Written by Hal Croasmun on February 19, 2010.
You need to do both. Today, I’ll map out a plan for writing from your core – from that natural talent that you have deep inside of you.
Keep this in mind: Becoming a great screenwriter is a growth process. Done right, you’ll mature a bit more every day – in writing skill, in philosophy, and in creatively expressing yourself.
Make a list of what you just naturally do well having to do with writing. But don’t stop with the obvious. Keep looking for a deeper understanding of what you are naturally talented at. The more you understand your own talents, the more you’ll be able to focus on them to deliver your own unique voice in your screenplays.
Every day, you can discover something more about what you are naturally good at. Brilliant talent isn’t always easy to understand or see. Keep looking deeper.
And with each discovery, your TALENT emerges.
Just as important, we all have a public face and a private face. We’ve said one thing and meant another. We’ve been both courageous and fearful . We’ve had times we’ve won and felt like losers, but also had times we lost and felt like a winner. Life has given us enough experience to build the most interesting situations and characters.
Find those moments – especially the paradoxical moments – and fill your stories with them.
Rather than that, what if you took your experiences and understanding and translated that into something amazing? Your experience of being embarrassed at dinner becomes a tabloid publicized humiliation for your character. Your experience of being pulled over by a traffic cop becomes your character being arrested for multiple felonies someone else did.
Use your imagination to transform your experiences into an emotional roller-coaster ride that causes your character to grow in some amazing way while still feeling real.
What makes it feel real is that it comes from your experience and understanding. What makes it amazing is when you use your imagination to set it in a whole new context or to give it to us in an unexpected way.
Can you take what you know and imagine it in an even more entertaining way? You bet you can.
Those happen because the writer spent years learning ALL OF THOSE SKILLS. Translating the story in your mind onto the page is all about having the right skills. Higher quality skills equals a stronger translation of your vision and a more compelling read.
But don’t worry; you’ll learn those skills as you progress. You’ll discover them as you read produced screenplays and experiment with your own scripts or you can learn them even faster in ScreenwritingU classes because we give you exactly what you need to succeed.
Whichever route you take, make learning high-level screenwriting skills a priority now.
One way to think of it is climbing a ladder. You write a script and move to rung 1. You submit it to a contest and maybe you don’t even place. So you take some classes, write another script…and your script is a Quarter-finalist. You’ve moved to rung 2.
Go back, apply more of #1 – #4 (natural talent, experience, imagination, and skill) and you make it to Finalist. Not bad. You’re on rung 3. Now take some more classes, write another script, get script consulting, and surprise; you win the contest. Rung 4.
But does that make you professional? So you test that script against the market and are turned down by everyone. Give up? Hell no. You’ve come this far and with a bit more work, you’ll get where you want to go. Apply more of #1 – #4. Take better classes, get a better script consultant, write a better script…and you get optioned. Rung 5.
You continue moving up that ladder until one day, you’re at the top – A-List.
Notice two things – 1. You kept going back to your core and most likely, each time, you discovered something new about your natural talents. 2. You kept learning, growing, and finding even better ways to express yourself in screenplays.
Stay on this path and soon, you’ll be seen as “naturally talented” — and you’ll be paid for it!
What if agents and producers saw you as “naturally talented?”
There are two ways to become a great screenwriter. One is to find your “natural talent.” The other is to build in all the skills, understanding, and creative process that can express that talent in the most amazing way possible.You need to do both. Today, I’ll map out a plan for writing from your core – from that natural talent that you have deep inside of you.
Keep this in mind: Becoming a great screenwriter is a growth process. Done right, you’ll mature a bit more every day – in writing skill, in philosophy, and in creatively expressing yourself.
1. What are you naturally good at that can help your screenwriting?
A quick search will likely reveal some of your natural talents. Maybe you can visualize a story. Maybe you come up with good dialogue. Maybe you can dream up unique and interesting characters. Maybe you just love movies.Make a list of what you just naturally do well having to do with writing. But don’t stop with the obvious. Keep looking for a deeper understanding of what you are naturally talented at. The more you understand your own talents, the more you’ll be able to focus on them to deliver your own unique voice in your screenplays.
Every day, you can discover something more about what you are naturally good at. Brilliant talent isn’t always easy to understand or see. Keep looking deeper.
And with each discovery, your TALENT emerges.
2. What interesting situations have you lived that you can bring to your characters and stories?
We’ve all had ups and downs in life. Love and tragedy. Successes and failures. Embarrassments and proud moments. Breakdowns and breakthroughs.Just as important, we all have a public face and a private face. We’ve said one thing and meant another. We’ve been both courageous and fearful . We’ve had times we’ve won and felt like losers, but also had times we lost and felt like a winner. Life has given us enough experience to build the most interesting situations and characters.
Find those moments – especially the paradoxical moments – and fill your stories with them.
3. How can you use your imagination to bring those moments to life in a unique way?
The most common thing for people to do is write exactly what happened to them. They put their characters in common situations and have them do common things.Rather than that, what if you took your experiences and understanding and translated that into something amazing? Your experience of being embarrassed at dinner becomes a tabloid publicized humiliation for your character. Your experience of being pulled over by a traffic cop becomes your character being arrested for multiple felonies someone else did.
Use your imagination to transform your experiences into an emotional roller-coaster ride that causes your character to grow in some amazing way while still feeling real.
What makes it feel real is that it comes from your experience and understanding. What makes it amazing is when you use your imagination to set it in a whole new context or to give it to us in an unexpected way.
Can you take what you know and imagine it in an even more entertaining way? You bet you can.
4. What skills will you learn that will elevate the quality of your screenwriting?
If you don’t think this game is about skill, you need to look again. Read any great screenplay and you’ll see a combination of character depth, subtext, meaning, setup/payoff, and interest – all designed into single lines of dialogue.Those happen because the writer spent years learning ALL OF THOSE SKILLS. Translating the story in your mind onto the page is all about having the right skills. Higher quality skills equals a stronger translation of your vision and a more compelling read.
But don’t worry; you’ll learn those skills as you progress. You’ll discover them as you read produced screenplays and experiment with your own scripts or you can learn them even faster in ScreenwritingU classes because we give you exactly what you need to succeed.
Whichever route you take, make learning high-level screenwriting skills a priority now.
5. How are you going to test your writing to make sure it is professional?
At some point, you need to find out how good you really are – and how much improvement you truly need to be professional.One way to think of it is climbing a ladder. You write a script and move to rung 1. You submit it to a contest and maybe you don’t even place. So you take some classes, write another script…and your script is a Quarter-finalist. You’ve moved to rung 2.
Go back, apply more of #1 – #4 (natural talent, experience, imagination, and skill) and you make it to Finalist. Not bad. You’re on rung 3. Now take some more classes, write another script, get script consulting, and surprise; you win the contest. Rung 4.
But does that make you professional? So you test that script against the market and are turned down by everyone. Give up? Hell no. You’ve come this far and with a bit more work, you’ll get where you want to go. Apply more of #1 – #4. Take better classes, get a better script consultant, write a better script…and you get optioned. Rung 5.
You continue moving up that ladder until one day, you’re at the top – A-List.
Notice two things – 1. You kept going back to your core and most likely, each time, you discovered something new about your natural talents. 2. You kept learning, growing, and finding even better ways to express yourself in screenplays.
Stay on this path and soon, you’ll be seen as “naturally talented” — and you’ll be paid for it!
No comments:
Post a Comment