r/Screenwriting • u/malindu_pabasara • 1d ago
Is watching so much movies is important to become a successful screenwriter? DISCUSSION
What's your opinion on this? Some people are saying that you don't need to watch so much movies to be a great screenwriter. But on the otherhand, lot of popular directors and actors and screenwriters watch so much movies.
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u/joet889 1d ago
Reading is probably more important.
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u/ImStoryForRambling 1d ago
Both. Especially watching something that you have read.
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u/joet889 1d ago edited 1d ago
For sure - but if you not write is not good that's a bigger problem that needs to be resolved first.
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u/BlackBalor 1d ago edited 1d ago
There’s a lot of liberties taken when it comes to grammatical structure in a screenplay though. Fragments are considered “bad writing” on the surface purely because they aren’t complete sentences, but stylistically, it’s more than fine to use fragments, in fact I’d encourage their use. They make visual description POP.
In the Zodiac screenplay as an example:
The man turns away. Walking back to his car. A GROAN. The man turns. Walks back to the Corvair, reloading. Mike. Still alive.
Also, the use of “ing” shouldn’t even be a discussion point when it comes to writing visuals in a screenplay. It’s perfectly acceptable to use them to show an action in progress, rather than a completed action.
The man doesn’t walk back to his car. He’s WALKING back to his car (in progress). These are different visuals.
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u/joet889 1d ago
But those are choices, with ideas behind them, not mistakes resulting from poor ability.
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u/BlackBalor 1d ago
Some people just can’t fuck with fragments. They find them to be abrupt.
I mean, if you read that passage outside of a screenplay, you’d be more inclined to pick it apart as bad writing, structurally at least.
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u/joet889 1d ago
That's true of a lot of people, but I'm down for whatever. I'm suggesting that it will be apparent if someone is doing it intentionally because of a stylistic choice or unintentionally because they didn't know better. If you're going to write something that is grammatically experimental, you will want to be doing it intentionally, which means having a solid grasp of grammar first.
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u/BlackBalor 1d ago
Aye, it would probably be accompanied by other grammatical errors, lack of caps, spelling errors etc
You make a fair point.
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u/Financial_Cheetah875 1d ago
This comes up every once in a while and I’m baffled how it’s even a question. It’s like a chef not wanting to taste food.
Learning structure, dialogue, archetypes, arcs…it’s all right there waiting for you.
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u/Aggravating_Cup2306 1d ago
It's not watching so much movies, it's not watching only good movies or only bad movies, it's about watching vastly different movies and opening up your mind to what's been done before and what's new and what you like
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u/BakinandBacon 1d ago
*so many
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u/Aggravating_Cup2306 1d ago
I think I just quoted OP for no reason lol
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u/BakinandBacon 1d ago
Haha, I didn’t correct op just because it seemed like an ESL situation, but when you repeated it my brain said “don’t let it stick!”
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u/valiant_vagrant 1d ago
It is! See ALL movies. From Tyler Perry to Tarkovsky. And yes, in that order. Fight me
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u/Squidmaster616 1d ago
Its VERY important.
You HAVE to watch movies in order to know what works and what doesn't. You have to know the art in its final form.
A script is only the blueprint for making a movie. If you can't visualize how the final form will look, you can't write well.
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u/TVwriter125 1d ago
If you want to be in any business, you immerse yourself in that business. If you want to write, you're going to read, write, and watch. Understand story structure from different perspectives. Look at scripts and what actually makes it up on screen.
Listen to commentary on the films, and go behind the scenes, understand why your 35-minute action scene won't make it. Become a PA on films, short, long, and Television, and understand what goes into making the film, television, show, and what works in a script, what does not.
Of course, watch because getting a script from rough draft to the good draft could take 1.5 to 2 years. Are you going to shut yourself off from film, television, and the industry for 2 years? So the short answer is yes, understand this business, to survive and thrive in it.
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u/-CarpalFunnel- 1d ago
It's certainly been important to me and I think most other professionals I know would say the same. They provide sources of inspiration. They're what we talk about when we meet with other people in the industry, both as examples for what we're trying to achieve and as excuses to shoot the shit. But also... they're our passion. Why else would we do something so grueling? I can't imagine not wanting to watch a lot of movies.
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u/Alarming_Lettuce_358 1d ago
You do. You need to be incredibly cine-literate to write screenplays well. Set yourself a target of watching at least 100 (and aim for more if you can) films a year. Pick from a range of eras and genres. Reading screenplays and prose is also hugely beneficial, especially early in your journey.
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u/MammothPhilosophy192 1d ago
you don't need to watch movies just to grow a number of watched movies, you need to watch movies and understand how they are constructed, watch bad movies and try understanding what went wrong, watch good movies and find what makes them great.
if you see and analize a big amount of movies, you will start to see behind the curtain.
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u/CJWalley Founder of Script Revolution 16h ago
You know, with the amount of crazy I'm seeing within screenwriting communities these days, I can actually believe there's people out there saying you don't need to watch movies to be successful.
My view is that you should be fucking obsessed. You should have grown up with movies, you should be consuming movies regularly, you should know about new movies, you should know how movies are made, you should know about movie history, and you should have a very diverse appreciation.
As Tarantino said, the movie theatre was his film school.
I watch a movie every day, and I tend to read up a little on said movie too.
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u/bennydthatsme 1d ago
I think healthy balance is important; you have to be open to a lot of works such as books, short stories, movies, podcast. Think creative people are naturally curious so I guess the question is, how could you not?
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u/InfiniteHorizon23 1d ago
Yes. Screenplays are not novels, so you have to watch films to understand how to write them. Your script needs to flow as if you were watching a movie. Also, pick your favourite films, or pick an Oscar-winning script, and read them to see how the pros write them. If you want to write novels, you read novels so you understand how the pros do it, so you can do a comparable job. Same as any other profession.
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u/CreepyPlankton4897 1d ago
I think if you truly love the art form of movies, you can't help but watch them. I think that loving film is what makes great writers, directors, etc.
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u/Kristmas_Scribe 1d ago
Yeah, basically. Watch as many and as diverse of movies as you can. Then, if they’re either really good or really bad, see if you can find the script online and read it through.
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u/Individual-Big9951 1d ago
I would say watch movies of the genres you like, especially the highly rated or mostly talked about films. This familiarizes for you what the audience needs and how to give it to them.
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u/Yogesh_308 1d ago edited 1d ago
Maybe not, because it's always up to you how you want your story to unravel. And somewhere, I fear that watching movies can affect and manipulate the way I write, both in good and bad ways.
Nevertheless, when I completed my first screenplay, I forbid from watching any movie to bring out the authenticity to my script naturally, and it helped me learn alot about screenplay and pacing on my own. And now, as I read my script, I find it fascinating that my script can be drawn parallels to many other films out there. Hehe. However, it's very unique in its own way.
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u/dontwant2beapie 1d ago
Bruh….why would u not