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22 Ways to Improve Your Screenwriting

by hcroasmun

Whether you are trying to win contests or sell your script, it is
important that you take advantage of every opportunity you can to
increase your chances of success.

Some people have estimated the odds of a good screenwriter
selling a script to be in the neighborhood of 1 in 5,000.

What if you could cut that in half just by one action?   Now,
you're at 1 in 2,500.

Then, what if you could cut that by 1/5th by taking a series of
actions.  Now, you're at 1 in 500.  And if you continue on that
path, sooner or later, you'll get to 1 in 10 or even 1 in 2.

If you don't believe that, let me ask you this:  What are the
chances of Charlie Kaufman selling another screenplay?

He wrote BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, ADAPTATION, and other
screenplays.  Would you say that his chances of selling another
screenplay are pretty high?  Would you be shocked to hear that he
sold another script in the next six months?  I doubt it.

But if you'd met Charlie Kaufman when he first began writing,
wouldn't you say he was right in there with the 1 in 5,000 odds
against him?

My point is this:  Everyone starts at 1 in 5,000 odds and it is
up to us to shift the odds until they are in our favor.  Shifting
those odds is just a matter of constantly improving and taking
advantage of the opportunities that come to us.

Below is 22 ways to improve your screenwriting.  I've started
with the most obvious and built to some ideas that are out of the
ordinary.

I present this list so you will always have a way to improve
your screenwriting, even if you are trapped in your room by
yourself with no money and no contacts.

1.  Write every day.

2.  Read produced screenplays and search for what they did well.
 Read for a contest and see the difference between the winners
and the ones that didn't make it.

3.  Take a screenwriting class.  I can easily recommend a few.

4.  Get feedback on your writing.

5.  Critique another writer's scripts.

6.  Join a screenwriting group.

7.  Take your favorite screenplay and transcribe it, noticing
the choices the writer made.

8.  Select a technique to improve and use it in one or more
scenes.

9.  Write the same scene a completely different way.
        - Reverse a scene or character
        - Increase the stakes
        - Change who prevails in the scene
        - Use a twist to change the end of the scene
        - Put the characters in a worse position

10.  Have another writer write one of your scenes in a
completely different way.

11.  Take a character to an extreme to see what other
possibilities are available.

12.  Take a line of dialogue or description and rewrite it 10
different ways or more.
	
13.  Stretch yourself:  Give your character an unsolvable
problem and then solve it.

14.  Pick a scene in a movie you like and write it.  Once you
have completed it, read the writer's script for that scene and
see how he or she wrote it differently.

15.  Watch a movie, stopping it at the end of each scene.  Write
down what happened in the scene, how the characters changed, what
was the in and out points, and what was the most interesting part
of the scene.

16.  Take your best idea and top it in some way!  Sometimes, it
is not about the writing.  It is about the thinking and the
breakthroughs and getting used to coming up with fresh ideas. 
Force yourself to top your best ideas on a regular basis and
soon, you'll have the best ideas in Hollywood.

17.  Find out what a producer or reader wants in a script.  This
can shift your chances dramatically.  It may save you from
writing something that has no chance of success.

18.  Take an acting class.

19.  Do a read-through with actors.

20.  Shoot a short on DV.   For anyone who has done this, you've
had the experience of seeing actors bring your script to life. 
Until you do, you can't imagine the amount of pride and
embarrassment you'll experience.  But directing even one scene
will change how you write.

21.  Give yourself permission to write from your heart with no
holding back.

22.  Decide that you will constantly improve your writing until
you are one of the best screenwriters there is.

There you are.  22 ways to shift the odds of your success.  Many
of which do not even require that you leave your computer. If
you're serious about writing, I wouldn't let a day go by without
doing at least one of the above.

A 1% improvement every day is a 365% improvement over the next
year.  Keep doing that and sooner or later, you'll be in Charlie
Kaufman's league -- making those 7-figure deals.

Hal Croasmun is a writer/producer and the author of "33 Ways to
Break into Hollywood."   He publishes the ScriptForSale
newsletter with articles about screenwriting and interviews with
A-List screenwriters at http://www.ScriptForSale.com

Syndicated by Top Gazebos - www.topgazebos.net

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