About Finishing Act I and Creating a Great Screenplay

I had a crazy adventure this month with my working on Act I.  I will admit it was a bit frightening staring at a blank page for what seemed like hours with my: trying to figure out what should come first, whether I needed to begin my story with Voice Over (V.O) or a flashback.

Yes, they might be minor things to worry about, but at the beginning of the month they were very important to me, and made me feel like I was a complete and total wreck!

This is when I started to remember how many had recommended writing warm-ups before focusing on any project. Yeah, I've done warm-ups before but not on a daily basis. So what I ended up doing was used these warm-ups as a daily road map, to help me get to my goal, which of course I would come up with as I wrote for ten minutes.

Once Act I was completed, I couldn't help but feel proud of myself for I had accomplished something very important.

On Monday we will begin writing Act II and I'm really anxious. Everyone knows Act II is what keeps and truly makes the story.

A great screenplay has a great beginning. An AWESOME middle. And a memorable ending.

In fact as I'm writing this, my heart is raising. I'm nervous, excited, and ready for this new challenge.


Till Next Time

Writing Warm-Ups are Actually Helpful, so I've Heard...

So this week we had to start working on the first 8-10 pages of Act I. Now remember, a script should be 120 pages, that is 120 minutes, but now, most are less than 120, and the few that are over 120 are exceptions i.e Lord of the Rings. Remember this when you write your script...

Hey, that's just how Hollywood rolls.

I will admit, I was a bit hesitant, nervous, and of course, I plainly stared at the screen for the first few days. You know, the usual.

But the one thing that I would constantly do was think: How am I going to start this? Do I want a flashback? Do I want to start with v.o? How do I want to start my story?! [insert pulling hair here.]


A complete headache!

Then I remembered...

A few months back I read Plot and Structure by Scott Bell, and he said that one should always start the day with a 10-minute writing warm-up, you know, to get things going.   Now his warm-up seems generic(to me), so what I did was changed it a bit to fit around my 8-10 pages with something like:

Today I want to start with....

and the following day:

Today I want to describe this scene with_____________ because _________

And the day after with:

Today for this particular scene I want to express __________ and want Emma to be seen as _______


Believe me, this warm-up helped me when an hour or two later, I had to sit down and start typing my script.


It's like I knew what I wanted and all I had to do was fill the pages with words.

So far I think this was a good start. Now, I just hope it gets better.

Oh, and try morning, afternoon, or evening writing warm-ups before writing your story, or continuing where you left off. Who knows what might it help you with... and remember tweak it a bit to fit your needs.

Till next time.