5 Worst Screenwriting Habits - Mark Sanderson
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 10 апр 2018
- BUY THE BOOK - A SCREENWRITER’S JOURNEY TO SUCCESS: Tips, tricks and tactics to survive as a working screenwriter in Hollywood - amzn.to/2BCXmM6
MORE VIDEOS WITH MARK SANDERSON
goo.gl/Wt3eh5
CONNECT WITH MARK SANDERSON
www.fiveoclockblue.net
www.imdb.com/name/nm0761808
/ scriptcat
/ @marksandersonakascrip...
CONNECT WITH FILM COURAGE
www.FilmCourage.com
#!/FilmCourage
/ filmcourage
/ filmcourage
/ filmcourage
BUSINESS INQUIRIES
bit.ly/22M0Va2
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FILM COURAGE RUclips CHANNEL
bit.ly/18DPN37
LISTEN TO THE FILM COURAGE PODCAST
/ filmcourage-com
PROMOTE YOUR MOVIE, WEBSERIES, OR PRODUCT ON FILM COURAGE
bit.ly/1nnJkgm
SUPPORT FILM COURAGE
/ filmcourage
Stuff we use:
CAMERA - This is the camera we have used to film 90+% of our interviews (over 200 interviews and counting) It continues to be our workhorse - amzn.to/2u66V1J
LENS - Most people ask us what camera we use, no one ever asks about the lens which filmmakers always tell us is more important. This lens was a big investment for us and one we wish we could have made sooner. Started using this lens at the end of 2013 - amzn.to/2tbtmOq
AUDIO
Rode VideoMic Pro - The Rode mic helps us capture our backup audio. It also helps us sync up our audio in post amzn.to/2t1n2hx
Audio Recorder - If we had to do it all over again, this is probably the first item we would have bought - amzn.to/2tbFlM9
LIGHTS - Although we like to use as much natural light as we can, we often enhance the lighting with this small portable light. We have two of them and they have saved us a number of times - amzn.to/2u5UnHv
COMPUTER - Our favorite computer, we each have one and have used various models since 2010 - amzn.to/2t1M67Z
EDITING - We upgraded our editing suite this year and we’re glad we did! This has improved our workflow and the quality of our work. Having new software also helps when we have a problem, it’s easy to search and find a solution - goo.gl/56LnpM
*These are affiliate links, by using them you can help support this channel.
#screenwriting #script #screenplay 
Кино
I procrastinate by watching Film Courage videos...
Not such a bad thing! Keep watching... and writing! Thanks!
Same here ^^
Same 😂
OMG! When I first learned about screenwriting, I was such a novice. Novice doesn't even begin to describe me back in the day. LOL. When I wrote my first screenplay, I used to describe every single thing: The characters' clothes, the objects and props with a long description of both and lots of other things. And I also wrote too much dialogue. I agree with Mark. Less is more. And after reading a lot of screenwriting books and reading other scripts of my favorite movies, I learned that I didn't have to write so much description and/or dialogue to write my own scripts. Less is definitely more.
I definitely agree, especially with procrastination and saying too much. if you're also the type that can write a novel it can be tough to make that switch, and realize you don't need to describe EVERYTHING you see in your head - just what's central to the plot and enough to give the general "vibe" of the scene you're creating. one minor struggle I have is with too many parentheticals and describing character expressions (I've noticed my screenplay has WAY too much sighing, smiling, and smirking). it's because I have such a clear vision in my head but I realize that I'm not the director, I'm not the actors, and unless it's IMPERATIVE you can usually imply the way of speaking or expressions in the dialogue itself if you do it right...something I'm still learning. thanks for the amazing videos Film Courage! very helpful
Thanks for watching and commenting, Astrid. Yes, the key with screenplays is knowing what to put in and leave out. Our job is to tell the story. If written properly, the actors will elevate a scene and even in between the lines -things we don't need to write. I've been pleasantly surprised more than not when I see the movies and the actors have made good choices but I laid out the parameters for them to play the scene to its fullest potential. Yes, avoid the... "turns, rolls eyes, grits teeth, shrugs, folds arms, smiles, sighing, blushing, etc." I always loved the "blushes" one - how does an actor blush on cue? LOL! Best wishes on your journey!
Editing too soon is a big habit of mine. I will try to edit my screenplay as soon as possible, but lately I've been able to pug those to the side and work on something else, as well as live life, and come back go editing with a fresh mind.
AJ -- Yes, it's good to put the latest draft away for a few days or even a week to gain a fresh perspective on it. But not for too long. And never give that first draft to anyone to read before you've formed your own opinion. It's the sacred time necessary between a writer and the material. You'd be surprised at what you thought was genius back when you were writing page five is not looking so good after time away from it.
discipline, focus, and outlining are keys to making it happen
One thing I recommend all screenwriters do is write a short and go out and make it. You'll learn how much extra work goes in when you over describe a scene or add characters that aren't necessary. For instance if you add a WAITER - you'll need to cast that person, figure out if they're SAG, get their costume, and of course provide coverage of that person if they speak. You learn to get rid of these one offs, especially if you're on a tight budget. You also learn that what you describe in your prose is likely never going to be found exactly in a real location unless you're describing the real location like a specific McDonald's or restaurant and even then people know what Mcdonald's looks like so you don't need to go into it. INT. CASUAL RESTAURANT - DAY tells us all we kinda need to know.
Yes indeed! What Jack said! ;-)
Love the tips about over writing. As a newbie starting out I will keep that in mind. And also to remember what I’m writing for like remembering the set designer has a job and let the actors act. Great, thanks 👍
Thanks for watching and commenting, Kate! Yes, watch out for micromanaging that leads to overwriting.
Excellent advice for any genre, any modality.
outline before you start, read lots of scripts too, and have a definite schedule, be able to handle rejection a lot
Exposition dumps are a big roockie mistake.
Indeed. That's the same way I describe them - "dialogue dumps." LOL! Character: "So, tell me about your childhood." DUMP! Thanks for watching and commenting, Jory.
Mark Sanderson Is it considered an information dump when in a scene, pictures of family members, and things that can describe a character, are shown through visuals? Or is an information dump mainly dialogue?
I love that they still called the video "5 worst habbits" even though he could only come up with 4. 😅😅
Sorry about that! LOL! I wish I had a cheat sheet before the question, but my answers were off the top of my head. Thanks for watching!
Mark Sanderson Thanks for the solid advice though!
Re: the first point, I write completely differently. Perhaps I've become a child of the fluid editor, but now we have this digital technology I find that the "rewrite" is a murkier concept - I'm constantly editing, rewriting, perfecting my prose. That means: as I go along; the next time I open my file; whichever moment I have a new idea about a previous segment, etc. The great thing about fluid editors is fluid workflow, thoughts go much more easily from mind to page, mistakes and sub-par prose are more rapidly dispensed with. I'm sure I'd be happy reverting to pen and paper and revisit a more classic editing style under such circumstances, but that method certainly doesn't come naturally to me with a computer as the medium.
Exactly. I am similar in these regards.
I got an evaluation of my work done by Mark twice in the past. Very valuable feedback!
Jordan! So good to hear from you again! I hope your screenwriting is going well. Thanks for watching and commenting.
My worst habit is making movie openings that don't make sense until later
Well, you want to leave your audience with something to chew on and if your opening is interesting enough, they will read to page five or farther. As long as you pay off your set ups.
Love this
Overwriting, very good one to point out and something I am guilty of. Although I am doing my best to keep a watchful eye of when I am doing so.
Recognizing that you are overwriting is half of the battle and then realizing what is necessary and unnecessary to put on the page.
Mark Sanderson - Thanks Mark, I think you've consistently given great advice!
Thank you for watching! You've made my day!
Overwriting was one of my biggest problems. An early draft of my current best script came in at around 180 pages (or was it 240 pages?). I wasn't just over-describing (which I was) or being repetitive (that too), but I had superfluous characters and extra plots. Knowing that nobody would read it at that page count forced me to study and learn how to write better. Now that I have finished (until I get feedback) that script, I can see the dividends of that work in the vomit draft of my current story.
Auuugh, vomit draft! Make your first draft the best draft ever! Why not? You can do it and you must do it when you start getting paid for assignment work. When I turn in a first draft on assignment it has to be probably on a 10 scale - a solid 7 at least. It's the development stage and if you turn in a substandard first draft that needs a ton of work you'll be holding up the process. Also overwriting usually also comes from not using a solid outline or story treatment/beat sheet. Here is a great quote from six time Academy Award nominated screenwriter Ernest Lehman (North by Northwest, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, Sabrina) "Good screenwriting is about carpentry. It’s a juggling of beginnings, middles and endings so they all inevitably seem to be moving correctly together. Your first draft is dangerously important. Don’t ever kid yourself into thinking, “It’s okay, it’s just the first draft.” Beware of that thought, because it’s ten times more difficult to go in a certain direction once you’ve gone in another direction.”
I agree with that quote, it's pretty hard, but sometimes it's necessary. I have rewritten a script completely starting from the Midpoint. It was painful, but my gut was telling me I had to do it. I had followed my outline, but I wasn't feeling it. That's why I don't worry so much about having a solid outline, because once I start writing the actual script, I really get to know the story and characters, and the outline will change. It's good to have a road map, but not set it in stone.
First, let me thank you for replying to my post. It is rare for writing advice to be directed at me, especially from someone who has actually stood atop the hill I am climbing.
Normally, I do use an outline. Most of my scripts have been written with outlines, including my one good script where I rewrote the outline several times. This time, however, I was having problems in the outline; specifically, I didn't know who my characters were. I had names and functions, but I didn't know them. So with a fragmentary outline in hand, I decided to write the first draft. Perhaps this isn't a true vomit draft, but it is the closest I've come on anything over 15 pages. I am early in my experiment, but I am learning more about my characters in a few days than I did in all the time I spent outlining.
I will probably never truly abandon outlining and I feel like I will return to a more rigorous outline in the future, but at this time I want to see what this experiment will teach me.
Also, while I normally use detailed outlines, most of them are so bad, I'd be embarrassed to let my wife look at them. Clearly, if I wish to have a career that is in any way similar to yours, I need to learn how to make good outlines. To that end, do you have any resources you'd recommend where I can learn how to make a proper outline?
There are no official rules about "outlines." One style or size does not fit all. Final Draft has a good article on their site about the subject: www.finaldraft.com/learn/how-to-outline-a-screenplay/ - And poke around doing a Google search for "treatments" or "outlines." Yes, I agree about the subject of characters and unless you actually follow them through pages, you don't really get a sense of who they are that time spent with them is precious. Sounds like you respect the craft and that's half of the battle. After that it's just writing enough screenplays to find your voice, style, and to be an effective storyteller... and then trying to write that "right" project and find the right home to get it produced. A long journey, but worth it if you love writing. Thanks for interacting. Try to catch my other videos in the feed. Film Courage is fantastic!
learning to cut is such a valuable skill, it's hard
I wanted to know more about his writing and rewriting process. I'm assuming that he writes a rough draft all the way through to the end without looking back, and the rewrites it. Does it take him longer to write the rough draft, or to rewrite it? When writing the rough draft, does he care about prose, or it's just about getting something on the page? What is his process for rewriting? What's the 1st thing that he fixes? 2nd thing, 3rd, etc.? How many drafts does he do before having an actual "First Draft"?
Great questions Marie. Mark does talk more about his writing process later in this interview including his rewriting process. Can't say at this point when we will be able to publish those videos. We will make sure that our next video with Mark is one where he details part of his writing process. Also we have seen Mark commenting on some of these videos so you never know if he will stop by.
Marie! Thanks for watching and your comments. My process is to work on a solid outline or story treatment and that should be about 3/4 of your time working upfront. It's of primary importance because a solid treatment will allow you to write a faster first draft that should end up being pretty good. I write the first draft from the solid treatment and I do care about prose, etc. because I don't want to do a lot of work changing it in the second draft. A nip here or a tuck there, sure, but not complete rewriting unless the producer changes his/her mind.
If you look at my first draft and even maybe my third, the prose is pretty much the same because I wanted to get it right the first time in the first draft. Or maybe it's because I've written 35 feature scripts that I know my style and how I like to write a scene. Now I primarily do screenwriting assignment work where a producer/studio comes to me with the concept/idea or a "one sheet" and I write the story treatment and all drafts. My first draft takes the longest. I'm usually given a month and it's plenty of time to achieve this. And then I'm given about two weeks for a rewrite (the agreed time in my contract) and it's possible because my first draft is NOT a mess. The solid story and structure are there already and it helps greatly. I've learned how to become a faster and more efficient screenwriter as a necessity.
I can't afford to "just get it on the page" when writing on assignment because I'm getting paid and under a deadline. My first draft that I turn in has to be on a scale from 1-10... probably a solid 7. Example -- my last project I wrote, I did two drafts and two polishes and it was production ready to shoot. I nailed it and executed the story. Producers like having fewer problems in the development stage. I do one draft and it's the actual first draft. My second is my second, etc.
Regarding rewrites and what I work on first? I follow the notes the producers give me and execute them accordingly. They give page specific notes so that helps to target specific trouble spots or things that need production changes.
Now writing your specs may be different but you should try to practice setting up self-imposed deadlines and working on becoming a writer who can write a feature in a month or two... not six months. Hope this helps answer your questions. Thanks.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I realize TV assignments are different, I was just curious what your process was. I do write specs and I believe every writer has their own method, and even a different method for every script they write. For example, Michael Arndt wrote Little Miss Sunshine in 3 days, and then rewrote it for an entire year. It won him the Oscar, so whatever works for you, do it.
I agree.
Never ending research is the great excuse for procrastination. There has to be a definite end to research and a start on the writing itself.
Yes, James! I agree. You have to know when to say when regarding research -- and then get onto the job of writing. Thanks for watching and commenting. Hope your writing journey is going well.
The advice I most remember from college screenwriting courses was DON'T put in too many (or any) camera angles and shot directions.
Yes, that's correct. Screenwriters need to know what to put in and what to leave out. Directors don't generally like to read camera directions.
Of course with a spec script, you're not putting in camera angles. What a relief ...
Yes, the key is knowing what is necessary and unnecessary to put into a script. When it's a shooting script of course things change, but not a spec.
I'm always visualizing the scenes almost in a master shot - I don't write worrying about angles or shots - that's not my job as the screenwriter. I'm there to tell the story on the page. The director's job is to interpret the material and decide to create those images.
Directors and actors are ego maniacs too and don't like to see direction. But there is no rule.
read as many good screenplays as you can--learn from others
Indeed. Read good and bad scripts. But be careful when you read the award winning scripts uploaded every year because those mostly were not specs and written either by the director or in a protected bubble of development. Many times writers study those scripts as examples of "how" to write a script, yes focus on the story, but the style and format are probably not what you want in a spec that is going out if you don't already have a "name" and credits.
Procrastinating in a way that I absentmindedly stop writing and begin to edit together video clips into trailers with actors who I imagine to be in my film. And currently I've become attached to these certain actors for my current project and while I'm not writing the parts for them in particular, but I get back to writing and imagine these people playing it all out. Is this a bad habit or is it viable? This is my first script but I've written stories for over ten years (just never shared them with anyone).
Writing for a specific actor might not be the best idea. A "name the actor here" type might be better. Don't get attached to ANYTHING. So much will be changed as it progresses, that's not to say that you shouldn't stick to your vision, but again it's a collaborative art with money usually coming from others who dictate the creative direction and changes. And then there is casting to go through. Schedules, availability, most A list actors are booked for years ahead of time with projects. That's reality. When I write, I never really see faces - more like I see the character's essence, more of their soul and motivations. Congrats on working on your first screenplay. Yes, it's important to see it all playing out and make sure you don't start pages until you have the story worked out in a solid outline. It will save you from wasting time doing rewrites and trying to find your script. Thanks for commenting and watching!
if i’m just starting with screenwriting, should i start with my good ideas first or save them for when i’ve honed in my skills???
I'm just starting writing, but I would say just write out whatever ideas you have. Even if they never get made, it helps to have practice in screenwriting.
Hi Mark my name Chrissy I'm interesting in screenwriting how many screenplays do I need to read how do I write screenplays & what are the steps to write acting scripts? I have 2 Pinterest pages 1 one my phone & other on my tablet I fellow Film Courage You will see my name Chrissy Stewart as you look @ both of pages from my phone & tablet you will see dream to be a movie director & want to direct my own films. I hope to hear from you Mark
I always re-write what I wrote the day before and then go on. When I get to the end there is no need to do another draft, just read back over and tweak it.
Re-writing while writing always slows me down and makes a first draft take longer. Many times first instinct is the best one. But every writer has their own methods. Thanks for watching and commenting.
These Rock!
Thanks for watching!
Agreed. Some people say it’s all about putting that pen to paper. I think it’s butt to chair
Indeed! Both! Thanks for watching and commenting!
The overwritten part. Relatable 😅
Yes, when I consult on screenplays, the main issue that I find is overwriting. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Is writing multiple scripts at the same time a way to procrastinate or to overwrite ? In a way, when you get stuck on one story, you can tackle another one. In the end, you end up writing way more than you should and some time you even leave one of your script on the sideline a bit too long because of the others you enjoy more working on.
Peter Stellenberg I do that too sometimes.
fear writing is actually a habit because you're allowing it
Indeed. Write with NO fear! Or fear of the outcome - will anyone love it or will they buy it? That crushes many splendid screenwriting plans. Thanks for watching and commenting.
How about drinking?... Just kidding.
Scotch? Vodka? Rye? LOL! Never found that to help the productivity.
Write drunk, edit sober.