Freelance Screenwriter for Hire
1 Learn from the Past
The most essential quality of every freelance screenwriter is originality. For this reason, it is important to watch various films. The classics are timeless. When you learn what have already existed, then you can avoid doing accidental duplication of ideas. In the process, you are also able to acquire new ideas. This is also an opportunity for you to differentiate what makes a film good and what makes a film bad.
2 Don’t try too hard to appear clever
An important skill required for freelance screenwriting is the ability to make intricate ideas appear easy and comprehensible. Some of the most popular films reach success for this reason. Trying to make their screenplays seem multifaceted and smart is a common mistake among many novice freelance screenwriters.
3 Story structure of movie screenplays
A script or screenplay consists of a beginning, middle, and end. When you are aware these stages, more importantly, understand each one, it will be easy for you to manipulate the structure of your story. It is a literary technique that effectively keeps the action moving, provides a twist, and keeps viewers and readers of the movie and screenplay interested.
4 You need a story goal in your screenplay
Some of the important elements of a good story is a focus or objective that the main character tries to reach. A professional freelance screenwriter will write a screenplay where each scene is connected to the other and developing towards the achievement of the goal. The usual flow of a plot begins with a person who experiences having his status quo cut off. Then the drama springs from the ventures the person takes to find a resolution to his problem.
5 90 minutes – that’s all it should take!
If you intend to sell your screenplay and have it shown on screen, then you have to make sure that the movie will not run for more than 90-100 minutes.
The common on-screen duration on one page of screenplay is one minute. So that means that you have to make sure that you write a screenplay of not more than 90 pages. If it does go beyond that number, then your screenplay must be exceptional and have a good reason to justify the extra time so that cinemas will be willing to sacrifice the profit equivalent of one showing a day, which they will lose when they air movies that run more than 100 minutes.
6 Choose your protagonist and antagonist
The protagonist plays an important role in every story. They can come in different forms. In fact they can be lifeless objects or even a place, although most of the time they are in the form of one person or a group of persons. A must-have quality for a protagonist is that they should be able to captivate readers regardless of whether they are agreeable or not. A professional freelance screenwriter is knowledgeable of the relationship between of the antagonist to the protagonist and how he or she challenges the protagonist and impede the attainment of his or her goals..
7 Create an imprint in your movie screenplay
To keep the interest of viewers, freelance screenwriters need to keep a deferral of incredulity. This is not an easy task. There are, however, some stories wherein you can easily incorporate such features. Just make sure that every scene and plot is plausible.
8 Being linear is not good – mix it up, alternate scenes
Keeping at least two subplots is very helpful to writing an interesting movie screenplay with changing tones and tempos.
9 Originality is a must for freelance screenwriting
This is a universal guideline mostly written in “How to Write” books and articles. When you start to write a movie screenplay, you need to follow your own ideas. Write the things you want to write and not just because it’s what other successful writers have written. Why do successful movies make it big? Because they are original – memorable, interesting, and entertaining.
10 You need talent to be a freelance screenwriter
Talent is very important when it comes to freelance screenwriting. No matter how many writing courses you take and how many mentors you have, you will not benefit much from then unless you have the gift. It takes talent to know the things that should be written and shouldn’t be – even with the absence of formal education of screenwriting.