{"id":14547,"date":"2020-02-03T02:03:45","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T02:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmconnection.com\/blog\/?p=7413"},"modified":"2020-02-03T02:03:45","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T02:03:45","slug":"how-famous-movie-scripts-created","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/filmconnection.com\/blog\/2020\/02\/03\/how-famous-movie-scripts-created\/","title":{"rendered":"How Are Famous Movie Scripts Created?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cTo make a good film, you just need three things: the script, the script, and the script.\u201d<\/em>
\n-Alfred Hitchcock<\/p>\n

Scripts or screenplays are where all movies begin\u2014without a script there is no film.\u00a0 Yet, when asked, the average movie goer would be hard pressed to name more than a handful of screenwriters, and those they can name are usually because they know of them as directors or producers.\u00a0 Screenwriters are truly the unsung heroes of Hollywood.<\/p>\n

Screenplays start with an idea.\u00a0 Screenwriter Nora Ephron and director Rob Reiner had a conversation where they wondered \u201ccan a man and a woman ever remain just platonic friends?\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Nora answered this question with the screenplay for When Harry Met Sally. <\/em>As fellow screenwriter Andrea Berloff put it \u201cWith dry wit and pithy dialogue, no one had more humorous insight into the foibles of men and women stumbling their way through messy yet relatable lives.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>Who can forget the classic \u201corgasm\u201d dining scene and the perfect line \u201cI\u2019ll have what she\u2019s having.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Screenplays consist of plot, dialogue and characters.\u00a0 The art of screenwriting is to use these elements to transform their idea into something riveting, fresh and novel.\u00a0 How the screenwriter does this is what separates the good from the also-ran.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a \u201clittle thing\u201d called formatting.\u00a0 Movie scripts have their own format that is unlike writing a book or an article.\u00a0 If you come across a screenplay for the first time it can be confusing.\u00a0 However, the format is designed to make it clear to directors, producers, actors and script readers what is taking place on the screen.<\/p>\n

Scene Heading:<\/strong>\u00a0 Where and when the scene takes place.<\/p>\n

Action:<\/strong>\u00a0 What action transpires in the scene.<\/p>\n

Character Names:<\/strong>\u00a0 Which role is speaking or involved in an action.<\/p>\n

Parenthetical:<\/strong>\u00a0 How dialogue is to be delivered (to be used sparingly.)<\/p>\n

Dialogue:<\/strong>\u00a0 The words that are spoken.<\/p>\n

Transitions:<\/strong>\u00a0 How the scene ends.<\/p>\n

In the beginning, these formatting rules may slow down your writing, but as you begin to understand why they are there you will realize that they can help you greatly in visualizing your story.<\/p>\n

So, what makes a famous movie script?\u00a0 Is it the dialogue?\u00a0 Here are ten famous lines from ten famous films.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou talking to me?\u201d\u00a0 from Taxi Driver.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m walking here!\u00a0 I\u2019m walking here\u201d from Midnight Cowboy.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s Johnny!\u201d from The Shining.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re gonna need a bigger boat.\u201d Jaws.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s looking at you, kid.\u201d Casablanca.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, my dear, I don\u2019t give a damn.\u201d Gone With the Wind.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to make him an offer he can\u2019t refuse.\u201d The Godfather.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not in Kansas anymore.\u201d\u00a0The Wizard of Oz.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve got here is a failure to communicate.\u201d from Cool Hand Luke.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m mad as hell, and I\u2019m not going to take this anymore!\u201d\u00a0 from Network.<\/em><\/p>\n

These memorable lines are instantly recognizable, but if you thought this was the work of a great screenwriter you\u2019d be only half right.\u00a0 The first five quotes were actually ad-libs created by the actor in the moment, the remaining five quotes were written by the screenwriter.<\/p>\n

The point here is that screenplays for movies are not etched in stone.\u00a0 Many a great movie has gone through multiple rewrites, even during production.\u00a0 There\u2019s even a name for this kind of last-minute screenwriter: the script doctor.\u00a0 Robert Towne was the uncredited script contributor for The Godfather.\u00a0 Carrie Fisher was the script doctor for Lethal Weapon 3, Hook <\/em>and The Wedding Singer<\/em> among others.\u00a0 Aaron Sorkin was the uncredited dialogue rewriter in Shindler\u2019s List<\/em>.\u00a0 Unlike theatre, where the screenplay may not be changed, the movie that ends up on the screen may or may not resemble the screenplay it began from.\u00a0\u00a0 Producers, directors and actors all weigh in on the process at various times with varying degrees of success.\u00a0 Sometimes, the screenplay, as written, is gold.\u00a0 David Webb Peoples came up for the idea for Unforgiven<\/em> in the mid-1970s.\u00a0 Clint Eastwood secured the final script in the early 80s but waited ten years to make the movie because he felt he was too young for the role.\u00a0 The movie was released in 1992 and won 1993 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Film Editing.\u00a0 Although nominated for Best Screenplay, the award went to Neil Jordan for The Crying Game<\/em>.<\/p>\n

To answer our original question, \u201cHow Are Famous Movie Scripts Created?\u201d is to try and define a mercurial process akin to capturing lightning in a bottle.\u00a0 There is no formula which is one reason you see so many high budget CGI movies these days where on-screen stunts substitute for well written scripts.\u00a0 But there is one ingredient common to famous movie scripts\u2014they are timeless.\u00a0 If your goal is to create the next great masterpiece of cinematography history, then concentrate on ideas that will stand the test of time.<\/p>\n

Here are two great resources if you decide you want pursue an interest in screenwriting.<\/p>\n

ScriptReader<\/a>.com allows you to download 50 of the best screenplays.\u00a0 These include scripts for drama, comedy, action\/adventure, thriller and horror genres along with an introductory paragraph on what to look for in each script.<\/p>\n

William Goldman was a prolific novelist and screenwriter.\u00a0 His books on the movie business offer insights into the trade.\u00a0 Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting, <\/em>and its sequel Which Lie Did I Tell?<\/em> offers an insider\u2019s look at the movie business.\u00a0 His books Four Screenplays<\/em> and Five Screenplays<\/em> together include nine of his screenplays with an essay on each.\u00a0\u00a0 The nine included screenplays are: Marathon Man, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride, Misery, All the President\u2019s Men, Magic, Harper, Maverick <\/em>and the Great Waldo Pepper<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meeting Jason Mewes of Slackers on-set & Getting Real About the Film Industry<\/a><\/p>\n

Film Connection script writing mentor<\/a> Ron Peterson on Effective Screenwriting: A Must Read!!<\/p>\n

Film Connection screenwriting mentor Ana Benda\u00f1a<\/a> talks organizing, trimming, and developing your screenplay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cTo make a good film, you just need three things: the script, the script, and the script.\u201d -Alfred Hitchcock Scripts or screenplays are where all movies begin\u2014without a script there is no film.\u00a0 Yet, when asked, the average movie goer would be hard pressed to name more than a handful of screenwriters, and those they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":7598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173,175,165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-learning-101","category-research-201"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14547","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmconnection.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}