Best Way To Learn Screenwriting - Daniel Calvisi

BUY THE BOOK - STORY MAPS: How To Write A GREAT Screenplay
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BUY THE BOOK - STORY MAPS: TV Drama: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot
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DANIEL P. CALVISI is a Script Doctor, Writing Coach and the author of Story Maps: How to Write GREAT Screenplay and Story Maps: TV DRAMA: The Structure of the One-Hour Television Pilot. He is a former Story Analyst for major studios like Twentieth Century Fox, Miramax Films and New Line Cinema. He coaches writers, teaches webinars on writing for film and television and speaks at writing conferences. Many of his clients have worked with the top networks and studios in the industry, such as Netflix, HBO, Warner Brothers, Disney, Sony, ABC, Showtime, Apple TV+ and more. He holds a degree in Film and Television from New York University. He lives in Los Angeles.
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[@filmcourage]

What would you say is the best way to learn screenwriting?

[@smokydogy]

Read literature and pay attention to what makes it good and the images it makes in your head

[@pitpride1220]

Everyone is different. I learned from thinking visually. Breaking apart news stories, short stories, conversations and practiced making them visual. I even did it with monologues. I've actually recorded conversations written them down. Then storyboarded them. Sometimes with snapshots. I have downloaded scripts and followed along with the film or show. So I could see how the technical application suited the visual story. I learned story beats that way. An incredibly helpful tool was also reading film analysis books. Once I understood that everything in a film is an intentional choice, it opened up the world to me. That brought it all together.

[@stephenflood3463]

This is a brilliant channel for beginning artists across the board. With every interview comes a wealth of knowledge. I'm a pantser true and true and when I am writing I am being tapped by the super conscious. I am actually working on my first debut science-fantasy-novel which is pure original, authentic, and a unique satire. Albeit this channel is a Godsent for me. Thank you so much to everybody at Film Courage!🎬

[@BethBarany]

Dan! Great to see you here!

[@bcatbb2896]

im a firm believer in learning backwards by bisecting from a completed product. it helped me so much after graduating college during work. if i had learned using that method in school, i would've aced everything

[@toycamera6112]

As a screenwriter/filmmaker, I don't think my journey really BEGAN until I had an actual template to play with. There are so many people who just don't write because when they sit down to do it, they have an endless white page in front of them and no direction. A lot of the writing advice that's out there is kind of abstract, which makes it harder to apply than if you were to, say, look up instructions on baking a pop tart. The first template I used was 'Save the Cat': Opening image: Setup: Theme: Catalyst: Debate: Break into two: Promise of premise: High point: Bad guys gathering: All is lost: Dark night of the soul: Climax: Closing image You can essentially Mad Libs your way to being a writer; specifically if you know how to apply a paradigm at every level of a story. That's something I realized after adopting Syd Field's paradigm: Beginning: Inciting incident: Catalyst: Plot Point 1: Focus Point 1: Midpoint: Focus Point 2: Plot Point 2: Climax: Ending: If you apply this at the macro (the whole story) and micro (individual scenes) levels then you never have to worry about a blank page because usually you'll be able to figure out your story's logical next step. But if you don't want logic, this template is also broad enough that you can experiment in an endless number of ways.

[@grizzly228]

If it were that easy, there’d be more success stories. However knowing a template and actually writing a good script are worlds apart.

[@toycamera6112]

@@grizzly228 I don't think the template, on its own, makes a great story but I think it honestly does foster prolific creativity because it spares people from having to fumble their way into writing something resembling a movie. If I have 42 scene concepts and I just set about applying the template to each concept then if I persist, eventually, I'll wind up with a full draft. Some people struggle to write even one page a day. The template spares a writer the initial barrier of feeling like they need to be inspired 'as' they write, feeling like they need to vomit something perfect immediately, etc. And it allows them to perfect structure. They're writing a screenplay, not a novel. There's a simplicity; a brevity to penning actions and dialogue compared with feeling like you need to exhibit a character's constant stream of consciousness for the audience.

[@nikitaaverin]

Valuable notes. I mostly have worked with short formats (short films, commercials, music videos etc) but the first movie script I wrote to finish landed at a healthy 444 pages. Needless to say a very fast-paced 444 pages (Tony Scott would easily get it under 2 hours), but still 444 pages! Laid it to rest for a while, and had to grasp who was needed in the story and why that mattered. Slashed two characters, one or two story-lines that more or less were there for the sake of being (later revisited them in different stories). 138 pages was the result. For a young-adult flick? Forget about it. Shortly thereafter, I imagined this concept for a very tongue-in-cheeky thriller. But in this case I outlined the entire story beat by beat before writing the story. A solid 116 pages. Still no movie, but my then-Producer was like "This is a page-turner!" and since he knows my sarcastic tone, he got what I aimed at (and still wants to produce it). I think I wrote it in like 6-8 weeks and even managed to shoehorn in an additional action scene when I realized the pacing was lagging in the second act. And had three versions of the showdown (I naturally went with the least expected one). Key is to have some structure and know your characters and have eye-catching beginnings and a banger ending.

[@nikitaaverin]

Speaking of endings. The script (which I still am proud of) could be shortened for budgetary reasons. This is basically how I am jaded from the notion of “cut to the chase”. However, since one ad that I co-wrote, directed and edited…I had to drop 4 or so seconds with - in hindsight - the most sinister line. Was an anti-smoking ad. But with 30 secs, it sadly couldn’t be shoved in.

[@AllThingsFilm1]

This was a fantastic video. It's a quite common piece of advice that screenwriters should read other people's scripts to help them learn the craft. It's also a piece of advice I haven't followed through with often enough. This is my queue to pick up a script and start reading it. This channel is a valuable resource for anyone looking into writing stories and screenplays. Thanks so much, Film Courage.

[@filmcourage]

Which script are you going to read first?

[@AllThingsFilm1]

I’m focusing on short films at the moment. So probably an episode of The X-Files.

[@filmcourage]

Nice!

[@allday.pizzaparty]

Great comments from Mr. Daniel Calvisi:)

[@johnclay7644]

good interview.

[@EistLiom]

V good interviewer also..

[@DAMON409]

They need you to believe that you need their notes because otherwise they're out of work. Think of all the average or unremarkable films that somehow get made. No big concept, not very interesting chara😊cters. But because Anthony Hopkins is in it, or whoever, you watch it. It is more about access than it is about writing a "great" script. He is right, it takes a lot of work, a lot more than you would think because there are so many elements to consider. It is a constant process of revision to varying degrees.

[@liberality]

Will prospective employees realise this, though?

[@_._.-]

0:19 - forcing urself to analyze

[@smokydogy]

The people with the skills to analyze symbolism and match it to organized thought then combine that with story structure are certainly born. Not everyone can do it or has the patience to sit there for hours ataring at a blank screen. Sorry but these people are born, but ill agree no one is born with innate skill

[@thomasfairfax4956]

They're certainly not born. Young children can't understand symbolism. But put the child in a home environment surrounded by books, with parents who read and write and discuss story and the child will grow to understand. Take literature for example. Less than 1% of published authors come from working-class backgrounds. Working-class homes tend to have uneducated parents, no books or interest the arts, they work manual jobs, there's often abuse within the household. Surely you agree it's not possible for 99% of these writers to be 'born' by coincidence to middle-class and upper backgrounds. Especially when working class make up the majority of people.

[@dcle944]

It’s not. I thought the same but I learned one thing. I incorporated it into my scripts, got used to it. Then I learned another thing. If you try to do it all at once, then yeah, you can’t, but just learning to do one at a time, you can get there.

[@Nautilus1972]

Great writers aren’t born? Bollocks.

[@cadenadelreino1442]

True. Artists in general ARE born.