It is your calling as a writer to write stories, to constantly search for new ideas, to search for ‘the one idea’ that will change the world.
Your life as a writer is informed and fuelled by inspiration and driven by passion, you will have many ideas that you want to develop into a story, and each idea will have its own challenges, beginning as a seed that is planted in the soil, gradually growing into a story, day by day.
An idea is not something you can rush, predict or control; it has its own temperament and knows what it wants to be.
Before you can put one word to paper, you must know what and who your story is about. The hardest thing about writing is knowing what to write. No matter what story you are telling, there is only place where the writer begins – with the blank page.
Once you frame the idea into a subject, it becomes a guideline for you to follow as you structure the action and characters into a cohesive, dramatic story line.
If you know your subject, then you can create a step-by-step approach that will guide you through the process of writing a screenplay.
The best place to start is with a solid premise, which will then be conceptualised; you will also explore the thematic purpose of what you want to write about and come up with a catchy title.
Once you have defined the premise of your idea, it is time to conceptualise and dramatise your idea.
Whereas premise focuses on: The central dilemma and central conflict that form the basis of the story
The concept focuses on: Character and action: a character in a place doing something and wanting something.
A particularly common fault of stories is that the core concept—the overall idea behind the story as laid out in the logline—isn’t strong enough. Many writers have good ideas but fail to really dig into their imagination to conceptualise great, original and imaginative ideas.
Expressing the idea for your story gives both the writer and the collaborators a focal point to develop the story and the plot
It’s time to take the seed of an idea and dramatise it, to define who and what the story is about and articulate it.
Using Your Experience To Write Your First Published / Produced Story.
Living in L.A. or New York, everyone knows a Maggie—a young, talented assistant working day and night in the entertainment industry paying their dues for their big career break. Screenwriter Flora Greeson herself was once that woman: After graduating from New York University’s prestigious cinema studies program, she started her career as an assistant to an executive at Universal Music in New York, she drew from her experiences in both of those jobs and penned her first full-length screenplay, The High Note.
Blending timeless kid-friendly jokes and themes with vivid animation
“There’s something magical about Scooby-Doo,” says director Tony Cervone, a 25-year animation veteran and a leading expert on the Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tune franchises for Warner Bros.The show launched over 50 years ago, and it’s been important to the culture ever since.” A fan first, Says Cervone, “This is a giant, epic, crazy movie and not only is Scooby-Doo at the forefront of the action and the comedy, but we get the chance to learn something new and exciting about him. I think audiences will be surprised that the movie is as broad and exciting as it is. I think they’ll be surprised at how much heart the story has."
Marco Pontecorvo has had a long and distinguished career as a cinematographer, serving as director of photographer on projects as diverse as “Game of Thrones” and the John Turturro comedy Fading Gigolo, and directed the film Fatima. Growing up in Italy, Pontecorvo was familiar with the Portuguese town of Fátima, renowned for the miraculous appearance of the Blessed Virgin to three young shepherds in 1917.
Pontecorvo hopes that whether or not audience members see the divine in the events at Fátima a century ago, they will find elements in the story that resonate powerfully today. “Believers and nonbelievers can find something in this film,” he says. “It carries a universal message of peace — the idea that we must all change our behavior to end violence and the madness of war. But it also a human story about the struggles of a young girl, her relationship with her mother, and how the questioning of faith can lead to an even stronger faith.”
If you have completed the draft of a screenplay, stageplay, or manuscript for a novel, it is vital to find out whether or not your story works. It could mean the end of all your hard work and your career as a writer if you hand poorly written and undeveloped projects over to producers, directors, publishers or potential investors.
If you want your script or manuscript polished professionally, The Writing Studio will turn your copy into exciting and thrilling narrative, into words and images that jump off the page and characters that resonate.
The journey with my screenplay editor, Daniel Dercksen (The Writing Studio) has been smooth sailing. In fact – it was blissful! The organic and creative nature of the collaborative process was very rewarding and uplifting. Libé Ferreira – Former Head of Drama department at The National School of the Arts / Former Writer, Casting Director, Acting Coach at Franz Marx Films(Screenplay: What’s In Your Suitcase, 2020)
Opera lovers can indulge on a fantastic season of free streamings from the Met Opera. Since lockdown hit South Africa, The Met Opera has streamed more than 100 operas that were filmed live, and continues to do so.
Learn how to tell stories and make films from the world’s master filmmakers and screenwriters
If you want to learn how to be screenwriter and filmmaker, why not learn from the best.
The Writing Studio’s exclusive in depth articles on filmmaking and screenwriting show how inspiration instills passion, how ideas are born, nurtured and realised, how the conventions of genre are challenged, themes explored to its fullest, and characters brought to life.
These personal notes from producers reveal to what extent filmmakers and screenwriters will go to realise their dreams and make the most of each story they tell.
Develop the Write Attitude with The Writing Studio
During the last 20 Years The Writing Studio has taken many leading filmmakers in South Africa from first idea to success on the big screen locally and internationally.
If you want to sign up for one of our courses in creative writing or screenwriting, or want to have your screenplay / manuscript evaluated or edited, send us an email.
