Tips on writing scripts?

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Write the way you would speak.
Less camera direction.
More storytelling.

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Brevity

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Find some scripts from old decks from your agency to learn formatting. Then try transcribing existing spots you like. Write out the action like you see it; always present tense, no backstory. Then write out the dialogue like you hear it. It will give you a sense of timing, structure, and what it looks like on the page. Now repeat this1000 times.

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Take a screenwriting class if you can! I've seen my copywriter friends grow immensely from this experience.

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Also, read as many scripts as you can. Learn the verbiage (cut to, angle on, sfx, super, title, beat, etc) then translate what you've read into your own style. Even though there's a structure to it, there's no one way to do it. Just keep the reader in mind and make sure it flows. Lastly, a script is meant to be performed, so everything you're writing needs to give the actor an idea of what they have to do, and it should give the director a sense of how it should be shot.

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My biggest problem is I can come up with an idea, but the story just comes up flat. Is there a good book to read? Or is it better just to look at spots I like and script them?

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Get a partner that understands narrative arcs

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Are you talking about ad scripts or screenplays in FDX?

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Look at a script as a blue print. Like architecture: it will never look as good as when it's produced. Sometimes, it helps to add a key visual and a title card.

Speak your dialogue out loud. Remember that when you think it's as concise as it can be, it can still always be more concise. The best scripts are, like SCW1 said, blueprints, just bare bones with lots of open space.

@TBWA1 do you know any online classes? Or friends that know? Thanks!

It's for film but Robert McKee's "Story" seminar is great.

Check out the Scriptnotes podcast

Has anyone taken the comedy writing classes at Second City? Was it helpful?

Use MS Word

@SRCW ad scripts.

And please don't jam too many words per minute! Audio doesn't register like reading at all. 100 words per minute is absolute max. What kind of scripts??? Dialogue?? Instructional?? Educational? VO?

Screenwriting definitely helped. I would suggest ultimately like it's said above, first and foremost, tell the story. The technicalities can all be shit as long as the story is great. Tell the story. Then storyboard it.

Remember: If it bends, it's funny. If it breaks, it's not funny.

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