The new breed of TV and Film script writers seem to be at the top of their game ... any thoughts?

[yanapuma]

I'm always on the look out for people who can advise me about writing stories ... my big guide at the moment are a series of videos on you tube called Film Challenge whereby different script writers talk about how to write story, structure and character ... they are brilliant because these writers are at the top of their game and in terms of sophistication they seem to be so ahead of anything thing else I've come across and I include the MA in Creative Writing I just did here ... I highly recommend this one "finding gold in your life story" by Jen Grisanti but they are all good ... any thoughts?

 

[Amber]

I'll have to look them up one day. I don't know ... it's a different medium but screenwriters also seem to usually have good advice in terms of structure and story and pacing and such ...

 

[Nikky Lee]

Ooo I have not heard of this channel. Sounds likr an excellent resource. Thanks for sharing!

 

[yanapuma]

They are very good at structure and character and plotting. I think these writers really understand the mechanics of story writing.

 

[Matnov]

I admire the discipline of screenwriting. It is not my cup of tea because I prefer the rather more genteel liberty of novel writing in that you can wander off on many tangents along with being far too much of a collaborative experience in terms of the input required from others to bring your work to life to appeal given my rather solitary preference for creative endeavours. But writing for the screen means that every word matters. Nothing can be wasted, with what is not being said as important as what you have your character spew out.

I suspect, and I might be wrong here, that a lot of people perhaps view it as an easier option or at least an easier process than the laborious slog-fest that is novel writing but I am in absolute awe of screen-writers who truly nail it, and their ability to convey complex ideas and emotions in as few lines as possible. A lot to be learnt from the good ones.

 

[Allan Hunter]

My overall critique of TV (in particular) script writers these days is that they are VERY good at conjuring up a provocative premise, they write good tight episodes that are entertaining with good character development and nuanced treatment of volatile issues -- but they're mediocre to lousy at forwarding and developing the long story arc. There's admittedly a long tradition in television that the long story arc doesn't count, that whether it's Gilligan and crew trying to get off the island or Kirk and crew completing their five year mission or Mr. Monk pursuing the murderer of his wife Trudy, all that's just a "McGuffin" that provides a coat-hanger structure to hang individual episodes on. But we've had a taste of shows where the writers made good on the long story arc (Veronica Mars; Breaking Bad) and that makes many of us far less forgiving when we get jerked around by writers who make an utter disaster of the long story arc (Lost, Battlestar Galactica). Yes, it matters. If your audience stays tuned in for week after week, month in and month out, for a whole season, you'd better be able to tell a season-long story and not just crank out thrilling 45-minute-long episodes.

 

[yanapuma]

I think you are right about people thinking it is easy but in actual fact it is the opposite ... requiring great discipline and tremendous technical ability ... but yes I agree with your observation about "the laborious slog-fest that is novel writing" I am working on my first novel and I have to say after about 40-50,000 words I'm really struggling ...

 

[yanapuma]

Ooo I have not heard of this channel. Sounds likr an excellent resource. Thanks for sharing!

"finding gold in your life story" by Jen Grisanti is definitely a good one to start with but they are all good

 

[AliG]

I really loved writing my film script and I wrote the story like that rather than as a book because that's how it appeared inside my head. In some ways it's quite fun to just be able to write external, night, forest rather than having to describe owls hooting et cetera however I think one of the main problems is that all the visual stuff doesn't necessarily then translate on to paper as you're only writing dialogue. Tricky but enormous fun to write

 

[AliG]

And thanks for the tip about the resource. I'll go and have a look shortly

 

[yanapuma]

And thanks for the tip about the resource. I'll go and have a look shortly

My overall critique of TV (in particular) script writers these days is that they are VERY good at conjuring up a provocative premise, they write good tight episodes that are entertaining with good character development and nuanced treatment of volatile issues -- but they're mediocre to lousy at forwarding and developing the long story arc. There's admittedly a long tradition in television that the long story arc doesn't count, that whether it's Gilligan and crew trying to get off the island or Kirk and crew completing their five year mission or Mr. Monk pursuing the murderer of his wife Trudy, all that's just a "McGuffin" that provides a coat-hanger structure to hang individual episodes on. But we've had a taste of shows where the writers made good on the long story arc (Veronica Mars; Breaking Bad) and that makes many of us far less forgiving when we get jerked around by writers who make an utter disaster of the long story arc (Lost, Battlestar Galactica). Yes, it matters. If your audience stays tuned in for week after week, month in and month out, for a whole season, you'd better be able to tell a season-long story and not just crank out thrilling 45-minute-long episodes.

I was listening to one of these TV writers last night and one of them said that the difference between TV and cinema is that the protagonist in TV series are never healed, they just keep bleeding ... unlike cinema the TV series is a series of scenes whereby the protagonist's wound is opened wider and then closed again, opened wider and closed again ... whereas in cinema the protaginist is on a journey to be healed, on a journey of change, and that always happens at the end of a film, that healing that change in TV the protagonist is never healed.
check this one ...

 

[AliG]

Thanks- very kind of you to post

 

[Paul Whybrow]

One thing that screenwriters never have to type is "Goodbye."