Most of us can’t afford film school. Many of us (such as myself) live too far away to go to one. The closest to me are UCLA and Berkley. Were I 15 years younger this might work out, but at the ripe old age of…..well……let’s just say of over 30…..picking up and moving to go to school isn’t really an option.
So forget going to film school. Just create your own. That’s what I did. Of course many of you are saying “So what, fool? You don’t have a deal yet!” True. But there are many film school grads who don’t have deals and who also have more student loan debt than I do!
Creating your own film school and learning to write scripts isn’t all that hard. There are many many resources on line. Look up and read as many produced scripts as you can find. This will help you to learn format and to see the variety of styles used by the pros (which helps you to define and find your own voice). Then watch the film with the script in hand. See how it translated to the screen, what was left in and what was taken out, etc. How did the script work on film?
Rent a lot of movies. Not just good ones either. Rent the bad ones. Watch them. Then watch them again with the director’s commentary (if available) turned on. Listen to what they say. Why they did what they did with each scene, etc. The good movies will help you learn how it’s done. The bad ones will help you to learn from other’s mistakes!
Last but not least. Write. A LOT!! That’s the way you’ll learn to bring out your own voice and put it on the page. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing a scene for practice or a script on spec. Just write. Keep the words flowing. Practice finding the way to make the images in your head make scene on paper (or monitor).
There are a lot of good books on screenwriting (there’s a lot of bad ones too) that you should also read. I’ve put several in our store (www.HawkProd.com and click the "Store" Link) through my affiliation with amazon.com. Check them out. Use the search box in our store to look up a few others that wouldn’t fit in the store at this time. I would suggest getting $30.00 Film School as it covers all aspect of making your own films.
Good Luck and Good Life,
Jerry W. Hawkins
President Hawkins Productions
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