As with any other craft, it requires a certain amount of time, practice and dedication — and not just in terms of what you do when you’re reading, but also the way you approach things. You have to approach each script you’re considering writing with the same kind of self-confidence that you’ll have when working out of a studio office.
It’s not easy. It could take months for you to actually decide whether or not you could write an episode of Friends. Or it could take only a few days, when you’re sitting down with a story outline and a rough plot — a draft of a story. It’s always better to take your time before making this commitment.
If you do get a script that’s good enough to put in your resume and you think, “I could do that,” great — but remember that you need to put together an entire pitch of material — the whole concept, the basic premise and the pitch itself. Your next step is to write it.
Once you arrive at a screenplay stage, you need to do some research. Some great resources include:
1. The Scriptwriting.com site (which will help you find the scripts and help to refine your pitch if needed.)
2. Script-Off.org (which is a forum for writers and script students who can share their stories and work with script writers.)
3. The Hollywood Reporter website (which has great tips for getting started with a story)
4. The Scripts and Writers’ Forum forums (which have great advice for writers who might not know where to start)
5. Scriptnotes.org (which can help you create your story outline and ideas for the script that you’ll ultimately turn into drafts)
6. The Script Guide
7. ScriptWatch.org (which highlights different areas on the script, including your pitch and character dynamics, as well as breaking story and other important concepts)
8. The Writers Corner and Blog
9. The Scripting Forum (which can also offer lots of great script writing advice)
10. Screenplay University (which offers a series of workshops for script writers)
11. The Screenplays section in the Writers’ Forum (which will help you with your script and help you get things perfect)
It’s only one website — it’s impossible to give you all the information you need, but it’s a good place to start. And while I cannot say that it
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