Scriptalitis

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  • Scriptalitis

    Hey, everyone,

    I don't really post much. I'm a bit of an introvert, but as people in my life keep telling me I need to get out more, I decided to show my face (albeit on the internet. Physically getting out more is more challenging -- you know, brushing one's teeth, combing hair, showering, wearing smart, clean clothes, money in the pocket, looking good and all that. Can't be bothered with that most days, but that's another story).

    So, I recently renewed my subscription (I didn't get my money's worth on the last one. In the whole year I barely posted or visited the site, so I might as well get a bang for my buck this time around).

    So...

    I've been reading quite a few of the scripts that have been posted on here, including the archived ones (I posted some pages recently), and although I rarely comment on them (that may change soon), one thing I've noticed is a bad case of scriptalitis.

    It seems more or less everyone is trying to write the same way. It's hard to define (and I should think about this more to better articulate this) but I get the impression that people are thinking script before story. It feels to me that people are trying too hard to write a script and not a story.

    Yeah, I know, who am I, right? I'm no pro, but I get the impression that people are rushing into writing a script because let's face it -- writing a script is fvcking cool! Hey, I should talk! The pages I posted recently were first draft straight out of my head (and they show) because who wants to get bogged down with -- gosh, dare I say -- figuring out the story first?

    But, like it or not, the heavy work is doing the stuff before you begin writing the script, like: story. Yeah, you know, what is the story? And that also includes, themes, who are the characters? Why this story? Why must this story exist? Why must you tell this story?

    Ok, I'm going off subject a little bit, because my main point is the wording in some of the scripts I've read here.

    For some reason, most people here who post pages use phrases and expressions in their scripts that have never been heard of before. It's almost as if writing a script allows you to invent your own language.

    One of the most common complaints I have found in these posts is when someone comments on a piece of description that made little or no sense. Why did that writer use such odd phrasing? I don't know. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Similes and metaphors are used that otherwise would never be used. It's almost as though trying to be cool trumps actual story telling. I don't know why. Perhaps it's a "phase" thing, and you eventually grow out of it.

    But if it wasn't for scriptwriting, how many people on here would still want to tell stories? Does anyone actually tell stories to their friends and family? Do you hang out with people and engage them with interesting stories that happened to you the other day, or many years ago?

    I'm going off point again, I know, but what I want to say in a nutshell is that wanting to be a screenwriter makes people write in a very strange way.

    I call it Scriptalitis.

    I'm sure I wanted to go deeper than this but my more lucid thoughts escape me for now.

  • #2
    Re: Scriptalitis

    Hello fellow Introvert...he he

    I just thought I would chime in and say I can relate to the whole isolation of self. I have spent the last nearly a decade in screenwriters purgatory. Now that I am out finding it hard to get back in the saddle. I too have reading, researching, and trolling DD. I have noticed a few of the things you are speaking of, but not going to comment on it. What I do know from marketing scripts is everyone seems to want something different than what's presented.
    To be honest I haven't had a look at your pages, but now I will. Feel free to PM me, although I don't always sign daily, so don't be surprised if you have to wait on me to answer

    Good Luck.
    Looking for some light, and making things beautiful along the way.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Scriptalitis

      Well, screenplay writing does have different conventions from other kinds of writing. Fragments are really common, for one thing. You have a little more freedom in creating pace, tone, and images. Everything's in the vernacular. Etc.

      But I do agree that sometimes sounding "cool" can start to trump storytelling, which is a problem. I'm all for establishing a cool, unique voice, but it needs to serve your story in some way. Shane Black asides are fun when Shane Black does them, in large part because his story is compelling, not just his little quips and turns of phrase. They complement each other instead of competing.

      The interesting thing to me is when you see screenwriters write posts as themselves (for example, blog posts), you can often see the influence screenwriting has on the way they communicate. Lots of fragments. Little, powerful phrases. That kind of thing. Anyway, it's interesting.

      As for DDP, I think the problem is that people rush to post a first draft without fleshing out the idea or doing any revision on their own first. Which is fine, as long as you're super clear and upfront about what everyone is looking at. Otherwise you're going to get a lot of feedback that just isn't helpful that early on.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Scriptalitis

        Originally posted by Nat Palazzo View Post
        Hey, everyone,

        I'm going off point again, I know, but what I want to say in a nutshell is that wanting to be a screenwriter makes people write in a very strange way.

        I call it Scriptalitis.

        I'm sure I wanted to go deeper than this but my more lucid thoughts escape me for now.
        You're preaching to the choir. I've been asking newbies for years, if they like to tell stories. To their fellow workers, to their girlfriends or boyfriends, to their kids, to anybody. Most of the time I don't get an answer.

        On one site, the late, great misc.writing.screenplays, newbies used to ask for help and for story ideas. WTF? And I used to ask them if they don't have a story to tell, why do they want to write? I don't think I ever got an answer on that one.

        There were a lot of them that asked how much money they could make for selling a script, and I doubt if most had ever written one page of one script yet. It would be kind of like me asking LeBron James how much money could I make as a basketball star?

        So if that's "Scriptalitis", it's definitely out there.
        "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Scriptalitis

          Originally posted by StoryWriter View Post
          You're preaching to the choir. I've been asking newbies for years, if they like to tell stories. To their fellow workers, to their girlfriends or boyfriends, to their kids, to anybody. Most of the time I don't get an answer.
          Verbal storytelling is a completely separate skill from written storytelling. I have sat at the feet of master storytellers (literally - I was in camp) and they mesmerize their audience. It's not just telling a story, it's telling a story with voice, and motion, and eye contact, and drama. Throw in a touch of acting while you're at it.

          I cannot do that. To hold a group's attention I need days of prepwork and Toastmaster's coaching. I've got a series of five-minute stories I tell my kids at bedtime, but even as I flounder through them (they're most often impromptu) my internal editor nags and pesters about how it could be better, and maybe even spectacular in print.

          On paper I can mold and shape and reword and revise, revise, revise. I let the black and white type be my voice -- and that voice is what I use to reach out to fellow human beings and coax them to stay in a world I created. My preferred medium is scripts; I've worked in short- and longform prose and that's not my forte.

          So your benchmark of "do you tell stories to other people" is, IMO, a rotten benchmark to distinguish a writer. Just because a writer cannot tell stories verbally -- or in short prose, or in novel, or in poetry, or in graphic novel formats -- does not mean that they are less of a storyteller.

          I do find it ironic that you invent a word to describe your observations in the same post as you say: For some reason, most people here who post pages use phrases and expressions in their scripts that have never been heard of before. It's almost as if writing a script allows you to invent your own language. (And, since this is not a visual conversation, this observation is not meant meanly, but with wry amusement. So don't interpret that as an attack of any sort.)

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Scriptalitis

            I hate telling stories to my "fellow workers, to their girlfriends or boyfriends, to their kids, to anybody," mainly because I'm not really a people's person. If I tell one, it usually trails off, I lose my confidence and nobody really gets into it.

            I'm paid to write screenplays.

            So, there.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Scriptalitis

              I love telling stories. Most of the time, I'm not really aware of it. Some people feel manipulated the moment they realize you are telling them a story. In the end, they'll say "it's just a story". Or "it's just a myth". Fiction is marginalized nowadays. The media prefer facts, even when those facts are wrong.

              What you are saying is that most writers lack the basics. Well, ... welcome to the real world. You'll find this in every profession, at any level.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Scriptalitis

                Originally posted by MoviePen View Post
                Verbal storytelling is a completely separate skill from written storytelling. I have sat at the feet of master storytellers (literally - I was in camp) and they mesmerize their audience. It's not just telling a story, it's telling a story with voice, and motion, and eye contact, and drama. Throw in a touch of acting while you're at it.

                I cannot do that. To hold a group's attention I need days of prepwork and Toastmaster's coaching. I've got a series of five-minute stories I tell my kids at bedtime, but even as I flounder through them (they're most often impromptu) my internal editor nags and pesters about how it could be better, and maybe even spectacular in print.

                On paper I can mold and shape and reword and revise, revise, revise. I let the black and white type be my voice -- and that voice is what I use to reach out to fellow human beings and coax them to stay in a world I created. My preferred medium is scripts; I've worked in short- and longform prose and that's not my forte.

                So your benchmark of "do you tell stories to other people" is, IMO, a rotten benchmark to distinguish a writer. Just because a writer cannot tell stories verbally -- or in short prose, or in novel, or in poetry, or in graphic novel formats -- does not mean that they are less of a storyteller.

                I do find it ironic that you invent a word to describe your observations in the same post as you say: For some reason, most people here who post pages use phrases and expressions in their scripts that have never been heard of before. It's almost as if writing a script allows you to invent your own language. (And, since this is not a visual conversation, this observation is not meant meanly, but with wry amusement. So don't interpret that as an attack of any sort.)
                To me telling or writing stories are basically the same thing. I understand about picking the words, because I'll spend hours, sometimes trying out the same sentence -- so I understand you have more time to perfect written stories.

                But I've always told stories. I'm the guy that would go to lunch and "something" happened, or I met "somebody" odd that I just had to spend fifteen minutes telling everybody about when I got back from lunch. Mostly exaggeration, but sometimes they would develop a little further than that. Often these were the starting points for written stories.

                My wife (of 34 years) wanted to meet me when she read something I wrote. I've been telling her stories since then. I made up a story almost every night when our kids were young (mostly serialized with the same characters) and after thirty years they still think I should write them down.

                To my way of thinking, you've got to try out your writing, at least sometimes. Some things you think are great on the page, drop like a lead balloon with a live audience. And it works the opposite way too -- stuff you're not too sure about, sometimes hits. A lot of what I write is comedy and the timing really has to work. I'm sure people can do it, but I don't know how to get that down without testing some of it on real people.

                So, for me at least, one improves on the other. But what I say is pretty meaningless. I've read a lot of books about writers and other than the fact that the good ones never quit -- hardly any two of them have much in common about how they create a story.

                And in a lot of ways I'm a complete introvert. I never cared for going to parties, or any other social gathering. I just like seeing peoples reactions when they hear stories, or watch them at a theater. I can drive my wife batsh*t, if she's watching something I've already seen, because I'm watching her to see her reactions instead of the movie.

                But now I messed up my original point -- most of the wannabes I was talking about, had never written a story either. They just wanted to write screenplays and didn't have anything to say.
                "I just couldn't live in a world without me."

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Scriptalitis

                  OP,

                  You are saying all the right things. You are noticing how mechanical amateur scripts read. The writer's intentions supersede the story. Why?

                  Because one of the trickiest things about the development process, either of a script or anything else for that matter, is that you always think the new pedestal is the last pedestal of the development. Amateur screenwriters start from pedestal one thinking they are there baby. Not all of course but many.

                  To write a good story you need everything mapped out and organized and thought out. You need to make it seem Character motivations drive plot, when probably the story came to you in the reverse. Meaning, you see these events in your head but you really don't know why characters are doing what they do. When you write the story, it has to seem to be the reverse. Character choices cause the events to happen - just like in real life.

                  There's just so much to do and so much to know when writing a script. It is a very murky process until it isn't, if that makes sense.

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