Anyone planning on entering Script Frenzy? I missed NaNo last year so I’m doing this as a warm up, plus its a fun and different kind of challenge. I’m planning on writing a drama about government black ops and unlawful detainment. Kinda like Enemy of the State, except less action and more drama because my main character is imprisoned very early on and doesn’t escape until near the end.
I can’t wait to get started, I wrote out a brief outline and I just downloaded Celtx which Office of Light and Letters recommends.
I did it last year, but I can’t do it this year because they moved it from June to April and this April is going to be the busiest month of my life so far. My script last year was painfully bad, anyway.
As it happens, I’m trying to write a painfully bad script. However, I see the rules require something new:
I play by the rules. So, should I suspend work on the project I’ve started, and start a different one for Script Frenzy? Or keep plugging away on what I was doing? I’ve never actually finished a novel or screenplay; the whole point of what I’m doing now is just to finish a full-length project. What to do. . . .
I think your supposed to come up with a new idea for a script. And according to what I’ve read on their site, 100 pages is about what most screenplays for movies come it at because camera directions are added to make them shooting scripts.
I don’t know the rules for sure, but its possible on the forums over there, someone would know.
Well, I think I’ll give it a try – but I’m still uncertain, looking through the site, as to whether I can just continue on the screenplay I’ve already gotten started, or whether I need to put that aside for a month and start something completely new on April 1.
Found a Script Frenzy Forum page dealing with this very question. Apparently it’s okay to use Script Frenzy to continue a work in progress, though you’re still on your honor to add 100 pages to it in April.
But – I think I’ll start something new, then come back to my current project.
I’m Azatol over there, which is a nickname I have on a lot of sites. My region is pretty big, all of Michigan. And everyone I’ve seen on that regional forum has been from the Detroit area. I would help out, but I’m going to be busy enough with other stuff in addition to writing my script.
I’ve tested out Celtx and it makes writing a script in the correct format much easier. It has a template for movies, tv, plays, so you can use whatever and it will format it right. Its pretty useful.
Apparently there are several different software packages or online sites available that allow you to write a script without having to do the formatting yourself. Not sure if that’s a good thing; I’m old-fashioned enough to think a writer should do all the gruntwork himself.
On the other hand, in working on my own crappy stuff, I’ve sometimes been annoyed at how, when I’m putting in a lot of back-and-forth dialogue, it slows me down to have to format the different paragraphs for character names and dialogue. I set up a Word template with keyboard shortcuts for the paragraph styles, but I guess it’d be a nice luxury not to have to keep setting them.
Well, none of that matters if you don’t get something worth reading in there.
Ooh, I hoped there were others out there. I went to the St. Louis local gathering yesterday, and it was dismal… only the ML, me, and the friend I dragged along with me.
I’m a three-year NaNo vet, but only got about 15 pages into Script Frenzy last year before getting bored. Maybe this year my attention span will hold.
Oh, and I have absolutely no idea what I’ll write about. But I have 4.5 hours to figure it out. How hard can it be?
Well I couldn’t sleep, so I started on my script. I’m barely past page 1 and I’ve already come up with a lot of questions that will have to be researched in later drafts, but I’ve just kept writing. If some of the stuff thats happening is wrong or unrealistic it can always be modified later.
Also I find it helpful to use SeventhSanctum.com’s quick name generator for generating initial character names, I can change them later if need be, and I usually mix and match first and last names from different results, but its been a good way to get at least something to identify a character by.
After about an hour and a half, I’m a little under 3 pages done. Hopefully later pages will come a little easier as I don’t have quite so many odd bits of formatting going on, so the only thing to slow me down is rereading the source material (my 2006 NaNo) to refresh my memory of how the scenes went.
Well, I’m done for this morning, stayed up too late, but I did get 10 pages done, and I got to write on of the most action packed parts early on so that helps.
I’ve discovered a named character that I originally planned on making just a minor part. He’s got some of my best lines I think, so I will name him and give him more roles. (He’s a villain involved in said action packed part, but not really THE villain, just a henchman but a fun one.)
I decided to plug away at my work-in-progress. Guess I’ll upload what I’ve got so far tonight. I think it’s about 25 pages, so I’d need to hit 125 to fulfill the conditions of Script Frenzy.
Apparently there are several different software packages or online services that allow one to write a script without having to learn the proper formatting. I think I’ll stick with MS Word; I’ve set up a template with the necessary styles linked to keyboard shortcuts.
So, I’m all ready. . . and still can’t figure out how the fuck to actually upload the fucking plain text file. Is this part supposed to be a big puzzle?
