help with sports action

[brockdown]

I'm working on a script that revolved around basketball, and it will have quite a bit of on-court action. Anyone have any experience writing sports action scenes? It's hard to read a good script to use as a model because there aren't very many great sports films. And as any sports and film enthusiasts know, the athletic action in movies is frequently fake and horrible and rarely realistic.

I haven't written much intense action of any kind, so any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.

B

[Chris]

I wrote a script that contained action scenes with wheelchair basketballers going ballistic on court. And those guys can move fast.

You need to write the actions in very short, concise sentences, even using one word on some lines. A new line for each new action.

Work on every sentence until each packs a punch.

I don't know of a script in a similar genre on the net. A hardcopy of the WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP screenplay might contain what you're looking for, but I couldn't say for sure.

[Tom De]

Try Hoosiers. There is a lot of on court action in the film. Drew's might have a copy of it. I don't know.

Good luck.
Tom

[callitt]

Read "Bull Durham".

Read it again.

Anything by Ron Shelton (great interview with him & Robert Wuhl in recent issue of Written By magazine--August 2000, I believe.)