When did you start writing screenplays?

[Reinhold]

i started writing them on my own recreationally in an english class sophomore year of HS as a way to pass time in an easy english class. my teacher didn't care as long as i let her read it at the end of the class period. that didn't mean i had to censor anything... she was just interested in the fact that i was doing well in her class and using the time to be creative.

[JG]

Do you think a lot of kids who go to film school have already written scripts in high school?  For someone who wants to spend their life doing this, what do you think the ideal age to start writing is?

[Myxo]

Do you think a lot of kids who go to film school have already written scripts in high school?  For someone who wants to spend their life doing this, what do you think the ideal age to start writing is?

Whenever you feel compelled.

[socketlevel]

Do you think a lot of kids who go to film school have already written scripts in high school?  For someone who wants to spend their life doing this, what do you think the ideal age to start writing is?

Whenever you feel compelled.

true, yet the earlier the better, because you want to get rid of those shitty scripts you've got in you.

-sl-

[soixante]

I wrote a lot of short scripts in high school, which I made into Super 8 films.  I wrote my first feature length script at 22.  I got an immediate reality check when two of my friends read it and said it sucked.  In retrospect, I realize that it was a learning experience.  It is better just to write something than to think about it.  Another thing is don't be deterred by rejection.  I wrote my second script a few months later, and it was definitely an improvement on the first.  Sadly, it didn't sell.  Basically, it took me 10 years to figure out how to write a script.

I would say trial and error is an important concept to embrace.  As Edison said, he found 1,000 ways NOT to invent the lighbulb.

[matt35mm]

I wrote my first feature length script at 22.  I got an immediate reality check when two of my friends read it and said it sucked.

Good friends.  Many people won't even respect you enough to tell you that.

I've been writing screenplays for 7 years.  Only just now am I beginning to feel like my screenplays are worth anyone's reading, and worth producing.  I still haven't gotten to the perfect, everyone loves it screenplay yet (and probably never will, because I'm not sure if I really even want that).  My current production, Thomas Edison, has a screenplay that some have said is mediocre, but most have said is good.  The important thing is that the people who liked it seem to genuinely like it, and that's what mostly matters to me, and the cast and crew are onboard because of their faith in the movie--it's obviously not for a paycheck (although I am paying them) and it's not exactly the funnest movie to spend several long days making.  I have also re-written it several times, and it is better now than it ever was while I was letting people read it.

I started writing when I was 12.  I think it's good to start early, because the first several screenplays DO suck, and oddly enough it seems that age has less to do with it than lack of experience.  Which is to say, when I wrote crappy screenplays at age 12, it was actually MORE because I was new to writing and less because I was just 12.

It's a good age to start because when you get to the point where you begin to feel like you actually have things to say, you'll have the proper tools with which to say them with.