3 Lessons My First Screenplay Taught Me About The Business - Steven Shea

Film Courage: What was your writing  process on your first screenplay? Steven Shea, Filmmaker: My writing process of  my first screenplay I took a writing course in   college and at Valencia College after I had left  UCF and during the course of the college you had   to write a script during the course of class  and so I wrote the script which ended up being   my first screenplay there I was really influenced  by a humanities class that I had taken there that   was basically like a Biblical history lesson  I grew up going to a Christian School from   kindergarten through 11th grade so I'd read the  Bible back and forth like I was definitely one of   those smart kids that was like Wait a minute, the  Old Testament says an eye for an eye and a tooth   for a tooth and the New Testament says turn to the  other cheek? Which one does God want me to do? And   he'd be like but I was very inspired by the actual  historical references and so I wrote a screenplay   based on the Book of Lilith which is a deleted  book in the Bible about the true Genesis before   and so I wrote that script while in screenwriting  class and I was like okay if I can write a script   I realized very quickly okay to make a movie you  got to utilize what you have so I'm like we have   a house by a lake we have actors we have this  stuff all right I'm gonna write a movie about   house by a lake with the things we have access  to that won't cost us anything and so I wrote   this script during that class and I'm sure it had  certain structures that you had to follow for the   for your grades and everything but that's how  I did that first script it was actually kind of   sad about that is a couple years later I made the  movie and then the movie came out and I ran into   that screenwriting teacher and I was like look  I made the movie off the script I wrote in your   class and she was like what are you talking about  and I'm like yo I made the movie and she was like   and I walked and was like Furious and I was so  confused because I'm like wait I thought you'd be   excited like you inspired me to write this thing  but then I realized really quickly that she had   never made anything she had gone out to try  to be a screenwriter didn't didn't wasn't   successful and then came back to be a teacher to  teach screenwriting and so now one of her idiot   students had gotten farther than she had and that  was a little discouraging actually at the time I   was like man is this how it's going to be across  the board and the answer is yeah pretty much you   have people that are obsessed or you have people  that are frustrated by your success and you have   people that do get excited for your success and  so each you eventually weed out those people and   figure out who's there to to win it and and go  up with you but it was a really weird thing to   to have happen I thought and then after that it  was like okay I learned the fundamentals and I'm   definitely much I'm definitely more of a timeline  based writer so I'll jot down a ton of ideas and   then I'll break down a timeline like okay here's  the scene here's the scene here's the scene get   the whole timeline sequence and then go back and  start laying out the actual script with dialogue   because I I like to focus on the beginning  and the end of the last 30 seconds of your   movie is the most imperative because that's  the last thing the audiences leave with   so you really want to focus you gotta have  a really strong ending and a really strong   beginning because you got to hook them early and  you got to let them leave excited about the movie   and and then the middle just connects them so I  would usually always write the ending first and   then the beginning and then the middle to be able  to make sure that you got the big pack the big   punch at the end and and then the big beginning  to get you there and that was always the hope   because the movie should be a roller  coaster it should be up and down and   all over and you're just like by the end of  it you're like whoo What a ride hopefully   so when you have the little creature inside of  you that is knocking with the with the idea if   you can't figure out the ending do you just  don't you don't begin it you don't start it   I mean there's always I think average it takes  me about three months to write a feature script   because the first month will be coming up with  ideas and I'm definitely not one that sits down   and just vomits a script out I know some other  writers are like oh yeah I wrote this in two days   I'm like how did you do that that sounds ludicrous  like how did you read 100 pages in two days   but a lot of times it's not great either when  they do that but I'll start off with an idea   and usually it's ideas then you just keep writing  down ideas and eventually you put them in a   sequence that makes sense and you figure out ways  to connect the ideas but you don't always have it   right like I remember my my second feature I  directed Hoodoo For Voodoo which is a horror   comedy we shot in Louisiana I had a completely  different ending and then I remember it's really   silly I remember watching Shrek 2 fantastic movie  watch Shrek 2 and the Shrek 2 ending suddenly I   was like that's the ending I need I need the Shrek  2 ending with this big montage big chase scene big   exciting finale that's the ending I need so  I rewrote the ending to be obviously not the   exact there's no ogres in my movie but to be very  similar to the Shrek 2 ending where it's like this   big whole exciting thing because I was like that's  what I need that's the that's a better ending   I know everything is a Shrek 2 ending I'm just  going to end with a song and dance and chasing but   it's I mean every Project's different too  there's some projects that take longer or   there's some that take shorter it just kind of  depends on the project but I usually jot down   ideas for a month and break down a timeline and  spend about six weeks like laying everything out   or even shorter I've written  some shorter than that too   just kind of depends but this screenwriting  teacher how did that that was the reason   that she kind of blew you off I mean I can't be  100 sure that's the reason but it sure seemed   like it to me at the time because she was really  upset that I had made the movie and I was like   shocked because I would have thought she'd been  like that's awesome congratulations that's amazing   but yeah it really at least I could see it in her  eyes where she was suddenly reevaluating her life   and her life choices to be like like this how  did this 22 year old kid do this and I didn't   I haven't been able to do this now granted that  movie didn't make a lot of money it didn't cost   any money it was it was it's it's pretty terrible  I wouldn't recommend watching it nowadays because   you'd be like oh God what is this but at the  time there was a lot of content coming out   of that caliber low budget horror that came out  every week at the video stores and no actors or   anything just a bunch of random stuff so it was  successful at the time nowadays you wouldn't be   able to have success with it I don't think not  real success but it was based on a proverb you   said or that movie was called The Night Owl  and I based it on the Book of Lilith which is   in the beginning God created Adam and Lilith and  they were equal and this book of the Bible was   deleted because the men at the time did not like  the idea of a woman being equivalent to a man   and so Lilith ends up leaving the Garden of Eden  and God makes Eve out of his rib to make her less   than him because the ruling of course at the time  about Biblical times the men didn't want women   to have any kind of power or idea of power and so  this is one of the deleted books of the Bible that   now with the Dead Sea Scrolls and things they've  found multiple ones and so I built this whole   story where the revelations is actually caused  by Lilith on a very small scale instead of coming   with a giant trumpet of angels it's like a back  door and it starts with a few certain elements   that the Bible kind of alludes to to kick start  the revelations and so I made this then I was   like oh four girls go to a cabin for spring  break and then the revelations happen it's it's   wonderful that's basically that's how it kind of  comes together but it's not a faith-based horror   horror film but it's loosely based on it's based  on the ideas of that that and and I mean there's   a lot of evidence of that throughout history of  those books and and Lilith and everything it's   interesting because a lot of times in culture they  they use Lilith as the first vampire and there's   a there's dozens of vampire movies with a Lilith  vampire character because supposedly this is the   spawn of demons demons started being spawned from  Lilith and humans started being spawned from Adam   and that there's demons all over the Bible and  everything that's where all these things come   from I guess somebody deleted books but it  I always thought it was really interesting   to see like the historical connections with  Biblical context especially being raised I   was raised Catholic but went to a Christian  School so I got both sides of that spectrum   but yeah I mean real real history  I love I love putting real elements   like connecting reality elements to fantastical  things in movies because you get that little   bit of groundedness but then everything's  fantastical around it I think it's cool.

Channel: Film Courage

Views: 4,440

Keywords: Screenwriting tips, screenwriting advice, screenwriting 101, screenwriting for beginners, screenwriting techniques, writing a screenplay, how to write a movie, Filmmaking tips, filmmaking 101, filmmaking for beginners, filmmaking techniques, making a movie, Steven shea, surviving supercon, filmcourage, film courage, interview, producing a movie, artist tips, artist advice, how to be an artist

Id: nkp6ljQOAdo

Length: 9min 11sec (551 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 30 2023