Some Writing Tools for Short Screenplays

[Luis Caffesse]

Heh heh

yeah how about some spoiler alerts B-man.

(like Luis was really gonna hunt down and watch all those films though )

Alright, truth be told I was just giving Brice a hard time.
I've seen all those films.... but not everyone here has.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Alright, truth be told I was just giving Brice a hard time...

Always a good policy

(We kid because we care, B-Dawg)

[bosindy]

Anyone with some tips just on purely the amount of material to fit in a 5 minute short. The page a minute rule didn't work out to well last time.

Do you act out the pages to see if it fits etc...?

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I try to read it out loud - screen actions and dialogue, and visualize each action description, and I read the dialogue at a slightly slow measured pace.

So if it says, establishing shot - the cemetery, and I am envisioning a slow crane shot, I try to see it happening, then read the next bit.

A page per minute averages out over the course of a feature i.e. an hour or more.

Norm's spyfest was like 8 or 9 pages and he came in under for example.

I usually start at 9 pages and try to cut to 4 pages and wind up at 5 for a 6 minute film.

If I could get an idea fully developed and down to 4 pages for a 5 minute film then I would be stoked. More than likely I would have time to give things full weight and not have to have to short change the moments to get on to he next one.

[cinealma]

1) I LOVE Carver.

Well, then, next time we are in each other's towns, I'll buy you a drink and we can talk Carver, my friend. He's one of my favorite writers. I met Tess Gallagher a number of years ago through a friend of friend.

My GF a former Harvard Dramaturg, Dramaturged a theatrical adaptation of Carver and said it was like watching paint dry.

That's very cool. I'm sure if she would have directed it, it would have been much better.

2) I bet you a nickel to a ginger cookie that if any one of the gazillion members of DVXuser tried to emulate him in a short they would go down in flames faster than George Michael at a rest stop. Talk about vague seemingly pointless stories.

I agree. I think a Carver adaptation, AND STAYING IN THE SPIRIT OF HIS WRITING, would not be satisfying to a lot of people, including the filmmaker. You just either get it or you don't.

[bosindy]

I try to read it out loud - screen actions and dialogue, and visualize each action description, and I read the dialogue at a slightly slow measured pace.

So if it says, establishing shot - the cemetery, and I am envisioning a slow crane shot, I try to see it happening, then read the next bit.

A page per minute averages out over the course of a feature i.e. an hour or more.

Norm's spyfest was like 8 or 9 pages and he came in under for example.

I usually start at 9 pages and try to cut to 4 pages and wind up at 5 for a 6 minute film.

If I could get an idea fully developed and down to 4 pages for a 5 minute film then I would be stoked. More than likely I would have time to give things full weight and not have to have to short change the moments to get on to he next one.

Good advice, I think I am going to write and idea I have and see if it can be done. One of the things holding me back from jumping in is the 5 minutes. I wonder why 5 instead of 6? although people always want more time regardless.

[Beat Takeshi]

Anyone with some tips just on purely the amount of material to fit in a 5 minute short. The page a minute rule didn't work out to well last time.

Do you act out the pages to see if it fits etc...?

One thing I do is make a few grids on paper. The first one breaks the story up in 30 second intervals and I write in what I want to accomplish in that 30 seconds. Then I break it down to 15 sec intervals for the stuff thats much to fast for 30. Then the 10 sec if need be. I do this before I write the script so I know how much I'm allowed to write. I think I made this up the first contest because I needed to see it on paper graphically to figure it out. Works for me.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

Also, I'm sure you've heard to break up your action description into no more than two
line paragraphs to make for a breezier read.

Breaking the action into two line paragraphs and skipping spaces between each paragraph
can also help make sure you've given enough page space (i.e., time) to the image you are describing.

This is nowhere near exact, but a least there is some more space to represent the time
the shot will take better than writting it one long paragrpage, which would take less space.

[Beat Takeshi]

I would get in trouble doing it that way. I need something more visual.

[Jack Daniel Stanley]

I hear you. Not saying breaking it up like that works, just it's a step in the right direction from a big block of text to describe lots of action which take up less space on the page.

It's always so hard to tell almost no matter what for these short ones. The page count doesn't average out as well as it does for a feature.