That first script...

[temerson]

Does anybody remember that first script they ever wrote, and why they decided to sit down and write it? If you have a great, funny, or interesting story, let's hear it. I'll start:

I was in my sophomore year of high school. My grandmother had been living with us for almost ten years because my dad decided to go to law school, and my mom wanted somebody to be at the house all the time because it was hard to work all day and take care of two rambunctious young kids. My dad graduated, practices. My mom and him still work. My grandma went back to work, she just never moved out.

So, enough exposition. One night, I get really miffed at my grandma for some reason I can't remember now. Up until this point, I had become interested in film making, but never really screenwriting. I'd never even seen a script, except in Syd Field's video in my drama class, but I decided to sit down and write one anyway to get the lead out, so to speak. I sat down and started writing. Two weeks later, I had the first draft of my first screenplay ever. A feature, no less. 135 pages of the most unformatted, bad drivel, filled with unapproachable teen angst that anybody had ever seen. Not only did I get a script done, I was fifteen and had done a feature film. Crazy!

Well, I totally got into it. Within a year and a half, I had written nine features (mostly trash, I will admit), numerous shorts, and had won one of the most prestegious student screenwriting competitions in the nation. Now, I'm working on three features. One is slated for production this January with an up-and-coming indy partnership. The second one I am currently wokring on the (I always have to gag when I say this, out of sheer arrogance or pain at the thought of it) twelfth draft in a year and a half, but I have a couple of investors ready to go. This will be my feature directing debut script. And the third is my Hollywood script, almost ready to go out to the major agencies in Los Angeles and New York.

But, everyday, before I write, I get out the very first hard-copy I ever printed of that first script (I laugh out loud when I look at it now).

Just wondering where other people are coming from. I've been having some trouble writing lately. I believe it was writer's block caused by stress from having deadlines and everything else placed upon my shoulders. I just needed to remember about getting back to the pure joy of writing. It's a great and humbling exercise.

-T

 

[jodymichelle]

Until I read your post, I never really thought about it. It was in the second grade, and it was a disaster.

At first, I was so excited about it and thought that it was so hilarious. When I went up to the class to read it, everyone got so confused (because they couldn't follow the names and thought it was too strange that desks, chairs, trees and flowers came to life), and my friends became mad at me even though the names were changed to protect the innocent. The characters weren't even "people," and I only said wonderful things about these creatures who weren't people but objects that came to life.

The teacher looked at me like I was coo-coo and better sit down, but I kept telling them that they are going to like it and that it will make them laugh, so I finished reading the short script till the end.

I was laughing still thinking about the funny parts in my story, but all my friends were looking at me saying, Why did you write that? I said to them, in different words, of course, what do you mean you're offended - this character was only inspired by you - it's not "you" - and anyway, do you mean to tell me you're not a really nice person because that's all I said!

Oh, it was a disaster. I even thought I could score points with my friends because I seriously said nice and great things about the side characters that were inspired by them -- non-specific things of course because I wouldn't want someone writing about me in great detail, was what I was thinking while writing the piece. ...

The two main characters, by the way, were inspired by people I made up in my head. I remember while writing up the two main characters thinking, well, if I had two imaginary friends right now, what would they be, what would they look like, and how would they act? The first thing that came to mind ... They would probably be finger puppets. ...

I turned in the notebook that I wrote the short script in so that the teacher could grade it and add his/her comments as usual of course. The next day or so, I was excited about getting the little notebook back. I always got good comments about my writing until I received that gosh darn notebook where my first script lay that nearly scarred me for life.

Still assuming that the teacher would side with me because he/she always told me that I was creative, I read his/her first comment and was like, okay, no one will ever have to grade me on my creative writing again. I will keep it to myself. Lol.

His/her first comment was that the names of the characters were confusing to remember because they all started with the same letter. I said to myself, okay, that was the point. I wanted them to all start with the same letter, that's part of what is supposed to make it funny. The second comment was that the names were confusing because they weren't real people's names. That was also another point that was supposed to be funny, I thought to myself - the characters are supposed to have made up names.

That experience did not make me feel good. Actually, for the rest of the second grade, unless it was mandatory, I chose not to read my stuff out loud, and only submitted poetry. You can't go wrong writing poems about love, friendship, family, and God, was what I thought to myself. I did have one friend, not a best friend at the time, who came up to me and told me that she understood my script. In the third grade, she and I became best friends.

 

[Ronin]

My first screenplay?

My first screenplay?

On my first attempt I wrote a synopsis for Dale Dye, Oliver Stone´s associate, based on Rifleman Dodd by CS Forester, five years ago. It wasnt a hit. I always wrote so writing a screenplay did nt seem so much difficult. Its just a different format. You re still telling a story. The same storytelling rules apply.
I just moved on to the next hot idea. A script for a documentary I wanted to make on the Middle East. It wasn´t nuanced enough. So it was nt hot enough. On my third try now and I am writing a feature length screenplay titled Paco el Gordo. In english it translates into Fat Paco. I live in Spain so making a spanish film seems more appropriate. The problem is I dont actually speak spanish and dont know many locals who might help me out. But I am writing just the same.
To take a break from Paco I spend time working on a short which is titled Doña Juana or Mrs. Juana. It sounds funny but it helps to write something else while taking a break from writing something. Paco is about a man who has died but doesnt know yet. He is living the 8 secs your subconscious brain allows you to figure out the whole question of life. I guess. Obviously, Paco, a young guy who grew up on fantasy films, video games, imagines this period at the end of his life as a film. Its a cross between that old film Cloak and Dagger and the Sixth Sense.
Mrs. Juana is a short about a middle aged woman who leaves her husband and grown daughter and moves off secretly to Raratonga in the Cook Islands. It is one of those beautiful remote islands near New Zealand inhabited by the Maori´s. The movie is about Juana, why she leaves, how she copes with her new life, the interesting people she meets, her falling in love again and what she will do with the rest of her life. The story hinges on what decision she will make about her past life. Does she stay or does she go. We all want to know.
I don´t really know why I am writing these stories. I wanted to direct them somehow. I was going to do it on a low budget but my pride won t allow it. I guess I ll try to sell them, enter them in a competition. I don t know how it works. I always did it as a hobby so I don t know the commercial aspect of it. I knew people in the film industry but my first attempt in trying to enter it did nt work out so well.
Any interesting remedies?

 

[Dodo]

I must say, I haven´t looked at my first script for years now.
But I remeber it very well. I diden´t wirte it until I was 19, seams late then I think about it.

I remeber that I wanted to wirte something very dark and negative. It was hard on me getting in the mindset to do so. I will not outline the whole story here, but let´s call it a "showdown" story.
The plan was that I would both direct and produce. The film never got made (one of the key actors droped out a the last minute), and maybe it doesen´t matter. I´m still happy that I wrote it.
I diden´t write anything for a year after that. And I diden´t finnish anything for more the two years after the first script. But when I did, it got me going, and I had tons of idees.

But I too have had writers block for some time now. The lack of time makes it hard to focus my mind on getting something on paper.
I come up with something good every week (and a few bad as well), but don´t have time too get to work.

Dodo

 

[chrisengelking]

Ahahahaha!

Ahahahaha!

My first script was written in the 7th grade but I can't remember what it was about. The next script I wrote in high school and it sucked majorly! First scripts are always the worst!
________
Transit connect

 

[The Un]

I was 15 and I had wrote what was possibly the worst horror of all time. Not as in the horror itself was bad but the writing was. It was about a disease that was in the city's drinking water that made blood thicken to the point of it bursting out of your veins. I can't even put into words how dumb the writing was, but I'm sure 10 year olds could've wrote the same thing but better. The inspiration came to me from seeing one of those gore sites on the internet.

 

[Aidyn]

My first attempt at a screenplay was probably my freshman year in high school. Prior to that my friends and i found the excitment of a video camera and were filming stupid "Jackass" like stuff. After doing that for a couple of months I wanted to step away from the sketches and do more of a narrtative type of filmmaking.

We first started with no objective in mind and without a script, we just did some slapstick type of monty python holy grail sketches. After shooting maybe three scenes i thought, "i;m going to write this into a script." And so i did. Ultimately the script was horrible and was nothing but inside jokes between friends and I with a very small plot line that barely held the one page scenes (which were all slapstick things) together. BUt i had done it and now i've been working on a more proffesional style screenplay, formatted correctly for 2 years now, off and on.

 

[BigBeaner]

Same, we just did whatever. But I actually wrote my first scripts when I was a lot younger, 10 or so without really realizing it. More like storyboard/word really codes thats easily brought up scenes etc. I think I was 14/15 when I wrote first actual script. Utter sophomoric crap that had one good idea and just left it.

 

[Aidyn]

Now that i look back further i remember sitting in my room storyboarding a "movie" me and my friends wanted to make with star wars action figures. We maybe drew 50 frames on two large pieces of paper and that was all that was. My first script has flopped after i tried to shoot it and all my friends ditched me. My second script is still a work in progress. I find myself adding scenes here and there every three months or so. Basically whenever someone reads it i feel inspired to look at it again.

 

[Michael]

Screenplay Treatment

Screenplay Treatment

Hi there,
have no experiences in screenwriting but I feel passionate to do it. I already have an idea what to write. I have collected many information about it.

First question: I want to write a screenplay treatment. Do I have to set up the characters first or can I simply let them emerge out of the treatment?

Next question: Sometimes I would like to post an exerpt of my treatment and screenplay to this forum here to ask you for proposals of changes. But I fear somone could steal my idea. Should I avoid sending treatment exerpts?

Michael

 

[Lazlo]

My first scripts were in 4th grade... not in format of course. they were rip-offs of 007 movies, and star trek movies (i.e. star trek meets star wars). Poor dialogue, and plot, but what can you expect from a fourth grader... Me and my friends never got around to shooting those, but it was still fun.

 

[Leichurt]

I used to write stories all the time when i was younger, but when i started to get into film and understand what goes into it i shifted my focus to scripts. My first was written in year 11 (i was 16) to shut up my english teacher who thought i couldnt write. It was about some crazy guy in a mental hospital messing with a doctors head. Looking at alot of my early stuff, theres quite a few about crazy people, but they're usually the most interesting people after all!
I have a bad habit of not following through with the things i do. As such, only two of the scripts ive written have been produced, and not the ones i would have liked. But heres hoping i can get my next project off the ground!

 

[terpprincess13]

Last year

Last year

I started working on my first last year (my sophmore year of high school) I had a solid storyline and a bunch of great scenes, but those scenes led to nowhere. It was the choppiest and most pointless thing I have ever written. However, this year, with screenwriting courses and contacts, I've grown as a writer and hopefully will continue to. I've written and directed 3 shorts since and am outlining my newest feature. Even though my first was only last year, even that was enough for me to realize how amateur I was and still am.

It's amazing that filmmaking is able to traverse all generations. It brings so many unlikely people together. I love it... every aspect.