Great question! I’ve been writing a screenplay in my head for 20 years lol. And went to 2 McKee seminars and finally coming around to preparing to write. Thanks for the great interviews.
@@loganburdick544 I went to Musician's Institute on Hollywood and Highland with a musical background of hip-hop, surf guitar and punk. Classical teachers act like anything that's not classical is garbage. They are the most snobby musicians you will ever meet. Despite their rudeness I had the upmost respect for them. I lack self discipline and being organized so they helped with that. Through classical melodies I realized it's basically original metal. From other teachers I realized how much twang is in country which is key for surf guitar. I started learning how to strip a Spanish rythm and change the chords but keep the same ryhme to suddenly make it a metal song. To me creativity is like Mega Man. You start off with a pea shooter so you kill what you can untill you can beat at least one boss to help you take on the next. Once you conquer and replicate something perfectly is when you can finally make it your own. The original work must be understood and respected 1st then you can do no wrong even if you "fail". Why? because to me I'd rather see an original creative choice fail then a money driven choice fail. I started learning Red Hot Chilli Peppers because I realized his guitar style was influenced by Hendrix. So by learning one artist it helps me absorb and overcome other artists. Some legendary writers would write out David Copperfield just to learn his rhythm of writing. It's important to learn a Hendrix song EXACTLY how he plays it before you try to make it your own. Now n days everyone just makes it their own because they can't come close to the original and end up paying zero respect to the origins of something that was never there's. Writers who ruined original works that would be perfect if done right. RIP- Resident Evil movies RIP- Mortal Kombat / Street Fighter RIP- Last Air Bender RIP- Spawn RIP- Tom Holland's Spiderman that was literally made up for the MCU and has zero relation to that established characters background. RIP- Venom and Carnage. 🤦🤦🤦 Need I say more? I wish someone would remake something more deserving like 1927's Metropolis. Still one of my favorite sci-fi movies ever. Other writers I respect are the ones that know that can't come close to something like Space Odyssey yet manage to make an amazing sequel without worrying about how they can live up to Stanley Kubrick. The Watchmen is a perfect example of trying their best to stay true to something that is seemingly impossible to translate to film. I usually get annoyed or upset from changes from comic to movie but in The Watchmen's case, WTF else where they supposed to do? Anyway, iv rambled long enough. Peace bruv!
Great video! I wrote a short story that I really liked but wanted to expand into a feature length script, so I reached out on Reddit and connected with someone who had some success in screenwriting with a few optioned scripts. Long story short, he showed me the ropes and we worked on the script together. It took some time to polish it up, but we recently had the script optioned. Now we’re hoping it reaches the production stage!
3 ways: 1- I learned from years of working in animation, not as a writer, but as a character designer, animator, layout artist , and storyboard artist. I've read hundreds of scripts. As a character designer, I had to read the script and make a list of all the characters that needed to be designed, and then draw them. As an animator I had to read the script, as a layout artist I had to read the script, and obviously a storyboard artist must read the script. 2- I went to a speed-pitch conference in Hollywood. Part of the conference was pitching your ideas/script, the other part was sitting in on panels by experienced Hollywood writers and learning things like story structure, character development, and so on. and 3- I read a few books on screenwriting and storytelling; Save The Cat!, The Eight Characters Of Comedy, Pixar Storytelling.
I learned screenwriting by watching video essays on RUclips that talked about analyzing screenwriters’ writing styles (and how it works with the director), then I started to officially learn from a course on Udemy which solidified my perspective on HOW to write a story in that format and also showed me new perspectives (ie: aside from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey being a way to check off plot points, those same checkboxes can be emulated for an EMOTIONAL CHARACTER ARC). But when it comes to writing scenes or arcs, I play a soundtrack (usually repeatedly) to get me in the mood and the ideas start to flow from there. Then I’ll play the track again to vocalize the ideas and FEEL what works or doesn’t work.
Great point about writing about the market, “but if you don’t then that’s your time.” But if it’s authentic and original, isn’t that a market? Regardless of genre? Especially these days with all these horrific rehashing of safe films.
I think about this quite a bit and what I've concluded is that it depends on your personal definition of success. If your goal is to meet some sort of universal definition of success, such as a certain level of fame or critical acclaim or earnings then you have a goal that can be measured in how directly you capture your audience. What I think we are more thinking about is how we often have the desire/drive to create something powerful and then make it available to everyone who wants it. Even in that case, I think it's arguable that knowing your audience and planning for that audience will still be advantageous towards that goal. It can facilitate reaching that audience with less effort and expense.
Is authentic and original a market? Sure. Is it a very big market? Not so sure. I mean, if you told someone your script is authentic or original, would they have any idea what they're getting into? You'd be better off leaning on the genre and calling your work authentic and original within that genre. Let's say you're writing sci-fi. You could sell that to sci-fi fans because they already like the genre, which is a good starting point for your sales pitch. However, if you were to walk up to them and say, "I have an authentic and original script," they're likely to ask, "What genre is it?" Also, there may be fans of a specific genre that want authentic and original while other fans of that genre want something more familiar. So, you should work within the genre of what you're writing. If someone says, "Your script has to have this or it has to include that because that's the trend right now," you don't necessarily have to worry about that. Write the story that you want to write, and when you've written it, you'll get an idea who your market is for your work. You don't have to write for a market; you can write your story then decide where your market is, especially since some aspects of your story might change while you're writing, which means your target market may change. Who knows? That said, I think the most important aspect of writing isn't as much about authentic and original but rather more about execution. A great idea is only great in the outline, because if you can't execute that idea well, then it just falls down over the course of the script. Same with characters. The most important thing you can do as a writer is make sure those characters are written well and with consistency. Part of the reason films are so bad these days isn't necessarily because they're telling the same stories that have been told for thousands of years; it's because the writing and/or editing aren't executed well.
How I became a screenwriter and wrote a Netflix movie with 4 awards (Baraka Meets Baraka) Step 1: Download your favorite script in text format Step 2: Change all the names of the characters to people whom are closest/most relevant from your life (if nobody make up a name) Step 3: Change all settings to a local setting or a full new world theme you are familiar with (in my case I am from Saudi Arabia - so for example any bar scene I would turn it into a social shisha cafe - when they drink alcohol i wod subsitute that for Shisha smoking - note how drinkin alcohol subsitues nicely with smoking shisha - they r both kind of like DRUGS and BAD FOR U - but still very social and a way ppl do it in social settings -) Step 4: (this is when you actually LEARN and BECOME A UNIQUE WRITER) Step 4 you subsititue PLOT EVENTS but using the SAME OVERALL EMOTION - Example: He got bullied from kids at school = bad childhood trauma therefore your END result is all you need to make that plot still work - So now jus think what OTHER NEW EVENT can also cause the same. BAD CHILDHOOD TRAUMA - Well when he was a kid his horse trainer would abuse him in secret. Step 5: Try to SUBSITUTE all the PLOT DEVICES to basically RE-SKIN IT - (Here is where you will your creativity SHOOTING thru the SKY - and you will develop your true writing abilities - you will also find that is literally what seperates great stories from each other - its those details of the character and settings - as long as the END GOAL is an EMOTIONAL experience in the character and he CHANGES - then it WILL WORK - The problem with amateurs is they DONT GET how things work - They think that if they follow a structure or re-skin it is CHEATING - so then they somehow say to themselves "OK - I will write this from scratch. So they start a new clean empty document and start to write a story - They ask themselves "ok, so how should i BEGIN the story.." well there must be somebody that WANTS something, but i have to INTRODUCE him so people know who they r gona follow as the HERO... they then say ok something MUST HAPPEN TO HIM so I need conflict. Now I need to END IT - It must be BIG. and so on and on.. NOT KNOWING THAT they r LITERALLY re-creating a STRUCTURE that already exists! Only difference is they WASTED LIKE 1 year trying to RE-INVENT the WHEEL that was already there - now u r jus more drained - wasted efficiency by like 500% and you will END UP exactly where you COULD OF STARTED if u already had the STRUCTURE MAPPED OUT Story tellin is the Art of FILL IN THE GAPS with YOUR EXPERIENCE - And you will never truly believe this statement untill you go thru it the hard way like me - But maybe hopefully somebody will jus trust me and my credibility and take my advice and save urself all the hassle - Tarantino basically does a twist on my method - He takes like 10 movies and find places where they can transition or be slightly relevent and mashes them together! Once you change all these details and plots - You will find yourself with an unrecognizable NEW FRESH STORY - You will start to see ways in which you can change the plot to be relevent to you - and make the characters emotional arc relevent to you. - THATS ALL THERE IS TO A MOVIE/NOVEL You can ignore what i wrote here ALL YOU WANT and continue with ur amateur noobish thinkin but at the end of the day MY MOVIE is on NETFLIX and yours isnt - POINT BLANK
If the mathematics of this all turn you off it's almost like sculpting nostalgia in different layers. For Directors who read your script you need to tick off certain boxes that could be defined as nostalgia for them. It needs to resonate according to a certain memory of theirs of how things are supposed to be. But also you want to smuggle your perspectives into that so you ping against the nostalgia of the audience that you are writing for. Maybe nostalgia is the wrong word but we are all calibrated to certain notions of how everything from writing to lighting to costume design to casting should be. The best and most hired script writers make nods to as many aspects of the craft as they can with each word.
Even with all of the information available on the internet now, film school does have the advantage of networking and meeting other people interested and educated in the industry. Otherwise, I would see if anyone in your friends circle has any kind of passion for writing or creating so that they might have an interesting in learning the basics and working with you.
@@NASkeywest You haven't even seen the LOTR series, you idiot, you can't say it ignores the hero's journey and ignores established archetypes because it's not out yet.
Here is our full interview with Logan - ruclips.net/video/jBocwdTPCWM/видео.html
Great question! I’ve been writing a screenplay in my head for 20 years lol. And went to 2 McKee seminars and finally coming around to preparing to write. Thanks for the great interviews.
6:44 As a music teacher of over ten years this is the most important thing a creative mind can learn.
awesome! i'm glad my off-the-cuff advice isn't completely incorrect, haha. great minds think alike
@@loganburdick544 I went to Musician's Institute on Hollywood and Highland with a musical background of hip-hop, surf guitar and punk. Classical teachers act like anything that's not classical is garbage. They are the most snobby musicians you will ever meet. Despite their rudeness I had the upmost respect for them. I lack self discipline and being organized so they helped with that. Through classical melodies I realized it's basically original metal. From other teachers I realized how much twang is in country which is key for surf guitar. I started learning how to strip a Spanish rythm and change the chords but keep the same ryhme to suddenly make it a metal song.
To me creativity is like Mega Man. You start off with a pea shooter so you kill what you can untill you can beat at least one boss to help you take on the next. Once you conquer and replicate something perfectly is when you can finally make it your own. The original work must be understood and respected 1st then you can do no wrong even if you "fail". Why? because to me I'd rather see an original creative choice fail then a money driven choice fail.
I started learning Red Hot Chilli Peppers because I realized his guitar style was influenced by Hendrix. So by learning one artist it helps me absorb and overcome other artists.
Some legendary writers would write out David Copperfield just to learn his rhythm of writing. It's important to learn a Hendrix song EXACTLY how he plays it before you try to make it your own. Now n days everyone just makes it their own because they can't come close to the original and end up paying zero respect to the origins of something that was never there's.
Writers who ruined original works that would be perfect if done right.
RIP- Resident Evil movies
RIP- Mortal Kombat / Street Fighter
RIP- Last Air Bender
RIP- Spawn
RIP- Tom Holland's Spiderman that was literally made up for the MCU and has zero relation to that established characters background.
RIP- Venom and Carnage. 🤦🤦🤦 Need I say more?
I wish someone would remake something more deserving like 1927's Metropolis. Still one of my favorite sci-fi movies ever. Other writers I respect are the ones that know that can't come close to something like Space Odyssey yet manage to make an amazing sequel without worrying about how they can live up to Stanley Kubrick.
The Watchmen is a perfect example of trying their best to stay true to something that is seemingly impossible to translate to film. I usually get annoyed or upset from changes from comic to movie but in The Watchmen's case, WTF else where they supposed to do? Anyway, iv rambled long enough. Peace bruv!
I did that with the Avengers movie. I watched the movie at the same time read the script. Alot of removed content.
i think it's an excellent exercise. i do it for a lot of movies i love
How did you learn screenwriting?
Great video! I wrote a short story that I really liked but wanted to expand into a feature length script, so I reached out on Reddit and connected with someone who had some success in screenwriting with a few optioned scripts. Long story short, he showed me the ropes and we worked on the script together. It took some time to polish it up, but we recently had the script optioned. Now we’re hoping it reaches the production stage!
3 ways: 1- I learned from years of working in animation, not as a writer, but as a character designer, animator, layout artist , and storyboard artist. I've read hundreds of scripts. As a character designer, I had to read the script and make a list of all the characters that needed to be designed, and then draw them. As an animator I had to read the script, as a layout artist I had to read the script, and obviously a storyboard artist must read the script.
2- I went to a speed-pitch conference in Hollywood. Part of the conference was pitching your ideas/script, the other part was sitting in on panels by experienced Hollywood writers and learning things like story structure, character development, and so on.
and 3- I read a few books on screenwriting and storytelling; Save The Cat!, The Eight Characters Of Comedy, Pixar Storytelling.
Great to see you building positive momentum Christian! Congrats on your success so far!
Love it! Thank you for posting Zee Risek!
I learned screenwriting by watching video essays on RUclips that talked about analyzing screenwriters’ writing styles (and how it works with the director), then I started to officially learn from a course on Udemy which solidified my perspective on HOW to write a story in that format and also showed me new perspectives (ie: aside from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey being a way to check off plot points, those same checkboxes can be emulated for an EMOTIONAL CHARACTER ARC). But when it comes to writing scenes or arcs, I play a soundtrack (usually repeatedly) to get me in the mood and the ideas start to flow from there. Then I’ll play the track again to vocalize the ideas and FEEL what works or doesn’t work.
Great point about writing about the market, “but if you don’t then that’s your time.”
But if it’s authentic and original, isn’t that a market? Regardless of genre?
Especially these days with all these horrific rehashing of safe films.
I think about this quite a bit and what I've concluded is that it depends on your personal definition of success.
If your goal is to meet some sort of universal definition of success, such as a certain level of fame or critical acclaim or earnings then you have a goal that can be measured in how directly you capture your audience.
What I think we are more thinking about is how we often have the desire/drive to create something powerful and then make it available to everyone who wants it. Even in that case, I think it's arguable that knowing your audience and planning for that audience will still be advantageous towards that goal. It can facilitate reaching that audience with less effort and expense.
Is authentic and original a market? Sure. Is it a very big market? Not so sure. I mean, if you told someone your script is authentic or original, would they have any idea what they're getting into? You'd be better off leaning on the genre and calling your work authentic and original within that genre. Let's say you're writing sci-fi. You could sell that to sci-fi fans because they already like the genre, which is a good starting point for your sales pitch. However, if you were to walk up to them and say, "I have an authentic and original script," they're likely to ask, "What genre is it?" Also, there may be fans of a specific genre that want authentic and original while other fans of that genre want something more familiar. So, you should work within the genre of what you're writing. If someone says, "Your script has to have this or it has to include that because that's the trend right now," you don't necessarily have to worry about that. Write the story that you want to write, and when you've written it, you'll get an idea who your market is for your work. You don't have to write for a market; you can write your story then decide where your market is, especially since some aspects of your story might change while you're writing, which means your target market may change. Who knows?
That said, I think the most important aspect of writing isn't as much about authentic and original but rather more about execution. A great idea is only great in the outline, because if you can't execute that idea well, then it just falls down over the course of the script. Same with characters. The most important thing you can do as a writer is make sure those characters are written well and with consistency. Part of the reason films are so bad these days isn't necessarily because they're telling the same stories that have been told for thousands of years; it's because the writing and/or editing aren't executed well.
Thanks!
Kalin the Alias! Thank you again for continuing to support this channel!
How I became a screenwriter and wrote a Netflix movie with 4 awards (Baraka Meets Baraka)
Step 1: Download your favorite script in text format
Step 2: Change all the names of the characters to people whom are closest/most relevant from your life (if nobody make up a name)
Step 3: Change all settings to a local setting or a full new world theme you are familiar with (in my case I am from Saudi Arabia - so for example any bar scene I would turn it into a social shisha cafe - when they drink alcohol i wod subsitute that for Shisha smoking - note how drinkin alcohol subsitues nicely with smoking shisha - they r both kind of like DRUGS and BAD FOR U - but still very social and a way ppl do it in social settings -)
Step 4: (this is when you actually LEARN and BECOME A UNIQUE WRITER) Step 4 you subsititue PLOT EVENTS but using the SAME OVERALL EMOTION - Example: He got bullied from kids at school = bad childhood trauma therefore your END result is all you need to make that plot still work - So now jus think what OTHER NEW EVENT can also cause the same. BAD CHILDHOOD TRAUMA - Well when he was a kid his horse trainer would abuse him in secret.
Step 5: Try to SUBSITUTE all the PLOT DEVICES to basically RE-SKIN IT - (Here is where you will your creativity SHOOTING thru the SKY - and you will develop your true writing abilities - you will also find that is literally what seperates great stories from each other - its those details of the character and settings - as long as the END GOAL is an EMOTIONAL experience in the character and he CHANGES - then it WILL WORK -
The problem with amateurs is they DONT GET how things work - They think that if they follow a structure or re-skin it is CHEATING - so then they somehow say to themselves "OK - I will write this from scratch.
So they start a new clean empty document and start to write a story - They ask themselves "ok, so how should i BEGIN the story.." well there must be somebody that WANTS something, but i have to INTRODUCE him so people know who they r gona follow as the HERO... they then say ok something MUST HAPPEN TO HIM so I need conflict. Now I need to END IT - It must be BIG.
and so on and on.. NOT KNOWING THAT they r LITERALLY re-creating a STRUCTURE that already exists! Only difference is they WASTED LIKE 1 year trying to RE-INVENT the WHEEL that was already there - now u r jus more drained - wasted efficiency by like 500% and you will END UP exactly where you COULD OF STARTED if u already had the STRUCTURE MAPPED OUT
Story tellin is the Art of FILL IN THE GAPS with YOUR EXPERIENCE - And you will never truly believe this statement untill you go thru it the hard way like me - But maybe hopefully somebody will jus trust me and my credibility and take my advice and save urself all the hassle - Tarantino basically does a twist on my method - He takes like 10 movies and find places where they can transition or be slightly relevent and mashes them together!
Once you change all these details and plots - You will find yourself with an unrecognizable NEW FRESH STORY - You will start to see ways in which you can change the plot to be relevent to you - and make the characters emotional arc relevent to you. - THATS ALL THERE IS TO A MOVIE/NOVEL
You can ignore what i wrote here ALL YOU WANT and continue with ur amateur noobish thinkin but at the end of the day MY MOVIE is on NETFLIX and yours isnt - POINT BLANK
Thank you for this
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
🙄🤮
@@SurayaG the bathroom is where u go to throw up not in public
@@thebicycleman8062 sorry i guess you brought it out of me
If the mathematics of this all turn you off it's almost like sculpting nostalgia in different layers. For Directors who read your script you need to tick off certain boxes that could be defined as nostalgia for them. It needs to resonate according to a certain memory of theirs of how things are supposed to be. But also you want to smuggle your perspectives into that so you ping against the nostalgia of the audience that you are writing for. Maybe nostalgia is the wrong word but we are all calibrated to certain notions of how everything from writing to lighting to costume design to casting should be. The best and most hired script writers make nods to as many aspects of the craft as they can with each word.
That’s a great way to explain it. Well said 👏
Yep i think you got it.
Now, what (do yall) think are those nostalgia boxes that one needs to take into account?
@@capuchinosofia4771I don't know I write raps not movies
I need French or Arabic translation, please? Thanks for sharing.
Dose anyone know where you can find a screenwriting partner?
Even with all of the information available on the internet now, film school does have the advantage of networking and meeting other people interested and educated in the industry. Otherwise, I would see if anyone in your friends circle has any kind of passion for writing or creating so that they might have an interesting in learning the basics and working with you.
Hi Logan ****
😐 Just hit all the story telling elements then put one out of order - or - over emphasize one. It’s not complicated.
Good luck.
Any malayalis here?
Films are bad these days.
Awful, recycled, and too safe. Originality is gone tragically.
Horrible
@@wonderwomanx1268 heavy on recycled
The films that are getting the most distribution and recognition* are bad these days
Way to many reboots and remakes.
Today it seems to be more like "ignore the hero's journey", "ignore established archetypes", "make main character a minority".
No one's saying make the main character a minority.
@@liamrogers8421 ummm, yea they are. Look at the Witcher series or Amazon’s lord of the rings. Black…female…dwarf. Yea.
@@NASkeywest You haven't even seen the LOTR series, you idiot, you can't say it ignores the hero's journey and ignores established archetypes because it's not out yet.