Michael Rogan (ScriptBully Magazine) - Screenplay Format Made (Stupidly) Easy: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Guide to Script Format Mastery (Book 4 of the Screenplay Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection)

Screenplay Format Made (Stupidly) Easy: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Guide to Script Format Mastery (Book 4 of the Screenplay Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection) — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Screenplay Format Made (Stupidly) Easy: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Guide to Script Format Mastery (Book 4 of the Screenplay Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection)" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...8

Screenplay Format Made (Stupidly) Easy

Michael Rogan

A Special FREE Gift for You!

As a THANK YOU for buying my book, Id like to give you FREE INSTANT ACCESS to my new audio seminar:

FREE SEMINAR: 7 Secrets to Writing a Kick-Ass and Marketable Screenplay

Details at the end of the book. On with the show!

A Super Quick Note About the Formatting in This Book

Dont know whether youve ever tried formatting text for an eBook on Amazon.

Under normal circumstances such as a cheesy novel about pale, teenage vampires it can be challenging.

But trying to display the many tab/spacing issues that come up with screenplay format can be harder than finding an action movie that DOESNT star Nicolas Cage.

Ive done my very best to preserve correct formatting, as best I can, in this book.

But sometimes that's nearly impossible.

So, as not to totally confuse you with the weird eBook formatting, Id like to also offer you a couple of FREE BONUSES as a thank you for buying my book. (And to make sure you get the best screenplay format info I can provide!)

Heres what you get:

1. FREE PDF version of this book. (Just drop me a line at with the subject line Gimme My Format PDF and Ill send it right over.) This should help keep things clear and give you a reference as you read this book.
2. A sample screenwriting scene that uses all the techniques outlined in this book can be found at my blog: http://scriptbully.com/screenplay-format-sample

Okayenough of my jabbering. On with the show!

Prologue: We Find the Defendants Incredibly Guilty

Great ability develops and reveals itself increasingly with every new assignment.

-Baltasar Gracian

S creenplay format isnt rocket science. It doesn't require an advanced degree in Film Criticism or attendance at a $2,000 weekend screenwriting seminar in Maui.

And unlike more abstract parts of the craft of screenwriting, its standards are actually straightforward.

But hang out at any number of screenwriting forums and you'll see a good majority of the questions aren't about structure or characters or plot sequences or writing better jokes or how to get Megan Fox to return your calls.

Its questions like:

• How do I write a flashback?
• How do I introduce a character who has no name?
• How do I write a montage?
• How do I write an action scene?
• How do I write telephone calls?
• Is a car an interior or an exterior?

All of these questions hint at a single insecurity: How do I write a script I plan to send to managers and agents without looking like a total noob?

Worry not, young Jedi. That's what this book is all about.

But before we dig in, we need to do some housekeeping. Namely, answering a few questions upfront:

* * *

Question No.1: Why the #$%*# Do I Have to Learn Screenplay Format?

This reminds me of the old joke about drummers:

Question: How many drummers does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: Don't they have a machine for that?

Point being: Why learn about script format, when there's a perfectly good $200 piece of software that'll take care of your formatting needs.

And, yes, it's true. Software such as Final Draft or Movie Magic will keep your margins intact and your spacing inbounds.

But software WON'T tell you how to set up a shot heading on a spaceship.

Or tell you how to boost the pacing in your action-movie car chase.

Or show you the right way to use parentheticals. (Answer: Sparingly, if at all.)

A lot of screenwriters think turning in a script in FDR (Final Draft) format is enough to show they belong in the business.

But one errant use of WE PULL BACK TO SEE or THE CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL can brand you as amateur quicker than a Walker, Texas Ranger DVD collection.

Good screenplay format isnt about following rules. Its about making things easier for the reader. (And dont you think the reader suffers enough, having to slog through endless vampire/zombie romance specs?)

So, as you learn the proper use of ANGLE ON and DISSOLVE and MOVING WITH, remember its not about the number of dials on a Marshall half-stack amplifier.

Its about the music it makes.

* * *

Question No.2: Do I Need to Buy Screenwriting Software?

Yes. You do.

I highly recommend you buy one of the professional screenwriting tools out there, such as Final Draft (Amazon link: http://scriptbully.com/finaldraft) or Movie Magic (Amazon link: http://scriptbully.com/moviemagic). Solutions like this should set you back no more than 200 bucks or so.

And yes you COULD create a ghetto tricked-out word doc template to use. But the money you THINK youre saving will be lost in all THAT frickin time youre spending on resizing margins.

But if you really want to do it the hard way, or are short on funds, heres a quick breakdown of how to set up your margins manually: http://www.simplyscripts.com/WR_format.html

Again, I dont recommend it. Your formatting can quickly get out of control. But it

ll do in a pinch. (You know, before you sell your spec for $425,000.)

* * *

Question No.3: The Format You Recommend Looks Different Than Stuff I See in Published ScreenplaysWhat Gives?

Well, this could be for a variety of reasons. One, you might look at a shooting script. Shooting scripts are designed to help the crew namely the cinematographer and director of photography from killing each other.

Shooting scripts are technical and filled with tons of camera-placement information no writer SHOULD ever presume to write. (Nothing causes a script to smell amateur like overly complicated camera directions.)

Another reason the screenplay youre reading looks different is its age. Read a few pages of the thoroughly entertaining Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid by the Dean of Screenwriters, William Goldman and you might think your script needs a bunch of CUT TOs and long expository paragraphs to show its screenwriting mettle.

But we live in a different age. (One where 140 characters is presumed to be enough to express a single, coherent thought.)

And keeping things short and lean is not only the modern style, but its also the BEST way to express your story in a visual and powerful way.

* * *

Promise of This Book

I cant promise that nailing all the techniques in this book will get your script sold. But for the same reason you wear an overpriced, itchy suit to a job interview, or remove pictures of yourself downing tequila shots from your Facebook profile before you fill out a job application, proper screenplay format makes you look like a professional.

Next page

1234567...8

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Screenplay Format Made (Stupidly) Easy: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Guide to Script Format Mastery (Book 4 of the Screenplay Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection)»

Look at similar books to Screenplay Format Made (Stupidly) Easy: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Guide to Script Format Mastery (Book 4 of the Screenplay Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection). We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Script Magazine Editors

Pitching a Screenplay: Essential Advice for Before, During and After a Pitching Event

Dorian Scott Cole

How To Write A Screenplay

Melissa Samaroo

The Complete Guide to Writing a Successful Screenplay: Everything You Need to Know to Write and Sell a Winning Script

HowExpert

How To Write a Screenplay: Your Step By Step Guide To Writing Screenplays

Scott King

Finish The Script! A College Screenwriting Course in Book Form

Michael Rogan

How to Write a Movie Script With Characters That Dont Suck: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Screenwriting 101 for Writing Screenplay Characters (Book 2 of ... Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection)

Michael Rogan

How to Sell a Screenplay in the 21st Century: Your No-Nonsense Screenwriters Guide to Launching a Film Career (Book 5 of the Screenplay Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection)

Michael Rogan

How to Write a Script With Dialogue That Doesnt Suck: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Screenwriting 101 for Writing Screenplay Dialogue (Book 3 of the Screenplay Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection)

Michael Rogan (ScriptBully Magazine)

How to Write a Screenplay That Doesnt Suck and Will Actually Sell: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Screenwriting 101 for Writing a Screenplay (Book 1 of the ... Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection)

Alex Bloom

Master Screenplay Sequences: The Ultimate Guide To Making Screenwriting Structure That Much Easier

L.A. Writers Lab.

The 90-day screenplay: [from concept to polish]

Katherine Herbert

The Perfect Screenplay: Writing It and Selling It

Discussion, reviews of the book Screenplay Format Made (Stupidly) Easy: Your Ultimate, No-Nonsense Guide to Script Format Mastery (Book 4 of the Screenplay Writing Made Stupidly Easy Collection) and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.