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  1. Mr Vampyre

    Mr Vampyre New Member

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    Methods of planning a screenplay - what's yours?

    Discussion in 'Scripts and screenplays' started by Mr Vampyre, Dec 19, 2008.

    I was reading Tom Lazarus's excellent book: Secrets of Film Writing and in one of the early chapters he talks about creating a scene list which he uses as a story organiser for his screenplays.

    It got me thinking on methods one might use for the planning of a screenplay and I was wondering what other methods there were and what people tended to go with. I personally normally plan by writing it out as a basic short story and that works for me, but I am interested to hear of other methods.

    I don't know if this is in the right forum. This place confuses me.
     
  2. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I don't do screenplays. Hopefully someone who does will chime in with useful advice. Apaer from having to more explicitly manage pace and scene duration, I'm not sure in what ways the initial planning would differ from that for any other form of fiction.

    If someone CAN point out the differences, it may enlighten those of us who don't swim in those waters.
     
  3. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    as with any other form of writing, there are probably as many methods and versions of methods as there are practitioners of the craft/art...

    the main 'physical' ones in screenwriting are normal outlining and index cards... some prefer one and some the other... some even do up a storyboard complete with drawings of the key scenes and plot points...

    and where to start is even more varied... screenwriters can begin their development of a script from any of the following:

    a character
    a scene
    a location
    an event
    a concept
    a plot

    here are the how-to's i recommend to my screenwriting mentees:

     
  4. Mr Vampyre

    Mr Vampyre New Member

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    Thank you mammamaia. I'll be sure to check those books out. I'll also give the index card method a try.
     

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