From the course: Learning Screenwriting

Welcome to screenwriting - Final Draft Tutorial

From the course: Learning Screenwriting

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Welcome to screenwriting

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- Screenwriting, novel writing, playwriting, all have many basic storytelling elements in common, but screenwriting departs from those other art forms in one critical way. When you write a script, you're not creating a work to be directly consumed by an audience, you're creating a major step toward the creation of that final work, a produced movie or TV show. In this sense, screenwriting has a lot in common with musical composition. The vast majority of your audience will never see your sheet music or screenplay, nor ever want to. But ultimately your piece will still have a powerful and unique impact. If you aren't sure exactly what screenwriting entails, stay right where you are, I'm here to help. Hi, I'm Roger Schulman. Welcome to Learning Screenwriting. In this course, I'll take you through the steps to go from a light bulb over your head to a proper draft. Other screenwriters have their variations of this process, but this one has worked for me. And I'll show you how to present your work, both in print and orally, in ways that maximize the chances of your selling it and getting it made. If you can sell your movie or show idea with a verbal pitch, you're in a very exclusive club. More likely, you'll need to write an entire screenplay on spec, that's show biz for gratus, then create a pitch to sell it. There are no guarantees, but following this method will reduce the odds against you from one in a million to one in, oh, let's say 500,000. I don't really know the statistics, this is screenwriting, not math. And that was your first lesson.

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