EP1: WRITE THIS MOVIE In this first episode of Make This Movie, Chris begins the filmmaking process with the script for Counterintelligence. He traces the story from the initial seed of an idea, through his screenwriting practices, reverse-engineering his script to be made at a low budget, and to his "braintrust"—the close confidants he takes script notes from to polish up the final draft! In the last half of the episode, Chris is accompanied by his two friends, Rachel and Marc who serve as his close braintrust and share the notes they gave him on various drafts, helping to polish off Counterintelligence’s shooting script. The episode covers the entire writing process and takes us all the way to the moment of truth: when funding enters the picture in Episode 2: Budget This Movie. EPISODE OUTLINE The initial idea The nine-day first draft How to revise Bringing in the braintrust How to take input and notes efficiently Parsing what to take and what not to … [Read more...]
Ep1: Writing Tool Kit
Every script begins with the seed of an idea. In this microbudget toolkit for screenwriting, I’ll go over how I land on the right ideas, craft them around the available budget, execute on the writing process, and polish the scripts into solid foundations for hopefully good films. This writing process requires a balance between two seperate parts of the brain: the wholey creative part and the pragmatic one. The creative process should be free-flowing and the pragmatic process should serve to make the creative work achievable. Many scripts are started, but the objective here is to finish something that will be seen all the way through, with few limitations along the way. Scripts are great, but they’re meant to become films, otherwise we’d just right novels. Hopefully this guide and framework will help you write a film and not just another script. OVERALL SCREENWRITING TAKEAWAYS Some overarching things to keep in mind as you go through the writing process: Look for … [Read more...]