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:
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How do I come up with topics or story lines to write a screenplay?
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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:
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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