Why Formating Matters

I have had many interesting conversations with various independent filmmakers about screenplays. Well, this is fine when you are working with a small team or are creating just for yourself. The formating of the script isn't going to put you at risk. However, this made me think, why is formating important?

After a while I came to some conclusions. It helps with consistency; we need to view the script more like blueprints than a story. When it's considered just a story it can go against the grain and serve its purpose with the imagination of the writer, but that isn't how screenplays function. They are more like building a house. Someone designed the house and then specialized contractors who all have knowledge in their specific fields come together to build it and if needed adjust the plans to suit thier individual needs. Now if everyone created the designs in a different manner, then it would become hard for everyone to effectively build off of them. This is because we aren't creating the final product. Just the beginning. Novels are the complete product and even they get worked over by various people before they reach the reader.

As mentioned before, various people find it absurd to pay for better screenwriting software, and that's fine! It's very possible that you don't need it. We just need to come to an agreement that different careers have different tools. I'm sure if I took my neat formatted script and went to an experienced DP and told them I was going to shoot it on my iPhone, they would tell me I'm doing it wrong because the quality isn't the same as a RED, or even a more affordable Black Magic. That's because in the world of Cinematography there are rules and people stick to those rules. Even though we are getting pretty close to a world where you can shoot a decent film on an iPhone, and some already have attempted this feat. This all makes sense to everyone in their respective fields but when they get to screenwriting... well that's all just a waste of money. Maybe for you, but to me that's all I need.

Screenwriting is fun, its about having the strength to hold back. Sure, you have the perfect star studded story and cast in your mind, but how do you translate that into something unmuddled for others to read? The rules help, that's for certain. Without them you would dive too far, share too much. Once you shared too much you begin to take away the ability for others to branch off and create the story into something you could ever conceive. That's the true lesson of screenwriting; learning that your story can be better off told by someone else. Sure, it doesn't always come out perfect, but that's the chance you have to take.

Now for those of you who still want to throw those shots into the script and give every detail of the scenery, let me put this in perspective. People have been envisioning written stories for centuries. Film on the other hand isnt even 150 years old. But that's the beauty of it. When you write a horror film you don't have that much to go on. So when someone sits down to read your script, they know the exact shots and set dec that any horror film could possibly have. This goes for any genre from action to romance. We're essectially just an A.I. program when we read scripts; we only make up the images of the story based off other films we have seen. Now how do you use that to your advantage?

How do you use films from before to tell your story now? How do you guide the reader to pinpoint the right subgenera. The exact look you need, the exact tone? How do you give everything away without using up too much? This is the struggle of writing and it's the thing that I both love and fear. It is the thing I fell in love with while also making me skip around sitting down to write. But just like any field, you can kill any fear with practice and I just need to get back out there.