Starting New Short Script - Need Assistance!

[Nick Royer]

I am a high school filmmaker and have been making shorts for the last five years or so. For my latest project, I'm remaking the first short film I created. Innitially I was searching for a writer, but with summer fast approaching I'm taking on writing it myself - and thus I need a lot of help and guidance in figuring out my storyline. I will post the basic plot soon but if you would like to see the original film, it is available at http://gallery.me.com/royermedia#100058 . The orginial film is obviosuly not the best as it was made when I was still in middle school and I, along with my production colleagues, have come a long way since that production. The new film will be based loosely on that orginal, but modified significantly to feature a more realistic storyline and characters, as well as vastly improved technical production skills and acting.

I will post the rough outline soon. Please reply with any suggestions you may have on this project after watching the original. Thank you for your support!

 

[John M]

Interestingly enough, I attempted to do the same thing you are now trying to do about a year ago. What I mean by that is I made a short little horror film in grade nine and then at the end of grade twelve I attempted to remake it.

The cool thing about doing something like this is that you get to see how far you've come from where you started. It's a very interesting thing comparing two short films of the same subject matter made at different times just because you can see places where you've improved and places where you've stayed the same.

When you say that you "loosely" want to base the new film on the old I would definitely say that's a step in the right direction because in my own experience I did not really change the new script from the old and the result was horribly stale.

Bottom Line: Make sure your new concept matches your current abilities, don't try and graft an old concept onto who you are right now. From your post it would seem you already understand that, but from someone whose actually attempted this, I can't stress the above point enough.

 

[Nick Royer]

After looking around for a bit more trying to find a writer, I did go ahead and begin writing the script myself. At first, I spent about a week outlining the script and all of the major events. From there, I am writing the traditional screenplay and am about a third through by now. I know my work is going to need some definite polishing - is anyone willing to take a read and make suggestions? I will post one of these days when I get the rough draft finished. Thanks for reading!