Writing for fun

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  • Writing for fun

    I'm not sure if this question belongs here, but here goes nothing...

    Has anyone ever wrote a script for the hell of it or practice and never sent it out?

    I started writing this script as a short story and for practice. Before I knew it, I had fallen in love with it and can't stop writing it. I go back and reread certain parts and laugh at my own ****!

    Once complete though, I'm not sure I would shop it around.....Is this crazy?

  • #2
    Re: writing for fun

    I once adapted a sci-fi novel just for the practice. A producer friend had the film rights but it wasn't something ever likely to sell, so I did it for kicks and on a shelf it sits. Was a fun exercise though.
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    • #3
      Re: writing for fun

      Originally posted by chuco View Post
      Has anyone ever wrote a script for the hell of it or practice and never sent it out?
      I did a page one rewrite on a script while I was working on the movie just to see if I could write a better film. Does that count? Though, I did give it to one of the producer's when I was done.
      www.thescriptsource.net

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      • #4
        Re: writing for fun

        I have a stack of specs that have never been read by anyone... mostly because they suck. But some were scripts that were long shots that I wrote because I just wanted to. Most of my mystery scripts are like this - but every once in a while I send one out into the world (usually to managers) to be shot down because it is a mystery. They're kind of tests sometimes - if a manager gets it, I want to work with them. The mystery scripts are the "true me" - exciting, but they have a brain. I have a whole freakin' bag of DVDs with my name on them that are exciting and had the brain removed.

        I have a couple of scripts on the horizon that are long shots - a comedy that's been outlined forever about working the midnight to 9am shift at a grocery store, and a page one rewrite of a thriller that leans towards drama about a group of friends - and one gets accused of killing his wife and asks the others to be his alibi.

        I have never written a spec that wasn't fun, though - why torture yourself? If you aren't having fun, do something else!

        - Bill
        Last edited by wcmartell; 01-21-2010, 01:41 PM.
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        • #5
          Re: writing for fun

          At the very least, I always have a goofy side project that keeps me busy when I am waiting to gets notes from people on my main script. Sometimes they are marketable, sometimes they are a longshot. They are always fun.
          "Take the thing you love, and make it your life"--Californication. [email protected]

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          • #6
            Re: writing for fun

            It is probably best if the first scripts you ever write never see the light of day. Some people have it and can write a great first script, but most can't. It a lot of writing in order to get good -- multiple specs written. A lot of that is essentially practice.

            INT. PINEAPPLE - DAY


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            • #7
              Re: writing for fun

              Originally posted by chuco View Post
              I'm not sure if this question belongs here, but here goes nothing...

              Has anyone ever wrote a script for the hell of it or practice and never sent it out?

              I started writing this script as a short story and for practice. Before I knew it, I had fallen in love with it and can't stop writing it. I go back and reread certain parts and laugh at my own ****!

              Once complete though, I'm not sure I would shop it around.....Is this crazy?
              I didn't send my first five scripts out. IMO, they weren't good enough to even be seriously considered by someone. I didn't want to clutter up the system with yet another script that would waste everybody's time.

              You don't have to shop a script just because you wrote one. If you aren't completely confident that what you've written has a good chance of selling, I would save everyone time and energy... chalk it up to experience/practice and wait to shop something that you're proud of.

              You only get one chance to make a first impression.

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              • #8
                Re: writing for fun

                Sure. I've been writing a Calvin & Hobbes script off and on for awhile now. It's something I'll bring out whenever I'm hitting a roadblock or just can't get motivated to write.

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                • #9
                  Re: writing for fun

                  I've only ever written for fun retrospectively.
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                  • #10
                    Re: writing for fun

                    Originally posted by SoCalScribe View Post
                    I didn't send my first five scripts out. IMO, they weren't good enough to even be seriously considered by someone. I didn't want to clutter up the system with yet another script that would waste everybody's time.

                    You don't have to shop a script just because you wrote one. If you aren't completely confident that what you've written has a good chance of selling, I would save everyone time and energy... chalk it up to experience/practice and wait to shop something that you're proud of.

                    You only get one chance to make a first impression.
                    Interesting, the number five.

                    Me, too, I have written five scripts, and sent out none (even though a teacher I had at UCLA extension told me to send out script number 1. I felt I hadn't nearly enough control over what I was doing, and didn't).

                    Now, script six is looking very promising. And it's in a different genre. Not comedy like the first five, but SciFi thriller.
                    "Ecco il grande Zampano!"

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                    • #11
                      Re: writing for fun

                      Sure. I've been writing a Calvin & Hobbes script off and on for awhile now.
                      Awesome idea and I can imagine how much fun that would be. Big fan of Calvin and Hobbes.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Writing for fun

                        I'd wanted to do it ever since I read Blockhead, the adult Peanuts spec from years back.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Writing for fun

                          Sure - it frees you up from the constraints of 'what would be sellable'.

                          In fact - I just write for fun.

                          Mac
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                          • #14
                            Re: Writing for fun

                            Originally posted by chuco View Post
                            I'm not sure if this question belongs here, but here goes nothing...

                            Has anyone ever wrote a script for the hell of it or practice and never sent it out?
                            Sure have. File it under things I did in my teens and twenties. Now everything I write, I write to sell. No blanks. 45 caliber only.
                            That doesn't mean I don't have fun, quite the contrary. But as Bonnie Raitt says in her song "Nick Of Time"...
                            "I ask every producer I meet if they need TV specs they say yeah. They all want a 40 inch display that's 1080p and 120Hz. So, I quit my job at the West Hollywood Best Buy."
                            - Screenwriting Friend

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                            • #15
                              Re: Writing for fun

                              Originally posted by Mac H. View Post
                              Sure - it frees you up from the constraints of 'what would be sellable'.

                              In fact - I just write for fun.

                              Mac
                              That was one of the most useful lessons I learned. My first SP was a labor of love, but still a labor. I was writing a lot of short stories at the time, which I did for fun. Then, just for fun, I started writing another screenplay and I had no goal or ambition and just did it for a laugh, I fooled around with characters and dialogue and story. The result: people who read it thought it was fantastic, easy and enjoyable to read, great dialogue. What was wrong was the story was somewhat predictable and had been done before, but it was an important lesson in how to get your best work on the page - for a spec writer especially, write what you enjoy writing, write for the fun of it.
                              "Friends make the worst enemies." Frank Underwood

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