Do you enjoy reading screenplays ?

Randall_Oelerich

Randall_Oelerich

Veteran
Scripts made into films, specs handed to you be friends to read and critique, anything but your own screenplays: Do you enjoy reading such screenplays? Yes, no? I will be honest-- though I enjoy writing, because I see the scenes and characters in my head, I find screenplays written by others boring to read, unless they are in the genres I enjoy reading/watching, and only if written as fast reads (vertical, minimal exposition, minimal description). I have read 50+ screenplays, I am sure I will keep reading more, but to me screenplays are not literary works, they are blueprints for a film, and as such are not finished works to enjoy such as with a novel or the actual film. Does this mean I am not meant to be a screenwriter? I don't think so, I just get more enjoyment doing the writing myself of my own stories that I can see in my head, then then on paper; but I do understand the usefulness of reading other screenplays to a point, to study some techniques and methods that are proven. Okay, there, I said it. Your turn. Agree with me? Disagree?
 
If they're good. Some screenplays I like even more than the film. I had tears in my eyes when I finished reading The Sixth Sense. Awful scripts are painful to read and a struggle to get through. There are a lot more awful scripts out there than good readable ones.
 
vcassel said:
If they're good.....
Click to expand...

Yes, I have found just a few screenplays to be riveting (for me), fast reads, easy reads: The Cave, Alien, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Ring, The Grudge, -- but I like watching horror-thrillers which helped reading those scripts. Lots of other titles I am sure are riveting to others, so subjective what someone enjoys as genres.
 
Randall_Oelerich said:
Scripts made into films, specs handed to you be friends to read and critique, anything but your own screenplays: Do you enjoy reading such screenplays? Yes, no?
Click to expand...

I don't 'enjoy' reading screenplays... I read pro produced or unproduced for education. I occasionally... rarely these days... read scripts on the various sites written by non-pros. I read 'local' writer scripts with a mind to make the film. I write scripts for my own ideas. In the latter two cases, I pretty much can only commit to making short films, such as the one I'm working on now, and will be shooting over the next two weekends. So I only read short films with a mind to making them.

In the current project. One of the members of a group I joined had a very 'old' script/shortstory/sketch... which I rewrote into a more 'modern' as well as more formal script format. I'm the director... the person who provided the original script is the producer...

In reading the original script I was nearly brought to tears... no not those kinds... but because I want to make a short film this quarter and get hopefully two short films out with another one next quarter... I took the effort to do the rewrite.
 
I have A.D.D. so I know a script is good if I can actually read it without putting it down, if I can't get past the first 10 pages I know it is horrible.

:D
 
Screenplays are interesting if it is able to capture emotions. I don't know if many directors ask actors to improvise a few scenes without the use of a script. I really like actors that act a scene and it seems like they are not memorizing a script. Anything in a film that has a scene that seems natural and not scripted, is awesome to me more than anything else
 
You don't have to be a seasoned writer to recognize a horrible script and I also been on a few writing courses myself to help with some of the stories/scripts I am putting togegther.

A script can go wrong in many ways, but I think the absolute worst scripts have done nothing to build the characters and jump STRAIGHT into frenzy dramatic dialogue, with f-words, and hightened drama, and very tense scenes! Wow these are great scenes to read, but not if they are too early on in a script where we haven't really built the personalities or habits, etc.. of our "characters".

I think people are drawn into movies because they can find characters they can relate too, and not everyone can relate to the same characters so its good to have those good guys and bad guys, or the guy your cheering for or against... I feel a story must "un-fold" in front of an audince and the character-to-audience relationship must be built early on. Not always of course, and mainly I am talking about features not shorts.
 
I don't really find scripts engaging literature unless I am reading it for a reason. I wouldn't take a script to bed to fill in the journey to the land of Nod. But if I'm editing, reviewing, studying or reading it with a view to make it, they are very engaging. In these cases it engages both half of your brain fully as you both get involved with the story while simultaneously analysing the technical challenges presented. Scripts more than any other format require the reader to bring the most.

If it is written in an entertaining manner as opposed to a dry technical sequence (beyond what will hit the screen) it makes it less of a chore to get through the blueprint in the same way as an instruction manual written in a tongue in cheek manner helps you get through the boring stuff. But elegant, deep, multi-layered prose has no place in there. In a novel a paragraph that is so good you are prompted to re-read it several times just to savour it is an achievement worthy of accolades. In a script the same paragraph has just killed the flow dead. A good script you can read and translate into a mental film in real time. Otherwise how do you know it's working? How do you judge the imagery, the all important pacing etc. A great story can be an awful film. A terrible story can be a good film. Of course it's good if you can have both.

I have been most disappointed reading the scripts to some of my favourite movies. It goes to show how much the director and other collaborators bring because there is no way I see Ridley Scott's realisation of Bladerunner in the pages of the script. Same goes for Alien. Stripped of Giger and the eventual performances it looks a lot more generic. I suppose the gap is going to be larger in science fiction than drama because of the elevated importance of the art department in that genre but still... I think I liked the script for 2001 from memory but remember thinking that if I had never seen it, my version wouldn't have been anywhere near as grand. A lot happens between locking the script and the end of pre-production I guess. I've found comedies have generally been the most enjoyable scripts to read in isolation.
 
HATE IT!
I seriously write my own stuff as much as anything because I don't want to have to endure the sheer hell of reading a bunch of screenplays to find one that doesn't suck.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top