Screenwriter's Guidebook

Screenwriting tips, tricks, and critiques.

[chonce]

#NotMyPresident

The electoral college does not vote until December 19th. We have 40 days.

What does this mean?

Right now, the presidential election results are only a PROJECTION of the election outcome. They are PRELIMINARY RESULTS. A candidate still needs to earn 270 electoral votes to win. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, which means that more than 50% of the voters wanted her for president. The electoral college shouldn’t guarantee an override of the public’s opinion– and it doesn’t have to.

There are 21 states that do NOT restrict which candidate the electors vote for. Out of these 21, Hillary lost the following:

As you can see, these states are worth 166 electoral votes. As it currently stands, Hillary Clinton is projected to receive 232 votes. Trump is projected to win 306. This means that 37 votes need to be taken away from Trump to bring him down to 269. Hillary Clinton needs 38 votes ADDED to win 270. These electoral voters can also abstain, which means that they can refuse to vote for either candidate. If 37 of the voters within these states abstain then no candidate will have reached the required 270. In this case, the vote would be taken to the House.

Trump won Pennsylvania, a state that typically votes blue, by less than 100,000 votes. While it is highly unlikely to get all 20 electoral voters to cross party lines and vote democrat, it also isn’t impossible to convince a few of them to be “faithless electors.” We only need to convince 38 out of the 166. That is 23%. There are SIXTEEN states we need to focus our attention on.

A move like this would be unprecedented. However, as we all saw on November 8th, odds don’t guarantee reality. Trump had a less than 20% winning, yet given the circumstances, enough people came together and made it happen. We can make this happen. 

Ask yourself this: What do we have left to lose? We can stay complacent and accept that this country will be run by a racist, sexist, islamophobic, homophobic, ablest bigot, or we can at least try. 

How?

SPREAD THE WORD. Trend #NotMyPresident to let people know that we do not accept being led by a man who does not care about our wellbeing. Email your professors, email the dean of your colleges. The last thing a university wants is negative press. Millenials can take a stand, but that doesn’t mean we have to be the only ones. Church-led events helped bring a lot of disillusioned voters to the polls. Spread the word in any way possible, whether it be on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or even in person. Stage a peaceful protest. Hand out flyers. Let the people around you know that you don’t accept this man as your leader when he won’t even accept you as a citizen with your designated rights.

These 166 people need to face the consequences of electing this man. 

Do this for the people who couldn’t vote. Do this for the people who live in the very real fear of being deported. Do this for the people who will have to face the rise in hate crimes. Do this for the people who have a very real possibility of losing their rights. Do this for the people who will no longer afford necessities. 

[visual-prompts]

Tonight we mourn.

[screenwritersguidebook-blog]

Hi there, I'm working on a short piece (3-5 minutes) for my final major project at university. The project started off really well however I've come to writing the actual screenplay and I've found all of my confidence in the piece just drop. Do you have any advice on finding inspiration? Thankyou!

Sorry it’s taken so long to respond. I hope I’m not too late. I tend to really get inspiration when I’m consuming other forms of media.

I play a lot of video games when I have a lack of inspiration, and it almost always gets my ideas flowing. I always think of how I can incorporate the new elements from the game I’m playing into what I’m working on. Whenever I play The Last of Us, I always get a ton of ideas for how to handle character death and exposition.

It also really helps me to analyze stories from movies I’m really into. I recently analyzed 500 Days of Summer and it gave me a lot of ideas for telling a linear story in a seemingly non-linear format. Even if I never implement anything like that in my writing, just having the new ideas helps me look at my project in a new way.

If after that you’re still having trouble moving forward with your project–and trust me we all have those completely discouraging days–it might help you just write boring, uninspired crap until you do get inspired again. Remember you can always go back during the editing process and fix anything you’ve written during these sessions😅 I like to look up writing prompts when I get to this point and force the scenario to work with my characters, even if it completely throws off any planning I did beforehand.

I don’t know if any of this will help you, but I hope it does. Good luck! 👍

[screenwritersguidebook-blog]

Hey, sorry for never following up with the October story challenge. I’ve had a lot of person problems lately. I’ll be back to posting more around the beginning of next month.

Until then, I have a question:

If you’re a US citizen and you’re not going to vote in the upcoming election, what made you decide to not vote?

I voted because I feel like it’s extremely important to at least keep things out of Trump’s hands until we can organize and restructure the government system.

PS, if you support Trump you need to unfollow me.

[unityy-deactivated20171229]

TRANS GIRL IN TROUBLE IMPORTANT PLEASE READ

My car just broke down and is permanently dead :(

I’m going to have to move back to Tennessee just because it’s so cheap to live there and I’ve got to buy a plane ticket and a uhaul just to move our stuff. The plane ticket is for jay my fiancé because they can’t ride in the car for that long. Then I’m gonna have to stay at my parents house (who hate me) just so I can look for an apartment for us to live in and we’re strapped on cash. Then I have to actually get a car!!

If you can donate, literally anything would help we need all we can get :( PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

My PayPal is: [email protected]

Thank you so much!!

[screenwritersguidebook-blog]

Anyone doing NaNoWriMo this year?

[screenwritersguidebook-blog]

October Writing Challenge

I was told that it would be fun to challenge my followers to write some short horror stories, so I guess I will.

Guidelines:

1. Entrants can write up to three short scripts or short stories for the challenge. 2. The story must be scary! 3. The story must be no more than 4 pages for a script and no more than 500 words for a short story. 4. The story cannot be something that was previously written (otherwise what’s the point?). 5. In order to be considered for the best story, entrants must reblog this post and use the tag #ScreenwritersGuidebookOWC

In order to get the stories posted by Halloween, you must post your story by October 28th. On October 29th I’ll post a poll for everyone to vote on the five scariest stories, and then on October 31st I’ll post the winners and reblog their winning stories!

Now get writing! And don’t forget to edit, rewrite, and have fun!

[overpricedvodka]

Just completely lost my shit on Facebook when my friend posted this trailer just now.

1) Jordan Peele wrote and directed a horror film. 2) The lead is a Black man and 80% of the rest of the cast is white. 3) One of the lines is “When there are too many white people around, I get nervous.” 4) The set-up is literally – LITERALLY – my worst nightmare whenever I have a white boy/girlfriend who wants take me home. 5) THIS LOOKS SO FREAKING GOOD! From both a horror movie standpoint and a social critique.

I can’t WAIT to see the reviews *slash* controversy *slash* white tears a-flowin over this one.

[littlescreenwritingthings]

One of my clients was a little frustrated because he got some seemingly contradictory notes after going to different analysts/consultants/script doctors. I had to pat myself on the back a little for my response. And I also thought I’d share it here, in case any of you were dealing with similar frustrations:

There really are two rules when it comes to taking notes. The first is to always be open to critique– which you obviously are, having sought multiple rounds of notes and graciously applied them. The second is to know when to apply the notes and how to apply them in a way that best serves the final product. Not every note is going to work. Even if it comes from Ang Lee or Ava Duvernay– it’ll definitely hold more water than a note from a Freshman Film Major on a Reddit forum, but it’s not a guaranteed hit. Nobody knows your story better than you. It’s almost like when something is on the tip of your tongue, or you’re trying to articulate a thought and it’s not coming out right. People can help you elaborate on what you’re trying to express. Sometimes they explain it better than you thought ever could, and you find yourself wishing you said what they said first. Sometimes they’re completely off-base. But you know when they’re right, when they’re kind of right and when they’re dead wrong. That’s how notes are supposed to go. Self-awareness, clarity of vision and experience really foster that process. The more you read and write screenplays, the more you get notes, you’ll be able to choose which to apply and how to apply them based on your style. 

Of course, that’s only if you’re writing on speculation. If you’re commissioned, you give the person with the checkbook what they want (as far as your personal convictions allow.) 

[philogynoir-blog]

Philogynoir: The Safe Space

I am so happy to announce I’ve taken steps to create an ACTUAL digital safe haven for black girls to vent and converse with one another!!

To curb the trolls, I will say no more.

If you are a black woman/girl/femme/femme-leaning person and take interest in the topics of black feminism/womanism, add this page on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/philo.gynoir.9?ref=bookmarks.

We will vigorously check each and every profile before allowing you access into the space. If certain profiles still seem fishy, we will require a video chat to confirm your identity.

Can’t wait to converse with you all WITHOUT the trolls! I’m so excited for this you guys don’t even know 😭

This is will be a sanctuary. Let a black girl in need know…NOW.

[for-marginalized-bw-only-deacti]

I was on Philogynoir's Youtube channel and the comments people leave on her channel are disgusting. I enjoy watching her videos and seeing her videos get so many dislikes and people leaving racist/sexist comments hurts me. She's been getting even more hate by this Youtuber that makes fun of people and his fans always attack those people.

I talked about how tough it is to come across the comments under her page. I make it habit to watch her amazing videos and avoid the comments because they’re so disgusting. It’s funny when black women want liberation and when we speak about our injustices socially and systematically it’s met with anger.

[accedeli-deactivated20171208]

I was just talking about this yesterday night and was sickened when i received a message in my inbox of a anon claiming to be a Black woman, defending this particular YouTuber, even referring to him as “her leafy” @philogynoir i hope you’re doing great and none of this hate is getting to you, love you, you’re amazing keep doing what you’re doing

[philogynoir-blog]

You guys make this shit a hell of a lot easier for me, but in all honesty, I’m not okay.

I was, actually, before today. Instagram has deactivated my page on account of “violating their terms.” In addition to that, someone has hacked my email and signed up for a porn site.

I’m not okay. People are dedicating hours upon hours to terrorize me. Most of which I endure in silence because most don’t care or simply don’t understand.

Not a single day has gone by that I haven’t been threatened or verbally attacked since May.

Thank you for the support. I need all I can get.

[me93]

I’m sorry this is happening to you.

[philogynoir-blog]

Thank you so much. All virtual hugs are greatly appreciated ❤️

[screenwritersguidebook-blog]

Hey, guys. Sorry this isn’t really related to writing, but would you mind sharing this video around and giving it a like and maybe spreading some positivity in the YouTube comments? There are too many racist white people mad in the comments about not being able to experience misogynoir and it has waaaay more dislikes than likes, and that disgusts me.

Maybe subscribe to her too if you want to show extra support.

[selena-soto]

JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS MAKES EMMY HISTORY WITH THE MOST CONSECUTIVE WINS

[daythewriter-blog]

Evernote is such a good app to have. It’s totally free unless you want to upgrade to the subscription thing and then you get a couple extra cool features, but you get enough features just with the free version.

When you first open the app, you have a bunch of options: create a text/photo/reminder/list/audio note, open notes, open notebooks, open work chat, and you can also mess with settings and refresh your notes if you’re sharing a note.

Notebooks are cool because they help you keep everything categorized. I just with you could have sub-notebooks.

I think the work chat is the best function. Not only can you chat with people about writing, but you can share notes, and access the ones sent to you through the shared notes icon by the plus sign, or you can look at all the notes shared between both of you in the details window in the chat, and it gives both people permission to edit the notes. It’s great.

Get Evernote, you guys.

[screenwritersguidebook-blog]

Development of an Idea

idea: time loop murder mystery/thriller

concept: A woman experiences the same hour repeatedly in which she witnesses her best friend’s death.

logline: A shy woman must solve her best friend’s murder in order to escape the time-loop she’s stuck in, but the killer only seems to get more and more cryptic.

Synopsis:

GRETCHEN, a shy woman, witnesses her friend WENDELL’S murder while waiting for her to come outside, but then she gets trapped in a time loop of the last hour of Wendell’s life. After many failed attempts to save Wendell, Gretchen decides to unmask the murderer and get justice.

She discovers [insert important plot details]…

…Finally after gathering all the information and finding the knife, Gretchen unmasks the killer, but the truth is even more terrible than she could have ever imagined.

Try developing your own stories from a simple idea. You’ll be surprised what you come up with. Everyone develops stories differently, but I’ve found that if you start small and build your way up, it becomes a lot easier to go back and fix any problems in the story later on. It’s also really good to get in the habit of writing loglines and synopses early on.

How do you develop your ideas into full stories?

[screenwritersguidebook-blog]

Thinking of Writing More Than One Protagonist?

A lot of beginning writers have so many ideas popping into their heads all at once. Everyone wants to write the biggest story with confusing plot twists and a billion characters. That’s all fine in theory, but it takes a lot of skill to pull off even one good plot twist with one protagonist.

Here are some things that you need to consider before writing more than one protagonist:

Write from One Perspective First

It’s really common for new writers to see the story from every perspective and think that every side of the story is just as important, but that is hardly ever the case. In most cases it ends up really slowing down the pace of your story and then none of the characters end up seeming as important.

Try writing the story from one perspective to start. If it works and you can get the entire story out, then you’re good and you don’t need to add any more protagonists. If you still feel like your story is missing something that another character’s perspective would add, then go ahead and add in that extra POV. Just be a little extra cautious.

Give Your Protagonists Their Own Journeys

You have to make sure that your characters go through different character arcs for completely different reasons and each journey should be equally as important as the others.

Say you’re writing about Wendy and Paula. If Wendy and Paula are co-workers who share an apartment and both want to get a promotion and end up going about getting the promotion in similar ways, then why do I need to see both perspectives?

Why not make Wendy aim for a promotion in a different city where she has to go about it in a totally different way? And then you can add a plot twist where Wendy ends up getting the promotion, but she’s transferred to Paula’s location and it inspires Paula to finally quit after realizing how horrible the work environment is.

Or something like that.

Don't let your ambition get the best of you. Think clearly and make sure there's a reason for every choice you make in the writing process.

[cladelle]

WIP of Hermione Granger

[effington]

Uh y'all my cousin here (who just started HIGH SCHOOL, represent) is INSANELY talented & I love her & I love this!!!!!!!