This is what you’ll all be saying when you hand your script over to beta readers…

(Source: inkygirl, via wordscount)

wordscount:

How I feel whenever I sit down to write…

threelinesorless:

The Unrepeatable Truth

Source: @ozzywood @storydepth

#screenwriting #film #story

““Should I try to write something personal, do you think, or should I go after a commercial, thing-that’s-gonna-sell kind of screenplay?”

It’s a question I often hear from pre-pros of all kinds, and my immediate response comes in the form of a counter-query: When someone reads the first page of a screenplay, what is the last thing this reader wants to see?

As a professional reader and a writer, nothing deadens my soul, puts my hope and imagination to sleep faster, than the sense that I’m being told One of Those Stories in the Same Old Way.  People think that studios are looking for “commercial” projects, i.e. stories deemed to be familiar, acessible, sellable.  But in truth, the studio ideal is a story that’s the same, only different.

As a professional reader and a writer, nothing puts my hope and imagination to sleep faster than the sense that I’m being told One of Those Stories in the Same Old Way

So what makes the difference?

Here’s the thing about a conventional script that’s meant to be commercial (i.e. a workman-like version of what’s already been done and what’s done all the time to fill programmer slots on a studio slate).  There are tons of established pros doing exactly that, and chances are, they’re already better at it than you are.

Sure, if you’re an aspiring screenwriter, you ought to know and understand how such standard genre fare is done.  But while writing a formulaic, by-the-books script might give you a grip on what works and what doesn’t, that one doesn’t have to be the spec script you go out with.  In fact, that’s not a script the industry needs.

What makes a script stand out from the crowd is the difference.

What makes the difference? You.

You and only you can write the story that only you know how to write, and this is where “personal” becomes key, in terms of creating a career.

What’s the difference between personal and who cares?  Personal doesn’t mean “autobiographical.” The nightmare version of “a personal project” is the script written by a struggling widget salesman from Akron that’s all about a struggling ……….”

(via celtx)