Some of you know that I am an aspiring screenwriter, this Christmas, I’ve received the best screenwriting gift: Final Draft. It’s the industry standard and as my independent study this year is to write and complete a ninety-page script, well this software is going to be a miracle worker.
My dad has given me my Christmas gift early so that I can use it for my uni work and play around with some scripts. Already, I have one scene written and am just naming some characters.
My first script? Set in a Birmingham Chandlery during the industrial revolution. I have an idea of the plot already. The poor candlemaker loses everything and his son tries his hardest to save them. I’m really excited.
I haven’t played with it much yet, I’ve been getting my Prose coursework out of the way first, but I can tell you what I know about it so far.
It’s the first software I’ve used that displays a beat-board and story map. I’ve been reading about beats in a lot of screenwriting books and as far as I can make out, it is how a story is structured. Essentially it allows me to view the structure of my story and check that everything in my script runs smoothly.
I haven’t tried the story map out yet, but I think it does something similar that enables me to view my script as a whole or to plan or something.
I’m also a huge fan of index cards—I have hundreds of them scattered across my bedroom floor at uni and a stack at home. Final Draft has index cards that I can colour code, so I’ll be able to transfer some of my paper ones to the digital as I write my script. It’s great.
It also allows me to highlight characters names to see how long they’ve disappeared for, look at their arc and whatnot… I’m a huge believer in developing characters, I think they are just as important as the plot themselves. It has a revision mode too that I’m dying to try out.
I can’t wait. I’m going to aim to write 5 pages minimum every weekday until I start uni again- so by the 29th Jan I should have 150 pages of screenplays. Wish me luck.
Subscribe and I’ll keep you all updated on how it’s going.
Categories: On Writing, Paws and Prose, Writing Projects
Tags: final draft, Paws and Prose, Screenwriting, Writers, Writing Tips
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noiice.
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I’m really enjoying it. 5 pages so far and my first alternative dialogue
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i’m excited for you. can’t wait to hear how it all works out. have a good good Christmas, and lots of pie!!!!! 😀
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Thanks.
Have a Merry Christmas too ^_^
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thank yooouuuu!!!! 🙂 🙂
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