Time for another industry-related post. The entertainment business as I'm learning about it. As a writer, I had to understand that writing a screenplay differs from writing a novel. The main thing is how you create the content. Writing a book is like the most uplifting art of putting words - sentences - paragraphs - pages together (literally 'bleeding on paper'). Writing a script is like building the structure first. Screenwriting is all about construction. The renovation comes with rewrites.
A screenwriter should be writing. You have to have at least 2-3 FINISHED scripts in your hands to get a start. Be creative - that's your job at first! It's a lot of struggle and rejection for years (decades even). If you can't take it, you are about to rethink your career goals. This isn't happening overnight. You have to read scripts, you have to write drafts, you have to rewrite your stuff, you have to read others' stuff, and you have to write every day.
Another hard-to-digest thing was for me to stay with one genre. I knew what I was good at, but I had to realize how I was going to get better at it. As a screenwriter, I need to get really good at one genre. For me, it's DRAMA (& mixing it in unique ways), no doubt. I was born to write about conflict, starting with the logline. No joke. As one of the eager audience members, I crave a compelling story. I want to be surprised by crazy twists in unexpected moments, so that's what I'm trying to write down. I give my readers many reasons to stick around. My protagonists are never the usual kind. Instead, they are always doing something, they are constantly dealing with high stakes, and they are never boring. I felt this is one of the crucial points to share with you all. Going to come back to this topic soon!
your fellow screenwriter,
Kata Varga
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