A free screenwriting course? Too good to be true.

Of course it is. But hear me out.

As my boss in London told me, you can only have two out of these three: cheap, fast and good. Poor Luke Stinson wanted all, and he copped a lot of flak when he posted this on Facebook in the Screenwriting group:

“Can someone completely teach me how to write a screenplay,
like guide me and step by step without money involved. Thanks”

Some believed Luke was being sarcastic. However, it sufficed to click on Luke’s profile to see that he is just an innocent kid from the Central Coast in NSW, Australia.

It would have been easy to add to the storm of indignation, and protect my livelihood by arguing why people should pay for screenwriting classes.

But I remembered what my boss said. So Luke should be able to get cheap and good, or perhaps cheap and fast.

My existing courses are fast (12 days of classes) and good. People also pay a thousand dollars, so that isn’t going to help Luke. And given that I don’t do ‘bad’, the only option available for Luke’s free screenwriting course would be in the category ‘slow and good’.

So I started thinking.

No books, no courses

I learn about storytelling every day, and I hardly ever read books.

I study and analyse movies and scripts. This is how Syd Field made it, this is what many professional screenwriters do, and it is what Luke should do.

(And at this point, let’s be realistic. Luke may never be prepared to make the effort. But let’s for the sake of the argument assume that Luke is indeed passionate and persistent. I know people out there who are, but truly cannot afford the best screenwriting courses.)

Members of the Facebook group largely agree that Luke should devour all scripts he can lay his hands on, watch tons of movies, and ‘read all the books’.

The problem with this of course is that Luke can’t possibly read all the screenwriting books in his lifetime. Jack Brislee told me years ago that he found 2,000+ publications on screenwriting, on Amazon.com alone.

Reading as many scripts as possible is great, but if Luke has access to bad scripts, should he really read them, too? And how can he tell the difference?

Finally, how is watching movies going to help? EVERYONE watches tons of movies. Does this bring everyone closer to being a screenwriter? Well, no.

In addition to the reading and watching, there will need to be a hell of a lot of analysis and reflection.

What Makes The Difference

I believe that my 30 year experience in the industry, and 10 years of working with screenwriters (20 years if you include my development & acquisition years) can help distinguish between what Luke should read and watch, in what order, and what he should leave aside.

It is tempting to pre-package the learning, and just share (or sell) the wisdom and insights that may result from the work. The strongest, and only lasting learning, however, comes from self-discovery. Rather than pre-package the knowledge, I will guide the student where to go in order to do the discovering.

So I’m now developing a simple free screenwriting course, based on reading, watching and writing. No mentors involved. No money paid.

The first one hundred days will immerse Luke in format and style, at a pace that is manageable, spending about 1 hour every day. He will perform a deceptively simple, yet powerful writing exercise. This will take no more than about ten to fifteen minutes each day. For the remainder of the hour, he will read from 20 screenplays that I have handpicked. After finishing each script, he will write two pages following a few simple questions and instructions, before moving to the next.

Once he has worked through the scripts and completed the exercise, he is ready for a bigger challenge. One simple task, but one that will require him to investigate the screenplay format more closely, and learn it actively. This part of the course will probably take him one month, and it will be followed by a similar, yet more challenging task.

After 5 months, Luke is ready to write his own first screenplay.

Self-Made Screenwriter

At this point, Luke will not have had a single screenwriting class. Yet he will have progressively learned more about the nature of scriptwriting, the challenges as well as the core skills required to write for the screen.

After six months, he will have written his first script, and be ready to receive his first professional feedback.

If it works – judged by myself as well as the participants – I will design a 6 month follow-up program (self-study, again) to bring the participants to intermediate level.

What’s in it for me? I want to test this program, and hopefully confirm my sneaking suspicion that you don’t need a single screenwriting book to learn the basics of the craft in only 6 months.

I remember Scott Meyers once ran a free program over at GITS, and I’ve always found him an inspiring example. Another thinker who has influenced me is Seth Godin. Check out these guys.

When you’re reading all this, you may be getting excited, and itching to join in. Let’s go over a few of the details and requirements. More will follow once you sign up.

Free Screenwriting Course Details

• Six months commitment.
• One hour availability per day.
• No experience required (nor desired).
• Self-study only; no personal mentor feedback.
• No screenwriting theory instruction.
• Tasks to be sent via email or uploaded.
• Closed Facebook group for peer feedback.
• Monthly webinars for questions & discussion.[/fivecol_four_last]

Your Chance To Participate

Initially I said that this would be open to only 5 students, and I will keep it at that number. I will encourage them to do the work, and keep them accountable. I don’t have the time to communicate with more than 5 people. It’s free, remember?

That said, I will open up the program, and you can now apply. You will get support from their peers in the program through a closed Facebook group where everyone can participate. You will also have to pledge to a different type of accountability…

If you drop out before the 6 months are up, or if you fail to deliver 2 successive script reports, you will pay an amount of your choice (previously agreed) to me, or to charity. If you are serious, you set this amount high enough so it’s an incentive to keep going.

Trust me, there will be moments when you need this sword of Damocles dangling above your head to keep doing the work.

To be considered, click below to go to the registration page, where you can request access to the closed Facebook Group. As soon as I have approved your request, you will receive further details about the course, so you can decide whether this is for you or not.

When the first class kicked off on 1 July 2016, over a hundred students were on the waiting list, so I will be starting new courses frequently. If you’re interested, join the closed Facebook Group, and you’ll be invited to our next info webinar.

I’m crazy, I know. But who is not, who is successful in film?

-Karel Segers

Update: The honeymoon is over. 200 started the course, after applications closed in November 2016. The irony? Luke Stinson never joined us. Possibly because of the misguided perception that free stuff is inferior.

The course was meanwhile updated to a slicker, more interactive version… and it is no longer free. 

Still, the results have been incredible, with dozens of writers completing full-length feature screenplays, and more submitting their work every day. Enrol here, and join us for the rest of the journey!

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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Final Draft has it, Microsoft Word has it. Every single word processor has it.

It’s the “Find/Replace” function.

Okay, perhaps it’s more like a ‘pass’ rather than a ‘draft’. Still, you can have a notably slicker draft in a day.

Another disclaimer: it’s powerful but also slightly dangerous if you’re reckless – or inexperienced.

One keyboard click and your entire screenplay can be changed. So before we start, remember to make backups regularly. I make a copy – with a new file/version name – each time I change anything significant in the script.

To limit the extent of the changes, it is good to make the search case sensitive. So for instance, if you’re looking for text in scene headings, the result should return UPPERCASE text only.

If the Find/Replace operation hasn’t done what you want – or if it has changed MORE than you wanted – in most word processors you can use Ctr-Z/Apple-Z  to undo.

Easy to find – Easy to fix

This feature is equally useful to the novice who is preparing the draft to be read by an editor as it is to the experienced writer going towards Final Draft. Nobody is perfect; everyone overlooks certain issues that may distract from a smooth read.

What follows is a random selection of script issues that can be fixed using this option.  When you look carefully at some of the stylistic weaknesses in your script, you’ll almost certainly find a dozen more examples that apply to your specific screenplay.

If you own a copy of our Screenplay Checklist(*), you will find that some of the issues listed there can be quickly found and fixed using Find/Replace.

For any explanation on WHY to make the recommended changes, please consult the Checklist. This article is not about that.

Scene Headings – Slug Lines

Make sure these are absolutely immaculate.

There is usually only one simple, correct format for each slug. Use it.

– If you have used “INT, MAIL ROOM, DAY” (same for ‘EXT’):

Find: “INT, ”
Replace with: “INT. “

Then:

Find: “, DAY”
Replace with: ” – DAY”

– If you have used DAWN, MORNING, AFTERNOON, DUSK, EVENING etc., you’ll almost certainly need to replace this with DAY or NIGHT only.

Find: “- MORNING”
Replace with: “- DAY”

Etcetera.

The hyphen is included in the search string to avoid changing anything outside the slug lines.

The result: INT. MAIL ROOM – DAY

Here’s an advantage for users of Final Draft: in the ‘More’ options under the Search function, you can specify individual or groups of elements only. In the above example, you will only tick ‘Scene Heading’.

Punctuation

– Remove excessive dots and reduce to triple dots:

Find: “….”
Replace with: “…”

Repeat this action until no more instances are found.

– Excessive white space / too many paragraph marks.

Some screenwriting packages don’t check the amount of line breaks and you may end up with too much white space between scenes or paragraphs. This is easily resolved. The maximum number of line breaks is THREE. So wherever you have four or more, you need to reduce it to three – at the most.

Find: “^p^p^p^p”
Replace with: “^p^p^p”

Repeat this action until no more instances are found.

– Correct use of interruptions and pauses.

Find: “–” (double dash)

Check if each instance is only used for INTERRUPTED sentences that are NOT continued afterwards. Wherever they are continued, you need to use “…”. (Check David Trottier for details)

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– Multiple exclamation marks

Usually there is no reason to differentiate between intensity of shouting.

In a script, loud is loud and too much is messy.

So leave it up to director and cast and for now replace “!!” with “!” until no more instances can be found.

Dialogue

Numbers

You can use the find/replace function to correct numbers in dialogue, where you need to spell them out: “seven hundred and three” in stead of “703”, “twenty to six” in stead of “17.40h” etc.

So wherever you have used numbers in dialogue, replace them with the complete words.

Abbreviations

The same goes for abbreviations: in dialogue, replace “km” with “kilometer” etc.

Repetitions

If you find that a character uses the same lame word(s) or sentence all the time, do a search and fix it.

Style

You can really jazz up your style by removing bland words and replace them with more colourful alternatives.

Be specific:

Find: “goes”, “makes” etc.
Replace with: [more specific verbs]

Next,

Find: “begins to”, “starts to” etc.

Then remove each instance and replace it with the more specific, active verb.

Manipulation of time:

If you’re using words like “slowly”, “cautiously”, “hesitantly” a lot, be aware of the following:

– it may seem as if this movie moves slowly.
– the movie is longer than the page count suggests.

The same goes for: “quickly”.  If you’re using this or similar words often,

– action may seem to move more quickly than it really does.
– the movie may become longer than the page count suggests.

Neither may be a big issue, but it’s good to be aware of it.

Manipulation of feelings:

Quite a lot of beginners’ scripts frequently use phrases such as “he smiles at her”, “she looks away, sad“.

This is easy to diagnose, not so easy to fix.

Forcing the actors into facial expressions is the worst way of conveying emotions.  The emotions need to be felt by the audience, whether or not the actors express them. Emotions are the result of actions that precede a scene or situation. They should not be forced upon an audience/the reader by describing a character’s body language.

Perform a search on these words to see how you’re scoring.

There may be some more work to be done before you send out that script…

Time passing:

You cannot describe the passing of time without giving us specific actions – or a cut/dissolve to the next shot/scene.

– for a while
– he keeps walking back until she finally gives in
– moments pass in silence

All the above suggest that more time passes on the screen than is suggested by the page count in the script.

Keep the 1p./min. rule in mind. More importantly: make sure that what happens on the screen holds our attention.

We see – We hear

Some people don’t mind; others hate it. If you can rephrase without using “we”, do it.

Typos / Grammar / Spelling

There really is no excuse for leaving typos in the script.  Spell checkers are free and they are everywhere.

Here’s the first one to look for:

Find: “its”

Then check for each instance if you don’t mean “it is”. If you do,

Replace with: “it’s”

Next,

Find: “it’s”

Check if you don’t mean the possessive pronoun.  If you do,

Replace with “its”.

Do it all again.

Finally, read the first five pages of your screenplay with the utmost scrutiny and make notes about the nature of each error you find. Then, for each error, use the FIND option to check the rest of your script against the same issue.

You see, there virtually are no limits to the use of this function. If you use it cleverly, it will save you heaps of time.

Set aside half a day or a day to play around with the Find/Replace function. Make backup copies every 5 mins.

I have seen examples where screenplays looked infinitely more professional after little more than a few hours.

Now, go forth and unleash the power of F/R on your script!

(*)If you don’t yet own a copy of the Screenplay Checklist, you can still request the Beta version by emailing us with “ScreenplayChecklist” in the subject.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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I have installed version 8.0.0.,  the latest available version at the time of writing.

Because I work with clients who use a variety of software, I often find myself converting and exporting between platforms. In this area, FD hasn’t improved much since FD6 (from which I upgraded). That said, a typical screenwriter may not need to convert that often.

PRO:

– The overall feature set has improved.
– The layout is slightly more pleasing to the eye than before.
– Scene Navigator is a cool feature.
– Not too many bugs (See below: Cons).
– The top toolbars can be customised to contain a range of commands.
– The page count manager. (don’t think you’re allowed to use it, though!)
– FD can be active on two computers; installed on as many as you like.
– An ever improving knowledge base on the FD web site.
– Upgrade is only $99.

CON:

– FD8 saves as .fdx by default, even for imported FD7 scripts.
– Copy and paste between documents has resulted in crashing.
– No good solution for tracking changes.
– Cost: $249 (To compare: MS Word is $229).
– The interactive troubleshooter on the web took forever to launch.
– Key Shortcuts: if you select text and change the style, the text is deleted.
– Chat support times: for OZ writers this support closes at morning tea.
– Phone support is free only for 3 months and for 20mins only.
– The format assistant could have been improved.
– Importing from .rtf resulted in blank pages with “(CONT.)” here and there.
– No competitive upgrade offer to be found on the web site.

If you’re earning money writing for the screen, you should have Final Draft. If you’re not, I believe you can find better value alternatives.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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I don’t usually reprint entire blog posts but I read this entry on Seth Godin’s blog – and sadly it applies perfectly to many aspiring screenwriters.

Godin is the world’s #1 blogger (ok, that’s a personal opinion). So the cat is well and truly out of the bag.

Replace Godin’s  ‘your customers’ with ‘your readers’.  They may include that producer, agent or funding agency you want to send your script to. You surely don’t want to be looking stupid in their eyes.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

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Can you abbreviate “Mister” into “Mr.” in a film script?

Answer:

Abbreviations are allowed in character headings (names) and Action, but not in Dialogue.

Any spoken words need to be fully printed, to keep an approximate page count/screen time ratio of 1p/min.

Question:

Does that mean I have to use ‘Missus’ instead of ‘Mrs’?

Answer: Well, err… Technically, yes. But I agree that it may distract from the reading, which may be good enough reason to keep “Mrs.”, even though it takes proportionally less page space than it should.

Karel FG Segers

Karel Segers wrote his first produced screenplay at age 17. Today he is a story analyst with experience in acquisition, development and production. He has trained students worldwide, and worked with half a dozen Academy Award nominees. Karel speaks more European languages than he has fingers on his left hand, which he is still trying to find a use for in his hometown of Sydney, Australia. The languages, not the fingers.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!