I haven't tried transcribing screenplays, but I used to outline films by scene and dramatic action. I found it very helpful for learning structure.

Example:
EXT. BARBERSHOP - DAY
Max meets Mr. Blume and offers him a gift; either his "Perfect Attendance" or "Punctuality" pin. Mr. Blume picks Punctuality.
INT. BARBERSHOP - DAY
Max introduces Mr. Blume to his father.

I often wondered if doing this kind of exercise via notecards would allow you to restructure your favorite films more tangibly.

Food (probably more like snacks) for thought,

Mr. Bootless

It would be even better if you could transcribe great screenplays IN ANOTHER KEY. If not play them on the piano in several keys at once --

@Mr. Bootles: You may like this site.

@Jack: That's interesting. Maybe switching a key in a screenplay would be switching genre? Imagine The Godfather as a horror movie or Casablanca as science fiction.

I've never tried this, but how about transcribing a movie into screenplay form, including dialogue, scene descriptions et al, by watching the DVD and then comparing it to the original screenplay and see how far off you got. Lots of work but would make an interesting exercise.

Jack,

I have found that while creating these kinds of blueprints, I could easily turn them into comedies.

Scott,

Thanks for the lead on the site! It is now bookmarked!

M. Bootles

Teddy,

Though I haven't done that, I do enjoy shooting scripts much more than transcripts. It can be very interesting to see what is sacrificed and/or created through the process.

M. Bootles

I started to do this once, after reading that Hunter S. Thompson typed The Great Gatsby 7 times to get a feel for Fitzgerald's writing. Wonder if he knew F. Scott had done the same for Dickens, kind of like a genetic code being passed down.

I did that with "Chinatown." Learned more from that one script than several classes.
Idea for the site: Post excellent examples of.. scene description, action sequences, etc. Then we plebes can type them word for word.

I did this with several scripts that were in RTF format. (TRUE LIES, TERMINATOR 2, ALIENS, couple others). Threw them into Final Draft to see where they'd fall in page count.

I've also done outlines that have broken down certain movies shot for shot. I did this more for directing than screenwriting though. The opening of RAIDERS is one I dwelled on for a long time.

It's also one I've pretty much internalized as a script. I love the structure of that opening. (It's also mirrored in Indy 3. Pretty close in INDY 2. And completely offtrack in INDY 4 -- as in INDY 4 doesn't have a very Indiana Jones opening).

I also have heard of some screenwriting instructors playing a scene for students and then having them write the scene from memory. One of the scenes in particular was from THE GODFATHER where Brando tells Michael about the family business, and what his hopes and aspirations for his son had been. It's a pretty talking head scene, which is what I find interesting about that exercise.

I'm not so sure the swapping genre thing is the best thing to do, in terms of learning how to write tight little scenes.

Each genre puts a unique impression on every scene.

The practice of copying is to learn how those before you handled their genre. To copy, while altering seems like it has the potential to muck things up.

(And I'm not talking about cutting trailers here. I think there's a lot to learn genre swapping trailers.)

But creating/writing scenes, and tone, in a given genre is a rather difficult thing. You should practice learning the genre you want to write in inside and out before you go around flopping the genres.

The ability to write in a specific genre is something that I see lacking in almost every single spec script I have to read.

The irony is, it is probably the one thing that will quickly set a pro writer apart from an amateur.

Each genre has its own structure. It's not a formula. But the feel and tone dictates genre, as much as character dictates plot.

I'm totally going to do this.

@Nick West--me too

"...or Casablanca as science fiction."

Pluto Nash beat us to it.

@jig: File your idea under "Great Minds Think Alike." I ran series of weekly posts for about a year called Scene Description Spotlight. You can see the posts here.

I recently transcribed a produced screenplay and found it to be a really rewarding process. It really helped me to get a feel for how action/description should be written, I suddenly feel like I have a grasp on brevity and writing effective action that creates an image... Something I struggled with before. That coupled with the experience of hand writing a first draft of a feature, which made me stop and consider every word rather than just bashing the keyboard, and I feel like I've improved as a writer.

Thanks for that, Matt. I've transcribed scripts myself, early on in learning the craft. The point about considering "every word" as you noted? Once you reach final draft stage, that is a good mentality to have. Make sure each word counts.