Help me, please

[UncleMeat]

I've just got my GCSE results (fairly good) and now want to do something with my life. As I have previously said on this message board I've always wanted to be involved in the film industry, but now the whole thing is a little bit confusing. I live in an extremely small village in Norfolk and it would seem almost impossible to meet anyone who has similar aspirations as me, most people my age are too busy listening to "bangin' toonz" around here. Ideally I would like to write screenplays, and as there is a distinct lack of equipment this would seem to be my only realistic option. I have a whole host of ideas for films (not your average "Zombie Death 2000" rubbish either) but am not sure what is possible for a low budget film or not. So, what I was wondering was, would it be possible for me to "work" with someone with a little more experience, and more facilites open to them, than me so that they could help me write a workable screenplay and possibly make it into a film, or should I spend the rest of my life in my local MacDonalds?

[Ravenhill]

Here are a few rules that I live by when writing screenplays:

Firstly, read some plays or attend a couple of local amateur dramatics performances. I've had a lot of experience of stage acting and the important thing about plays is that the stage directions are minimal because of the limited space, so the whole thing hinges on the dialogue. Dialogue is king.
If you spend some time looking at the theatre it should help you to get 'a good ear' for dialogue when writing.

Secondarily, when you write your screenplay don't be afraid to put whatever you want into it. If your script requires a restaurant for a couple of scenes but you don't know anyone who owns or has access to one, don't worry - write it in anyway.
Don't limit yourself to those things that you know you can attain - stretch yourself.
If the screenplay needs it you will find a way to do it.
If, later on, you realise that there is absolutely no way you're going to get the location you want, then just mould the dynamics of the scene to a location you CAN get.

Thirdly, meet people. Lots of them. Sit on a bench somewhere and watch people go by. Go into a pub and sit quietly in the corner listening to conversations. People are fascinating and everything you observe is usable. It's all grist for the mill.

Lastly, don't force yourself to write a screenplay scene by scene in chronological order. On my last project, I wrote whichever scene was rolling around in my head at the time. It's better to write scenes 3, 7, 13, 23 and 42, then fill in the scenes around them than to sit down and get stuck on scene 4 for a month and not get anywhere. The art of screenplay writing is incredibly adaptable. Enjoy it and keep it fun.

Good luck.

[LAmind]

This is my opinion, but I'm going to have to disagree with Ravenhill about the part about writing your script out of order. When I write scripts it's always from scene one to the last. You're script will seriously fall apart if you wite it out of order. The only possible exception is the writing of the LAST scene.

Uncle Meat- Why do you need someone who has experience in script writing. If it's your own movie, who cares how you write the script. I'm riting a script right now, and I don't even use all those stupid INT., EXT. markers. I write my script the best way possible for the reader to get the story. It doesn't have to be all fancy.

-Ivan

[Dale]

I'm sure that if you go to college to study A-levels you may bump into people who would be interested in making films. Alternatively you could see if local colleges or universities run courses on film-making/videomaking where you could meet people with similar interests.

A lot of low-budget directors started out on their features by getting members of their local community interested in helping them make films. Its a fun pastime.

There's an excellent documentary called 'Good Taste' which is about the making of Peter Jackson's movie 'Bad Taste' and how he spent his weekends with his friends making movies. If you want to see the flipside to that see if you can get to a showing of 'American Movie' - v.funny and touching about one guy's aim to finish his horror short.

Finally you could start by creating animation. It doesn't require a cast of thousands, but does offer you the opportunity to learn film-making skills (and tell great stories) on a low-budget.

Hope this helps!

[UncleMeat]

I see what you're saying about it being my script and all, but I'd appreciate being able to tell someone who knew what they were talking about my ideas, and hopefully they'd then tell me if, with their experience, they thought they were worth following up. A mentor, as it were.

[This message has been edited by UncleMeat (edited August 27, 2000).]

[Ravenhill]

LAmind, you make a good point.

In the interests of clarity I should explain that I always have a complete storyline and a brief note of each scene, where it is going, the characters motivation, etc. Only then do I jump around and write whichever scene is in the forefront of my mind.
However, I fully agree that, if you don't know exactly how the script is going to develop or which direction it will take, then writing a collection of scenes which are individual entities may not be the best way forward for a first time screenwriter.
It's one of those tricky areas really.
To be able to jump from scene to scene is a very liberating experience which can free the mind of the writer. At the same time, to write a screenplay chronologically is a very good exercise in discipline which, as we all know, is one of the most important things for a screenwriter to have.

[UncleMeat]

OK, I'll take the lack of replies to mean that such a service is not available. So, instead I'll just put a short synopsis of my idea on here, and from the responses I'll decide whether it is worth pursuing or not.

[LAmind]

So tell us about your movie idea Uncle Meat.

-Ivan Zorine

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"A place for everything and everything in it's place".