writing

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CINEMATIC WRITING: 

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Tell me exactly what I need to know, for a reason, in the least amount of words possible. 

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After you've found your story and plotted your cards, it's finally time to write! But a screenplay is NOT a novel.  You must write cinematically. That means: 

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BREVITY, SPECIFICITY AND INTENT! 

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Here’s a blog post I wrote about it: What Makes Good Writing Good? 

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Here's three more tips to nailing cinematic writing: 

1. LET YOURSELF SUCK: your first draft will never be your last draft. Screenwriting is a layering process. Your job for the first draft is to get the first layer down. Writing IS rewriting. It is the process. After you’ve finished your first draft, have a table read, get notes. Wait a few days to decide if they are good notes or not, then sit down and think about your story and which notes make the story you’re trying to tell better. If you didn’t skip the prep and story work, you KNOW this. Then, implement the changes. Rinse and repeat till you’re satisfied.  

2.  RESEARCH: You have no idea how much better your writing is

going to be when you wield the power of SPECIFIC DETAILS. Any location, event, job site, anything you don’t know - don’t make it up. Your writing will feel stale. RESEARCH! I use reddit, google earth, real people, anything to help get specifics on the page! I once had to describe minute details of the inside of a house as a crime scene. I looked up a real estate page for a house that was similar to the one I was writing about, and I stole the realtor’s descriptions word for word. Believe me, steal the minor details, it helps take the load off! 

3. READ SCREENPLAYS!!  Read screenplays.  READ ALL THE SCREENPLAYS.  If you’re not familiar with what cinematic language is, you need to read screenplays. Start with the WGA’s list of the best screenplays of the last 20 years. You will get so much out of seeing how the master screenwriters do it. ​

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If you’d like to watch a replay of the Cinematic Writing masterclass I taught on zoom, you can grab it on my website: 

https://wxs.amandamoresco.org/bundles/Screenplay-Starter-kit

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When you’re finished with your draft, if you’d like to book a writing consult with me, I will read it, give you line by line notes embedded inside your pdf, then spend an hour with you on zoom going over my notes to get your script in the best shape possible before you show it to the world. 

Book a writing consult via my website: 

WXS.AMANDAMORESCO.ORG