What do you think when you watch a cleverly crafted movie like ‘Shawshank Redemption’ or ‘Interstellar’? If successful movies pique your interest, you have a burning passion for becoming a screenwriter.
However, did you know that, for becoming a screenwriter, you need to understand movie language and know how you can convey the idea visually?
None of us are born with the ability to create screenplays- it comes with a lot of practice and experience. Much of the learning phase also deals with you scrounging through reference materials, reading good screenplays, and watching quality movies.
If you think that understanding screenplays is just a waste of time, here are a few reasons that can change your mind.
Table of Contents
Table of contents
Why Reading and Understanding Screenplay is Important
Helps You Become A Better Author
A Screenplay or a script is the face of the movie before representing in a visual format. It guides the characters and the other members of the crew to the end goal. It widens your reach as an author.
If you are an author who wishes to adapt their novel to a movie, it pays to learn the nuances of screenplay writing.
While you can find many resources on How to become an author, most of them allow you to tread on the path of mediocrity. However, if you want to be successful and famous as an author, you need to understand the screenplay to transform it into a movie.
After all, everyone knows that successful authors get a movie!
It Helps You Create a Better Story
Many authors these days write too much fluff. They can not concentrate on the real plot and often leave the reader bewildered with many subplots and sudden plot movement or too much time spent on build-up. The story structure keeps the reader invested and makes the story engaging.
In a screenplay, one page represents one minute in a movie. Since brevity is a vital asset in screenplays, it can help you to reduce the clutter and convey the details to the reader in a more visually appealing way.
Helps You to Break Into Screenplay Writing
Screenplay writing has a definite structure, and unlike writing books, you need to follow the pattern. These include spacing, indentation, capitalization, and use of parenthesis. These are industry standard guidelines that you need to adhere to if you want to be a screenwriter.
It allows the actors and the crew members to read the script, separate action from dialogue, or understand the scene, camera angles, and character. It will take a while to get used to these concepts, especially visual references.
Going through a few screenplays can help you learn the tips and tricks to write a better script.
It Gives You Better Content Ideas
No matter your writing genre, there are tons of well-written scripts for you to read and understand. As you keep reading more scripts, you can get a better idea of writing a good script.
Moreover, you can also get new ideas in your genre, and sometimes, even have a perspective shift. Many movies overturn the traditional views that we harbor about a topic.
Thus, it will give you the ability to look at things in a new light.
Learn From Bad Scripts
Good movie scripts require no introduction. Today, everyone is so busy reading good scripts and trying to encapsulate positive ideas that they often forget to analyze where they are going wrong.
While good scripts may help you understand what works, bad scripts can teach you what you need to avoid while writing.
Learn from both the good and the bad. It will help you to modify your script to achieve the pinnacle of success as a screenwriter.
It Helps You Understand the Trend
Screenplays are the writers’ keys to the elusive entertainment industry.
As a fiction writer, it is necessary to look into movies and scripts since they can give you a perspective of what Hollywood wants and what is more prevalent among fans.
The information can help you deliver material that is more in tune with either or both of them. It will also help you gauge the shift of public opinion, predict changes to the industry, and come up with the next bestseller.
Get Inspired
Writers often get into notoriously bad spells where nothing works, and the mind feels blank. During this stage, stepping into a new craft while staying true to the basics can help you rebuild confidence.
By watching the movie and reading a script, you can source inspiration and realize that all you need to deliver a good movie is a script on paper.
It can work as a motivation booster and get you excited about starting a new project. After all, sometimes getting a clear picture of the goal is all that you require.
Writing Silent Movies
Many movies do not even contain words. Some of them, like Charlie Chaplin’s silent movies, are hailed even today for their great screenplay. A silent movie can be a useful learning tool on how to focus on one sense rather than many and execute it beautifully.
It can help you create characters that have their perspective and approach and build upon character development and prop modeling.
While learning how to screenwrite sure has its advantages, it can be challenging for people who still use typewriters or even a word application. So, is there a solution?
Yes, the answer to your problems lies in screenwriting software. But let us look at the benefits that it provides to traditional typewriters.
Benefits of Screenplay Writing Software
Gone are the days when you had to remember every indentation rule for scripts.
Modern screenwriting or screenplay software comes inbuilt with indentation markers for different script assets. Additionally, they also come with assets that allow you to develop a visual storyboard and check camera angles and lighting even before finalizing the project.
Hence, you know exactly how the scene will look during shooting.
Conclusion
If you want to be a successful author or create your movie script, you need to learn scriptwriting. It can point the winners from the losers in your writing style and help you mature with new content ideas and perspectives.
You can also seek motivation from famous scripts and understand public demand. Using screenwriting software can make your work a lot easier.
