9 Common Screenwriting Mistakes Beginners Make

9 Common Screenwriting Mistakes Beginners Make - Cody Smart

Рет қаралды 12,826

Күн бұрын

Cody Smart is an independent writer and script doctor from Chile. She holds degrees in English Literature & Linguistics, Screenwriting, Development and Producing. She worked as a script analyst for Sony, she’s a judge for multiple script and film competitions, she’s written some award-winning shorts, she’s head of the coverage department at a script hosting site and she does a bi-monthly vlog with tips for Screenwriters for Story Data. She takes pride in helping writers take their work to the next level.
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Пікірлер: 33

@hackiest Жыл бұрын

A good reminder to me that the screenplay is just the tip of the iceberg. So much research, backstory, character development etc lies beneath the waterline.

@OdogExpo Жыл бұрын

Amazing tips for real! seemingly common sense but not so common sense when your pen hits the paper! Thank you so much for your insights!!

@j.b.c.a. Жыл бұрын

I always try to find an actor I would cast for every character. Not because I want to get exactly that actor, but because I want to write a character that that actor would want to play without saying "uhm... can't my character *do* things?"

@spiralgold9760 Жыл бұрын

When she’s talking about Lost, season 1, and the viewer being pulled out when they went into a strange place without foreshadowing, and that she didn’t connect…to me that was super amazing and i truly loved that they did it…and actually there was subtle planting for it…and also Lost season 1 did phenomenally well with viewers…i think the obvious planting that comes through 99% of scripts these days is beginning to feel predictable and formulaic, and audiences are onto it….any rigid thinking like she proposes here gets found out and starts to disappoint viewers before too long!

@Randomrantsigt Жыл бұрын

Yeah, I felt that way too, especially when they started talking about any kind of genre, that it had to be established immediately of what it intended. The audience doesn't need to be spoon feed as if they can't put the pieces together themselves. Of course, you need some subtle hints here and there, but I think surprises or a twist are some of the things I love about psychological thrillers, like shutter Island or Fractured.

@filmcourage Жыл бұрын

Did you make any of these mistakes? Which of these mistakes still challenge your writing?

@scifirealism5943 Жыл бұрын

#2 hit me hard.

@natachacandeias4764 Жыл бұрын

The polar bear moment in Lost added a huge amount of intrigue, the feeling of shock was intentional and very effective. It was a talking point for months. I feel like this lady wouldn't greenlight a movie like From Dusk Till Dawn. There's a time and place for shocking twists and subversion. It's art after all and not pure paint by numbers science.

@thedarksiderebel Жыл бұрын

Lol, she didn't get Lost? They set up the island's mysteries in the first episode, including the off screen monster that kills the pilot, and the polar bear appears in the 2nd episode. The idea of the island being a mystery is like the core of the show

@heynow727 Жыл бұрын

But then it just got more and more confusing as the series went on

@thedarksiderebel Жыл бұрын

@heynow727 that will be JJ and Lindelof's garbage "Mystery Box" structure. It wouldnt be a problem if they intended on explaining them

@rjpeters8674 Жыл бұрын

Good advice to remember. Thank you. ♥

@princess.seenaire Жыл бұрын

Great tips! Thank you

@ernestocaro9802 10 ай бұрын

Writing like painting, music or poetry shouldn’t have so many rules, I understand we have to follow some parameters but sometimes when some people are talking about screenwriting sounds like they’re talking about mathematics or science

@SharieffWalters Жыл бұрын

Proud of you Cody

@lonjohnson5161 Жыл бұрын

I'm interested in hearing more.

@filmcourage Жыл бұрын

More to come Lon!

@Wordsley Жыл бұрын

7:27 When the CGI Polar Bear appeared, I ejected the disc, put it in the envelope, and mailed it back to NETFLIX.

@nickybjammin7629 Жыл бұрын

💯♥️

@vivanbhathena999 Жыл бұрын

shes made everything so mechanical. they follow all these rules and then somebody breaks all the rules and delivers a massive hit and that is referred to a anomaly or they find a way to include it into the rule set. its not math its passion. dunno!!! sounds wrong in so many places. producers talk like this not writers.

@yash1551 Жыл бұрын

Cheers to this! 🎉 True to hell , this girl sound like a producer than a writer!

@AMC57711 Жыл бұрын

I love this channel. However, the title of this video should've been: 9 Common rules you should follow to please producers in today's Hollywood scene.

@princess.seenaire Жыл бұрын

😅😅😅😂😂😂

@BionicDance Жыл бұрын

Oh, I _HAD_ to stop at four minutes in. Cuz she says no kid is going to sit and watch an animated movie for 120 minutes. ...is she _nuts?_ Does she not remember Saturday morning cartoons? Kids will sit, enthralled, for _hours._

@gnarthdarkanen7464 Жыл бұрын

IF you give them something to be enthralled ABOUT... Too many of the modern genre "play down" to kids... when you SHOULD just PLAY TO THEM... It's not difficult. I was in middle school when Beatlejuice ran the "B.O. Wolf" skit... It was HILARIOUS, and led me to laugh even harder when I was overheard bringing it up in class and the English teacher talked about "Beowulf" so EVERYBODY could "get" that joke. Kids respond largely to stuff that inspires their curiosity. They figure out (we did, at least) very quickly that funny names come from other things, and that "cheesy kid-show writing" often directly nods or references other stories and literature... EVERYBODY's done a "where for art thou" something or other... so EVERY kid knows Shakespeare-something Romeo and Juliet... BUT a lot of kids shows just dummy everything down to formulaic screaming and shouting and running around chaos. The writers have forgotten (especially in "western" cartoons) that kids LIKE stories as much or more than adults. That's exactly why anime (specifically Japanese) keeps getting the audience approval and fandoms while looney toons and mickey mouse struggles for attention. If Maw and Paw Kettle don't force feed it to their kids, the kids abandon it... and look for something with SUBSTANCE. ;o)

@heynow727 Жыл бұрын

Well Saturday morning cartoons are a different stimulus every 30 minutes

@BionicDance Жыл бұрын

@@heynow727 Not really. Binge-watching is a thing, after all.

@MsMarmima Жыл бұрын

@@gnarthdarkanen7464I agree with you! That thirst for substance and story is what made anime like Inuyasha completely blow my mind as a kid in the early 2000's. Drama, Romance, Action, Mystery, that show had everything lol. After that I was hooked!

@gnarthdarkanen7464 Жыл бұрын

@@MsMarmima I grew up with the very bare beginnings of the movement, back when it was still "Japanimation" in the stores... Admittedly, I was too young for it when my neighbor came over with her daughter in tow and put "Watership Down" in the VCR so she and Mom could have "girl time"... haha... It was a Substantive enough story to keep us occupied, but the General was a source for nightmare fuel for a couple months... Disney could do features for kids up to about 10... around there, it just loses out, since we only got "True Love's Kiss" solving every stupid thing... I get that it was protective, but that went a bit far... and thus my growing disdain for a lot of (particularly American) western animation... Bakshi did great things, but I was DEFINITELY too young for "Fritz, the Cat"... haha... "Wizards" though, still holds a soft spot in my heart... among a few others. BUT yeah, as a late teen and early 20-something, I took the effort and time to get caught up on quite a bit of anime. I usually tend toward the darker and weirder, from Akira to Robot Carnival (though it's only occasionally dark)... BUT there was real craft and story to anime at just about all targeted age demographics, rather than just "surprise anvil on your head" and the like... In any case, thanks. It is what it is. ;o)

@randykrus9562 Жыл бұрын

Has she read a Mandalorian script?🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

@DAMON409 Жыл бұрын

only 2 mistakes. boring and confusing.

@yash1551 Жыл бұрын

The genre change is exactly what Parasite did! And its history in the making. If you proof read, you have to be patient. Genre is the thing where Act I is everything. The whole movie is in its 10min. That's why is so predictable! Only very great screenwriting can keep the audience attention, surprise and unravels bit by bit. If you give everything away is cliche, then it's predictable! Genre and tone shift done right is the new way to write! No wonder Hollywood is making such bad movies!