Falling in Love with Screenwriting

fadeinI’ve always wanted to write a film script but somehow it seemed somewhere in the artistic distance and out of my grasp. But this week something caught my eye. Two things actually. A screenwriting course and a screenwriting challenge.

I went on the course and it was amazing. We were given a crash course on terminology with hands-on experience of using screenwriting software. Later an experienced screenwriter told us about websites, blogs and competitions that help to get a screenplay noticed.

During the course someone mentioned that they had taken part in NYCmidnight Screenwriting Challenge  and I decided that I would have a go. The challenge includes screenwriters from all over the world and there s a forum where hints and tips about screenwriting, and samples of previous screenplays, are available. My rationale was to widen my experience of screenwriting by having a challenge to work to. It worked. I was hooked.

I used the free version of Celtx which is very easy to use and worked to the assigned brief given to me by the challenge. I had to write an 12-page screenplay in 8 days. Quite a challenge but I fell in love with screenwriting and had a first draft finished within 24 hours. After many, many rounds of editing and consultation with my course notes, I finally finished the screenplay today.

Screenwriting is for me. I like it so much that I intend to turn one of my novels into a screenplay as soon as possible. Additionally, it will help me with the plotting and organization of my plots and storytelling as I with think in terms of scenes.

So here’s to my first short screenplay, Cromarty Falls. I was assigned the genre of Sci-fi, the subject of hair growth and the character of an accountant – so it was quite a challenge. If I am lucky enough to get through to the next round I will have to write an 8-page screenplay in two days!

For now, I’m more than happy with my progress and I’m starting work on my  full-length film script tomorrow.