Go into a Frenzy. A Script Frenzy…

It’s that time of the year again.

National Novel Writing Month’s sister project Script Frenzy is just 24 days away. During this project approximately 20,000 writers all over the world will attempt to write a 100 page script in 30 days.

Impossible?

Definitively not!

I did Script Frenzy last year and not only did I find it great fun, but I also found it a little bit more relaxed than NaNoWriMo. If you convert the 100 pages down to words, you only have to write about 24,000 words – if you write lengthy descriptions like me. Due to a script’s format – you waste quite a lot of space between paragraphs which cuts your word count significantly. Espesually if you have a character that nods a lot.

READER

I don’t understand.

ALYSS
(nods)

READER

What did you say?

ALYSS
(nods again)
You see what I mean?

It’s the one time of the year where you can relax and get out of your box a little. This specifically is very applicable to me because I’m a habit writer. I write the same way – always. Writing in script format challenges me a little bit. Hell, it challenged me a lot in the beginning.

So, if you’ve never heard of Script Frenzy – I’d recommend that you make a detour to this page. It will definitively spice up your April…

What is Script Frenzy?

I took this from their website, as they explain it better than I ever can. J I thought that I’d clarify before I continue writing about my Script Frenzy escapade.

Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April. As part of a donation-funded nonprofit, Script Frenzy charges no fee to participate; there are also no valuable prizes awarded or “best” scripts singled out. Every writer who completes the goal of 100 pages is victorious and awe-inspiring and will receive a handsome Script Frenzy Winner’s Certificate and web icon proclaiming this fact.

Even those who fall short of the word goal will be applauded for making a heroic attempt. Really, you have nothing to lose—except that nagging feeling that there’s a script inside you that may never get out.

Who: You and everyone you know. No experience required.

What: 100 pages of original scripted material in 30 days. (Screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, and graphic novels are all welcome.)

When: April 1 – 30. Every year. Mark your calendars.

Where: Online and in person (if you want!). Hang out in the forums, join your fellow participants at write-ins, and make friends by adding writing buddies online.

Why: Because you have a story to tell. Because you want a creative challenge. Because you’ll be disappointed if you missed out on the adventure. Because you need to make time for you.

How: Sign up. Tell everyone that you are in the Frenzy. Clear your calendar. (US participants: Get your taxes done now!) Start some wrist exercises. Have fun!

The 5 Basic Rules of Script Frenzy

1) To be crowned an official Script Frenzy winner, you must write a script (or multiple scripts) of at least 100 total pages and verify this tally on ScriptFrenzy.org.

2) You may write individually or with a partner. Writing teams will have a 100-page total goal for their co-written script or scripts.

3) Script writing may begin no earlier than 12:00:01 AM on April 1 and must cease no later than 11:59:59 PM on April 30, local time.

4) You may write screenplays, stage plays, TV shows, short films, comic book and graphic novel scripts, adaptations of novels, or any other type of script your heart desires.

5) You must, at some point, have ridiculous amounts of fun.

Still unclear? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

My first step to Script Writing is…

Knowing what a Script looks like.
I kid you not, I don’t have much of an idea as to how to write a movie script. It’s not something I really considered doing. Ever. So, when I decided to start to prepare myself for April’s Script Frenzy I dove onto the internet (gotta love Google) and started to see what I was getting myself into. Writing a story is easy to an extent because we all grew up reading books and understanding its basic lay out. Telling a story, or rather narrating a story is also second nature because it’s a talent so ingrained in our history. Writing a movie script on the other hand isn’t.
So, I’ve been surfing around and came up with a few good tips:
1) Read movie scripts – To my surprise there are quite a few websites where you can go and download movie scripts for reading. Here’s a few:
a. http://www.script-o-rama.com/snazzy/dircut.html
b. http://www.dailyscript.com/
c. http://www.simplyscripts.com/
d. http://www.imsdb.com/
e. http://movies.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Free_Movie_Scripts_Online
2) Study the format – This might well discourage me from doing it completely, lol. I don’t get it, and the problem is that I struggle thinking in the box that the formatting puts you in. But, that’s my personal opinion and my personal fear coming in that I might not succeed. For this task – I found help at Script Frenzy directly. They give you a very nice lay out of a script here:
a. http://www.scriptfrenzy.org/eng/howtoformatascreenplay
3) Dialogue, Drama and Action is the key. I think that you can get away with good action and mediocre drama and good dialogue but mediocre action but I don’t think that you can get away with both being bad. This is if you’re writing for Hollywood anyway. I think the biggest challenge with a script (for me) is that you don’t have the character’s thoughts to guide you. So, you need to be very aware of body language, reaction and things like that. Unless you do something like the first season of Allie Macbeal where you can hear her thoughts. Hmm. Something to play with.
4) Have fun. That’s what it all comes down to. Just enjoy it.
So, now I’m reading the script to Jurassic Park, trying to put the formatting and style into perspective. The great thing is that, lol, if I don’t feel prepared by April, I don’t have to do it.
Simple as that. 😉
Alyss

Doom, gloom and a movie script…

You can only tell a story so many times, and frankly – I’ve become a bit tired of my own. So, I thought that I’d break away from my usual doom, gloom and life’s not treating me fairly, and tell you of a new project that I’m playing with. As you all know, I did NaNoWriMo in November and it was a heck of a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it, purely because it challenged me more than I had been challenged in the past. At the end of NaNoWriMo we received a kind of ‘news letter’ which told us of other projects similar to NaNoWriMo that we can participate in. Most of them were spin off’s from NaNo, made by people who couldn’t quite let the rushed feeling go. I considered some, but then decided that I’m just too busy and didn’t want to put myself under a lot of stress. But, one sort of stood out, and it was affiliated with NaNo (so I’m already registered on the site). It’s called Script Frenzy, and the challenge is to write a 100pg script in 30 days (why they can’t make it in months with 31 is beyond me).

I’ve been thinking about this and have slowly come to the conclusion I think, that I might just want to do this. The fun part is that I know absolutely NOTHING about script writing. Really. Nothing. So, my project for the next two months before April is to do some research, see what I can dig up and then, maybe, if I have enough ammunition and inspiration, take on this baby.

If you are interested, the website is:
www.scriptfrenzy.org