How to write a scene in 11 steps

John August wrote a post—How to write a scene—back in 2007.

In February 2013, Ryan Rivard converted the substance of that post into an infographic. Here it is:

The infographic is great, but make sure you read the original post, so you have the context.

First posted: 5 April 2013

Tales from the Script

Book

Tales from the Script: 50 Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories, by Peter Hanson and Paul Herman.

DVD

Here's a collection of interviews – in book form and on DVD – with a bunch of real screenwriters, including William Goldman, Shane Black, Frank Darabont, Paul Schrader, Nora Ephron, John August, John Carpenter, Paul Mazursky, Ron Shelton, Robert Mark Kamen, Antwone Fisher, David S. Ward, Steven E. de Souza, and others. (If you don't recognise all those names, you haven't been doing your homework as a screenwriter.) 

The book is great, the DVD is better. Partly for the joy of seeing the writers and hearing them speak, but also because of all the Extras on the disc. Worth it for the Advice for New Screenwriters section alone.

Here is a video clip which provides a taste of what's on the DVD.

First posted:10 October 2011

John August on screenwriting

Screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) takes viewers inside his creative process in an exploration of where ideas come from.

How to write a scene in 11 steps

John August wrote a post—How to write a scene—back in 2007.

In February 2013, Ryan Rivard converted the substance of that post into an infographic. Here it is:

The infographic is great, but make sure you read the original post, so you have the context.

"Style" in screenwriting

Everything changes; nothing stays the same. Even screenwriting. 

Up until the 1980s, screenwriters focussed on the story they wanted to tell. With the rise of the mega-spec script sales, screenwriters started to write the story they hoped to sell. There's a difference, in style, as well as intent.

I was interested to read a post by venerable screenwriting blogger John August this week. It has the memorable title: Observations on the evolution of screenwriting based on reading one script from 1974. He doesn't say what that one script was, but here are a few of his comments:

Locations got much less writer attention. In this script, a kitchen is a kitchen. In today’s scripts, every location gets at least a color line (“stainless steel and subway tiles, with an $8000 convection oven that’s never been used.”)

By “evolution,” I don’t mean that screenwriting has gotten better, by the way. It’s just gotten different, the way fashions change. Modern screenplays work very hard — too hard? — trying to make everything a fun read.

This script, at least, seemed much more interested in just getting it done:

Tom looks Barbara square in the eye. Barbara looks to Norman. After a beat, Norman stands and leaves.

PAN BACK to Barbara. She returns to her knitting.

It’s not thrilling, but you know what you’re going to see. There’s a lot to be said for that.

One of the things my writers' group settled, at our final meeting for 2011, was what screenplays we're going to study next year. After reading John's comments, I took a look at their age, and wondered whether it was going to become an issue. Here's the list, in chronological order:

Annie Hall (1977)
Alien (1979)
Body Heat (1981)
Platoon (1986)
Carlito's Way (1993)
Toy Story (1995)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Sopranos - Pilot (1999)
Sexy Beast (2000)
Michael Clayton (2007)

That's two from the '70s, two from the '80s, four from the '90s, and two this century. On top of the other exercises, comparing the style of each era should be fun.

Screenwriting software

John August, a prominent Hollywood screenwriter, has published a remarkably detailed set of notes about how he organises his writing day. The part that caught my attention was this: 

I do most of my “real” screenwriting in Final Draft. I don’t love it. My greatest frustration is usually with its Smart Type Lists, which invariably want to insert extraneous bits of parenthetical detail after character names, so I end up having to type more letters just to get past its unhelpful suggestions.

I’ve also used Movie Magic Screenwriter, and found it to be approximately as frustrating in slightly different ways. So it’s a case of the devil you know.

In no way am I slamming these two apps; I’m grateful they exist and afraid they might go away. Over the years, I’ve tried out every new piece of screenwriting software that’s come along and found them lacking.

There are small but important details that you have to get right, such as handling dialogue across a page break. I’ve played around with two or three different applications built atop Adobe Air, all of which had unacceptable typing lag.

I started with Movie Magic Screenwriter for no other reason than that Terry Rossio recommended it. Terry's Wordplay columns provided most of my early introduction to the world of screenwriting. At the time I didn't know a single person involved with filmmaking, so he served as my only guide. 

As time went by, I discovered I was about the only person in Australia using Screenwriter. For that reason alone I would recommend Australians buy Final Draft; it's what everyone else is using. But first join the Australian Writers' Guild. They have a cheap deal on Final Draft for members.

I now have both. Neither of them is perfect, contrary to the marketing hype. I've encountered bugs in both, but they beat the stuffing out of mucking around with Word templates.

You can read John's full article here. If you're an Apple user, you're in for a treat. 
 

Tales from the Script

Book

Tales from the Script: 50 Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories, by Peter Hanson and Paul Herman.

DVD

Here's a collection of interviews – in book form and on DVD – with a bunch of real screenwriters, including William Goldman, Shane Black, Frank Darabont, Paul Schrader, Nora Ephron, John August, John Carpenter, Paul Mazursky, Ron Shelton, Robert Mark Kamen, Antwone Fisher, David S. Ward, Steven E. de Souza, and others. (If you don't recognise all those names, you haven't been doing your homework as a screenwriter.) 

The book is great, the DVD is better. Partly for the joy of seeing the writers and hearing them speak, but also because of all the Extras on the disc. Worth it for the Advice for New Screenwriters section alone.

Here is a video clip which provides a taste of what's on the DVD.