Screenwriting : My story reality by Tony Sterago

Hi, Tony Sterago. What I do is develop the A Story, then the B Story (the love story, a broken relationship, etc.) and the Subplot(s) stem from the A Story.

Hi Tony! Have you signed up for the writer's room yet? You can sign up the first month for free.

https://www.stage32.com/writers-room/portal

If you're comfortable sharing a bit about your world and characters in the lounge for the writers room, maybe we could bounce some ideas around.

Elle no I haven't i didn't know i could. I am still learning this site and all it's stuff. you have to pay for the access to that room?

There is a fee after the first month but it's not a big fee and what you get access to is well worth it.

The Open Writing Assignments are free to submit to for writers room members, for example. There are webinars etc.

I've found it useful and informative. Getting to watch coverage reports, pitch tanks, pitch practices. I've learned a ton.

ok ill have to see if it is in the budget and check it out may i add you Elle to my network if that is, ok?

and Maurice yeah, I have been trying to tie all of this together and I think I have an avenue to go forwards just got to see how it plays out

Great, Tony Sterago. Let the Lounge know if you need advice.

is it safe to share information there? that is a lot of money for me to spend monthly if i do this is it safe to share there

I haven't heard of anyone stealing ideas on Stage 32, Tony Sterago. I suggest registering your project with the U.S. Copyright Office before posting it online though. I talk about my projects online as I work on the scripts, but I usually wait until I'm ready to pitch a project before I post the logline online.

I've shared in there. I feel safe to discuss my work here. This spot is a networking space, yes, but it's a creative professional space too.

The folks here are working pros down to beginner, but the people who run stage 32 take us and our safety seriously. Your IP is never going to be as safe as it is in your head, but they all have their reputation to protect too. No pro would touch IP that way.

Scammers exist everywhere but I know that here it is reacted to and zapped fairly quickly. I feel safe enough to pay the fee and share. I don't post finished pages. But I'll discuss my work.

And yes, you can absolutely add me into your network.

thank you very much both of you. Maurice I am going to take some time this weekend a do a treatment to register I think and then I can register that. Elle, I think my wife might let me, but we will see. i have to follow the bosses' rules with money if I want to stay married lol

This is great, Tony—your character work is strong, and that shows. The “main story spine” you’re talking about is honestly where a lot of writers hit the wall, even with fully built worlds. Something that’s helped me is stepping back and identifying the one central question the whole story is trying to answer. Once that’s clear, everything else starts clicking into place.

You’ve clearly got the world and the characters—now it’s just about finding the thread that ties them all together. Keep going. You’ve got something special here.

— Christine

You're welcome, Tony Sterago. Ok, great.

@Tony definitely try to stay married haha! Happy spouse happy house.

absolutely

Tony Sterago maybe a major conflict that affects all of them could possibly tie the characters together.

yeah that the direction i am going so far. I am just hoping it is as good as I believe it is

Tony, You must determine the Main Theme (question) for why the story should be told. the story is the answer (proof) that answers the question with your voice (point of view) hopefully without actually saying the answer but answering it with your plot which is even more important than character. Of your characters (story puppets) you must determine which one is the main character (protagonist) with the story arc that the audience (reader) will follow closely, understand, find most interesting and watch puzzle out the answer by taking action after action until the question (theme) is successfully resolved or found to be unresolvable (tragedy) depending on what you the story teller really believe is the truth (your actual pov on the subject, without ever stating it in the story. Your plot won't be what happens but WHY happens, a series of cause and effects. as you map out your story, any characters even lesser ones that don't serve your theme and plot and help the story to naturally achieve the genre's anticipated resolution (hopefully in a new surprising way) should be removed BY YOU to make it so tight that no reader will be confused or wonder why any plot point or character appears, harming the clear storytelling. so, if you create an effective plot that serves the genre and the big thematic question there won't be any room at all in the tight storytelling to arrive at the ending for any unrelated characters or actions that you haven't cut out from the story. we invested in that main character and reached the end of THEIR story and it feels like question is somewhat answered at least for that character. anything unrelated and unresolved HARMS your story and its clarity for the Reader. so everything that can be cut, MUst be cut. you end up with a tight inspired story well told. The cutting is essential to your growth as a storyteller. When done editing your own story, not one thing in it will be unrelated to thst story's natural evolution and resolve.

thank you Daniel. that's very helpful for a newbie like myself. I read your profile i also see the world in my head but it is like scenes that I am not good at describing. would love to chat more with you. if you would be interested? can I add you to my network sir and maybe PM you

Sure. What you need to do is get John Truby's book "Anatomy of Story". I have never come across a better book for grasping what should be there on the page of a professional salable script. I'm sure you can find it on Amazon or Ebay. You can DM me but I am a complete outsider. I don't know a single contact in the industry and it's possible I'll never write again since I have never gotten an interested reaction after many, many submissions on Stage 32.

hey I'm not looking for contacts I'm just looking for people to connect with who can share ideas and give me insight to things that I have no insight about for years I've wanted to do this but life just didn't have it in the cards for me so I'm 49 years old and I'm getting an opportunity to look at the road not taken I'm basically a 10-year-old who always wanted to be an astronaut but ended up working on an assembly line until he was 49 and then one day just walked onto a space shuttle and said let's go with no knowledge on how to fly the space shuttle on any button on the stud shuttle does he just has a basic idea of thrust and gravity and a basic idea of physics and an absolute love for the seat that he sitting in but still has to be back to work in 3 hours keep supporting his family but he's going up in that shuttle so I just need friends and mentors that have a basic idea and can deal with the fact that most of the time I'm talking to text and I have no grammar in this ability and sometimes the microphone in the semi truck doesn't pick up what I actually say

Understood. I am in that bort too. Get Truby's book. You won't regret it.

Make your own film, Tony. Post it and your writing will improve amazingly. You can do it with a zero budget.

as much as I'd love to do that I have no training on film angle no equipment and absolutely no idea where to start a science fiction Space movie while working 65 hours a week as a truck driver starting at 1:00 a.m. Central and getting home at 3:00 p.m. central I just don't have the skills necessary to make a film as much as I'd love to

>I also have characters with great story. the thing i am struggling with is the main story that pulls them all together

So if I get it right, you have your world and great characters, each with their own interesting back story, but you now need a main narrative - the way I write, once I have the characters and the setting in my head, I let the action reveal itself scene by scene - of course, a story doesn't write itself, but one scene leads to another and then the subconscious mind starts developing scenarios that feed out of those already written... So a short answer: the way to get over that 'hurdle' is just to start writing.

that's what I've mostly been doing is taking the characters and building the main story around them and then whenever I come into something that is problematic trying to work my way through it but again it just comes down to me being new and wondering if what I'm doing is any good and also being scared to share it because I don't know who I can trust I really really wanted this mentorship program that I joined to give me that security but I think it's a scam and one of the moderators here has told me it probably is as well so I am just using the little bit of tools I have to rebuild an engine with a rubber mallet a rubber band a bottle of duct tape yes I know I said a bottle LOL but that's kind of how I feel and let's not forget the Stick of bubble gum