The Great Screenwriting Debate: Can It Be Taught?

[@michaelmayo]

Of course it can. Actually a lot easier to write a screenplay than a book because you don't have to worry about writing breathless prose - you just lay out the setting, the characters, dialog, and action. I actually like to write a screenplay of my story first because it functions as a detailed outline and lets me work out story kinks and get everything in order before I start turning it into prose.

[@claudioalvarezrodriguez4318]

Inspiring, Thanks

[@FilmmakingWithBrassKnuckles]

Thanks for stopping by. This whole KZbin thing is a new venture and I'm hoping to provide value. Josh Kaufman has a book and a TED talk called "The First 20 Hours; How to Learn Anything" that is inspirational for anybody starting to learn anything. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a37Kc5yhnMiKpLssi=JwUtJSxhkQUy8ioO

[@miguelrosado6348]

Screenwriting can be taught and learnt but that doesn't mean that you will be able to write a great script. It's like playing the guitar: you can learn how to play it and be a virtuoso, but can you compose a great song that will climb up the charts? Probably not if you are only learning how to write screenplays. That's why you also need to learn how to be an artist and how to use creativity to develop your ideas. Otherwise you will be learning how to be a great guitar player but you will not learn how to compose your own music.

[@FilmmakingWithBrassKnuckles]

I'm a big fan of the Angela Duckworth book "Grit." To use your musical analogy, the list is long of musicians who had strengths, weaknesses, and struggles (Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffett, Taylor Swift) but all found phenomenal success. They all had/have grit. In the screenwriting world, Michael Arndt comes to mind as someone who has grit. After graduating from film school he spent ten years working as a script reader and as an assistant to actor Matthew Broderick. He saved enough money to take a year off and focus on writing 10 screenplays. One of those sold-then took 5 years to get made. He was 20 years into his film journey when that script ("Little Miss Sunshine") won the Oscar for best original screenplay. Talent + Grit + Time. Check out this 10-minute video where I give an overview on his writing process for his "Toy Story 3" script. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXaxeX2hbruXm8Usi=TPBIRicjNK4R7qoB

[@Pcoxproductions]

Thanks for "not" teaching me 😂

[@FilmmakingWithBrassKnuckles]

One step at a time. Try this video where I compress about 10 hours of Oscar-winner Michael Arndt's screenwriting concepts into just under 10-minutes. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oXaxeX2hbruXm8U