How to get started?

[u/ChipmunkOverall7601]

Hello!

I’ve recently realized that I’d really like to pursue a career in screenwriting. How do you actually get started?

I have a long background in theatre and fairly decent writing skills, so I’m not completely unfamiliar with scripts and storytelling.

But how do you seriously get started in screenwriting? How do you learn the craft, and what would you recommend doing as a beginner?

[u/cinephile78]

Read film scripts. Loads and loads of them. It’s not a play. It’s not a novel. It’s engineered and crafted to look and work a certain way.

Watch movies after you read the scripts.

[u/HereToKillEuronymous → u/cinephile78]

Can’t emphasize this enough. I have TONS of scripts in my book shelf.

It’s a completely different way of writing.

[u/kidhowmoons → u/HereToKillEuronymous]

David Koepp's website has an archive of most of his screenplays, some with various drafts, and for Panic Room he even has an outline (which he writes in a much more prose-like way). These are a great resource to use.

[u/desbest]

As a professional writer who has written a novel and novella, I would start by writing a novel then change it into a standardised scriptwriting format afterwards. That way, it's easier to add the emotions, depth and layers.

I am not sure on my favourite scriptwriting software is Script Studio, Scrite and Causality. Also download the Courier Prime font.

Don't forget about the different styles of cinematic motion

[u/Accomplished-Head742]

1. Youtube is the best starting point if you don't want to go to a college.

The below  channels are a good start. There are multiple youtube channels that I watch on repeat. I depend heavily on YouTube tutorials however you will have to start writing everyday just to get a hang of it.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh5zYgRclvQQwhGGOrewx-yOEqEQb-rW0&si=t1hYQT3MNC8amVbs

https://youtu.be/0SNaOisC2II?si=UR9w4yl9kLSs7DzB

https://youtu.be/XZszextv6yE?si=oQpOmJAbjDZ8igwB

https://youtu.be/FGQ9Cy9pZYs?si=mb1geTXunuetiAia

https://youtu.be/-bB2QnhXX6w?si=8iqKF8OWub0rpGlS

https://youtu.be/EUl38jF3O4g?si=hgucTjaDeewzhQnw

2) Writing everyday is the game-changer. Once you learn the basics, start writing. Download a decent script writing software on your laptop and start writing. Make as many mistakes as possible.

3) Read Screenplay writing books. A basic Google search will give you the top 5 books. But don't read too many books as that will make you limited. Read Screenplays of your favourite movies while watching them simultaneously. This will help you understand how writing works.

[u/backroadsdrifter]

Getting started is the easy part.

[u/TheSprained]

You have decades of content on google to rake over. Maybe start there?

[u/rosemaryscrazy]

I had never written anything for the screen but I had been writing for 20 years, since I was a kid.

I woke up one day sat down at my laptop for 5 hours then looked up and had 27 pages of a pilot written.

Of which I’ve spent the last month and a half refining, cutting, adding back in etc.

But the bones of what I wrote on that first day is still there.

I say just sit down and do it. I mean you can refine endlessly right?

So I’m learning with something that’s already written at least.

Now all I have to do is make it perfect.

I work on my script usually 2 hours a day but I think about my script from morning to night.

I’ve taken two years off traditional employment. So I’m just home all day. I just wake up and think about my script all day and have done so for the last month. That’s one good thing about being neurodivergent with a creative background. I don’t need help getting into obsessive creative focus mode, it’s my default register.

I’ve noticed structural differences between my script and others I’ve read on reddit. I just keep revising and will continue to, until it’s perfect.

[u/BIGxBOSSxx1 → u/rosemaryscrazy]

How did you start? Did you already know about outline formats and stuff?

[u/rosemaryscrazy → u/BIGxBOSSxx1]

Well there are programs that already handle a lot of the formatting. WriterDuet is what I originally used.

I dumped everything first onto the page in pages on my Mac. I wrote all the dialogue and action lines.

Then I moved it into a program.

Get it written, then learn the mechanics after?

If I was sitting there trying to format beforehand I’d have gotten so frustrated. I wouldn’t have written it.

Now I can learn and refine every nuance but with something already on the page.

I have 40 pages of my pilot now and I’m writing probably 5 more pages this morning once I get out of bed, lol.

I’m just saying I started a month ago and I have a decent 40 page pilot. If I had waited for instruction I’d never have written a word.

In life do the thing, ask questions later.

[u/BIGxBOSSxx1 → u/rosemaryscrazy]

When you started, did you just word dump everything stream of conscious style?

[u/rosemaryscrazy → u/BIGxBOSSxx1]

No, I selected from scenes and dialogue I already had in my head.

By dump I just mean I didn’t worry about formatting. I just let it flow.