My humble opinion - Screenplay writing

[Harsha, Great Careers]

My goodness! What a feedback from Vajra Krishna.. I had to drink a couple of glasses of water during the process of reading it. Great effort.

 

But my humble opinion is this : Do we have to analyse so much on screenplay writing? Do we have to know so much before starting? I have a feeling that 'too much knowledge AT THIS STAGE would only complicate things in screen writing '.

 

Develop a spark. Follow your instincts. Use a lot of common sense. Use a lot of reference materials like books / films etc. Think a lot from different perspectives. Think from every character's angle. Keep the flow linear without any unwanted diversions. Forget all the filmy twists & turns (if you are thinking abt a good film). Make a clear decision abt the ending & dont leave any loose ends.  Forget all the grammars of script writing & just go with the flow. Once the script is completed, toss it aside & do not think abt it for a week or two. Then review it again & you will be able to make a lot of corrections. Do the process again. After 3-4 drafts (sometimes more) stop the process as you may overkill it & take away some innocent sheen off it.

 

Write 4 or 5 scripts this way & u might have learnt a lot of things by then.

 

All these books like 'Heroes journey' & 'Art of screenwriting' should be strictly reference materials only (skipping them altogether is an even better idea). Do not confuse yourself or complicate things by reading or analysing too much AT THIS STAGE. Pls understand that Iam not against all these books, but I would not recommend them during this stage.

 

So, GO ON. Start writing to learn more. You cannot read 500 pages abt "art of swimming" before you start the swimming training. Know the basics & take the plunge at the safe zone. You will learn more during 1 hour of swimming class (the real act) than what you learnt from studying & analysing 500 pages abt it.

 

Sorry if I have ruffled a few feathers here. Its just my opinion & BTW, I have no credentials in script writing except that I have written 3-4 rough drafts in the last 2 yrs. (I had given a script for a short film to Anjum during the workshop & he had appreciated it whole-heartedly).