I've been reading a lot of blogs lately and many are discussing the pros and cons of writing in either film or in TV. Where do you think a writer can have a more healthy career?

Hey Scott. Using the breakout Cannes film of last year, DRIVE, as an example, how do you write a 110-page script when portions of it (sometimes large, sometimes small) are just "silences" or hesitations, or quiet, thoughtful moments with a character driving down the road. And if you know you want a music/driving montage to go on for a minute or two, how do you convey that? You don't have to answer these specific questions, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on "writing the unwritable moments of film." If I remember correctly, wasn't Amini's script for DRIVE only 60 pages? (It's on IMSDB.com, but not as a PDF, so I can't tell how many pages). I'm reading through that script right now, so I'm sure some of it will come to me, but seeing as it's very unconventional and breaks a lot of screenwriting standards (not only the short length, but also use of in-script camera directions and "WE DISSOLVE TO:"), I figured maybe you would have some thoughts on how to deliver a professional script but with a sparse style. -JMT

JMT, the drive script on imsdb actually does have page markers, Look for the date 9/24/10 and the line above it is the page number.

What do you thing of CAPS, bold, italics, and underline in the Action/Dialogue. Perfectly acceptable, annoying, personal preference?

I'm reading the script for 'Clash of the Titans' and there is much more action lines than I've been told is ideal. The paragraphs are still short, but there can be many lined up one after another. Is this generally the case for action movies, or is this an exception that proves the rule?

Obviously I meant, "think" -- not thing. And why won't underline HTML work? Makes me sad.

How do you handle screenplays where music is an integral element--not "musicals" and not rom-coms with playlists, but movies about bands or singers? E.g., Privilege, The Commitments, Sister Act, etc? Can you get around annoying readers by writing: The band plays a song LIKE "X"... In which case, how do you indicate how much of the song plays (is that your responsibility as a writer?) to keep the one-minute-per-page ratio accurate? It's not lost on me that Privilege was based on a short story, The Commitments on a novel, and Sister Act was pitched by an established screenwriter (Paul Rudnick). Is the answer that music movies don't work well as spec scripts?

What about the case where the music, or more precisely the lyric is being used as a proxy for description in the script, say for example in a love scene or an action sequence (but *not* a simple replay of "Bad to the Bone" at high volume to indicate our character is a badass) ? How does one choreograph or balance the length of the song snippet versus the action on screen? should one try to match the timing of the action on screen to the verse/chorus structure of the song? Is it even important to do that in the script or should one leave that kind of decision to the director?

Can we talk about match cuts in general? I don't use them much but I have two in a row at one point. I have no instinct regarding them due to lack of experience. A big part of me feels like they're a little... hokey. But they're at a particularly dramatic point and do serve a purpose. I opted not to point out the match cut explicitly but let the description speak for itself. Is this a good idea? Bad idea?

This is a questions a little less about screenwriting and more about the movie business is general: At what point is a movie decided to be straight-to-video rather than released on screen? Are there spec scripts recruited specifically for the video market? Added to that: how do they determine how many screens a movie will release on? Do the theatres decide, like a retailer, which movies to stock? Thanks.

Scott, my question is how would a young person, such as myself, go about finding internships and other opportunities for screenwriting or directing? Ones that don't exclude people who don't have much experience and aren't in college yet. I'm 15 so it's probably near impossible.

It might very well be impossible for you to do those exact things, except in whatever form a summer camp might take, but it's not impossible for you to write and direct your own projects right this very second no matter what your age. I was about your age, sophomore in high school, when I first started trying to puzzle a story together. That was fiction, nothing meant for the screen, but every word you write for any storytelling format is another brick in the path toward a successful completed project, and every minute you spend putting together a film, no matter how short, is a chunk of experience you just won't have if you don't do it. Read about the 10,000 hour rule and take it seriously, or strive to be the exception; and study storytelling in general, and solicit honest, raw feedback. Do SOMETHING.

How about some good advice on writing a comedy, principles, resources, books to recommend, etc.?

Hi, Phil. I'm a member of Zoetrope.com and I have an office there for comedy writers. There are a ton of resources on just what you're asking about: writing comedy, comedy principles, pointers at print and online resources, etc. And (of course) it's free. It's also a space where comedy writers can brainstorm with other writers and workshop comedy writing. If you (or Scott, or anyone else here) would like access, just set yourself up a (free) Zoetrope account and send me a message through the site's zmail messaging system, and I'll invite you in. (My user name on the site is "Shaula Evans".) Anyone interested in writing comedy is welcome.

Here's the million dollar question - - where the heck are people going these days to get their scriptread on? With MY PDF SCRIPTS all but dark and boarded up, it seems there is no repository of online screenplays anymore. Simply Scripts used to be okay but they seldom update. Daily Script and Weekly Script never seem to add anything new to their inventories as well. Drew's Script-o-Rama, the first online resource for scripts that I knew of, is also pretty quiet these days. Prior to all this electronic jazz, I used to love purchasing scripts from Newmarket Press and Faber&Faber, a UK house, but those are few and far between these days. Plus it would seem that Newmarket has been gobbled up by some other conglomerate - - their official site is officially dead. I have to assume this is all a byproduct of the studios bringing the hammer down on the web, and that's all well and fine, let them flex their muscle and feel important. But folks, we still need to eke out a "living," as it were. What's next? Where do we go from here? 1/3rd of Scott's three tiered credo (read scripts, watch movies, write pages) is in jeopardy!

Jeff, this is a real problem. What we need is a paradigm shift in attitudes on the part of one entity: The movie studios. I am working up an open letter to them with a proposal. If people clamored for access to screenplays of produced movies, enough to prove to the studios they could make money from it, maybe they would repurpose their ginormous libraries of scripts. Wouldn't you be willing to pay .99 for a legally obtained screenplay PDF? In fact, I'm going to do a blog post with that question. I know we've gotten used to having access to a lot of scripts for free, but what if paying for them legally meant we could [eventually] have access to screenplays for every single Warner Bros. movie? Or Universal? Paramount? Not just the hodge-podge of titles currently available but every movie?

Shoot, Scott, I used to shell out twenty bucks each for those Newmarket published scripts so 99 cents (or even more) would be a very easy pill to swallow. Plus, the idea of having entire studio back catalogs of screenplays available? That would be quite heavenly.

I've got a question about literary adaptations. Do you ever see adaptations pop up in the spec sales--"straight" adaptations or modernized adaptations of older works? Do you see any merit in spec writers taking a work in the public domain and writing an adaptation--possibly modernizing the story so it isn't burdened by the production costs of a period piece? What else would it take to make a successful spec adaptations? And if you think the exercise has value, do you have any advice on getting started in adaptations or where to find resources?