Screenwriting Crew

[Mr.PissShivers]

Thing is if you truly want to work in the industry, you have to come out here and stay out here. Typically, those who fail and give horror stories about LA left after a few years of hard trials.

Well, I don't really plan on trying to have a career in the film business because moving away from my family is just not something I want to do.

I just mean I want to find other things to see involving the movie business while on vacation in LA that I haven't seen before.

I've known I wanted to be in the film industry since 7th grade. I started making stupid little movies with friends around then and editing on the home vcr...man have we come a long way! In high school we had an Education for the Arts program which let us use pretty advanced equipment for the time. We had Canon XL2s, lighting kits, dollys, cranes, and a lab full of computers with Final Cut Pro and other helpful software to edit with. I made some shorts there and then transfered to an Advanced Media Arts program where I got to continue learning the craft as well as learn the basics on other programs such as flash, soundtrack pro, and photoshop.

College is where it got interesting. We first started shooting on film with the bolex. We had to edit with a videoscope, a razor blade, and tape...and it was a pain in the ass. I'm still glad I got to learn it. I finally decide to focus on producing with a minor in public relations. My last couple years at college were spent making short films with actualized budgets over 100k. Our school has a brand new fully functional sound stage with a motorized grid, shop for set building, etc. We shot on cameras like the Arriflex (Super 16) and we also shot some 35mm as well (which looks beautiful when projected. One of my projects was shot on the RED when our school finally broke down and got one of those. As a producer, I was in charge of a crew of about 40-60 depending on the project. I line produced a couple as well which put me in charge of all the logistical properties of the film such as budget catering, permits, humane society, contracts, deal memos, transportation, etc. Line producing is nothing but a stressful pain in the ass. As a producer, all I really have to worry about is mainting the realationships between departments, make sure communcation is top notch, ensure the story is where it needs to be and fight with the "studio" (school) to get the money I needed to get the project done. I also have some knowledge in aquiring stock footage, which can also be an ordeal and don't get me started with the American Humane Society. My first experience with them was awful and I will go to great length to avoid working with them in the future. SAG even sided with me and filed an injunction on my behalf to get the representative fired...keep in mind that this lady was working with people like Clint Eastwood, Matthew Mcconaughey, etc...and she got fired because of me...a college student. I got a reputation as somebody who gets the job done and communicated that I'm not a person to **** with...which is partially why I feel like I got the job I have now.

inb4 dear diary

Very insightful.

[drinkblatzbeer]

interesting topic is interesting...i'll send measly reps some of your ways on recharge...

[Toledous]

Well, I don't really plan on trying to have a career in the film business because moving away from my family is just not something I want to do.

I just mean I want to find other things to see involving the movie business while on vacation in LA that I haven't seen before.



Very insightful.

Getting involved on a level besides the tours is difficult unless you're able to spend a few months here out of the year at least. You actually learn a lot on the tours and personally I feel that Paramount's tours are top notch.

Your best bet is probably with writing. Make some connections out here and just start writing. The hardest part about it is starting with a blank page. Read a lot of scripts, try to find out what is going around out here currently and read the daily news that comes out. Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter is a good place to start. Get familiar with the important names out here.

If you can come out for a few months, I highly recommend an internship. It's how everybody starts. You'll gain major insight in the industry but it will cost YOU money, especially if you have to save up to move out here to do it. You can get a decent job after about 8-12 months of solid internship experience making anywhere from 25-65k starting with the first low end job.

Side note on Humane Society. I decided to fire her while we were all on set. I haulted the production and stopped everybody from working. I sat down in the production office with my line producer and my production coordinator and had my first real experience at firing a working professional. I was initially nervous, but it came natural because it had to be done.

I remember saying something along the lines of, "Listen. I appreciate you coming down here and I understand that your intention is to make sure our canine actor is as safe as possible. But what you don't understand is that I have the same interest in mind. Your conduct has been very unprofessional and I've made the decision that we no longer require the services of the American Humane Society. I ask that you gather your gear and please leave the set as it is closed to you from this moment on."

Chit storm ensued. She refused to leave and called her boss and even lied to her boss about the situation. I hung up on her boss and had security escort her from the sound stage. Pretty crazy experience, but I'm glad I had it under my belt.

[Filmbuff81]

Toledous are any of your short films online to take a gander at?

[Mr.PissShivers]

Getting involved on a level besides the tours is difficult unless you're able to spend a few months here out of the year at least. You actually learn a lot on the tours and personally I feel that Paramount's tours are top notch.

Your best bet is probably with writing. Make some connections out here and just start writing. The hardest part about it is starting with a blank page. Read a lot of scripts, try to find out what is going around out here currently and read the daily news that comes out. Daily Variety and The Hollywood Reporter is a good place to start. Get familiar with the important names out here.

If you can come out for a few months, I highly recommend an internship. It's how everybody starts. You'll gain major insight in the industry but it will cost YOU money, especially if you have to save up to move out here to do it. You can get a decent job after about 8-12 months of solid internship experience making anywhere from 25-65k starting with the first low end job.

The Paramount tour was the best one I've been on. I got to see the whole cast of Community.

Another memorable moment was on the VIP WB tour. We got to listen to one of the foley artist give a wonderful talk about what they do and so forth. You can tell that most of the people that work at the studios really seem to enjoy what they do. Even the guy giving the WB tour said that if we come back for the tour in 5 years he hopes hes still there to take us on the tour.

I think if do anything at all, I'll just get involved with my local film scene.

Side note on Humane Society. I decided to fire her while we were all on set. I haulted the production and stopped everybody from working. I sat down in the production office with my line producer and my production coordinator and had my first real experience at firing a working professional. I was initially nervous, but it came natural because it had to be done.

I remember saying something along the lines of, "Listen. I appreciate you coming down here and I understand that your intention is to make sure our canine actor is as safe as possible. But what you don't understand is that I have the same interest in mind. Your conduct has been very unprofessional and I've made the decision that we no longer require the services of the American Humane Society. I ask that you gather your gear and please leave the set as it is closed to you from this moment on."

Chit storm ensued. She refused to leave and called her boss and even lied to her boss about the situation. I hung up on her boss and had security escort her from the sound stage. Pretty crazy experience, but I'm glad I had it under my belt.

Good going.

[Toledous]

Toledous are any of your short films online to take a gander at?

I might have a couple up from my early days in high school that are ****ing awful/ridiculous/embarassing....I was in a few of them to when I was in fat mode. Not sure if I have the balls to post chitty work...guess we all have to start somewhere though right?

The good ones that were done in college can't be posted publicly online because it is a rights issue. They are still being sat on and will go out to Sundance/Cannes in the next festivals.

I know dere has to be a mod reading this with interest. Hit me up to 1k fool! Quality posts I'm making here.....no neg plz.

[BroSonofBro]

Very interested in screenwriting. Briefly had a sitcom pilot at an agency, have a spec portfolio, have written a few feature length comedies and had positive feedback from industry professionals/contests, but nothing solid yet. Teaching in the meantime. Toledous is right, you really need to be in LA to make it happen. Life has sort of kept that from happening for me so far.

Measly reps to Toledous for pursuing his dream/sharing stories.

[MrBrosephStalin]

Gotta market that stuff.

Yeah I know brah that's why I'm sitting on them before I release and setting up a website/marketing schemes etc etc. If nothing comes of them I can try to pitch them as a TV series as I already have the story and characters down and I just have to write a pilot. I could convert the longer one to a full length screenplay, it would take major restructuring though. Worst comes to worst, I have connections in the comic book industry and I can get one of them turned into a comic book series no problem.

[Toledous]

Very interested in screenwriting. Briefly had a sitcom pilot at an agency, have a spec portfolio, have written a few feature length comedies and had positive feedback from industry professionals/contests, but nothing solid yet. Teaching in the meantime. Toledous is right, you really need to be in LA to make it happen. Life has sort of kept that from happening for me so far.
Measly reps to Toledous for pursuing his dream/sharing stories.

I admire teachers. Where would we be without them? I wouldn't be where I am had it not been for a handful of teachers I've had throughout my life. If you have positive feedback on those stories/scripts, keep at it. Make the changes/corrections that were suggested, or fix the things that worried them. Get it back out there and try to get a Lit Agent to take a look at the best one you have. You have a better chance than most if you already have multiple scripts to show you writing ability.

I'll always give back to teachers, so hell, if you want, send over an NDA and I'll take a look at a couple of them. At the very least I can give feedback.

[Toledous]

Yeah I know brah that's why I'm sitting on them before I release and setting up a website/marketing schemes etc etc. If nothing comes of them I can try to pitch them as a TV series as I already have the story and characters down and I just have to write a pilot. I could convert the longer one to a full length screenplay, it would take major restructuring though. Worst comes to worst, I have connections in the comic book industry and I can get one of them turned into a comic book series no problem.

Your thinking is right. I have a couple web series I'm working on getting off the ground in the next few months as well. Think about this way. If you have 20 6 min episodes, you essentially have your movie right there. People who actually complete work are the ones who get some attention. Those who complete good work eventually get jobs.

Word of caution: If you want to direct you have to direct a feature film. No studio will let a first time director touch a project, no matter how good their shorts are.

[MrBrosephStalin]

Your thinking is right. I have a couple web series I'm working on getting off the ground in the next few months as well. Think about this way. If you have 20 6 min episodes, you essentially have your movie right there. People who actually complete work are the ones who get some attention. Those who complete good work eventually get jobs.

Word of caution: If you want to direct you have to direct a feature film. No studio will let a first time director touch a project, no matter how good their shorts are.

Thanks brah, a little reassuring I'm at least on the right track lol. I'm not too interested in directing, I believe I could direct but I fukin love screenwriting. My friend is directing both webseries and we are doing almost everything else collectively together, we have been filming together since middle school so we have developed an almost identical style and taste when it comes to film so we work very well together. I also have family that is into art and acting which helps a lot. One of the actors I casted for a short film I made in college was a costar in a major film about a year after we shot it. I like to think he used footage from my short on his reel and that's what got him the job lol. Wishful thinking...wishful thinking.

[PostMoves]

wow I've been waiting a long time to see a solid screenwriting thread on the misc and here it finally is. becoming a screenwriter has been a dream of mine (albeit a pipe dream Im sure). I got my college degree in kinesiology and have no formal training but dammit I'm going to start writing and let the chips fall where they may.

some films that inspire me to write:

once upon a time in the west (spaghetti western)
touch of evil (noir)
the big sleep (noir)
pulp fiction
taxi driver
city of god

[Mr.PissShivers]

I'm wanting to write a short for fun, but haven't come up with any interesting ideas so far.

[Toledous]

wow I've been waiting a long time to see a solid screenwriting thread on the misc and here it finally is. becoming a screenwriter has been a dream of mine (albeit a pipe dream Im sure). I got my college degree in kinesiology and have no formal training but dammit I'm going to start writing and let the chips fall where they may.

some films that inspire me to write:

once upon a time in the west (spaghetti western)
touch of evil (noir)
the big sleep (noir)
pulp fiction
taxi driver
city of god

Download a program called Celtx. It's free and you can export to PDF to print.

[Toledous]

I'm wanting to write a short for fun, but haven't come up with any interesting ideas so far.

Think of an arbitrary idea if you must. I have a few...wont post obviously. Controversial topics are good as well. Scorcese's first film was a guy shaving over and over until he bled profusely and it demonstrated his stance on the Vietnam War at the time.

[Mr.PissShivers]

Think of an arbitrary idea if you must. I have a few...wont post obviously. Controversial topics are good as well. Scorcese's first film was a guy shaving over and over until he bled profusely and it demonstrated his stance on the Vietnam War at the time.

Yeah, I think I'll go over some genres tomorrow and see if it sparks anything.

[TheMagician23]

Thread inspired me to open up Adobe.story again and start putting more ideas down. Thanks for all the helpful info - especially Toledous!

[Toledous]

Yeah, I think I'll go over some genres tomorrow and see if it sparks anything.

Word. Let me know what you come up with. Worse comes to worse if it's good I can get it made out here and you'd receive the writing credit. Gotta build dat dere resume.

Thread inspired me to open up Adobe.story again and start putting more ideas down. Thanks for all the helpful info - especially Toledous!

NP. Willing to answer any questions. It's my passion and doesn't feel like a job at all. I like talking about it.

[Mr.PissShivers]

Word. Let me know what you come up with. Worse comes to worse if it's good I can get it made out here and you'd receive the writing credit. Gotta build dat dere resume.

I'm leaning toward something Twilight Zone-ish, but that will take some brainpower if I can even pull it off.

[BeefyMcNasty]

I'm wanting to write a short for fun, but haven't come up with any interesting ideas so far.

When I first started getting into writing, one thing I learned the hard way, is to ALWAYS carry a notebook with you. ALWAYS! Treat it like your second wallet. It's something you never leave home without. My wife got me this little cover of small composition notebooks:




Fill one up and you just slid another in. It goes everywhere with me. When I first started writing I would be out with friends at a bar or a game. Since some part of my mind is always thinking about story ideas I would get random flashes. Sometimes it would just be some lines of dialog with no scene to go along with it. Sometimes it would just be a random scene with no story yet. Sometimes it would be entire plots. The point is, by the time I was in a position to write it down, half of them were forgotten. If you're going to take writing seriously, you have to understand that you're a writer 24/7. You have to be prepared as such.

[BroSonofBro]

I admire teachers. Where would we be without them? I wouldn't be where I am had it not been for a handful of teachers I've had throughout my life. If you have positive feedback on those stories/scripts, keep at it. Make the changes/corrections that were suggested, or fix the things that worried them. Get it back out there and try to get a Lit Agent to take a look at the best one you have. You have a better chance than most if you already have multiple scripts to show you writing ability.

I'll always give back to teachers, so hell, if you want, send over an NDA and I'll take a look at a couple of them. At the very least I can give feedback.

Thanks, man. Much appreciated. Teaching is awesome in a lot of ways but I definitely love the creative outlet that writing gives me.

The pilot is dead in the water at the moment but I wrote a feature length last year received some great feedback as well from industry people and graded out as a B+ in a contest I entered a few months ago. Basically they thought it was too long for a comedy, so I trimmed it down to about 95-100 pages. I'd appreciate you taking a reading but I actually don't have a non disclosure agreement, best I'd be able to do is a template online. I did get it copyrighted through the WGA though, does that work?

[Mr.PissShivers]

When I first started getting into writing, one thing I learned the hard way, is to ALWAYS carry a notebook with you. ALWAYS! Treat it like your second wallet. It's something you never leave home without. My wife got me this little cover of small composition notebooks:

[img]http://i.imgur.com/06ltV.jpg?1?3703[/img

Fill one up and you just slid another in. It goes everywhere with me. When I first started writing I would be out with friends at a bar or a game. Since some part of my mind is always thinking about story ideas I would get random flashes. Sometimes it would just be some lines of dialog with no scene to go along with it. Sometimes it would just be a random scene with no story yet. Sometimes it would be entire plots. The point is, by the time I was in a position to write it down, half of them were forgotten. If you're going to take writing seriously, you have to understand that you're a writer 24/7. You have to be prepared as such.

I have the small seed of and idea, we'll see where it goes.

[Toledous]

I'm leaning toward something Twilight Zone-ish, but that will take some brainpower if I can even pull it off.

Try it out man. Write it out how you want and a producer will take a look at it and figure out how to communicate the story in the cheapest, yet most effective way. It can also help to ferret out anything that doesn't make sense and add improvements. Two brains are better than one everytime...unless you're M. Night Shamalan with the Sixth Sense. He was a first time director going into that and the studios/executives loved the script so much that they met his every demand. He basically said that he wasn't going to give it to anybody unless he recieved $3 million for the script and got to direct it. He got his way...the script was just that good.

When I first started getting into writing, one thing I learned the hard way, is to ALWAYS carry a notebook with you. ALWAYS! Treat it like your second wallet. It's something you never leave home without. My wife got me this little cover of small composition notebooks:


Fill one up and you just slid another in. It goes everywhere with me. When I first started writing I would be out with friends at a bar or a game. Since some part of my mind is always thinking about story ideas I would get random flashes. Sometimes it would just be some lines of dialog with no scene to go along with it. Sometimes it would just be a random scene with no story yet. Sometimes it would be entire plots. The point is, by the time I was in a position to write it down, half of them were forgotten. If you're going to take writing seriously, you have to understand that you're a writer 24/7. You have to be prepared as such.

Yes. The biggest thing about being a writer is to never stop writing. Everybody has a few bad stories in them before a good one pokes in shiny head through. Just write write write write write.

Thanks, man. Much appreciated. Teaching is awesome in a lot of ways but I definitely love the creative outlet that writing gives me.

The pilot is dead in the water at the moment but I wrote a feature length last year received some great feedback as well from industry people and graded out as a B+ in a contest I entered a few months ago. Basically they thought it was too long for a comedy, so I trimmed it down to about 95-100 pages. I'd appreciate you taking a reading but I actually don't have a non disclosure agreement, best I'd be able to do is a template online. I did get it copyrighted through the WGA though, does that work?

PM me and we can figure something out. As long is something is sent/received in a tangible medium with me agreeing to it...it is still legally binding.

I have the small seed of and idea, we'll see where it goes.

GL brah.

[Mr.PissShivers]

Anyone have any favorite books on screenwriting?

[MrBrosephStalin]

Anyone have any favorite books on screenwriting?

Story by Robert McKee. It's practically my bible.

[Mr.PissShivers]

Story by Robert McKee. It's practically my bible.

Still haven't read that one yet.

[Ghadz]

Will I be seeing any of you brahs at Starbucks tomorrow?


Trololol, but srs if I had the time and dedication I'd love to write a screenplay. I've been saving up money to buy a semi-professional video camera (upwards of $2k) so I can direct short films in college. If I could choose any career path other than the one I'm on, it'd be to go into Hollywood. Have such a great passion for movies and the cinema, acting or directing would be amazing.

Going to study up on some cinematography/etc during my college years. Thanks screenplay brahs for helping put life into words that can be dramatically interpreted.

Any entertainment brahs in IL keep in touch with me for future endeavours.

[Mr.PissShivers]

What are some of the must read screenplays?

Quentin Tarantino's have been the most entertaining for me.

[vincelance54]

Brb I work for a production company in Burbank. Brb I can submit scripts...brb brb i'm your only hope...srs

sounds sick, how'd hard is it to break into the biz from the east coast without connections?

and do you start out at the bottom of the ladder i'm guessing and just slog your way to the top?

[Toledous]

What are some of the must read screenplays?

Pretty much anything on the blacklist. Those are the best unproduced scripts of the year and anybody who's anybody in Hollywood as read them.

sounds sick, how'd hard is it to break into the biz from the east coast without connections?

and do you start out at the bottom of the ladder i'm guessing and just slog your way to the top?

Pretty hard, but if you moved out here it's only a little easier, and not by much. Essentially yes...you start out as basically an indentured servant and then you move up slowly. Some people have better luck than others...but it is what it is.