Pro Screenplays

Thrills and spills...

2011-01-24T20:58:00.000-08:00

Tip of the day...

When writing your action, don't just go with the first thing that comes to mind, and don't do what has already been done before. If you're doing a car chase, go big, go wild, do something with a car and truck that has never been done before. Like in DATE NIGHT, when the car and cab got stuck together after they crashed. Funny, effective and original. This is why Simon Kinberg gets the big bucks to write special action scenes, because we haven't seen it before.

So think of what can be done with the elements in your scene, throw in a few more and blow our minds with what we are reading, and do it so well that there is no need for the to hire Simon Kinberg to write a cool action scene in your script, because it is already too awesome to touch.

Write hard!

Unwritten screenplays will never sell...

2011-01-22T07:09:00.000-08:00

This are the words on the Post It note I have attached to the screen of my computer. Distraction always seems to get the best of me and sometimes I don't get that 2 hour window completed of writing each day. And when I mean writing, I mean writing my own screenplays. That 2 hours is not for reading industry news, blogs, analyzing screenplays, working on notes for writers, none of that.

It is for me.

Nobody else.

So this Post It note has already inspired me to keep moving forward, and isn't amazing to see how many pages actually get written when you commit to writing for a specific allotment of time each and ever day?

I'm almost done my latest rewrite and man, does it feel great. So remember this little motto, "Unwritten screenplays never sell", and it just may save your career, or put it into action.

Write hard!

The time...

2010-04-25T19:28:00.000-07:00

I love it.

When I sit down to write, bag of Salt & Vinegar chips and a cup of sweet, creamy Tetley tea at the ready... the baby is in bed... the wife is immersed in her PVR'd You and the Restless episodes, and I step into my office, close the door, turn on the Braveheat soundtrack and lay my fingers across the keys to create new worlds, new people and new twists and turns.

I love it.

And what's even better is when the muse hits me and that planned hour to simply write turns into 4 or 5 without even knowing where the time has gone and it is the middle of the night. New pages, new inspiration, exciting stuff. Off to bed.

But what I absolutely love the most is the next day. When I read back the pages from the night before and somewhere in there I see a flash of genius I didn't remember writing. And I have to sit there and marvel at the fact that I actually wrote it.

I LOVE that.

Anyone else?

Back in the Saddle...

2010-04-18T20:56:00.000-07:00

Hey fellow screenwriters,

Been a while, but I back to feeling inspired beyond belief and I felt like inspiring others.

So I have created a little video series, which you can see or have seen already above.

I hope it inspires and sparks some great ideas and creations.

I will be back soon and plan on spreading more screenwriting cheer if the business doesn't bog me down too much. Things are CRAZY for me right now, busier than I can barely handle, but still finding time to pay it forward.

Cheers!

Scott

So many ingredients, so little money...

2009-09-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

So it seems to me that the state of the screenwriting business - meaning selling a script or getting a script made into an actual movie - has become trickier as the days pass.

When I write a new spec script, I don't ever think of budget. I usually try to come up with a high impact, commercial idea that I think will attract attention. I always think, would someone pay a crapload of money to see this movie? Would it be the one they choose over the 15 other ones at the theatre to pay their cash for? If not, I move on to the next idea.

I have tried to write within a box. Within a budget. Trying to sell something to the guys who have a $500,000 budget. I have tried the limited location thriller, the no budget horror of two people locked in a room, the smaller cast of romantic comics. All of them. And you know what? It always fails.

I can't seem to find the inspiration. I don't like being kept inside that box.

So I say screw it, screw the budget. Just write it. And then after the fact see where you're at and go from there.

My movies always end up probably needing a good 10-15 million to pull off all of the set pieces and sequences that make the script what it is.

And yesterday that was probably pennies. But today it's not pennies, it's too much money.

So now I find myself trying to hold back, trying to figure out what would make a scene cheaper to do. And then I stopped.

That's a load of crap.

Who cares if I write a scene that has 17 bentley's exploding at one time. Or if a script needs a single scene where my hero flies his woman to the bottom of the grand canyon for a picnic.

Let the accountants figure it out.

And I think that's the way to do it. Just write it. From the heart. From the soul. Say what is needed to be said, at least off the bat. Get it all out. Flush the system and worry about the smaller details later.

Because seriously, these days you need every page, every scene, every sentence to sparkle if you're gonna get it passed up the food chain.

So do it. Just write.

And Write Hard!

WRITE HARD!

2009-09-28T20:46:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I have decided to start this blog over.

No more messing around.

No more feeling too tired to get some words down.

No more keeping quiet.

I hope you stumble upon this and feel inspired to keep writing, keep dreaming in film, and keep seeing the world as one giant movie. Because if you do, there is nothing in the world like it, my friend.

See you in the trenches.

Write Hard!