Learn how to write a screenplay through detailed analysis of feature films.
New writers often ask me how important it is to use specialized screenwriting software. It’s a good question. This stuff isn’t cheap and until you make money writing, it’s hard to justify throwing out several hundred dollars when there are other free options (like using Word or one of the myriad of free software programs). [Read more…]
I have two screenplay software programs on my laptop: Final Draft and MasterWriter. I don’t use MasterWriter until I have a draft where my story is in good shape. I’ll print up my screenplay and red-pen every description of action or bit of dialogue that’s too bland. Going back through with MasterWriter, I’m opened to a world of possibilities in an instant.
To order Masterwriter 2.0 from WritersStore.com, click here. Use coupon code VIZMNBZ8VKCLJD8 for 10% off your order.
If the writer is looking for a different way to describe a hot sun, obvious choices might be blazing, blistering, fiery, or burning. Word Families will include all of those, but will take it to a more creative level by suggesting an angry sun, a punishing sun, a merciless or glaring sun. You will never get a phrase like “the angry sun had no mercy” from a Thesaurus. By way of another example, breathtaking or unforgettable, could be another way to say beautiful. Word Families is a unique reference dictionary that will introduce the creative writer to a new world of possibilities.
Parts of Speech is a broad collection of descriptive words with various filters that allow the creative writer to be more specific. You can select Moderate or Intense, Positive or Negative, and the part of speech you wish to search on. You can also use the Alliterations filter. For example, the writer can look specifically at positive intense adjectives, that begin with the letter “M”.
A collection of over 33,000 phrases, sayings, idioms, and word combinations.
The ultimate Rhyming Dictionary with over 100,000 entries, 36,000 Rhymed-Phrases, and the most comprehensive list of Close Rhymes ever created. Rhymes from our Pop-Culture Dictionary
are also included.
A Pop-Culture Dictionary with over 11,000 icons of American and World Culture. The index contains five separate categories (The World, The Famous, Food & Drink, Products, & The Bible), with detailed sub-categories below each. Wikipedia is the main source of information here. For those of you looking for Bible passages, they’ve included both the old and new testaments.
The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. 165,000 entries, 225,000 definitions,and 10,000 new words and senses.
The Merriam-Webster Collegiate Thesaurus. Over 340,000 synonyms, antonyms, relatedand contrasted words, and idioms.
MAC: PowerPC G4 1.42 GHz or better or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz, OS X 10.4 or better, 512 MB or more RAM, 1 GB recommended, Built-in or External Microphone, QuickTime 7.5.5 or better, (QuickTime Installer Included).
WINDOWS: 2.4 GHz or better Processor of Intel Pentium/Celeron Family or AMD Athlon/Duron Family, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7, XP recommended, 512 MB or more RAM, 1 GB recommended, Built-in or External Microphone, QuickTime 7.5.5 or better, (QuickTime Installer Included).
To order Masterwriter 2.0 from WritersStore.com, click here. Use coupon code VIZMNBZ8VKCLJD8 for 10% off your order.
Final Draft contains a wide variety of templates for graphic novels, scripts, TV shows and text documents (query letters, treatments, outlines, etc). Each template contains features of each script type, with element settings, page layouts, header and footer settings, mores and continueds, title pages, SmartType lists and macros. Final Draft’s television templates contain formatting guidelines (with sample text), establishing how each show displays its scenes and acts, and transitions between shots. [Read more…]
For those of you unaware of Scrippets, it’s a screenplay-related plugin for WordPress, bbPress, phpBB, Drupal, vBulletin, Blogger and Expression Engine. If you have a screenplay blog, or for some reason want to place a “scrippet” in one of your posts, this is a great tool for formatting boxes of properly formatted script excerpts. Here’s an example:
EXT. FLOOD CONTROL CHANNEL -- NIGHT
Frozen, the knife in his nostril, the street lamp overhead gleaming on the silvery blade.
SMALLER MAN
You are a very nosey fellow, kitty cat... you know what happens to nosey fellows?
The Smaller Man actually seems to be trembling with rage when he says this. Gittes doesn’t move.
SMALLER MAN
Wanna guess? No? Okay, lose their noses.
With a quick flick the Smaller Man pulls back on the blade, laying Gittes’ left nostril open about an inch further. Gittes screams.
Yesterday, I installed the plugin using WordPress version 3.1.1 and noticed a formatting issue, an extra space between character names and dialogue. I kindly asked the programming Ogre to take a look and he came up with a fix in no time:
For more information about the history and goals of Scrippets, visit johnaugust.com.
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