Tuesday, May 15, 2007

How To Write Fillumms

Over the space of a couple of hours I managed to write a 9-page screenplay; an adaptation of one of my recent short stories which is kinda/sorta about love and loneliness. I did this because I was thinking of making a short 5-7 minute film as soon as possible. I want some action and I want it now!

The whole idea was to come up with a script with no more than two charachtars and one location. The only issue with this script is that it is heavy on dialouge, which means we'll have to find a couple of decent actors... anyone interested out there!??!?! We are looking for a man and a woman. That's it. If you fancy being in a short film, drop me a line.

Speaking of scripts, remember the TV/short film thingy I mentioned here months ago. Well, its back to square one with that. We had a completed script which we realised isn't working anymore so we had to abandon the entire thing. So we'll begin working on a new one with the hope that we learnt from our mistakes. Now the good news is, I might be able to post the old (abandoned) script here for you to read, coz, I figure, what the heck aye?

10 comments:

Cerebralwaste said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cerebralwaste said...

Post it Ali. Maybe someone out there iN "Cyber Land" can breath some life into it. You never know but I wouldn't give up hope on it!

Um Naief said...

i've read the beginning of the second script... and was wondering why it isn't based from bahrain.... seeing that the topic was actually seen here.

Ali Al Saeed said...

We'll see about that CW! This isn't the first script I put down to bed, and I doubt it will be the last. It feels strange. I know I wouldn't do that with my stories/novels, but screenplays are a different game all together.

um naief, I'm not quite sure which draft you are talking about, but i'm sure it was based in bahrain!!!

Um Naief said...

hmmm... maybe i read it wrong... i thought it was taking place in dubai.

Cerebralwaste said...

Well I would love to see the script Ali. Could you perhaps email it to me if you don't post it? I wish you would consider posting it and let some unbiased eyes have a gander at it. There has been an idea for a movie type script floating around in the gray matter between my ears for several years. Perhaps your script would light the fire in my fingers to start banging my idea(s) out on paper! It is something I have always wanted to do. I don't care if ever amounts to anything. Just the fact that I did it would be satisfaction enough.

I find great pleasure in writing and it has only been in the last 6 months I have overcome the "fear" of letting other people see some of my work. Did you ever have this "problem"?

Um Naief said...

you know Ali, I read the first script and I'll be honest in that I didn't think it was funny. It would be interesting to see what other Americans say about it, since you guys were wanting to show it in the States.

I think American audiences are difficult in that they expect a lot out of comedy series and such. Usually a dry and witty sense of humor affects the audience in a positive way, but this one... I don't know, it just didn't spark any laughter from me at all.

I read that Samar thought it was a mix between Seinfeld and Scrubs... and I don't think so. I think she's totally off here.

It'd be interesting to see what comments you get from American readers.

Ali Al Saeed said...

CW - I've learnt the hard way that writing a good script is a daunting and difficult task and with my attempts so far I realise I've a long way to go to grasp it. The issue isnt with ideas (there's always plenty of those flying around) its the excution, how its put on paper)...

And Yes, I did (and still do) find it scary to get people to read my work. Though, its now not as bad as I have a bit more confidence in my own writing. But still, every time someone reads something i wrote, my guts seem to turn!

Don't worry though, it'll get better with time.

Ali Al Saeed said...

um naief - with all due respect, most of the american sitcoms out there are simply outrageously bad. Only a rare few stand out. I see so many run-of-the-mill, unfunny sitcoms on TV and I know that even if we did go with the original script it wouldnt have been half as bad as some of those. But we realise that its easy to make a sub-standard thing. We don't want to do that.

Also, comedy is a very difficult genre (which I must admit I'm failry new to - in terms of writing material) and its really down to how its performed and delivered, also each person's sense of humor differs from the other. So its down to targeting the right audience.

Um Naief said...

I would agree w/ you re: the fact that there aren't a lot of funny sitcoms/series and such. They are few and far between. One now that is going to be shown this coming season is about cavemen in the modern world... if you can believe it. Matter of fact, it knocked out George Lopez' show, which wasn't bad.

I think getting to your target audience is crucial and making a big hit w/ the first show. That first show is the one that makes or breaks you.