Rewriting Great Screenplays
Penguin September 4th, 2008
I was over at DVXUser the other day and read this comment:
Pick two or three dozen great screenplays and style copy them. What I mean by this is re-write them by hand–verbatim. This will help you see how the pros do it VIA YOUR OWN WRITING MECHANISM: your frontal cortex, your hand, your pen.
In 2004, after reading an article by Rob Tobin I did this exercise. I decided to make an investment in my writing career by “wasting” two months on style copying. Believe me, it works. The end result is that you take the best features of each script and create your own distinct style. Okay. Enough said.
- Kylekmd
I’ve never heard of this exercise before, but it kind of makes sense. I’m going to give it a try. I should really be reading more screenplays anyway, but find it hard to have that discipline. This will force me to sit down everyday and do some diligent homework.
If you’ve done this or know people who have, let me know how it went.
-Penguin
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