Part 71: Reading Screenplays to Learn How to Write a Proper Screenplay

Screenwriting Myth: "If you want to learn how to write a screenplay, just read the screenplays online and copy what they do!"

One of the more celebrated platitudes disguised as “screenwriting advice” is the suggestion to “read all of the scripts you can and learn what TO do and what NOT to do!”

I am not aware of a single script ever written that tells you HOW to write a spec screenplay. The fact that a particular screenplay was successful, in and of itself, means nothing in the final analysis. There are just too many elements that go into creating a successful screenplay – including luck – that, to limit it to one rule or even a series of rules, is folly.

Undoubtedly, a fellow screenwriter who believes he or she knows more than the rest of us, or one of those dangerously self-proclaimed “gurus” will suggest something along the lines of the following:

“You want to learn how to write a screenplay? Read “Chinatown” until your eyes bleed! THAT’S how you write a screenplay!”

“You write comedy? Read ‘The Hangover’. That’s the direction comedy is going these days.”

“So, you think you write horror? Better be like the “Saw” franchise. Better yet, make it a found footage horror. They’re hot right now!”

You’ve all been told the screenplays – Casablanca, The Godfather, Annie Hall, Network…the list goes on and on. Then, the untrained, uneducated, unlearned spec screenwriter takes all the little tricks and traits that make those screenplays among the best ever written and writes their masterpiece.

How could they possibly go wrong?

Maybe by including the actor cue,?“INTENSE BEAT”? I can see and hear the director now-?"Tom, the script calls for an 'INTENSE BEAT', not just a regular 'BEAT'. Give me more intensity!"

Let's not only include it, but…here it comes, now…let's put it in the?SCENE DESCRIPTION!

And, because you saw it in a Woody Allen script, why not include?CAMERA RAMP TO CLOSE UP OF MAN’S CROTCH? It worked for him, why not me?

How about three full pages of script dedicated to the credit roll and subsequent background graphics, not to mention a song list and YouTube links of suggested dance numbers?

Sounds ridiculous? I just read that screenplay. I saw it all- just a few weeks ago.

The point is, my friends, that the large majority of the scripts you’ll find and read online, supposedly to "learn" how to write a proper screenplay, are from produced movies, written by extremely talented, professional, working screenwriters.

They are not "spec" scripts.

They are not even the final drafts of the scripts submitted to the production company.

Most of those found online are 10-20 drafts AFTER the final draft that was submitted, and more likely than not (probably 95%), are?shooting scripts. Shooting scripts are far different than the initial final draft of a screenplay. Writing a screenplay at the direction and behest of a producer (usually as a paid writing assignment) are far different than the ordinary spec script- or should be.

These shooting scripts do not at all resemble the format and appearance of a spec screenplay, written by YOU- the "as-of-yet undiscovered screenwriter".

Learn the formatting rules as they apply to the SPEC screenplay.

You can read all the produced screenplays you want; your favorite movies; your favorite TV show; your favorite screenwriter. I do. I just don’t use them as examples of how my script should look or how it should be written.

If you do, you’re shooting yourself in the foot even before you step onto the dance floor.

Read them for enjoyment.

Read them for inspiration.

Read them for ideas.

Read them because you’re stuck on a plane on the tarmac while they’re spending two hours de-icing the wings.

Read them to pass the time in traffic court as you wait to plead “not guilty” to your speeding ticket.

Read them at Starbucks, as you pretend to be someone important.

Just don’t read them to learn how to write a screenplay.

Instead...

1. Take a class; (ScreenwritingU does NOT teach you how to write a screenplay).
2. Read "The Screenwriter's Bible"- many times over. Refer to it ALWAYS.
3. Sign up for a seminar/webinar with the topic of "How to Write a Proper Spec Script".
4. Take a college course.
5. Get a mentor - someone who writes successful spec scripts for a living.

This Week's Promo: Pamela Millican; Reset Your Life With Pamela Millican

"I have spent my entire life learning about human behavior and what makes people do what they do. That's why I wrote Making Broken Beautiful: From Tragedy and Trauma to Badass, Wealth and Success : Millican-Hartnoll, Pamela: Amazon.com.au: Books (soon to be a major motion picture) and created my signature RESET Your Life, six-week personal development Program because I want others to take their lives back too.?I want people to stop treating themselves the way others may have and I want them to learn to love themselves instead. If any of this resonates with you, ask yourself "How am I going to change MY life and live it the way I REALLY want?"?When you decide you want a better life, you are going to want to learn from someone who has been there, and I would love for that someone to be me."

WRITER'S BIO:?Geno Scala spent 22-plus years in the Hollywood community and was the?Executive Director?for the?72nd Annual Academy Awards, as well as?The Soul Train Awards,?The Grammys,?The Blockbuster Video Awards Show?and?The Saturn Award Show.?

Currently, he and his team are adapting several books into screenplays, including the fascinating autobiography?"Call Me Zena",?by?Sally Barnard?who, after a brief illness, developed high-level artistic skills overnight.?He is also developing biopic projects of rock pioneer?Jimmie F. Rodgers,?Motown star?Tammi Terrell?and iconic folk?singer?Harry Chapin?- all while continuing to mentor hundreds of new writers and self-published authors.

Geno has several screenplays produced and currently on Amazon Prime;?"Assassin 33 A.D.", "Black Easter"?and?"The Tombs".?Most recently, he was the?Executive Script Consultant?of a?major motion picture?scheduled to begin filming in Australia, Spring of 2022.