Should you learn How to Write a Screenplay?
Our Sydney and Melbourne Five Month Film School is now a month into the course, having started in July. Our Flagship Online Five Month Film School starts Worldwide on September 1st
Our starting point on all of the five month film school is always the Screenplay and generally takes a large part of the first month to teach. It is the first thing we teach as it is the foundation of every movie.
Right now the film course students are writing a 10 page screenplay, having learnt how to do it
One of the first month exercises is to write a 10 minute screenplay. It does not take long to do and can be written in four hours if you know what you are doing. That is why we teach you how to write a good screenplay and how to recognise a great screenplay when you read one.
So the question is Should you learn how to write a screenplay?
The reason I ask this question is that many people do not want to be screenwriters. They Want to be Film Directors or Filmmakers. They want to read a great a script and then make it as the Director Producer.
This is exceptionally valid and a great reason not to write the screenplay.
However, when you are starting out, you may not recognise a great screenplay. Worst still, you may pick a weak screenplay, causing your movie to be doomed from the start.
Therefore, I will say that it is absolutely a necessity to learn Screenwriting.
Even if you only write a ten minute short film, to actually go through the process is a really valuable experience. Also learning about screenplay will involve learning about screenplay structure and four acts that make a story. You will learn all about story and storytelling techniques and the mechanisms writers use to pull us into a story and make us empathetic to the protagonist.
Once you have learned all about screenwriting via doing it, you will be a much better position to choose a great screenplay that will make your movie successful. Once you have learned about three dimensional Character and how to create them you will know them when you read screenplays. Once you know how to create an empathetic and heroic protagonist who goes after his or her objective. Once you know about making life hell for your protagonist giving them multiple challenges and obstacles to overcome. Once you know about the Supreme Ordeal the Hero’s Journey, you will then be in the position to pick a great screenplay.
That is why we teach screenplay first up on our live Five Month Film Schools in Sydney and Melbourne and on our Online Flagship Five Month Film School. It is because Screenplay matters and as a filmmaker you must have a great screenplay to shoot.
