehired a few drafts down the road to fix what other screenwriters have changed, like screenwriter Michael Arndt on his Oscar-winning Little Miss Sunshine, according to his introduction to the published version of the script. Studios want to take the guesswork out of rewrites to figure out which changes will lead to the biggest return on their investments. Enter the world of statistical analysis and script consultants who make script notes purely based on the numbers. (more…)

Time's Up, Pencils Down: 2013 Academy Nicholl Fellowships Final Deadline is May 1

Christopher Boone — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:17:05 +0000

By now, if you’re planning on submitting a screenplay to the Academy Nicholl Fellowships, hopefully you’ve already done so. If not, your time to submit is quickly dwindling. The final deadline for the 2013 Academy Nicholl Fellowships is 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time, Wed. May 1, but don’t wait until the last minute. Get your screenplay submitted now so you’re not freaking out about whether your submission made it into the system on time. Check out the details on how to submit below. (more…)

Everybody Could Use a Little Self Control, or an App That Does It for You

Micah Van Hove — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 22:50:59 +0000

Too often have I experienced the doubled-edged nature of the internet: it’s a great tool, but also a great distraction. We all need to buckle down sometimes and get to work, and the insta-grat (yes) of the internet can be crippling. In comes SelfControl, a free and open-source application that blocks your own access to chosen websites for a designated amount of time. Hit the jump for the details. (more…)

New Screenwriting App Slugline Focuses on Simplicity So Writers Can Focus on Writing

Christopher Boone — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:31:11 +0000

Last month, I wrote about the retail version of screenwriting Mac App Highland from Quote-Unquote Apps, based on the Fountain markup language. The major selling point for Highland is its ability to melt PDFs into Fountain-based text files that can be edited and exported as either formatted PDFs or Final Draft (.fdx) files. Today, Slugline arrives, a new screenwriting Mac App now available for purchase that is also based on Fountain. What is Slugline’s major selling point for screenwriters? Simplicity. (more…)

Finish That Rewrite: 2013 Academy Nicholl Fellowships Regular Deadline is April 10

Christopher Boone — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:28:05 +0000

This is a combination PSA/light a fire under your a** post to make sure you are writing, rewriting, and rewriting some more to get your screenplay ready for the Academy Nicholl Fellowships regular deadline of Apr. 10. I’ll be honest, my latest script will not be ready by that deadline (needs a little more seasoning – okay, a lot more seasoning), but if you’ve been diligent, hopefully your script will be ready. Otherwise, it will cost you another fifteen bucks for the late deadline on May 1. Check out current stats on this year’s competition and details on how to apply below. (more…)

Know What Your Screenwriting Audience Wants: The Business of Spec Scripts

Christopher Boone — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 17:22:54 +0000

Many of us here on NFS will write screenplays for our own films that we plan to make ourselves. That said, it’s always good to know which scripts are selling in the marketplace: 1) to know what movies may be coming to a theatre near you soon so your script is different (or better); 2) to know the styles and genres of scripts that studios and financiers are buying should you want to sell your own spec; and 3) to know who represents and manages writers of scripts like your own to help you find representation. To shed some light on the spec script market, Scott Myers at Go Into The Story has been running a weekly series on this very topic, covering the history of the spec script market, the buyers of spec scripts, the spec screenwriter-representation relationship and more. (more…)

The Nine-Year Overnight Success Story of the 'Olympus Has Fallen' Screenwriters

Christopher Boone — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:29:00 +0000

Working on the outside looking in when you are an aspiring screenwriter can be a grind. Certainly, there are moments when you may wonder if you are making progress toward your ultimate goal of getting a screenplay turned into a feature film. If you don’t put in the hours on your writing, however, your craft will never rise to the level necessary to make a sale or get a greenlight. Those hours, in the case of screenwriter Creighton Rothenberger, started at 4 a.m. before his corporate job for several years until 2002 when he won the Academy Nicholl Fellowship. After conceiving Olympus Has Fallen in 2003 and writing it with his wife, Katrin Benedikt, this screenwriting duo spent another nine years writing specs before selling this particular script in 2012 and seeing it hit the big screen last weekend. Watch them tell their story below. (more…)

So You Want to Be a Writer? Don't Try. Exploring Bukowski's Immortal Philosophy

Micah Van Hove — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:00:18 +0000

The poet and novelist Charles Bukowski was buried in Los Angeles in 1994 with the simple words “Don’t Try” adorning his headstone. It always struck me as a beautiful way to explain art, life and the quest for creativity. Don’t try? This seemingly flippant philosophy might be easily marginalized, but is there something more profound to Bukowski’s immortalizing words? What did he really mean by this? Digging through his letters, it becomes more clear, and it’s punctuated nicely by this poem posthumously released in 2003, So You Want to Be a Writer?: (more…)

Highland Screenwriting Mac App Now Available, Free to Try and $10 Through March

Christopher Boone — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:03:10 +0000

After a little more than a year of beta testing, Highland, the screenwriting app from Quote-Unquote Apps, is now available for purchase in the Mac App Store. To promote the retail version, Highland is available for $10, half off its list price of $20, through the end of March. Highland lets writers write scripts in plain text and converts files between PDF, Final Draft (.fdx) and Fountain, a screenwriting markup language developed by Quote-Unquote Apps. To find out more about how Highland works and to get a free demo, check out the video and details below. (more…)

5 Award-Winning Screenwriters Discuss How They Approach Their Craft

Christopher Boone — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 17:24:40 +0000

A few months ago, Justin posted a series of videos of 10 renowned directors offering their advice on filmmaking. While this list isn’t quite as extensive, today I present to you five award-winning screenwriters discussing their approach to the craft of screenwriting. You may want to get a snack or even a small meal because some of these videos are long, but all of them offer unique insights into how each of these writers (or writing teams) approach a story, and then break the story down into screenplay format. Hopefully, these videos will educate and inspire you as you work on your own screenwriting craft.
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Film Independent's 2013 Screenwriting Lab Deadline is April 1st (No Joke)

Christopher Boone — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 14:37:17 +0000

Speaking of opportunities to further your screenwriting career, screenwriting labs that work with writers extensively on their screenplays as well as introduce them to professional screenwriters and producers as advisors are worth exploring. At NFS we’ve discussed the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab, perhaps the most well-known of the screenwriting labs here in the U.S. For writers living in the Los Angeles area, Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab offers a five-week program that meets two to three evenings a week in September and October to help writers improve their current screenplays as well as their overall craft. Plus, Film Independent helps lab fellows advance their careers with the help and guidance of film professionals. Check out the details below, but take note: the submission deadline is Apr. 1, 2013. (more…)

Back Up Your Data from Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox and Other Cloud-Based Apps with CloudHQ

Micah Van Hove — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 21:12:58 +0000

If I haven’t mentioned it yet, I basically live my life through Evernote. I discovered it in late 2011 and it changed my workflow for not only taking notes, but my entire writing process. Organizing ideas has become a whole different game, one that for me has increased my productivity tenfold. If you met me at party, Evernote and my advocation of its use would undoubtedly end up in our conversation. With Evernote’s recent security scare, it made me realize: I don’t actually even have files on my computer anymore — they’re all in the cloud. Well, what if the cloud goes down? I scrambled to find a solution to create a redundant backup of my Evernote files (i.e. all the notes on a screenplay I’m writing, audio interviews, photo references, etc) and I discovered cloudHQ. (more…)

Based in the U.S.? Got a Screenplay Idea for Beijing? Then China Has a Contest for You

Christopher Boone — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 13:28:42 +0000

New screenwriting competitions appear all the time, as we discussed earlier this week here on NFS. As always, when evaluating a competition, I consider what it will do to further the career of an aspiring screenwriter. So when the Chinese government decides to launch a screenwriting competition specifically for U.S.-based screenwriters of any nationality, that’s not a screenwriting competition you hear about every day. Don’t start firing off your script just yet, though. You want to enter this contest? You’d better have a story that takes place in Beijing. (more…)