Filmmakers and wannabes…we here at Wired4Film have fielded a LAWT of questions about Scriptwriting, screenplays and mostly how to break into the industry.  So much so, that we’ve decided to make August 2011 Scriptwriting Month.  The WHOLE month.  We’re gonna talk about the ins and outs the screenwriting craft, conduct interviews with experts and all in all fill your curious noggins with Screenplay knowledge and lore.

AUGUST 2011 = Scriptwriting Month

Where are you at in the process?  Trying to find a good idea?  Trying to navigate the sea of Act II?  Polishing a rough draft?  Getting a Production house to buy your script?  Finding an Agent?  Maybe you’re a Producer wanting to find a good script.  I’m telling you, if you stick with us, by September, you will have WRITTEN AND SOLD YOUR FIRST SCRIPT!  Okay, not really.  Puh-lease!  These things take time, Filmmakers!  Don’t believe anyone if they feed you that instant success line.  There’s no such thing as a sure thing.  But, what I can guarantee is that your writing process, your craftsmanship, your salesmanship will become more informed if you keep up!

ScreenwritingMasterClass.com

To start, Wired4Film has partnered with ScreenwritingMasterClass.com on a special deal.  For the Month of August, any class you enroll in and mention Wired4Film, you will receive a 10% discount (CODE: Discount10).  Why?  Because step 1 of the writing process is getting hooked up with a Screenplay Sherpa to guide you along the perilous route of self-discovery and writerly wit and wisdom.

Yes, I highly recommend all the screenwriting books by Syd Field and Robert McKee, etc etc etc but in the end, they won’t talk back to you.  Taking a screenwriting class from someone who has actual screen credits to their name is gold, baby.  So do consider that.

The ScreenwritingMasterClass.com is taught by Tom Benedek and Scott Myers.  Click their names to see their IMDb resumes.  And remember, that those are their published credits.  I know for a fact that Scott was contracted on over 20 Feature film scripts that never saw the greenlight o’ day.  Just part of the biz.  He still got paid, though.

Website: ScreenwritingMasterClass.com
Discount Code: Discount10

Here’s some info from their website.

We are professional screenwriters: Both longtime members of the Writers’ Guild of America, we have worked as writers in the entertainment business for a combined five decades, having written over fifty film and TV projects including the hit movies Cocoon and K-9.

We are professional educators: Tom and I have been teaching since 2002: Tom at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and in the MFA program at University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts; I have taught through the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program, winning their Outstanding Instructor Award in 2005, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

We have sold spec scripts: Tom wrote and sold the original script Zeus and Roxanne which MGM produced.  I wrote and sold the original screenplay K-9 which Universal produced.  Together we have written seven spec scripts which have been optioned or sold.  Moreover I doubt there is anybody who teaches screenwriting who knows more about the spec script market than we do because we have followed it daily for twenty-five years.

We know how the movie business works: The spec script market, pitching, working with managers and agents, producers, studio executives, directors, actors, writing and rewriting, generating and developing story concepts, tracking trends — there is a ton to know in order to survive and thrive in the movie business. Based on our decades of professional experience, Tom and I understand that business, and share our insights with Screenwriting Master Class participants.

Last week I talked to Scott about the classes to ask how they were going.  He had this to say:

Screenwriting Master Class has been a big success. I’ve written perhaps 300 pages of lectures since January and worked with perhaps 60 different writers either in our public online classes or private script workshops. Looks like one of the latter is going to sign with a big Hollywood manager based on a script I mentored him through. And I’ve got high hopes for another who is already a best-selling non-fiction author.

So, that’s exciting.  But even if you’re not interested in their classes, I advise you to bookmark Scott’s Screenwriting Blog with this warning…it’s the equivalent of drinking from a fire hose.  So get ready to get soaked…academically speaking.  So much information in one place.  You should go to there:

Go Into the Story

There you go, filmmakers!  And are you ready for your first homework assignment?  Good!  Remember as kids, your neighbor Johnny would say, “You’re a goo-faced booger butt!” and you would smile calmly and yell back, “It takes one to know one!”  Okay, maybe that only happened in my neighborhood.  But, that was a valuable screenwriting lesson for us.  It DOES take one to know one.  Meaning, it takes a good Script to know a good script.

That’s what our 14 Days of Screenplays challenge by Scott Myers is all about.  Reading the works of the masters in order to identify good writing and perceive great storytelling.  Take a look.  Be inspired.

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Students ask me how I learned the craft of screenwriting. I give the same answer that Walter Hill did:

“The usual story – read a lot of scripts, saw every possible movie.”

By and large, most folks seem to do a pretty good job on the ‘seeing movie’ front. But reading scripts? Not so much. I think I know why that’s the case. When we think of “movies,” we almost automatically think entertainment. And even if we students of screenwriting sit in a theater, checking our watch at every major plot, tracking subplots, and questioning story choices, on the whole the experience of watching a movie isentertaining. But when we consider reading a screenplay, my guess is that the first word that comes to most people’s minds is work.

Well, that’s true enough — reading a screenplay is work. But you expected to play your way to the top of the screenwriting heap? Think of any other creative outlet: painting, sculpture, novels, poetry, acting, dance, violin, composing. Do you think that any of the people who succeed in creating a career in any of these fields got there without studying the subject matter at a granular level?

The simple fact is if you are really serious about learning the craft of screenwriting, you must read scripts. It is perhaps the single best way to drill down into the heart of the craft. It’s one reason that so many script readers become successful screenwriters — reading all those scripts, even bad ones, is a massive learning experience.

So here’s something you can do to kick-start your screenplay reading habit: read 14 scripts in 14 days. I recommend this to my students often and the ones who’ve actually done it report back that it helped them immensely. Reading that many scripts in a compressed time provides a Gestalt grasp of the craft that you would not likely get any other way.

[Warning: old fart story ahead.]

Now way back when K-9 sold and I moved to LA, screenplays of existing movies were not that easy to find. I had to cobble together other screenwriters, my agents’ assistants, and other fans of the craft into a kind of ‘black market’ of screenplays. This was especially true of the latest hot selling spec scripts like Basic Instinct and The Last Boyscout, but track them down I did. Trudging 5 miles every morning… through thick snowdrifts… in the pitch black… oh wait, that’s another old fart story. My point is this: you’relucky! With a couple of clicks of your computer’s mouse, you can tap into a universe of screenplays — for free! My favorite screenplay hosting website is SimplyScripts.com, but there are plenty others. 

So allow me to cut trail for you with links to 14 scripts. Different styles, writers, genres, and decades. I’m including Back to the Future and Witness because those are the first two screenplays I read, so perhaps a bit of good luck will rub off on you.

Day 1: Back to the Future

Day 2: Witness

Day 3: Alien

Day 4: Some Like It Hot

Day 5: Body Heat

Day 6: Fargo

Day 7: The Shawshank Redemption

Day 8: Die Hard

Day 9: Thelma & Louise

Day 10: Dead Poet’s Society

Day 11: The Matrix

Day 12: Network

Day 13: Memento

Day 14: Toy Story

14 great scripts. 14 days. Trust me. It’s worth it.

Reprinted with permission.

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Screenwriter Scott Myers

Scott Myers has been a screenwriter since 1987 when Universal Studios bought and produced K-9, a spec script he co-wrote. Other movie credits: Alaska (1996), starring Thora Burch, and Trojan War (1997), starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. Currently, he’s an Executive Producer with Distillery Pictures in Raleigh, NC.

He has recently launched the ScreenwritingMasterClass.com with Tom Benedek to train, consult and mentor screenwriters into the industry.

He has a screenwriting blog you need to bookmark at www.gointothestory.com

(EXCERPT) Liberty University is launching a new Center for Cinematic Arts to positively influence American and the world with the assistance of famous screen writer and film maker Dan Gordon. The Center for the Cinematic Arts is scheduled to open in the 2011-2012 school year and will offer Liberty’s students an education on how they can bring a positive spin to the silver screen and train the next generation of entertainment industry leaders in how to positively portray traditional values in the media.

The announcement of the new center was highlighted by the visit and future collaboration of filmmaker, Dan Gordon, who publically offered his support to help create Liberty’s new center.  Gordon is the co-founder of the Zaki Gordon Institute (ZGI) for Independent Filmmaking at Yavapai Community College in Sedona, Ariz.  The Institute is dedicated to creating a new generation of filmmakers by offering a “full immersion” educational experience under the direction of mentors who are not just academically qualified, but professionals in their field.  Liberty’s program will expand the ZGI model to become the first such program at a four year institution.

For the full article visit Christianfilmmakers.org.

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The other day I did a simple search for Production Boards which led to a treasure trove of YouTube clips explaining the process step-by-step.  What I’ve done here is compiled them in one location and posted them all in the order they should be viewed.

You’re welcome!

You see, once your Writer-person has written your mind-blowing academy award winning script, you, Producer-person, have to break down that script so that you may then ascertain all the elements it will take to make up your production, how many days your production will take, how many actors and extras you need, etc.

And this info is then used to create a BUDGET.

Now we do realize that programs like MovieMagic Scheduling help this process out a LOT, but if this is a low-budget shoot, or if the internet has become sentient and your computer now shoots lasers at you upon boot up, you’ll need this alternate, low-tech way of getting from Script to Production Boards.

So follow along as Chris Cobb shows explains the process in his series called, “How to Turn a Script into a Production Board.”

VIDEO 1: Scripts & Production Boards

VIDEO 2: Formatting Scripts for Production Boards

VIDEO 3: How to Color Code Script Elements

VIDEO 4: Separating Script Elements for Production Boards

VIDEO 5: Color Code a Scene for the Production Board

VIDEO 6: How to Write Breakdown Pages for a Script

VIDEO 7: Transfer Script Elements to Breakdown Page

VIDEO 8: Filling Out Breakdown Pages for Production Boards

VIDEO 9: How to Breakdown Irregular Script Elements

Video 10: What is a Production Board?

VIDEO 11: How to Make a Production Board

VIDEO 12: What is a Production Header Board

VIDEO 13: How to Make a Production Board Strip

VIDEO 14: How to Fill Out a Production Board Strip

VIDEO 15: How to Make Day Production Board Strips

VIDEO 16: How to Make Snap Production Board Strips

That was the last one I found in that series. Let me know if I’ve missed any. Good luck, Producer-person!

Some of the tutorials you will find:

Exporting Movies in FCP
Masks & Mattes
Adjust to TransferModes in After Effects
Automatic Duck Pro Export for FCP 
Working with XDCAM EX Footage in FCP
Trashing Preferences in FCP
Keying Options for Motion 3
Using Sorenson Video 3
Apple ProRes 422
Smooth Cam Filter
Creative F/X at lightning speed!

And dozens and dozens more for any skill level it looks like.  Read more at DigitalMediaNet.com.