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Showing posts with label Mushy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mushy. Show all posts
Monday, December 15, 2008
Post Of The Day
You can nominate a post too. Just leave a comment here with the URL or link - and tell us the name of the blogger you are nominating. Righty-o, then, it's over to you ....
Friday, November 14, 2008
Post Of The Day
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Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Post Of The Day
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Friday, May 23, 2008
Post Of The Day
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Friday, January 25, 2008
Post Of The Day
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Post Of The Day
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Post Of The Day
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Telling Write From Wrong (Part 8)
Filmsy Excuses? Not In Hollywood, Mate
Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON
I was delighted to hear from US blogger Mushy, a gifted chronicler, that he has a project up his sleeve. Mushy's been told that what he intended to be a book would actually be better as a screenplay. That’s a perfect question to deal with today.
Is my book really better suited to a screenplay?
Let’s start at the very beginning - it's an approach that worked for Julie Andrews, so it should work for us as well. First of all, I’m inclined to say, ``Get a second opinion’’. That’s not to discount the advice; rather to reinforce it. You wouldn’t rush into surgery (which is kinda funny, because Mushy recently had shoulder surgery) without a second opinion, so let’s take the same approach here. Don’t abandon the notion of the book until you know definitively that it can only work as a screenplay.
My honest advice is to keep going simultaneously on two parallel paths, each linked by continuing creativity and the need to finish the entire manuscript. Path #1 would be to start getting in touch with literary agents (see the post A Monopoly On Query letters for details of how best to do this) and Path #2 would be to investigate the ground rules for writing screenplays at the same time. Even if a literary agent is interested in your manuscript for a book, it doesn’t prevent you from making your own judgement about its potential worth as a screenplay. Hence the idea of parallel progression.
The biggest distinction between a novel and a screenplay is that the latter is a totally visual and aural medium. Instead of taking readers on a written-word journey, you take the story to a theatre audience instead. Instead of reading, they will watch and listen to your plot. In essence, that is the major difference. It is a different discipline, but that’s not to say a novelist cannot write a screenplay. That said, a novelist would have to completely modify the approach to turn a story into a screenplay. (Remind me to tell you the story of Thomas Keneally and the film Schindler's List.)
There is something else to take into account. From my (perhaps limited) knowledge of Hollywood and the entertainment industry, you have to deal with agents who are keen to establish the critical element of genre. Is your plot is full of suspense, is it a thriller? If it’s full of go-get-'em elements, is it an action adventure? If it has a lot of humour, is it a comedy? Once you work out which genre you’re aiming at, you’ll find it easier to develop a screenplay.
I’ve also tracked down a few very informative sites for you. Have a look at Screenwriting.Info for some very handy hints. There is further information at BBC World Service, with concise advice from successful screenwriters Shane Connaughton and Robert McKee on how to write an effective screenplay.
For further information go to HowToWriteAScreenplay.net, while I’m told there is valuable advice in Denny Martin Flinn’s book How Not To Write A Screenplay.
I was delighted to hear from US blogger Mushy, a gifted chronicler, that he has a project up his sleeve. Mushy's been told that what he intended to be a book would actually be better as a screenplay. That’s a perfect question to deal with today.
Is my book really better suited to a screenplay?
Let’s start at the very beginning - it's an approach that worked for Julie Andrews, so it should work for us as well. First of all, I’m inclined to say, ``Get a second opinion’’. That’s not to discount the advice; rather to reinforce it. You wouldn’t rush into surgery (which is kinda funny, because Mushy recently had shoulder surgery) without a second opinion, so let’s take the same approach here. Don’t abandon the notion of the book until you know definitively that it can only work as a screenplay.
My honest advice is to keep going simultaneously on two parallel paths, each linked by continuing creativity and the need to finish the entire manuscript. Path #1 would be to start getting in touch with literary agents (see the post A Monopoly On Query letters for details of how best to do this) and Path #2 would be to investigate the ground rules for writing screenplays at the same time. Even if a literary agent is interested in your manuscript for a book, it doesn’t prevent you from making your own judgement about its potential worth as a screenplay. Hence the idea of parallel progression.
The biggest distinction between a novel and a screenplay is that the latter is a totally visual and aural medium. Instead of taking readers on a written-word journey, you take the story to a theatre audience instead. Instead of reading, they will watch and listen to your plot. In essence, that is the major difference. It is a different discipline, but that’s not to say a novelist cannot write a screenplay. That said, a novelist would have to completely modify the approach to turn a story into a screenplay. (Remind me to tell you the story of Thomas Keneally and the film Schindler's List.)
There is something else to take into account. From my (perhaps limited) knowledge of Hollywood and the entertainment industry, you have to deal with agents who are keen to establish the critical element of genre. Is your plot is full of suspense, is it a thriller? If it’s full of go-get-'em elements, is it an action adventure? If it has a lot of humour, is it a comedy? Once you work out which genre you’re aiming at, you’ll find it easier to develop a screenplay.
I’ve also tracked down a few very informative sites for you. Have a look at Screenwriting.Info for some very handy hints. There is further information at BBC World Service, with concise advice from successful screenwriters Shane Connaughton and Robert McKee on how to write an effective screenplay.
For further information go to HowToWriteAScreenplay.net, while I’m told there is valuable advice in Denny Martin Flinn’s book How Not To Write A Screenplay.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Post Of The Day
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Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Post Of The Day
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Thursday, June 07, 2007
Upper Crust
Plenty Of Mushyroom On Our Pizza, Thanks
Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON
My fellow blogger Mushy suggested we meet for a pizza. Just one problem. Geography. You see, Mushy lives in the US of A and I live on the other side of the world, in Australia. No worries, mate. I suggested he jump on a plane to Oz - after all, it's only a 17-hour flight. I make a mean pizza, starting with my own dough, but if he doesn't want to chance my cuisine, we can make a booking here, at Wise Guys Pizza and Pasta on Kingsway, under a towering gum tree. Whaddya reckon, Mushy?
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