Moving on from novels in this five-part writing series, Barbara J Mackie tells VB all about writing for film and TV.
It’s different from writing novels
Barbara’s top tip for writing for screen, “Film is a visual medium so you have to think visually.”
She explains that screenplays and scripts aren’t just different because of lower word counts (a screenplay is for film and a script is for TV).
“Like a novel, it still has a beginning, middle and end, but there are many different things to look at.
“There’s a lot of setting up and structuring, looking at scenes and how they work.”
Camera, Lights, Action!
Barbara stresses the focus on action, “It’s not like the theatre or radio. There’s very little dialogue in a screenplay.
“Invariably, it’s nothing like a novel.”
It’s all in the details
Barbara says: “A screenplay has a lot of stage direction in it. So people know what period they’re in, what room they’re in, a description of location and everything.”
Learn from great examples
Learning from others is an important aspect of writing, Barbara recommends looking at clips and deciding for yourself what works and what doesn’t.
She takes advice from great scenes and great characters already in existence, she says, “It’s about how to create your character, the world you’re going to create and coming up with a plot.”
Interested in writing in general and want to know about writing a novel? Check out Barbara’s advice on how to get your very own novel started, how to stick with it and how to get it finished.
Barbara J Mackie will be holding her next writing workshop at the Blacksheep Bar in Ryde on 21, 22, 23 September.
Image: vancouverfilmschool under CC BY 2.0
