New member looking for your top tips...

Hello to you all,

I am new to BSG or least a long time reader first time poster.

After six months of planning to write a sitcom I have finally got of my rear and drawn out a plan for my pilot. I have my characters all set down to the last detail. Basically I am just after your top tip as I now start to write the actual script.

Anything I may have forgot?
Any common mistakes to avoid?

I know I have not given any details about my project but that is the way I seem to work and I am really only looking for general advice for now.

I would appreciate your comments.

hello,

make up a story in your head. write it down. rewrite. rewrite.

best wishes

Welcome and good luck.

My advice would be - given you say you already have your characters - to plot out a couple of episodes in detail, where the main characters are put into a dilemma or conflict. Write one episode. It won't be great. Write the other one. It will be much better. Go back and re-write the first. You'll amaze yourself at how much better you know the characters by now. Then re-write the second. Then don't think about them for a while. Then have a look. You'll probably find things you don't like, and opportunities for more funny bits you can't believe you missed. As AA says, rewrite. Only when you think it's the DBs, present it to others. Chances are it won't be the DBs, but it will be advanced enough for others to help you on your way.

Oh - the other thing. Keep it simple. Not too many characters, and not too many implausible events.

Hope this helps.

Every scene has to be essential to the plot. One way to identify the scenes you need is to write down the story as a paragraph(s), usually each sentence will be a seperate scene.

Example:
Jim announces he's getting married to the pub. Jim gets home and finds a message on the answerphone, his ex is back in town. The ex turns up just before the fiance is expected. ...

(I'm thinking on the fly there, so no marking me on originality and content, you guys) There are 3 scenes, one in the pub and 2 take place at Jim's house.

Each scene and the setting is now more clear. Try and limit the number of individual settings to two or three major settings (frasier's house / frasier's fave coffee house / frasier's production booth) Again, I know in reality that the booth counts as a minor location and that the cafe nervosa setting is actually 2 different sets but you get the drift.

Classic mistake is to start writing dialogue before the whole thing is settled in your mind and each scene is planned.

If you get stuck with a scene, you can always write another because each scene is like a seperate and independent compartment or story buiding brick. As long as you know the order and the reason why the scene is needed then you click them into the right order nearer the finishing stage.

To follow up on Badge's excellent points. Coincidence is allowed to initiate a plot but it's considered very poor writing to close a plot with a coincidence.

Example: Viv Nichols wins the pools and we have the start of a rags-to-riches- and-back story. That's fine. A family are in terrible trouble, the episode is coming to an end and then suddenly, "We've won the pools. All our troubles are over." That's considered a cop-out.

I think Alan's being a little modest, he's the professional here and really you're probably better off tapping him for some private advice. Any advice I could give would be feeble in comparison to his experience.

I echo the rewrite advice. No script of mine even gets seen til it's had 5 rewrites, then that's for me and SlagB to work on, to pull apart, analyse, cry over, then rewrite again. 10 rewrites is the minimum (but this is only the way I tend to work, you may need less.)

Write. Re-write. Be firm with yourself. Be hard on yourself. Edit. Submit.

Quote: SlagA @ June 19, 2007, 10:17 PM

I think Alan's being a little modest, he's the professional here and really you're probably better off tapping him for some private advice. Any advice I could give would be feeble in comparison to his experience.

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Your advice is fine.
There are some obvious points worth making about writing.
First, write only if you really need to; if you are driven to do it.
Second, don't get your hopes up about finding a book or an article that will unlock your success. No amount of "how to" books can teach talent.
Third, when you've got a draft, get it in the hands of someone whose opinion you trust and who you know will be brutally honest (in my case an ex-pat living in tokyo). There is no point in having your work read by someone who can't be blunt. I don't need my tummy tickled. I want to know what works and what doesn't. You might not act on every suggestion, but do give them serious thought.

Thanks for the tips you lot, I'm like a sponge.

you expand with water?

No. I live in the sea.

Cheers for all the advice people. Plenty to ponder and be getting on with. I will let you know of any substantial progress - or I oculd just take your advice and run

Top tip from me (amateur with nothing published!): Don't start your first episode trying to build the characters. Let the characterisation come out in the plot. And hit the plot early in the first scene to grab the viewer/listener.

Oh, and the rewrite, rewrite, rewrite advice is the most important, followed by the 'get other people to read it'. Mainly cos after 10-15 rewrites you've read it 200+ times and can't see the jokes anymore.

And a read right the way through the three 'sticky' threads in the 'Critique' forum will prove invaluable.

Hope this helps

Dan

G'day,

Just remember presentation is everything so check grammar, layout and spelling. Also, the reader will not know what you mean so above all make sure your script is lucid and has clarity.

Best of luck

Yes to Baumski's advice. The most important reason for getting your script rejected before even being read is the layout. If it looks poor and not worth the time to read then into the bin it goes.

If they get past that stage, a spelling error or easily confused words, is another excuse for a reader to bin it.

Remember there are thousands of scripts out there, and the reader is looking for excuses to make it a shorter wokload. Don't give them an excuse to dump your work when it can easily be avoided. Our job is to make reading a script a pleasure for the reader, not a chore.

Quote: SlagA @ June 20, 2007, 12:52 PM

Yes to Baumski's advice. The most important reason for getting your script rejected before even being read is the layout. If it looks poor and not worth the time to read then into the bin it goes.

If they get past that stage, a spelling error or easily confused words, is another excuse for a reader to bin it.

Remember there are thousands of scripts out there, and the reader is looking for excuses to make it a shorter wokload. Don't give them an excuse to dump your work when it can easily be avoided. Our job is to make reading a script a pleasure for the reader, not a chore.

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Here here! I mean hear, hear...

Damn.

Quote: Darren Goldsmith @ June 20, 2007, 1:01 PM

Here here! I mean hear, hear...

Damn.

View original