This was really eye opening. Surprised to see so many screenplays break the rules, especially in terms of basic formatting, yet still get highly rated. I was always taught that you couldn’t break any rules and a single thing out of place would result in your screenplay being immediately binned by a producer lol. I’ve just sent a screenplay in to the black list, waiting on feedback. It doesn’t break any formatting rules. Worried it’s gonna seem a bit boring now 😅 Great vid 🙌
As a writer myself, I can't fathom how "Pure" was the most acknowledged submission. I really can't. It uses direction in the screenplay, and unless you're the Director, why are you including those types of entries in the screenplay? Makes me wonder who was giving this praise, to be honest. "Pumping Black" in your video also does this. Are these people also directing the screenplays they specced? I can appreciate their intended vision of that scene, but really, that will ultimately end at the Director's chair and unless they're in it, why include them? Actually now that I have seen more of these examples they ALL seem to do the same thing. Not to mention completely breaking with formatting and including a stylized cover (which is pretty taboo). To be fair, if I were a professional reader, I wouldn't have made it past the first couple pages of each of the ones you chose to look at. Directors direct. Writers write. Writers trying to direct is cringe and not worth my time reading. I'm seriously surprised with these top 10 submissions. I really am. Flabbergasted in fact.
All these scripts were voted on as the “most liked and circulated” scripts of the year by a producers in LA. It’s definitely not an objective marker of quality, but it shows that this type of directing on the page is getting reads and recommendations by some people in the industry, for better or worse!
@@YoungScreenwriters It's funny that we're beaten about the head with "Writers write. Directors direct. Pick a lane", and then we hear of things like this happening where writers are giving direction too. Whatever. It's not my industry so I don't make the rules. All I know is, when I see a script that has direction in it - I bin it immediately and look at the next one. Unless you're a director too, I'm not interested in what direction you think this scene should have. That's up to me, the reader, to decide thanks.
Directors don't hesitate to “reimagine” a screenplay. Producers scale back projects at will. Actors feel free to ad lib or change dialogue to make it "more real." The only artists who are supposed to "pick a lane" are the architects, the screenwriters. Pretty patronizing, no? I recall seeing actor Don Cheadle on an episode of “Inside the Actors Studio.” He whined about scripts that included descriptions like (grins). I wonder if he also objects to actors tinkering with dialogue and action. The screenwriter is merely clarifying emotional intent, Don, not demanding that you lighten up. These Blacklist scripts impressed experts in the industry, who recognize that times change and rules do, too. For instance, check out the superb screenplay for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” penned by the incomparable William Goldman more than fifty years ago. It contains tons of direction. In fact, there’s no dialogue until the bottom of the second page. Did the rules that you treat as commandments not exist 50 years ago? Or have screenwriters been breaking those rules all along? I don’t know. What I do know is that those who expect artists to ONLY color within the lines don’t truly understand art.
This was really eye opening. Surprised to see so many screenplays break the rules, especially in terms of basic formatting, yet still get highly rated. I was always taught that you couldn’t break any rules and a single thing out of place would result in your screenplay being immediately binned by a producer lol.
I’ve just sent a screenplay in to the black list, waiting on feedback. It doesn’t break any formatting rules. Worried it’s gonna seem a bit boring now 😅
Great vid 🙌
I'm curious which of these scripts actually sold. Very shocking... didn't realized I should be so stylized... I was trying to format traditionally lol
"If you read old scripts, like early 2000's, you don't see this much rich detail"
John Millius: "Hold my beer"
As a writer myself, I can't fathom how "Pure" was the most acknowledged submission. I really can't. It uses direction in the screenplay, and unless you're the Director, why are you including those types of entries in the screenplay? Makes me wonder who was giving this praise, to be honest. "Pumping Black" in your video also does this. Are these people also directing the screenplays they specced? I can appreciate their intended vision of that scene, but really, that will ultimately end at the Director's chair and unless they're in it, why include them? Actually now that I have seen more of these examples they ALL seem to do the same thing. Not to mention completely breaking with formatting and including a stylized cover (which is pretty taboo). To be fair, if I were a professional reader, I wouldn't have made it past the first couple pages of each of the ones you chose to look at. Directors direct. Writers write. Writers trying to direct is cringe and not worth my time reading. I'm seriously surprised with these top 10 submissions. I really am. Flabbergasted in fact.
All these scripts were voted on as the “most liked and circulated” scripts of the year by a producers in LA. It’s definitely not an objective marker of quality, but it shows that this type of directing on the page is getting reads and recommendations by some people in the industry, for better or worse!
@@YoungScreenwriters It's funny that we're beaten about the head with "Writers write. Directors direct. Pick a lane", and then we hear of things like this happening where writers are giving direction too.
Whatever. It's not my industry so I don't make the rules. All I know is, when I see a script that has direction in it - I bin it immediately and look at the next one. Unless you're a director too, I'm not interested in what direction you think this scene should have. That's up to me, the reader, to decide thanks.
Directors don't hesitate to “reimagine” a screenplay. Producers scale back projects at will. Actors feel free to ad lib or change dialogue to make it "more real." The only artists who are supposed to "pick a lane" are the architects, the screenwriters. Pretty patronizing, no?
I recall seeing actor Don Cheadle on an episode of “Inside the Actors Studio.” He whined about scripts that included descriptions like (grins). I wonder if he also objects to actors tinkering with dialogue and action. The screenwriter is merely clarifying emotional intent, Don, not demanding that you lighten up.
These Blacklist scripts impressed experts in the industry, who recognize that times change and rules do, too. For instance, check out the superb screenplay for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” penned by the incomparable William Goldman more than fifty years ago. It contains tons of direction. In fact, there’s no dialogue until the bottom of the second page.
Did the rules that you treat as commandments not exist 50 years ago? Or have screenwriters been breaking those rules all along? I don’t know. What I do know is that those who expect artists to ONLY color within the lines don’t truly understand art.
Bro is bitter damn.