Reginée

I don't say this to be a braggart or anything but I taught myself how to write screenplays. How? I started reading a highly recommended book (which I honestly don't remember the name of), got bored not even halfway through it and said "yeah, no. I'm over this shit" and started writing my story in Final Draft. I read other screenplays or the Reddit /r/screenwriting subreddit or whatever popped up first in Google for formatting guidelines. The renegade life has made me insanely more productive and less concerned about is what I'm writing good enough to just actually write the script. And another thing? It allowed me to find and establish my voice a hell of a lot faster.



So here's the thing about writing when you're just starting out and trying to figure out what works for you, there's a ton of books that people recommend that you read. And of course it isn't one or two books, it's more like ten and everybody swears by them. Then there's the list of screenplays that are highlighted with aggressive titles such as "You Must Read These Scripts If You Want to be Taken Seriously In Hollywood" written by the big names in Hollywood.

My strongest advice to you, especially if you're new to this jungle, is to put the books and screenplays down. Yes, I'm deadass serious.

In my opinion, screenwriting books are best utilized after you've written a draft or two and have something to compare your work against. It's hard to see how to properly develop character motivations or build a stronger plot if you don't have a draft written to think about as you read along.  Everything more or less falls into place once you see what you have and the potential of what you can have based on the advice and guidelines in the books. I like reading produced screenplays mainly to see what actually made the final cut in the film or tv show or if I need some formatting help. The thing to be careful of is reading too many screenplays by someone like Aaron Sorkin (who I think is one of the best writers ever)  and deciding if you words don't sound or mimic his, then you're not doing something right or you lack skills. 

It is very, very easy to get caught up in following an established and thriving writer's words and try to copy their tone while still trying to establish your voice and rhythm. I've been there. I've done that. And what I've learned from that experience is that when I was trying too hard to be "correct" and "proper" that my ideas were stifled and my writing was stuffy and very try-hard. I gave a script to a friend to read and she mentioned in the notes she gave me is that it had a dark humor and everything clicked for me. While I love a good hardcore drama, I'm better when my work has more of a cynical and sarcastic beat to it. I took that note and from that day, I let go of the prim and proper rigidity of supposed to and just wrote what resonated with me and the basic three act structure. It took me about six long months to write the first draft of that script. The second draft? Three days.

Once you establish your voice, your rhythm comes with it and so does your ability to conquer the blinding white page.  I encourage you to put down the book, put down the screenplay, put your what-ifs out of your mind and just write. You'd be surprised at what gems you come up with you trust yourself first and a book second.