We should write for the reader. Duh!

[BattleDolphinZero]

Originally Posted by silvercop

This is exactly the advice I most often read. Spec scripts should generally be written in the first style, with very little technical direction.

Again, professional screenwriters are unanimously disagreeing.

Free yourself of the "rules"

[sc111]

Originally Posted by silvercop

Most professionals recommend writing with the camera angle in mind and subliminally suggesting how the scene is seen through the reader’s eye.

But a certain type of directing on the page is not just because. Not a no-rhyme-or-reason thing. You can use certain shot to tell the story. Let images do some of the heavy lifting. Like, the suggestion I made after reading your pages. To use a shot that shows how vulnerable the base is.

Although I agree I have read camera directions in newbie scripts that are useless. A SMASH CUT TO that's just a style thing, adding nothing to the storytelling.

Use camera direction to your advantage. The right tool for the job. Try it -- you'll like it.

[Hamboogul]

There are also ways to write implied camera actions.


We creep up on FRED who inches toward the empty room on the far end of the hallway. We edge closer, almost touching his shoulder. He WHIPS AROUND and SEES--

--HIS MOM holding a bottle of medicine.

(Okay, this isn't the most elegant example because I just wrote it in a minute. But you know what I mean).

[Mycroftbrett]

Was it Buckleys? Don't leave me hanging man!

[silvercop]

I suspect this is mostly a style debate.

[silvercop]

Originally Posted by JeffLowell

Source?

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Writing-P...need-ask-1.htm

[Todd Karate]

Originally Posted by silvercop

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Writing-P...need-ask-1.htm

Well, if John Dart said it...

[silvercop]

Originally Posted by Todd Karate

Well, if John Dart said it...

Yea well, I just grabbed a qoute from about the 6th site I saw with the same info. Pretty much everything I can find (except the forums) says the same thing. That is how I remember it when I researched the topic a couple years ago as well.

[JeffLowell]

Originally Posted by silvercop

Yea well, I just grabbed a qoute from about the 6th site I saw with the same info. Pretty much everything I can find (except the forums) says the same thing. That is how I remember it when I researched the topic a couple years ago as well.

Those websites are all failed screenwriters trying to sell you "rules," so they have something to say when they're taking your money. Real pro working writers will never tell you something silly like never use a song or a camera direction.

There are plenty of threads here on this issue.

Best of luck.

[DavidK]

I haven't read the last few pages, but with regard to the OP I just realized that in the first instance I write for myself with complete disregard for readers, producers, studios or audiences. I write something that I enjoy, that entertains me, a movie that I would see. I think about who else might like it much later in the process.