Welcome to the second week of summer school, today we are focusing on screenwriting! What is screenwriting? Screenwriting or script writing is the art of crafting stories or ideas in script form to be transformed through film. Many people in the industry are screenwriters and there is a large range of jobs you can have as a screenwriter and ways you can make money. You can work for a studio or television show and work on a team developing scripts and new episodes. You can also write independently and develop your own scripts and produce the content yourself or with your own team. Screenwriters also collaborate with directors and producers in the making of their scripts and opt for a producing credit to keep some of the creative control. Other options also include selling scripts you write at different rates. Is screenwriting your calling? If you have always had a passion for storytelling it might be for you! If you were a child known to embellish stories (just a little bit), consider being a writer!

A great movie doesn’t come from thin air! A movie is only as good as it’s script is because the script is the first framework of any movie or show. Screenwriting allows a writer to build their world off of the page! Writing for novels is different from writing for scripts. Other than formatting differences in the two, screenwriting pushes a writer further. Being a screenwriter makes you a lot more observant as a person, you have to take into consideration how a character will move, behave and make expressions. You craft the world around them and every little detail of that world! One of the best parts of screenwriting is that it gives you an outlet to create a story and elevate it when you collaborate with directors and cinematographers!

Books

• Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need 
• Adventures in the Screen Trade 
• Writing Screenplays That Sell
• The Screenwriter’s Workout: Screenwriting Exercises and Activities to Stretch Your Creativity, Enhance Your Script, Strengthen Your Craft and Sell Your Screenplay
• Making a Good Script Great

Youtube Channels

• Film Courage 
• FAST Screenplay
• The Script Lab
• Robert McKee
• Click Imagination
• Word Dancer – How to write a screenplay

Podcasts

• Scriptnotes
• Write Your Screenplay 
• The Black List Table Reads
• The Writers Panel

Software

• StudioBinder (Free, subscriptions available )
• Celtx (Free, subscriptions available)
• Final Draft 11 ($250) *often used by industry professionals
• Paper and pen (Free)

It’s time to end the narrative that having a passion for writing is something that you reserve for your free time. Screenwriting is a lucrative way to enter the industry and be a creative force in it. It is something you can do no matter your circumstances because it requires minimal materials. All you need is an idea and the ability to write. The industry needs more amazing writers to craft stories that shape us all, impact our lives, and inspire us to dream big!

Next week’s article topic is Directing, stay tuned!