Is anybody out there? Introduce Yourself!

Ralph Dobbins · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 2:24 am Post subject:

Welcome Stella.

Glad you found our community. Before you get too deeply involved in screenwriting I would encourage you to do a great deal of soul searching and decide why it is that you think you want to write screenplays as opposed to poetry, lyrics, novels, plays or any other form.

In fact there's a thread here on this site that is a great jumping off point. It is appropriately named - Why we write.

You write

zalee · Kitten Joined: 05 Oct 2009 Posts: 1 Location: Malaysia

Hi all,

Call me Zalee for short (Thats pronounced as zah-lee).

I am new "kitten" in this forum, but not to Blake Snyder's books and the precious STC software. My passion has been storytelling, but my career has taken a slight turn and been into editing for over 15 years.

I had proper education in filmmaking, but nothing beats "saving the cat" which I learnt through the materials, though I have not made any "blockbuster" yet. I have been using it for "doctoring" scripts and advise for other writers locally.

It's sad that he is not around anymore. Wish he had came to this part of the world, but nevertheless, our stories will never stop, even in the editing room.

Glad to be part of this community and I hope it's never too late to learn something new here.

Cheers.

_________________
Isazaly Mohd Isa
Apple Certified Trainer
Malaysia

Ralph Dobbins · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:24 am Post subject:

Welcome Zalee. Looking forward to hearing from you and your perspective in the editing room.

_________________
The task of the writer is to make you hear, to make you feel- it is, before all, to make you see. That - and no more, and it is everything.
Joseph Conrad

stella81 · Kitten Joined: 02 Nov 2009 Posts: 2

Hi Ralph,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed response, I truly appreciate the input and the links!

Regarding why screenwriting versus other writing formats- while I love writing, I am not in love with the written word so much as telling a story. I am a photographer who has spent years trying to tell stories through images, but it was never enough. Also, this is not so much a career "change" as a career addition. I love photography and I don't plan on giving it up anytime soon. This is just new and exciting, hence a little distracting Smile

I will be purchasing Blake's books asap to use as a jumping off point. I really like the advice of keeping a Word doc open at all times. I did that today and managed to actually get some thoughts down! (now, to make sense of them...).

thanks again, I will probably be back on the forum with lots of questions!

Ralph Dobbins · Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:54 pm Post subject:

I'm glad you found something useful in my comments.
What kind of photography do you do? Have you experimented with movie or video cameras?
I'm an artist by training. Currently I paint and create found object assemblage.
While working on my MA in Art History I became an admirer of Cindy Sherman and Sally Mann's work.

_________________
The task of the writer is to make you hear, to make you feel- it is, before all, to make you see. That - and no more, and it is everything.
Joseph Conrad

heylang · Kitten Joined: 20 Oct 2009 Posts: 4 Location: Australia

Hi Stella81 and Welcome.

I want to echo Ralph's great advice as to owning and reading Blake's books. They are absolutely invaluable. Also the Wordplay columns by Terry Rossio.

I had um'd and ah'd about screenplay writing for many, many years. The first book I bought was Screenwriting for Dummies. It didn't provide a great deal of insight but it served the purpose of breaking the ice for me and prompted me to buy other books and search for websites and online articles. But still putting thoughts on paper eluded me. It took me a while to realise what my problem was. Somehow I felt that I needed to have a complete story in my head before I could start writing it. Well that's never going to happen. I read one of Terry's Wordplay columns and decided I just needed to make a start. I had a basic story outline. A scene popped into my head so I wrote it down. This naturally flowed into another couple of scenes. I soon found I was writing disjointed scenes. Not great for a story but great for me. From this I developed a very concise treatment then started picking out scenes from there to write. Before I knew it I had a very rough first draft.
It was utter garbage but it made me very happy.
I now have a dozen story outlines with scripts at varying degrees of completeness.
My method has changed a little but the basics remain the same. I now start with a basic story, build it up to a larger outline, basic beat sheet and then build it out to an intensely detailed beat sheet. From here I simply start writing any scene that comes to mind. I then end up with a number of separate, numbered documents. Each one of them being a scene. Once I have the whole story written I put all the scenes together in order. Then I have my first draft.

This method may not work for most people but it works for me and it keeps me writing.

Like you, I also kept my writing side to myself for fear of being embarrassed. After a year and a bit I told my wife and daughter and they were very supportive. We are slowly revealing this to friends and I'll be happy to let the world know once my first screenplay goes to market.

I hope this helps you. It has certainly helped me by posting this. Good luck with your writing.

Mike Rinaldi · Liger Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 1800 Location: California

A big welcome to all of you new cats. I'm glad that even after Blake's passing, our community keeps growing!

_________________
The Slusho's gone? Why is all the Slusho gone?

paulyvous · Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:24 am Post subject:

Hi Everyone,

I'm Paul from Liverpool,England. I'm doing MA in T.V scriptwriting at Manchester university. Just want to say Hi to everyone.

I was only introduced to ' Save The Cat' recently. Fantastic book! Blake had a very special gift for getting his ideas over to his students'

Bye for now

Paul

Kevan · Liger Joined: 02 Jan 2008 Posts: 816

Rachel T. · Ocelot Joined: 15 Jan 2008 Posts: 758 Location: Michigan

Welcome, Stella, Zalee, and Paul! Very Happy

Glad to have you all here!

Stella, if the actual mechanics of getting a scene out is giving you trouble, maybe you could take a creative writing course online or at a local college. They tend to focus on short stories or scenes, which can be a big help (not as scary as staring down a whole script!), and they can teach you things like scene structure (opening, middle, end, conflict, resolution), pacing, tone/mood, etc, that Blake doesn't really cover. The nicest thing about Blake's method is that it dovetails with virtually any and every other method out there.

Welcome! Very Happy

_________________
Don't be afraid to admit that inside you is a seething, fiery core of ambition and lust for success that would appall Napoleon.
-Russell Galen

Ralph Dobbins · Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 9:16 pm Post subject:

Welcome Paul. Glad you could come. Looking forward to your contributions.

_________________
The task of the writer is to make you hear, to make you feel- it is, before all, to make you see. That - and no more, and it is everything.
Joseph Conrad

Mike Rinaldi · Liger Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 1800 Location: California

Paul, glad you're here and very happy you found Save the Cat! before you finished your MA!

_________________
The Slusho's gone? Why is all the Slusho gone?

miquiel_banks · Kitten Joined: 21 Nov 2009 Posts: 2 Location: Florida, US

Hello STC Family,
My name is Miquiel Banks and I'm introducing myself. Like you, I've been enthused and inspired by the STC Method and I'm waiting for the next book.

_________________
Check out my STC Film Review Series
http://www.kemetmedia.com/Kemet_Media/STC_Film_Review_Series.html

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