Screenwriting : Read Scripts by Maurice Vaughan

Always a good thing for anyone working in the industry to do. A great website I like is screenplayed.com. As well as finding scripts there are clips where a scene from the final movie plays alongside the rolling screenplay so you can see how the page translated to the screen.

Hi Maurice, I would love to read Fantasy screenplays

Amen to that, Maurice!

Another thing reading other people's scripts does is lending support to the writers who came up with those stories.

Try to read the original scripts that got ppl excited/paid money. So many scripts online & public have been retyped or translated word by word/action by action from screen/finished movie.

Scorn is a good example and the entire script was rewritten after Keanu Reeves signed on. The concept stayed the same but the plot & characters changed completely.

Im still looking for the original screenplay of "Good Will Hunting." Supposedly the plot had CIA spy stuff.

I'm familiar with screenplayed.com, Ewan Dunbar. Yeah, reading scripts while watching the scenes is really helpful! Thanks for mentioning that site.

Cool, Billy Kwack. There are a lot of Fantasy scripts on Stage 32 and those websites.

You're right, Jim Boston. It's always great to support other writers!

Great point, Dan MaxXx! I'll let you know if I come across the original screenplay of GOOD WILL HUNTING.

Get a copy of William Goldman's draft of "Good Will Hunting" :) Maurice Vaughan

People say you should read scripts to see how they're commonly written, but I actually think reading them shows just how much of a spectrum exists in terms of style, tone, prose, use of formatting, and more. That was my big takeaway when I first started. All these people where telling I must do things a certain way, but the scripts of my heroes showed me there was a place for my style. Never looked back.

Dan MaxXx, yeah, I have heard that Good Will Hunting was something entirely different. A super-spy type affair. I believe it was Kevin Smith's involvement that changed a lot. Apparently, the script was just being tossed back over and over with notes and Damon was so suspicious it wasn't actually being read that he put in lines where characters randomly start blowing another to see if they'd get spotted.

Thanks, Dan MaxXx. I'll look for it.

I've noticed that with a lot of scripts by big-time writers and breakout writers, CJ Walley. The scripts have their own styles, formatting, etc. The writers weren't afraid to take big risks. Those are the things I aim for in my scripts.

Maurice Vaughan, I have the attached poster hanging outside my bedroom door. It reads, "If you want to achieve greatness, stop asking for permission". It reminds me every day that I cannot stand out if I desperately want to fit with everyone's approval.

Yet every time I log into a screenwriting forum it's full of people either asking if they should do things a certain way or someone stating that things should be done a certain way.

Something I'd seen with every popular artist is that they were once deeply unpopular (even ridiculed), that their authenticity rubbed people the wrong way, and that their peers told them they were doing everything wrong. They got themselves to that point of critical mass with mainly self-belief, and perhaps the odd mentor here and there.

I like that poster, CJ Walley! I have to get one. I used to be the same way ("full of people either asking if they should do things a certain way or someone stating that things should be done a certain way"). I stopped asking for permission with my scripts, and it's a great feeling. And I stopped telling other writers they have to do things/they can't do things.

I think I learned more about screenwriting and the Industry while working as a paid studio reader than going to film school.

Same here!! Here is a great sight for that:

https://www.scriptslug.com/

I am probably one of those here who spend least time reading scripts. A big reason is that I prefer to learn by filming and editing. Another reason is that available produced scripts are often written by somebody who has a very different talent profile. And filmed with far more resources than I have ever had for my no-budget projects. But sure, I have read some, partly written by members in my network here.

That's great too, Göran Johansson! Learning by filming and editing. Hands-on learning.

I don't read scripts to get better. I write to do that. But I read a lot of them to see other things underneath it all. What is the theme, etc

I think the only detrimental aspect to reading others' scripts, especially those of well-known writers/writer-directors, is potentially picking up bad habits! I do know I could likely NEVER be a professional story analyst/script reader... Pay those people!

I've heard over and over that reading bad scripts is great for learning how to write better scripts, Mike Childress, and it's true. You’ll be able to see what's wrong in scripts and avoid doing those things. I've done it.

Maurice Vaughan I've done it too, I find it comforting that I am now actually able to pick out the 'bad" stuff!

hey Göran Johansson – learning by shooting and editing is great, but by not reading produced scripts (for larger budget movies) you may be missing out on learning how to write a screenplay people want to read, and, in turn, produce – good writing is good writing – no matter what budget is required to bring the page to screen

There's writers who advise reading lots of scripts to learn the craft. That sounds insane to me. Sure, you'll pick up some instinctive skills through osmosis, but it's a terribly inefficient way to do it. It's a case of the tail wagging the dog, and the same time spent reading could be spent reading books that teach the actual craft itself.

CJ Walley The problem though is not many books actually teach the actual craft. They teach you have to do this and that, and must have this happen on this page and that page. I'm talking people who teach but haven't actually written a scrip or even sold one. So called gurus.

CJ Walley I think the combination of skimming through others' scripts and reading The Screenwriter's Bible (and using it as a reference text) was pretty beneficial.

Yeah, there's a lot of bad books out there. I know of failed screenwriters who've released them, and they tend to be dogmatic and superficial in their advice. A lot of people only read one or two of them too, such as Save the Cat or Story.

I've read a ridiculous number of them, and these are the ones I recommend.

Screenwriting

* Writing For Emotional Impact, by Karl Iglesias

* Writing Screenplays That Sell, by Michael Hauge

* Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, by Syd Field

* Your Screenplay Sucks: 100 Ways to Make It Great, by William M. Akers

* Story, by Robert McKee

Artistry & Creativity

* Art & Fear, by David Bayles & Ted Orland

* On Writing, by Stephen King

* Steal Like An Artist, by Austin Kleon

* Creativity, Inc., by Ed Catmull

* Real Artists Don’t Starve, by Thomas Nelson

* The Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World, by Lewis Hyde

* Hit Makers: How Things Become Popular, Derek Thompson

Industry

* What You Don't Learn In Film School, by Shane Stanley

* How I Made A Hundred Movies In Hollywood And Never Lost A Dime by Roger Corman

* Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, by Peter Biskind

* Down and Dirty Pictures, by Peter Biskind

* Rebels on the Backlot, by Sharon Waxman

* Adventures in the B Movie Trade, by Brian Trenchard-Smith

* Tales From Development Hell, by David Hughes

* Tales from the Script: 50 Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories, by Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman

* Quentin Tarantino: Shooting from the Hip, by Wensley Clarkson

* Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency, by James Andrew Miller

* Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales from the New Abnormal in the Movie Business by Lynda Obst

* Hope for Film: From the Frontline of the Independent Cinema Revolutions by Ted Hope

Mike Childress, absolutely. I don't think I read a single book on the craft until my second year of writing and only once I was a few scripts in. Up until then, my only concern was that my scripts looked like scripts. When we first start, we just need to get on with writing and get all the creative energy out. I watched new "writers" spend eighteen months reading books and asking questions and giving up through fear before penning a single script. Studying the craft after taking a shot is powerful too, because you can reflect on what you've done and make revisions based on what you've learned.

CJ Walley As I mentioned in a previous post comment I did the "creative energy out" thing with the first three scripts. I did what I wanted. I shunned convention. I refused to look at other scripts or read books/articles on screenwriting. Zero regrets. My fourth work (written after looking at others' scripts and reading a book on screenwriting) is way different in the fact that it looks like an actual screenplay! It didn't take me any longer to pen than the first three. About a month, and I revise as I write so usually just one draft, i.e. no significant changes upon completion. I look forward to revising the first three, eventually. Fear is not an issue for me and I like the shoot-from-the-hip, F-it way of thinking. "Don't like my script? Oh well, on to the next one..." I channel Bukowski when I write, i.e. "Writing is easy, sit down at the typewriter and BLEED."

Mike Childress, reads like you're on the right path to me. That's how it is. You get quicker, better, and more confident over time.

Always a great idea to read the scripts of movies you like/want to write. Only only only helps your process and takes a couple hours at best