Has anyone ever written a screenplay based off of your favorite play-through of a video game as practice for screenplay writing? I'm not asking for any reason in particular other than I want to write a script... for no reason beside the fact that I've never written a script. Just curious if you think it helps to practice rewriting the script of an already established medium before writing your own, original script.
I would highly suggest looking at already established scripts. When doing the creative writing segment of my degree, we were encouraged to research scripts of a similar focus to what we were having to write, i believe i had chosen a cafe based situation so i looked at the scripts of Waiting and Two Broke Girls, purely to see what was being done. Fan fictions may be a start but i would personally recommend doing screen shorts, then building from there, so make a short story into a script, hone the technique, get a few macros in word in place for the annoying bits, and you can get bigger and better from there.
Are there any good sites where someone can learn all of the technical details? I know a few things like EXT. means Exterior, etc... but the rest is a mystery. Like describing a MC, for example. How detailed should you go as far as appearance, clothing, etc?
I hope the mods allow this to stay: http://www.screenwriting.info/ Try that. It will set you on the right track.
being a screenwriter involves more than learning how to format a script... as with any other form of fiction, you must be able to come up with your own original ideas for storylines... so using fanfiction as a supposed 'learning' method makes no sense to me... my best advice is to dream up your own story ideas and practice doing that at the same time you're learning and practicing how to write a script...
Fanfiction can be a good way of practicing writing - but it sounds like you need to simply learn the basics of screenwriting and fanfic is not going to teach you that.
I wouldn't advise it. There are many places online where you can view screenplays of popular television programmes and films. Try looking up one you're already familiar with and see how it originally looked on paper. Or, the reverse of this has also helped me: read a screenplay and then watch the final product and see how it compares to the vision you had in your mind when you were reading it.
the best, most reliable online source of downloadable scripts is 'script-o-rama'... two others are imsdb's scrpt database and 'screenplays for you'... however, one must be aware that the only scripts available are pros' early drafts and 'shooting' or director's scripts, which will include things an unknown new writer must not have in a spec script... and will often not be written in the 'lean and clean' style a newbie can't get away with... unfortunately, successful spec scripts by newbies aren't findable, so aspiring screenwriters must depend on how-tos for examples... there are only 3 that i would recommend... since i can't tout books here, anyone wanting to learn how to be a screenwriter are welcome to email me for my 'tools of the trade' list that includes those... love and hugs, maia maia3maia@hotmail.com
