Can’t screenwriters, like everyone else, use their entire brain?

Why do some screenwriters today *despise* screenwriting books?

But what about painting and fine art? Surely the Italian Renaissance did not come about as a result of classes and teachers? Actually, painting and fine art have always had teachers. Giotto di Bondone, the father of the Italian Renaissance, was a shepherd whose paintings piqued the eye of Florentine painter Cimabue, who took Giotto as a student and taught him the craft of painting. Though the young artist has natural skill (and appears to have been a class clown), he was taught sophisticated techniques that helped him to better utilise that raw potential. That was around 1270, and there have been painting professors and classes in every year thereafter. Techniques can be taught but not talent. Instruction helps to refine raw talent.

I’ve never understood why screenwriters, in particular, appear to believe they are purely “right brained” (creative) to the point of being anti-“left brain” (analytical)… can’t we use our complete brain like everyone else? There are screenwriters who are adamantly opposed to research! What’s the deal with that? When I was working on my two US Navy cooperation films for HBO, we were given a submarine tour and an aircraft carrier tour, as well as the opportunity to question the crew… but most of the other projects from producers in our “group” were rejected because the writers refused to research their screenplay.biz/top-screenplays/" 786 target="_blank">screenplays first. There will be no aircraft carriers for you! Many of these films were never completed since access to US military equipment cannot be purchased, but it can be obtained for free with a well-researched screenplay. Ignorance is costly! Why not just read a few books?

The same is true for screenwriting: reading a book or two has no negative impact on creativity any more than my research on murder investigations has forced me to kill people. Instruction does not kill creativity, and this 1920 book provides a plethora of valuable teachings that many aspiring writers needed to hear back then. In reality, many (if not the majority) of those teachings are still relevant today!

As a result, scanning and then cleaning up the “scannos” and republishing this book was a worthwhile project. Not only do you get a glimpse into the past, but there are also some vital lessons that experienced screenwriters from the past may pass on to those of us reading this book 95 years later. But first, consider the author of this book, Anita Loos, and the emergence of women in Hollywood and America.

KEYWORD: books on screenwriting

From Toddler to Titan: A Screenwriter’s Growth

So, is what you write exactly what is distributed on the set? Not at all. You write a screenplay and submit it for consideration to an agent or producer. If your screenplay is accepted and production arrangements are developed, it will be transformed into a “shooting script,” or scenario. The screenplay is in the shape of a shooting script by the time a director and performers see it.

“When I sit down to write, I never know what I’m going to write about until I get started.” Be patient with my inspiration, which comes and goes. But I’m not going to sit around waiting for it. Every day, I work.” -Alberto Moravia, one of the twentieth century’s most important Italian writers.

The shooting script has all of the information from the screenplay, but it is considerably more detailed. In other words, the shooting script contains all of the language and description, as well as significant technical notes such as several camera directions.

The director or director’s assistant will usually include the directions, such as CUT, C.U., PAN, ZOOM, and so on. Beginning writers love to include those directions into their screenplay because they believe it makes the screenplay look more professional, but this actually has the opposite effect. Leave the exact directives alone unless you are explicitly writing a shooting script.

The scenes in most shooting scripts are numbered and rearranged in the order in which they will be shot—not necessarily the order in which the film will be assembled. As an example, if you need to film two scenes at the same location six months apart, they may appear together in the shooting script. For example, suppose the hero is waiting for a woman outside the law courts in London at the start of the film. Six months later, he’s back in the same place, but with a different woman. Regardless of time, those two sequences would be numbered sequentially and shot one after the other.

KEYWORD: books on screenwriting