How A Lazy, Dummy Can Writer A Killer Screenplay

Online, March 14, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Hey, everyone!

Unfortunately, if you are a real dummy you're not going to make a great screenwriter, but I guess you know that anyway, and by the same token you will know that what we are really alluding to when we say screenwriting for dummies is screenwriting for the uninitiated.

Okay now we've got that out of the way, it's time to get down to business, and to discuss the basics of screenwriting for dummies, in the sense we really mean it in. If you've got a passion for movies and screenplays, then screenwriting could be the right career for you. All you need is a good understanding of what goes to make a great scene, and the skill to be able to put it down in words on the printed page.

Sounds easy doesn't it? Well in essence it is, but the very first thing you have to take on board is that you may need to change the way that you look at the world. We all look at what is going on around us each and every day, but as a screenwriter you need to be able to see it as a part of "the movie of life". In other words you need to be able to see the things that are happening as part of a scene. The first thing you need to understand in screenwriting for dummies is that writing a screenplay is all about being able to set that scene.

Not only must you set that scene, you must be able to bring it life and to make it work, to be the background for the play that you are going to unfold before the viewers eyes. You can actually practice this visualization in all of the everyday activities that you undertake, such as:

• Just standing around and watching the world go by
• Reading a book, or play, or even a piece of poetry
• Scanning the daily newspaper
• Listening to a piece of music (classical music is superb for
this)
• Listening to another person talking

Screenwriting for dummies begins with this pure and simple visualization. Once you can do this in everyday life, you will have taken the first step on your journey to becoming a screenwriter. But of course that's not all there is to it. If it were we'd all be churning out great masterpieces by the dozen.

The next step on our road of screenwriting for dummies is to learn how to think like a screenwriter. This is all about going into depth - into detail. Don't just look at scene - delve into it. Look for the unusual, and if it's not there create it. You might for example see a children's playground. There will be children on swings, running up and down slides, riding on the roundabout, but did you spot or imagine those construction workers on their lunch-break playing basketball, or the ladies eating their sandwiches on the park benches? Your scenes are like a blank canvas and you are the painter. You can "people" them how you like, but don't just go for the stereotype - be inventive.

Screenwriting is an art, but in your journey from screenwriting for dummies to screen writer extraordinaire, you must learn how to harness your writing juices and make them flow. Most writers have their own little idiosyncrasies that help them to concentrate and to "perform". Mark Twain like to write lying down; Ernest Hemingway would start a session by sharpening loads of pencils; and the poet John Donne used to prefer lying in a coffin! Now I'm not advocating that you should turn into a vampire, (but whatever turns you on - everyone to their own), however you do need to find your own mojo.

No matter who we are, we've all trodden the road from screenwriting for dummies to wherever we are at today. It part of our rite of passage.

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Fade Out,

Brandon
www.HollywoodScreenwritingSecrets.com