5 Articles On Screenwriting That Provide Easy Action Steps For Beginners

5 Screenwriting articles that I've been reading this morning to help me brush up on my writing skills and learn more about screenwriting. Currently, I've focused on one blog "Script Reader Pro" but I'll be sure to find different sources as I do daily reading on the subject of screenwriting:

Here's what I've read this weekend:

35 Common Writing Styler Mistakes: This addressed a lot of common writing errors overall as well as writing that might be appropriate for other genres but doesn't work for screenwriting. As a novelist, there are a few writing rules that are different so I want to make sure I check myself for any habits I may have picked up that are incompatible with screenwriting. 

10 Things Smart Writers Do To Build A Screenwriting Career: The most interesting thing I got out of this was the rumor of the "Spielberg List" which even if it's a myth, sounds like something I should track down. I also learned about different screenwriting contests that might be worth entering. I've saved the links to those and I want to challenge myself to enter a couple of those for fun. The other aspects of this list tackle suggestions I don't think that I'm ready for -- moving to Los Angeles for example or forking up the cash to attend film school. However, I do want to know that I'm on the right track for learning more about writing a screenplay and working to write a good one.

50 Of The Best Screenplays To Read: I downloaded the ten screenplays from the "Drama" section. I'm not sure when I'll read them but I hope to get through them before getting to the rest of the links. I'm really excited for these, but I can't recall if I've seen any of the movies here. I plan to add that to my list of things to do. 

How To Write A Logline: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide: This link contained a lot of reminders of what I'd just learned in Save The Cat by Blake Snyder. I've already used the concept of a "logline" to improve my novel writing at work. I need to branch out to the part where I "test" my loglines out on people and get some feedback. I feel shy doing this about screenwriting because I feel like sharing my interest in screenwriting gives the impression that I have "delusions of grandeur". Right now, I want to write like this to learn and challenge myself while hopefully creating something fun. I need to get over worrying about what other people think of me. I loved their offer of a logline analysis service which I would strongly consider using if I were preparing a script for a contest. 

“Show, Don’t Tell”: How To Turn a Talky Script Into a Visual One: This article was the most critical one that I read today. I'm learning that I need to dive into more scripts before I start writing which I'd planned to do next week. I'm reading another book on comedy writing as well as Africa's World War on my Kindle so I'll need to move my casual and fun reading around so that I can dedicate a little bit of time each day to my screenwriting education and reading screenplays.

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BONUS READING:

I didn't want to include this one at first, but I loved getting a long and informative post about the technical side of things. I think I'll have to adjust some of my "fun" expenses for a while so that I can explore some options for improving my work since I won't be learning from film school or have the advantage of professors. I also liked the suggestions for online pitch sites and where you can find screenwriting managers. I've filed this away for later: https://www.scriptreaderpro.com/how-to-get-a-screenwriting-agent/