Jeez, considering the skill with which most Dopers write, I assumed everybody on this site were procrastinating screenwriters. In fact, I didn’t want to start any streams on SDMB with the intent of research for fear somebody will want to take some of my ideas.
The above being said, considering the hefty amount of junk that gets produced, I think I’m giving too much credit to screenwriters. A pretty high-on-the-totem-pole producer once told me, “Telling me you have a great script is like telling me you have really great lottery ticket numbers.” It can be that kind of a crapshoot.
I am a screenwriter who, ahem, sometimes procrastinates. Many ideas, most of which, not to sound egotistical, are stellar. But it’s not about the idea–it’s what one does with it. I’m currently working a story about two roommates who don’t get along. It’s at the bottom of the list of “great ideas,” but one that seems appropriate to write for now.
I went to school for it, learned very little (nobody’s fault, just the situation, really), read a lot of books, then started working as a script typist (data input) at Warner Bros. Once input this really odd script that seemed pretty bewildering from a logic standpoint (we input in 10-page blocks, so you didn’t always get to see a complete version) and required special effects that weren’t even possible at the time. It was about some guy named Neo who was a computer hacker or something. Anyhow, the nightly (graveyard) process of typing somebody’s work for hours on end, while torturous, really trained me to grasp script action/description and timing. But lemme tell ya, there is a TON of vanilla out there that gets bought, one lame action script after another.
But I think the best way to become a screenwriter, outside of reading some screenwriting books to get a handle on a few things, is just to write. But I wouldn’t try to incorporate what screenwriting manuals provide in a first draft–it’s enough to make you go nuts. Use them for rewrites or when you’re stuck. Go see “Adaptation”; with the exception of a Q and A with Bruce Joel Rubin (“Ghost”) at an expo, “Adaptation” provides me with more insight than any book I’d read or interview I’d seen (“Story” by Robert McKee was pretty remarkable, though, but a bit rigid).
Okay, I’m done.
