Now here’s the last step from what I’ve been explaining all week. Open Final Draft. Split the screen. Beat board on the right, script on the left.
Go to index card view. Make 40 index cards. put temp headers on the cards right now. INT. GODZILLA’S MOUTH – DAY – CONTINUOUS.
You’ll change it later. unless you’re writing a Godzilla movie, The temp headers let you know when you switch back to script view where your beats are. Color code your index cards to match your beat board.
this part’s sheer drudgery, but there’s no way to LINK the cards on your beat board to cards on your script. Go to “summary view” and copy/paste the beat board cards to the index cards on the script.
now, you gotta write something. Go back to script view.
This part I can;t help with, other than to say WRITE. Don’t worry that it’s not good enough for anyone else to read, just write. Write a script.
You’ll be surprised that what is coming out of you is good stuff. At least, that’s what I feel.
If you HATE a scene you’re writing, others will hate it too. Just sayin’.
Now, you owe it to everyone that if you’re writing, you’ve got to get the right books on scriptwriting. I’ve found one that’s so good, I won’t even tell you what it is! And no, it’s not Michael Hauge’s book (although I’ve got that too).
You owe it to everyone to learn to polish your sword.
Huh?
That’s from a book by a 17th century Samurai. His book was written in vague sayings. People over a couple of centuries began to realize that his book, taken allegorically, was about mastering ANYTHING. Learning to polish a Samurai sword was essential in those days. Do it wrong, ruin the sword. do it right, improve it.
Writing a screenplay is very simple. Writing a good one – takes a lot of work.
