
What Makes You Think You
Can write a script ?
Money ? Forget it. You stand a much better
chance with a lottery ticket.
Fame ? A joke says that a Polish actress was so dumb that
she went to bed with a scriptwriter to get a part. A
scriptwriter went to see a
film based on his script. " I recognized only
one line " he said coming out of the cinema.
Prestige ? No way. You probably saw hundreds of movie by
now. Name five of the scriptwriters.
Fun – Scriptwring is hard work. Never much fun.
SO WHY .
Because you feel that you must write..When an
artist – of any kind: painter. writer, sculpturer and such –
has an idea or a concept he (or she) believes in he has to take
it out. He has to get it out of his system by expressing it in
some manner, airing it even if the public does not approve. The
artist has the unique ability of taking 1 plus 1 and makes them
a 3. How does it happen? By simple association. The artist
experiences something, it bring to mind a grain of an idea
which builds itself into a creation. Think of it as a mother of
pearl. How does it create a pearl? All it takes is a grain of
sand which turns itself into a beautiful pearl. This is the way
a story, a painting or a sculpture comes to life.All the above
is true only if you were born with the quality of telling
stories true or imaginative and the ability to express them on
paper. One can cultivate such talent by studying the art and
refining it. One got to know how to build a script. I always
think of a skeleton of a story as the structure of a house. You
got the walls, the floors and the ceilings as well as the
window, whole line of electricity and plumbing. Now you got to
design the interior of the apartment. Put the contents in your
creation.Now let us assume that you managed to write a script
which everyone tells you that it is close to being a
masterpiece. What do you do now? You got to sell it. How? First
of all you have to realize that your market is limited to
people who are somehow linked to the production side of a
movie. It is almost impossible to get them to look at a script
unless it is forwarded to them by an agent. Preferably a
reputable agent who will believe in his talent and is ready to
do almost everything to market his creation. Obviously such
agent handles writers who already have a record.
I have written – by now – five full length
scripts and close to thirty short ones. Eight of the short
scripts were shot in Israel, USA, England, Wales, Scotland and
Australia. Two more are being shot now in the USA and
Canada.
One very important hint – How do you know if
your script is on the right track – When you reach page 60 or
70 ( out of around 100 pages. One page = One minute on the
screen ) and suddenly you are no longer in control of the
script. The characters begin to lead you. You write a false
line of dialogue or wrong action and you will hear ( at the
back of your mind ) the character saying " Sorry friend. You
didn't build me this way. I can't do what you want or speak the
line ".
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