Screenplays

[Icingsugar]

I don't know about format, but I guess that there'd content differences between writing for stage and writing for screen.

True, but on the other hand, it all depends on the kind of movie you set out to make. Unless yopu want to fiddle around with heavy duty action and CGI, there is one core difference, which is the basic tools it is going to be created with. Camera and cutting board versus real-time on stage. Where you in a screen production can have this:
"Cut to Raphy outside the mall. Raphy looks confused."
...a stageplay could look like this:
"Switch to spot on Raphy outside the mall. Raphy looks confused."

Also, the cinematic ability to cut snippet scenes and engage in parallell timelines is not impossible, but much harder to achieve on stage. You can, for instance, not have the same actor doing different things at the same time (as in a now and then-scene for screen), unless he is very fast on his feet...

 

[raphy]

True, but on the other hand, it all depends on the kind of movie you set out to make. Unless yopu want to fiddle around with heavy duty action and CGI..

You mean there's movie's out there that don't have that?



Raph, a product of 'big explosions, fast cars and large guns' 80s movies.

 

[gauchecritic]

Mona, on stage plays just ask Perdita, she'll then direct you to Wm Shakespeare.

OK the 5 acts and dialogue set out are not exactly modern but you can do no better to learn how much 'direction' needs be employed and how much care you have to take over the dialogue.

Closer to modern (and a favourite for me for minimalist playwriting) see Brecht.

Gauche (Exit stage left pursued by a bear)

 

[Guest]

Gauche (Exit stage left pursued by a bear)

Larfing out loud, biting my lip even.

Purr

 

[oggbashan]

I like George Bernard Shaw; Christopher Fry (for his wonderful use of language read "The Lady's Not For Burning"); Jean Cocteau; and Sheridan, particularly The Critic (I used to own a first edition of The Critic but I sold it to support daughters through University).

Jean Cocteau conveys a subtle message with very few simple words.

Og

 

[Guest]

Mona (love that name; are you fully Ramona?):

I wouldn't recommend Sh're as an example for a new or non-committed playwright (however, if one is serious...). But, know that there is very little 'stage direction' in his texts. If read carefully one can find all required direction(s) in the text.

You might begin looking at scripts beginning with the Greeks (Aeschylus' Agamemnon; Aristophanes' Lysistrata; Euripides' Medea; Sophocles' Oedipus Rex) then skip to Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot, Endgame, Happy Days, Krapp's Last Tape).

Just my whimsical idea, but you'll get a feel for good scripts.

regards, Perdita

 

[Icingsugar]

Some more recommendations: I studied alot of more or less contemporary drama before attempting to write my own. Tenessee Williams, Oscar Wilde and Beckett were three - pretty damn different - authoors that I learned alot from.

But the best playwriting school for me turned out to be a young, local, very talented playwriter and director called Maria Blom. She crafts mundane little sillyness and flimsy comedy into absolute truths in a way that I don't think I've ever encountered in any of the great well known masters. It's simple stuff really, but in some odd way just damn magic, and she made me approach playwriting in the same way as story writitng. Heart and guts first, brain second. If any of her work is translated into english, grab and keep.

/Ice - off to look that up...

 

[Monazwx]

Great stuff.
Lots of reads.
Thanks guys.

 

[Invid Writer]

I'm in the reverse position to you. All I write is screenplays so when I decided to write a novel for lit, I found it extremely difficult. But if you want info, I can hook you up with specifics of what you want to know. Just email me at invidwriter@hotmail.com or personal message me through lit.

 

[just a thing]

You guys are AWESOME!!!

So there really isn't any difference between a screenplay and a play for the stage then
since the stage direction is not included, right?

Mona,

There is a HUGE difference between writing a screenplay and a stage play.

With a screenplay, you have the advantage of using visuals - moving pictures - to tell your story.

With a stage play, you are forced to depend on dialogue to to tell your story.

Keep this motto somewhere close to your monitor so you'll see it often:

"Movies are written for the eye; plays are written for the ear."

I now return to my lurking mode.