When did you start writing screenplays?

[JG]

Sorry if this topic has already been created, I couldn't find it.    I started at 15, although my first screenplay was more just learning the ropes.  I'm told it was a young age to start, but I'm willing to bet there are other movie fanatics out there that are the same way.  

so when did  you start writing screenplays?  how was your first screenplay?  how old are you now?   do you have any success?

[B.C. Long]

I wrote my first script after I saw American Psycho in 2001. The script was a relaunch of the Batman franchise and had Bruce coming back from his 7 year training in Japan. The first hour Jack and Bruce have run-ins with each other several times unknowingly until finally their transformation happens (Which happens at the same time). Mr. Face, Harvey Dents alter ego makes several appearances (well not really appearances, but his voice does) and sets us up for the sequel for two-face. After Jack is supposedly killed, a couple years later he emerges as a vicious serial killer carving smiley faces into his victim's torsos. Penguin also makes an appearance as the club owner of the Arctic Lounge and other than that the script gives nods to the Animated series and Miller's Year One.

[JG]

how old were you?

[socketlevel]

i was originally (though there is absolutly nothing original about it) one of those tarantino guys.  reservoir dogs and pulp ficiton were the muse when i started at the age of 15.  the first two scripts i wrote were throw aways, though a  good learning experience.  you know, i had a problem with writting what I knew and all that shit.  i went away from the crime genre and started writing closer to home.

to date i've written 4 features, and it wasn't until i wrote my lastest script that i finally looked at it and comfortably thought i've made somthing tight/original/professional.  it took me just over 10 years to get there.  i want to go back and retouch the third one i wrote because i still think there is a great story there, but you never know...  i actually learned alot about writing from making films.  the editing room taught me what I didn't need in the script, and how characters are motivated by emotion not dialog.  so i decided to eliminate all that at the beginning stage, and the stuff i write now isn't wordy; like it used to be.

-sl-

[AntiDumbFrogQuestion]

My friends & I wrote script that was mostly visuals Senior Year of High School.  When he got a short story published in Thrasher, I figured I should get off my butt and actually put WORK into the work I did, y'know?
(kinda like when we both took up guitar and I'm the only who didn't do it just to show off so I, y'know, PRACTICED!)

I didn't start writing independently until I was a Freshman in college (3 years ago) because we had to do it for our final project. Plus there was this whole artsy-entertaining renaissance that happens when you start college where you want to think you're better than someone but still want to have a life you enjoy while you get drunk with all your friends, y'know?

My first script was, yeah, Tarantino-like (even though my first film influence was PTA....noshit,eh?).  It was about this guy who's friend from the past comes back out of nowhere. The Guy admits to his Friend that he's actually trying to hide from some gangsters who think the Guy killed their Boss (ie my friend Karen in drag).  The truth the Guy and Boss were on the beach and a seagull snatched the Guy's knife and dropped it on the Boss.
Ahem.
FF to modern day where a Thug who worked for the Boss is after the Guy. Here's where it falls apart.   The Thug and Friend are in cahoots to mess with the Guy because they hired a Phorensic's Expert to figure out who killed the Boss. AND: They found out the Guy was innocent.
I gotta say...if you look past the acting and poor writing, some of it was pretty fucking funny (and on purpose). Situations and Corny Lines abound.

Ever since that one I've tried my hand at Kung Fu (on campus no doubt), Drama (based on my Bulimic year), Dramadey (it was a thriller about identity theft but a Squirrel narrated it), a Musical (again! on campus =P ), and it's all been about just doing SOMEthing. Sometimes it turns to shite, but most of the time Ideas just compete to get to the top of my brain cuz I'm soooo ADD with creating music and art and writing and travel and acting that I get lost until a good idea comes and finds me. I still write though, I don't just laze until "I'm ready".
I'd say I had some success with my Senior Project (in college) because nobody who worked on it thought it sucked (whee!).  And Also because it wasn't some overly dramatic shoot-em-up or crazy shit bouncing off walls using Flash technology.  It was all based on true life events, so it couldn't suck THAT bad could it?!
Kind of boring...but that's how it was meant to be.  I don't like it as much as other people, but that kind of makes me happy in writing.  You're ready to move on and look back and say "what the hell was that?! THIS is 10x better!"
I'll keep sticking to my guns though, and write/draw/act/rockout/eat/dance  until the air in my lungs it out. You should too!
I gotta say, being a musician first has really helped me analyze and write scripts because you get that sense of how all the pieces you are working with should be tight and communicate with each other.  Also, you get that automatic audience response and know what people like and they don't like. (so yer uh used to uh humiliation)
It's been a fine 4 Year partnership with me and my literary skills.

END!

[B.C. Long]

how old were you?

Sixteen. I'm Twenty now.

[Weak2ndAct]

Wrote the first one at 17 and it was dreadful.  I intenionally did not start another until after my 3rd year at film school-- when I was convinced I was 'ready' to do it for real.  I took all summer to get a 170 (!) page first draft.  Over the course of the last year at college, I whittled down to 120, and then wrote a bad comedy.  The original script was decent enough to get the attention of some teachers who helped me get my foot in the door w/ some people in LA.  I wrote another movie, got it optioned, then rewrote w/ this chick I met.  That went on forever, got representation off of that.  Almost got put together, fucking negotiations and business affairs torpedoed it.  Then I wrote a bunch of bad movies after that, got paid to write a bad movie (which will thankfully never see the light of day), then wrote some more flawed scripts.  This year I wrote my best script, but it's so unpleasant, and such a tough sell, I really shouldn't have bothered.  I'm currently working on a new one, which is supposedly is the most commercial/fun thing I've done-- at least that what I'm being told from the pages I've sent out.  I'm just happy it's an idea that amuses me and isn't fake or forced.

Final tally:

12 completed screenplays
2 I will show to people without hesitation
1 I will begrudgingly show people
9 I will never show anyone under any cirumstances
Too many abortions to count (I've chucked some at page 90)

[Pubrick]

hmm, i think i'll start tonite.

i'll be 48 years old.

[polkablues]

hmm, i think i'll start tonite.

i'll be 48 years old.

Happy birthday.

[polkablues]

Fun with out-of-context quotations:

Final tally:

Too many abortions to count

[Brazoliange]

weak2nd, could I read the this year script?

[polkablues]

got representation off of that.

Could you go into more detail on how that came about?  Getting an agent is like the Holy Grail for me at this point, and the time in which the iron will be hot enough to strike is coming up soon.  

We're taking a movie that I co-wrote to the AFM this year and (all fingers crossed) Sundance next year.  I've got one other script that's ready to show the world, and another that will be by that time.  I'm relatively clueless, however, about how one goes about getting representation, so if you could share how yours came about, I would really appreciate it.

[Weak2ndAct]

I'm pretty sure the long version of the story is documented somewhere in one of these other writing threads, but I'll give you a brief rehash.

Basically, a lot of it is who you know.  A person I was working with had a connection at an agency.  We sent the script over, but it wasn't getting read.  I met clients from that agency b/c of another script I wrote.  I asked for help, mentioned the dilemma and they pushed it through.  That's pretty much how it happened-- and this is pretty much no help I'm sure.  

Basically-- blind submissions are a waste of time.  Assistants and young go-getters are the people to find.  They're looking to break someone and make a name for themselves-- if they believe in you, they'll make the calls, pass it around.  And that all really boils down to networking and socializing.  The more people you meet, the wider your horizons.

[JG]

I started my first script when I was 14.  It was--ho hum--a plotless character study.  It was just a lazy excuse to do no work and just write shitty dialogue.  Nonetheless, I learned all the rules and formatting or screenwriting.  

I'm 16 right now and I'm in the outlining process of my next script.  I can already tell that it will be a huge improvement on my first attempt.  Once it is done (November/Christmas), I would like it if some of you read it, particularly Weak2ndAct; I think it would be neat to get criticism from someone who is "in the business."  Weak2ndAct, how old are you now?

Basically-- blind submissions are a waste of time.  

Good to know.  It sucks that the only connection I have is through a guy who works for Jerry Bruckheimer.  

hmm, i think i'll start tonite.

i'll be 48 years old.

this may be a newb-eque question, but are you really 48?

[polkablues]

this may be a newb-eque question, but are you really 48?

Explains why he's so cranky all the time, doesn't it?


Weak2nd: Thanks for the info.  That actually does help me quite a bit.