Outline whining.

Jul 18, 2008

To catch you up on my screenplay progress I'm going to sum up the argument I've been having with myself the last few weeks. I asked myself: do I really have to outline my screenplay? And that's when the argument started between me, myself and I.

So I was writing away on my screenplay and hit a few hiccups. Then I hit some writer's block and lack of motivation and now I've got another spurt of creativity so I'm milking it for all it's worth. However, I think that because of the multiple story lines I'm juggling and the time jumping that I need to do an outline. I've always been opposed to outlines--not as a screenwriter, since this is my first screenplay--but as a writer and student. My mind normally doesn't work in an outline kind of way. So I stopped writing for a few days and was mulling over the outline conundrum when I decided to buck up and write an outline. And now I have to say that I'm glad I did it. It's focused my writing and given me a whole new perspective. It also helped me develop scenes that I didn't quite know I needed until I saw the outline. So there you go. You won't catch me whining about outlines and how "unnecessary" they are anymore.

What also inspired me to write an outline was I have come across a podcast called "Creative Screenwriting Magazine Podcast". Jeff Goldsmith who is the Senior Editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine hosts a weekly podcast where he interviews screenwriters/directors/producers. It's highly informative for me since I haven't been to film school and haven't been formally trained as a screenwriter. I also think it's great because screenwriters seem to be the silent partner in movies. You rarely hear about screenwriters unless you seek out information. Goldsmith is a little full of himself and a tad irritating but he seems to know his stuff and asks questions that I want to know the answers to, so I find myself going back and listening to all the past podcasts. I recommend checking it out. He interviews people like: Diablo Cody (Juno), Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson's War), Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men). He talks about their whole careers, not just the movie they are promoting. Anyway, to make a long story short a lot of the screenwriters interviewed mention outlining. Some of them do it and some don't, but from what I can tell even the ones who don't outline have a pretty clear vision of the movie as a whole. So that's when I knew that I needed to outline because I couldn't see my movie in it's entirety and I had some pretty significant holes in it that I knew that if I didn't address them now I would regret it.

So that's my status update for now. Next step is to follow the outline and continue writing.
Question for you screenwriters out there: Do you use Final Draft or any other screenwriting software, and if so do you feel it's worth it for me to get it since I'm just starting out?