Comments on: Are Screenplays Art? http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/ About the craft and business of genre fiction Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:15:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: MaryK http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28887 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:15:54 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28887 * Is screenwriting, then, slumming at its lowest? rotflmao 110 pages to convey a story by using only action and external dialogue. Screenplays are the pinnacle of showing and not telling. You have to show every single detail. Unless of course you are writing a soap where the actor stands with eyes glazed telling the audience everything they are thinking and feeling and what they need to do to move the story forward. You don't have the luxury of delving into the characters head and showing the internal dialogue like you do in a novel. As for the pay. Good if you can get it. Like novelists for every 1 that makes the big bucks there are... Well you know how it goes. * Is screenwriting, then, slumming at its lowest?

rotflmao

110 pages to convey a story by using only action and external dialogue. Screenplays are the pinnacle of showing and not telling. You have to show every single detail. Unless of course you are writing a soap where the actor stands with eyes glazed telling the audience everything they are thinking and feeling and what they need to do to move the story forward.

You don’t have the luxury of delving into the characters head and showing the internal dialogue like you do in a novel.

As for the pay. Good if you can get it. Like novelists for every 1 that makes the big bucks there are… Well you know how it goes.

]]> by: Therese Walsh http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28859 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:08:36 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28859 Dave, I really do think screenplays are art and that writers can learn a ton from studying them. And I agree with Eric. In fact, I may very well try my current wip as a screenplay once I'm finished with my seemingly endless revision. I've also GOT to see 300. I keep hearing so many fantastic things about it. (Adding to To Do list.) Thanks for a fun post, Dave! Dave, I really do think screenplays are art and that writers can learn a ton from studying them. And I agree with Eric. In fact, I may very well try my current wip as a screenplay once I’m finished with my seemingly endless revision.

I’ve also GOT to see 300. I keep hearing so many fantastic things about it. (Adding to To Do list.)

Thanks for a fun post, Dave!

]]> by: theamcginnis http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28831 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:20:43 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28831 screenplays are very challenging to write. And i do believe they are art as movies are art. i believe i have a great idea for a screenplay and i am actually learning to write the form. it's hard, i think. good blog, dave screenplays are very challenging to write. And i do believe they are art as movies are art. i believe i have a great idea for a screenplay and i am actually learning to write the form. it’s hard, i think. good blog, dave

]]> by: Eric http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28827 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:07:25 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28827 I think all creators should take a crack at their work in other mediums, if only to learn from the difference and what it takes to execute outside of what you know. It can often lend clarity on ways to improve your work. For example, a script has to be a lot more visual, which if you learn how to tackle that you can maybe bring that over to a novel, and improve things on that end. Media agnosticism! I think all creators should take a crack at their work in other mediums, if only to learn from the difference and what it takes to execute outside of what you know. It can often lend clarity on ways to improve your work.

For example, a script has to be a lot more visual, which if you learn how to tackle that you can maybe bring that over to a novel, and improve things on that end.

Media agnosticism!

]]> by: Robert http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28818 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 17:24:50 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28818 When I first read Jessica's comment, I thought she was making a joke about the Da Vinci Code being a cartoon, which, if you think about it, fits in quite well with Dave's post. :) When I first read Jessica’s comment, I thought she was making a joke about the Da Vinci Code being a cartoon, which, if you think about it, fits in quite well with Dave’s post. :)

]]> by: Jessica D http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28806 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 16:30:13 +0000 http://writerunboxed.com/2007/10/25/are-screenplays-art/#comment-28806 Of course screenplays are art, in the same way that a <a href="http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/collection/news/newsitems/leonardo/feature5.htm" rel="nofollow">Da Vinci cartoon</a> is art. It's the skeleton, the underpinnings, the master plan of the work. And as you pointed out, the great ones can stand on their own. Of course screenplays are art, in the same way that a Da Vinci cartoon is art. It’s the skeleton, the underpinnings, the master plan of the work. And as you pointed out, the great ones can stand on their own.

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