Dream it, Film it!

Yes, dreams do come true in ways that only a Filmmaker and Scriptwriter can really image.

Dream

Ever wonder where a science fiction and horror movie scriptwriter come up with the material they write about?

Well often times men and women of all ages have nightmares, strange dreams, day dreams and thoughts unlike any other when they drift off to sleep or fall  into deep thought. Therefore 99.5% of the time, the script began in their nightmares.  Thus, this can also become the source of the next blockbuster in Hollywood and you can be that person who brings it to the table right out of the middle of your dreams.

Here are the steps you should take to tap into dreams and nightmares and how to use what frightens you most to scare the rest of us via the movie theaters.

1. Keep a notebook and pen or pencil beside your bed. Buy a regular notebook with 200 more pages of 8 1/2 x 11 size paper.  Buy several while you’re at it and store them away until you need them so that you always have one available.
2. Go to sleep. Relax and let your daydreams flow. When that nightmare haunts you and shocks you out of your sleep, grab your pen and notebook. Write down what just happened while it is fresh in you mind. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar or how it looks. Just write and write and write and until you have written out exactly what you dreamed. Do this even if you are drowsy.
3. Form the Habit:  Eventually you will get so very use to this habit that your eyes will not need to be open to write down these accounts. You will not need to turn on the light – waking up your spouse or mate.
4. The next morning when you are fully awake, pick up that pad and skip forward a few pages and write more of what you remember even if you repeat yourself from the night before. This will help you to write things that you did not write when you were still sleepy.  When you need horror details for your next script, what better place to look then into the pages of your own dream. Needless to say, you will need guard what you have written just as if it is a finished script. Lock it away once you have written it, especially if you have friends with prying eyes.
5.  This also goes for romantic dreams, comedy or fun and laughter. Just write it down. Use it later.  Every listen to someone tell you about their dreams? Often times they are very funny. I am sure yours are too. Experts state that this is therapeutic as well; as it helps you to confront your dreams when they are ghostly, haunting, frightening, full of horror, and monsters chasing you.

NOTE:  Be careful with writing your dreams if you are cheating and lusting after another person and are married or in a committed relationship. Keep in mind that dreams are often time an extension of your desires in the real world. Thus documenting this type of dream will tell a suspicious spouse what they need to know about your inner most feelings and dreams.

But for this to work wonders, you have to be able grab your pad and pen as soon as you sit up and began unloading the horror onto paper with out the need to get up and go to your secret hiding place to find your pen and paper.

Dream it, write it, film it!

~ Maggie Campbell, Independent Filmmaker – Leading Lady Films

Fundamentals of Scriptwriting ~ TRY TO LISTEN…

What is the top most frequently asked question from beginners enrolled in your  Scriptwriting Seminars – and what answers do you  give them?

Most Frequently Asked Questions are: 

1. How do I come up with topics or story lines to write a screenplay?
2. How to I come up with good dialogue for my characters to write in my screenplay?

The Answers / Advice Given: Keep on Living! Scriptwriting is not easy. If it were, everyone would be doing it and Hollywood would not have shortages of great screenplays for major motion pictures or television sitcoms, soap operas and so on.  In order to be able to write anything you must:

• Live a Little:  A 16 year old can write a script. But because this person has only lived for 16 years, their dialogue and topics will be limited and will be centered on the short life they have lived thus far, witnessed and/or have dreamed about. A 16 year olds’ dreams and life experiences will be much different than a 50 year old aspiring screenwriter.
• Try to Listen:  Yes I am telling you to ease drop in public. When you are on a subway in New York, the BART train in Northern California, or the Metro Link in Southern California, at church, your favorite coffee shop, the mall, night clubs, a bar….. you get the point… simply, LISTEN!  To what?  Listen to the way people talk. Listen to the things they say and how they say it to one another. You will be able to recall this when you are developing your characters. You may even base a character on a stranger you met at the club or the office or at the dog park.  Just, Try to Listen.
• Draw from your experiences: Draw from your life, your dreams and your past. The older you are, the more experiences you will have to draw on to give yourself great topics.

For more information and to learn more, enroll in the Beginners Scriptwriting Seminars.  Follow this link or paste it in your browser:

http://leading-lady-films—scriptwriting-semiar.ticketleap.com/scriptwriting-seminars/

Maggie Campbell, Professor

Independent Filmmaker

Embrace the Experience ~ Leading Lady Films

The movie experience is everything. Here at Leading Lady Films, the experiences we provide are unique. Our philosophy is to give viewers an awesome experience when they view our films. It is our goal to showcase leading ladies in film in the best possible roles within the screenplays we author and to film them in the best possible light in a beautiful film environment. We also strive to provide an awesome script for other producers that will enhance their production toward a successful motion picture that can touch the mind, body and spirit.

The founder of Leading Lady Films is Independent Filmmaker, Maggie Campbell, a Producer, Director, Scriptwriter and Profession.

     Maggie Campbell began in Children’s Theater at the  age of 10 during the Summer Day Camp Programs. The traveling theater stage was made out of a school bus, retrofitted with a fold out stage and a built-in compartment for costumes and wardrobe changes. The Children’s Theater traveled from community to community where it met groups of children that performed on its stage. Maggie performed in theatrical versions of Snow White, The Wizard of Oz, and other productions made from popular children’s books for more than 5 years. Preferring directing and scripting writing over acting, Maggie enrolled in college and majored in Music and Theater. She sang in the soprano section of the school choir and played several instruments including the lead and bass guitars, drums, and other percussion instruments.

Maggie Campbell, Independent Filmmaker

She formed her own Female band called, ‘Spice’, a multi-ethnic group – performing top 40 light rock and rhythm and blues. She later wrote a musical about the band in tribute to her best friend, the band’s keyboard player, who passed away during her second year of college. Many of the band members went their separate ways, leaving the city. Maggie Campbell continued on and began serving as the Stage Director and Writer in the theater department. She wrote her 2nd  Musical Stage play within these two years, a tribute to the jazz singer, Billy Holiday of whom her classmates felt she resembled.  She has since converted the stage play into a motion picture screenplay.  She co-produced 3 theatrical plays in her first two years in college leaving early to serve in the United States Navy.

While in the Navy, during her off days she competed singing contests with music performed by the Navy band. After leaving the Navy, she was accepted into the Film Department at San Francisco State University. She studied film with an emphasis on Directing and Scriptwriting.  By the time she entered her junior year, she had already written more than 25 full featured film screenplays, 2 novels, several short stories and 2 theatrical [musical] stage plays. She made her first student film in her senior year. Finding her work to be far superior than what she could ever learn in the beginners and advanced classes, the Dean and the Professors of the Department allowed her to test out of the classes, where she earned an A+ in the program.

To date, Maggie Campbell have written screenplays in various genres including,  but not limited to: Science Fiction, Biographies, Musicals, Drama, Action and Thrillers. she has also written several musical stage plays as well.  With a large collection of material to work from, Maggie Campbell is currently in Pre-Production on a romantic drama from her collection.