Comments on: Script frenzy

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:40:59 +0000

I wrote a script on 2006 June 6 (I think that was the day), in the middle of the Seattle International Film Festival, overnight between a day when we saw four films and a day when we saw three. It was a short (I think around eight minutes in that version) wasn't very good, and I spent the rest of the year refining it into a solid short (I think around 13 minutes, but my page counts and minutes never seem to match). The original version wasn't good, but the idea at its core was, so there was merit to the overnight product, even if I was pretty sleepy the next day.

Cranking out something in a short amount of time is quite possible. It's quite possible to crank out something with a worthwhile set of good ideas too. But tuning it into a good script, as opposed to good ideas in script format, seems improbable.

I'd drag something out of my idea file to turn into a draft script if I weren't trying to animate another project. It sounds like a fun way to do something I'd be doing anyway, which is writing a script.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:18:05 +0000

If you need a contest to motivate yourself– especially one where you only win a “certificate”– you shouldn’t be a writer.

By: LHOOQtius ov Borg

LHOOQtius ov Borg — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 05:47:03 +0000

With no foreknowledge whatsoever of “Script Frenzy” I had already embarked upon a ridiculously insane schedule for April. If I pull off 25% of what I hoped to, it’ll probably kill me. So, we’ll see how it goes. Maybe I’ll get a charmingly meaningless token of congratulations from the Script Frenzy folks out of it :-)

By: Sai

Sai — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:30:03 +0000

I think Quentin Tarantino also wrote “Reservoir Dogs” in a week also.

By: Angela

Angela — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 04:29:56 +0000

I participated in Script Frenzy last year and churned out a pretty decent first draft in a month. It’s a fun contest and a great way to get yourself to write without second guessing yourself. No time!

By: Josh Boelter

Josh Boelter — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:41:58 +0000

I think Paul Schrader said he wrote “Taxi Driver” in a week. I assume he did a lot more rewriting before Scorcese and crew started shooting, but he got that initial draft done in seven days.

By: Sean William Menzies

Sean William Menzies — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:04:21 +0000

I once wrote a script in three days... and it looked like it. I'd been mulling over the story, structure and research for a while and then it just all came out of me like a moving picture. Though it was crap (an historical epic on the Boudiccan Revolt), I at least had the main structure down and could go from there.

I wrote from morning till night, slept normally, then repeated the process the next day and half of the next. I remember standing up from the computer after I'd finished and got so dizzy I nearly fell over; it was as if I was coming back to this time and place (when in actuality I was probably just woozy from sitting before a monitor for so long).

By: saipanwriter

saipanwriter — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 00:15:53 +0000

I joined Script Frenzy last year (in June 2007, as noted by other commenters). I'd written novels before (still in editing and unpublished), and found the Frenzy much more difficult. On the other hand, I learned a lot and had a lot of fun. (I trust that writers will understand how "difficult" can equal "fun.")

I've signed up for this year's Frenzy. April is a tough month, though.

By: Betzy

Betzy — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:46:50 +0000

Hi, this is really random. I just stumbled on your page after googling for The Nines script. It's currently 6:45am in Jersey (still haven't slept yet and the sun just came up-ugh), I just finished my midterm for my senior seminar in film- I wrote my paper on The Nines. It's a great movie and I must of have seen it like 4 times this weekend. Anyway, just wanted to say Hi and I really loved your film.

PS: I'll bookmark your page, lots of good info an screen writing, so thanks for that, too. (I kinda dabble in screen writing)

By: Blondbomb

Blondbomb — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 10:28:42 +0000

Self-discovery via completion of the 2007 ScriptFrenzy: I am way too novelistic to do well. At 20,000 words, my plot was on Act II, Scene I; my character arcs were in beginning discovery mode.

Hitting the boards, I followed the "best" recommendation consensus and acquired J. Michael Straczynski's The Complete Book of Scriptwriting, and have been lazing through it, prepping for a JUNE date, only to be foxed by the move to April, when my paying job's commitments are heaviest.

A quandary, no? So I resolved it sensibly. I signed up again, choosing a title, but with No Plot. No Problem, right? I'll think of something...

By: Earl Newton

Earl Newton — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 02:23:44 +0000

Hells, I'm in post on my latest episode and I'm signing up. I'm a fool.

But the gods watch after fools and travelers, and being both, I've got a whallop of luck on my side.