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writing - where to start

  • 16-01-2006 3:10pm
    #1
    thefuturehead
    Closed Accounts Posts: 91 ✭✭


    g'day everyone.

    basically i've recently decided to try and give this whole screenwriting lark a go. but to be honest, i've looked around websites, and i'm overwhelmed and confused and other such terrible thing. i was just wondering if anyone could recommend a good place to start. should i...

    - do a course in writing
    - sit down and write and write and write
    - apply for grants and funding and so on (and if so - where?)

    plus, i graduate in a few months (in journalism), and the thought of big bad world is scaring me. is it better to get a job and write in my spare time, or to actually go hell for leather on the writing?

    if anyone can help me with opinions, advice etc, i'd be much obliged.

    cheers.


Comments

  • #2
    monkeyfudge
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 23,216 ✭✭✭✭monkeyfudge


    For starters I'd recomend picking up a copy of Story by Robert McKee.

    I found it to be a very good book on the topic of screenwriting. If you've seen the film Adaptation, Robert McKee was played by Brian Cox in it.


  • #3
    Miguel_Sanchez
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,417 ✭✭✭Miguel_Sanchez


    monkeyfudge wrote:
    For starters I'd recomend picking up a copy of Story by Robert McKee.

    I second that.

    Sit down and write, write, write is really the one that will get you going at it.

    But please only write a screenplay because you believe that it should be written. Don't write something just so you can say "I'm a screenwriter". If you don't believe in it then it's got feck all chance of being made.

    As for grants and funding. Well, obviously you have to write something first. But there is a very popular funding body called The Dole. Not sure if you've heard of it but thousands of artists and writers start out by getting this weekly grant.

    As for funding there are a few options.
    For shorts The Filmboard, Filmbase in Dublin and the Galway and Cork Film Centres all give out varying levels of funding. However they won't give them straight to writers, they'll give them to production teams to allow them to make the short.

    Filmbase give out 6 awards per year (3 in each of their 2 rounds of funding).
    Galway and Cork give out 3 per year.

    AFAIK each of these awards is 9,500 euro and use of the centre's equipment and facilities. It's awarded by the centre in question and RTE. However you will not see any money from one of these awards. All the cash will most likely go on making the short.

    The Filmboard awards are listed on their website. www.filmboard.ie - you should get paid if a short you write gets Filmboard funding.

    If you're writing features there's the Filmboard really and that's about it.

    They do give out development money to allow writers to work on screenplays. This can be awarded after seeing just a treatment of after seeing a full draft. It all depends on the standard. Again - it's probably best to approach with a production company rather than straight, although they do deal with writers by themselves.

    Your best bet is to approach established production companies with your scripts. Make sure that they deal with the type of material you're bringing them - don't go to a documentary making company with a slapstick sex comedy - and make sure you have written and rewritten the script until it's as tight as it can be before you send it off.

    Good luck!


  • #4
    Devinho
    Closed Accounts Posts: 44 ✭Devinho


    www.wordplayer.com

    Read every article (there's 44 of them). It's written by Terry Rossio, one half of the writing team on Shrek, Zorro, Pirates of the Caribbean and so on.

    What I've done is to write, and write, and write. Write ****e. Doesn't matter. Read loads. Study loads. Save money on courses - use the library and the internet (you'll need that money for food). Read scripts from produced films (there are databases of them, check Google).

    When I started I gave myself five years to even get good at it, and another five years to become pro. I'm four months short of the first five years and can only now finally say that I've produced some good work. I've also gotten paid for some of it, but nowhere near enough to live on. I do keep hearing about very persistent screenwriters who do make enough to live well on (and not just in Hollywood either) so I'm going by that example, and sticking with the day job for the time being.


    Devin


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