Welcome to the inaugural issue of Green Chair Reader!
What is a screenplay? Often it is defined as the blueprint of a film. And while the film is the end-goal that is the hope and dream of screenwriters, I believe the screenplay itself -- the words on the page, the story, the construction, the formatting -- is a work of art.
Like any art form, screenwriting takes time, patience, and practice. It is a precise art with detailed parameters. Scenes begin with headings that define where and when they occur. Characters who appear in the scene are listed in a concise action paragraph. Dialogue is set apart by all capped character names, followed by their double-indented lines.
Flashbacks and montages are handled in a certain way, while telephone conversations are often depicted with the set-up of the two or more settings and characters, followed by "INTERCUT AS NECESSARY," which frees the writer to focus on the conversation and later allows the director and editor to decide much of what we actually see on the screen during the dialogue.
As a screenwriter who is not the director, it is our duty to write what we see without using camera angles, thus allowing for the collaboration with a director who believes in the vision described on the page.
And yet, even with all the rules that accompany proper screenplay formatting and story structure, it is our job as scribes to entertain the reader. The selling script should keep the reader flipping through the pages, eager to learn the fate of the hero. Later, a shooting script can set-up each shot so that the original story is conveyed visually, and the movie audience is as engaged as the first readers were.
It is not easy to write a taut and entertaining screenplay. Yet these five scribes featured here have done just that. I hope that in these pages, and in the pages to follow in the coming year, you'll come to appreciate the art of the screenplay as I do. And if you're a screenwriter, especially of the very short screenplay, I hope you'll consider sharing a submission with us in the future.
Thank you,
Dana Biscotti Myskowski, Editor
Like any art form, screenwriting takes time, patience, and practice. It is a precise art with detailed parameters. Scenes begin with headings that define where and when they occur. Characters who appear in the scene are listed in a concise action paragraph. Dialogue is set apart by all capped character names, followed by their double-indented lines.
Flashbacks and montages are handled in a certain way, while telephone conversations are often depicted with the set-up of the two or more settings and characters, followed by "INTERCUT AS NECESSARY," which frees the writer to focus on the conversation and later allows the director and editor to decide much of what we actually see on the screen during the dialogue.
As a screenwriter who is not the director, it is our duty to write what we see without using camera angles, thus allowing for the collaboration with a director who believes in the vision described on the page.
And yet, even with all the rules that accompany proper screenplay formatting and story structure, it is our job as scribes to entertain the reader. The selling script should keep the reader flipping through the pages, eager to learn the fate of the hero. Later, a shooting script can set-up each shot so that the original story is conveyed visually, and the movie audience is as engaged as the first readers were.
It is not easy to write a taut and entertaining screenplay. Yet these five scribes featured here have done just that. I hope that in these pages, and in the pages to follow in the coming year, you'll come to appreciate the art of the screenplay as I do. And if you're a screenwriter, especially of the very short screenplay, I hope you'll consider sharing a submission with us in the future.
Thank you,
Dana Biscotti Myskowski, Editor
