Which typewriter is best for writing screenplays?

R

robotsound

Well-known member
Which typewriter is the best for writing screenplays, an IBM Selectric III or an Olivetti MS 25? I'll probably be doing some combination of comedy, drama, sci-fi, westerns, horror, or maybe musicials. I've been reading the forums for months now, and it looks like a lot of people like the IBM Selectric III. After doing some price shopping, I found that Typewriters.com has reconditioned Selectrics available for $499.

Do you think that it's worth spending the extra cash for the Selectric III instead of dropping $109 on the Olli? It seems like it would only take one spec script sale and the IBM would pay for itself! Maybe I should buy one of each, so I'll have a B-typewriter for bigger scripts.

To do a professional script, is it necessary to go with a daisy wheel, or would one with typebars be OK? I've heard that daisy wheels are considered more cinematic.

If I do get the Selectric, can I use that to write comedies as well? If I write musicals, does anybody know if an IBM Selectric III is better or worse than the Olivetti at music notation. If I do musicals, I may need to step outside of the 12-tone western music scales, depending on the genre of movie. For horror movies, this may not be as important.

I read that to maximize your full creativity, you need to outfit your typewriter with a lot of essential third party accessories. Perhaps I'll start a separate thread to discuss the best typewriter cover, desk, desk lamp, wastebasket, and the best brand of journal to write down portable ideas, or to use as a crash pad for risky scenes where you wouldn't want to risk your main typewriter.

Once I get my new typewriter, I plan on doing lots of page tests. I'll report back with detailed high res pics of the letters on the paper when I do.

Oh, and one final question. Is there anything I should try and learn about how to tell a story? After mastering all these technical details, that should be the easy part, right?
 
robotsound said:
Is there anything I should try and learn about how to tell a story? After mastering all these technical details, that should be the easy part, right?
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You have an idea, you write down what you wanna say. Then you get somebody to add in the commas and **** where they belong, if you aren't positive yourself. Maybe fix up the spelling where you have some tricky words . . . although I've seen scripts where I know words weren't spelled right and there was hardly any commas in it at all. So I don't think it's too important. Anyway, you come to the last page you write in 'Fade out' and that's the end, you're done.
 
It's evident you are a rank beginner, because otherwise you would know that no typewriter, especially not the Selectric III nor the Olivetti MS 25, is good for all around scriptwriting.

No my friend, you will need several specialty typewriters, each designed for a particular genre, and each with its own dedicated line of covers, ribbons, correct-o-tape, white-out, and key cleaning fluid. Not to mention, of course, the wide range of papers you will need. Of course the purists among us will only be satisfied with a manual model, but if you can find one of the 1953-1955 Soviet-made steam typewriters in good condition, you can't go wrong. Be aware, however, that these come at a dear price, and they weigh 3 tons.

There are also a number of 3rd party modifications you will want to consider, in order bump up the speed with which the keys can lay their impressions on the paper. Be forewarned, however, that these can void your warranty and lead to permanent damage of the typewriter.

Oh, as far as telling a story? Don't worry! You've seen "Lost," haven't you?
 
Have large quantity of must have accessories for sale. (Specialized font balls, white-out (inc quart refills, colored ribbon cartridges, etc.) PM me.

Unfortunately, lovingly placed my trusty Sel II in the dumpster just a few years ago - only to need it for set dressing just a few weeks later . . . .

Nothings ever fair.
 
I heard that the Selectrics have a rolling daisy wheel problem, which can cause jello artifacts and mid-line blurring of ghost letter imprints if you don't pause your typing for a moment after hitting enter. Does anyone know of a plug-in or a workaround to fix this?

Also, does anybody know which plug-ins Shakespeare used to write his plays? I'm trying to go for that timeless epic feel, but I need some help deciding which presets to use. If anyone has any writing style files I could download that would be awesome!
 
If you write a story on a typewriter, no one will read it because its **** produced on obsolete technology.

To write a good story these days you need a COMPUTER. That is a shiny little box that you must buy from Apple, and you can only write a good story when you go to Starbucks and drink a coffee.
 
This thread got me looking at typewriters, and I was shocked to see that some modern typewriters have Spellcheck devices that make beep when they think you might have misspelled a word. Interesting.

However, ultimately you will need to have a computer for final typing of the script, because most people these days ask for your script as PDF, and they don't mean a scan of the script that is many tens or even hundreds of megabytes large.
 
I'm still stuck on Royal manuals. But I've never been able to figure out if the 60wpm model still gives better results than the newer 120wpm model. Not to mention progressive line spacing vs. interlaced line spacing...
 
This one is best:

m721019b.jpg
 
noahvolek said:
If you write a story on a typewriter, no one will read it because its sh*t produced on obsolete technology. To write a good story these days you need a COMPUTER. That is a shiny little box that you must buy from Apple, and you can only write a good story when you go to Starbucks and drink a coffee.
Click to expand...

Now that would be a site-- what kind of looks would one get from others if I walked into a Starbucks and pulled out a manual typewriter (no electric, totally manual!) and started banging away on a screenplay! Man I bet some of the young people would not have even even have seen a typewriter before! It would be hilarious.
 
Typewriter...what the hell is wrong with you? Have you been sniffing the whiteout again? What century are you from? Crawl out of that geodesic dome you're living in. I chisel my scripts into marble...no room for errors...no way to do rewrites. One draft and straight to production. It's also a workout and satisfies my gym requirement. I would go with the Carrera Marble...have it imported from Italy. If it's good enough for Michelangelo then it's good enough for me...and you. You will want to spend a little cash on the safety glasses, especially when chiselling rom coms. Things can get out of hand when chiselling steamy sex scenes. Marble is not good for animation scripts though. Sorry.
 
If you use an electric... why bother... use a computer. (and only whack jobs who have a fear and loathing in Las Vegas use Selectrics (and it was red anyway, and further I recall it was a Selectric I...))...


Now if you want to use a manual typewriter, and 'feel the words punching into the paper'...

I'd recommend, something like a Hermes 3000. If that's a bit heavy, then perhaps a Groma Kalibri, as 'advertised' in "Das Leben der Anderen"(2006).

Here's the Hermes 3000 (made by the same company that made the famous Bolex cameras, the 'standard camera of the young 60's avant guarde filmmaker'...

8111a.jpg


Here's the Groma Kalibri, it would be the talk of your social circle....

3026500531_9174f84114_z.jpg


Now if you want to be really cool, here's a Olivetti Valentine...

typwriterClose.jpg
 
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Those are beautiful!

I agree that if you took one of those into Starbucks you would definitely get some attention :)

When I was in high school I was the one kid in typing class with a Selectric III. Everyone else had Canon typewriters that were a few decades newer and much much quieter. Whenever I would start typing it would get really loud as a flurry of daisy wheel activity filled the room.
 
I can see a non-electric typewriter being useful if say you were writing in your cabin in the woods three hours drive from the nearest power socket. But other than that, a low-end laptop would be cheaper (ok, maybe not not once you add the cost of a printer), lighter, more portable and a darned sight more powerful.
 
There is a 'daisy wheel', but the Selectrics had a type 'ball'. A Daisy Wheel was essentially a wheel like device that had the type bars attached, and spun into position for printing. But in either case type ball or daisy wheel, the type font was selectable with different balls or wheels. I don't recall IBM putting out a 'daisy wheel' based typewriter.

Daisy wheel printers were the 'crem de la crem' of printers in the early 80's... as the output was superior to dotmatrix printers... but by the 90's laser printers had superceded general use for 'quality' output.
 
I stand corrected. If memory serves correctly, we had a daisy wheel on our ColecoAdam computer, and the Selectric had a type ball. I guess if you think about what a daisy looks like, the ball neither looks like a daisy nor a wheel.
 
"Dear god, let this be a joke"

Were the words that ran through my mind upon seeing the title of this thread.
 
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