Screenwriting : Tips for screenwriting by Diana Mooser

Hey, Diana Mooser. Welcome to the community. Stage 32 has a blog that'll help you navigate the platform and connect with creatives and industry professionals all over the world (www.stage32.com/blog/how-to-successfully-navigate-the-stage-32-platform-...).

Stage 32 had a live Community Open House last week. It'll also help you navigate Stage 32 and connect with creatives and industry pros. You can watch the recording here: www.stage32.com/education/products/stage-32-july-community-open-house

Congratulations on starting your first screenplay! I suggest reading this blog for up-and-coming screenwriters (www.stage32.com/blog/the-questions-up-and-coming-screenwriters-need-to-a...) and checking out these other screenwriting resources:

Screenwriting Blogs: www.stage32.com/blog/tags/screenwriting-25

Screenwriting Education: www.stage32.com/education/search?term=Screenwriting

Script Services: www.stage32.com/scriptservices

The Writers’ Room: www.stage32.com/writers-room (you can sign up for your first month of membership free here www.stage32.com/writers-room/plans-vip)

1) Read screenplays -- get PDFs at a site such as ScriptSlug

2) Write your Own (see note below)

3) Repeat

NOTE: idea, outline, tweak outline, write it, struggle to finish, finally finish, see that it sucks, be crushed by notes and feedback, persevere, hone your skills, write something pretty damn good.

I am more of a songwriter. However, I also write for TV and film, as a newbie. What is most important to me is to be myself. I have written hundreds of songs. I guarantee that I wrote them without thinking if they are trending or hot or whatever. It is the same with my scriptwriting. I will not write based upon what I think might be most appealing to some faceless studio exec. I write for myself.

Hi Diana, welcome to Stage 32. In your writing journey, remember to be authentic, push boundaries, and explore.

Hi Diana Mooser ! Welcome to Stage32 :)

Congrats on beginning this journey! Few activities allow us to explore ourselves and our world more than those involved in screenwriting - if you're looking to 'build a house' out of your desire to write scripts, than I know of no better place to start than with the foundations of story as structure. And, IMO, no better material for that than Robert McKee's Story ( https://www.amazon.com/Story-Structure-Substance-Principles-Screenwritin... )

Apply the principles it lays out to the story you're currently writing - as you feel the need to dig deeper into specific areas of script crafting (and you inevitably will ), the webinars and classes suggested above by our colleague Maurice Vaughan will be of exceptional value to you... and to your career, since you'll be learning from people already in the industry and investing in valuable relationships.

You've come to the best place to pursue your screenwriting wishes - at what stage of the script are you now? What got you to want to start writing? cheers

Hi Diana Mooser

Welcome to this creative space! I truly hope the best unfolds for you and everyone here. My advice would be not to rush toward the ending or feel pressured to tie everything up neatly. Instead, focus on the power of the moment — allow yourself the freedom to create day by day. Don’t just aim to start and finish; embrace the journey of discovery and let the story evolve organically.

Welcome Diana Mooser to Stage 32! We’re so glad you’re with us. Lots of great advice here so the only thing I can add is to be patient with yourself in rewrites. Think of this as a lifelong journey where you never stop learning. You’re going to do great!

Welcome! Read scripts, watch movies and when it comes to writing your own scripts write about what interests you. Don't chase trends or force yourself to write what you think people will want. Find your own voice and grow an organic audience with it. I can highly recommend The Screenwriter's Bible as a good book to jump off with as well. But above all, have fun and keep writing.

Read scripts of movies you're familiar with so you can take a look at how what is written translates to the screen (https://screenplayed.com/ is a great website for this). Also, read Joseph Campbell's The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Its the best book on storytelling I've read. Also, don't expect the process to be linear and just have fun!

Welcome Diana I’m new here too - about a week. The best advice I have is keep your action lines concise and to the point.

Put a blank like between every 3 to 5 lines so your descriptions don’t look like a mass paragraph to the reader and really listen for all the flavors of how people talk and bring that into your dialogue.

I’m still learning to navigate this site, it’s different from LinkedIn. So hopefully you can read this.

Don't stop. Even if you just write one page a day, in three months you'll have a feature. In a year, that's four movies.

Get it written down, keep going, don't stop, finish it. Then look at it and find out it's not a screenplay yet (part screenplay, part novel, part notes - but the story is there) and fix it.

For me, the first big step was just getting the story told — getting it out of my head and onto the page. After that, I’d focus on finding the right market and audience for it, and maybe making a few adjustments to fit that space.

Hell yeah Diana Mooser! Crush it! My favorite advice about starting out -- download the script to your very favorite movie. The one you know by heart. Then watch it while reading the screenplay. You'll get a great sense of how to navigate structure, character, etc since that movie is already in your bones. Good luck!

Welcome to the club. :)

Write something which you can film yourself because it easiest to learn when you see what happens when your script is filmed.

No matter how cool the person is who gives you advice, you do not need to have a cat named Murphy and a little girl named Anna who shoots fire from her eyes in every script. It took me years to figure that out.

Best of luck on your journey.

If you get stuck, just ask.

Congratulations on starting your first screenplay - that's a huge step! My biggest tip for beginners is to read professional scripts of movies you like to understand formatting and pacing, focus on completing that first draft even if it's imperfect (you can always revise), and make sure every scene either advances the plot or reveals something about the characters. The Stage 32 community is incredibly supportive, so don't hesitate to engage in the screenwriting lounge where you'll find lots of fellow writers sharing advice and encouragement!

Best advice I can give... take time to know the rules, then break them all in the best way possible. Most importantly, have fun doing it.

Best of luck on your journey!

Hey Diana! Congratulations for taking your first step in screenwriting! As someone who has only started writing screenplays three months ago, I completely understand how it feels. For me, I did some research for how to even format a screenplay and found myself feeling comfortable using WriterDuet. I suggest you try and find a screenplay formatting site like the one I mentioned so you can see the foundations of how a screenplay is built. Hope that helps!