Freelance Scriptwriting

Freelance Scriptwriting looks extremely appealing from the outside; for people that follow writing scripts and making characters from nothing, what could be better than getting paid for it? It's a dream for many, including me, but how do you get started in it? What are the fundamentals surrounding it, and how do  you go about getting noticed? I'll try to answer that and more here.

So why would i want to do freelance scriptwriting? Why not one of the other specialisms, such as freelance set-building or freelance cameraman? I'll tell you!

I chose it because i feel it's my strongest point. I can adapt my imagination into a character and then think up an entire storyline for it. When someone gives me a character name and a setting my imagination runs wild, i can describe a set that doesn't exist like i built it, i can lay out a character's thoughts like i am that character, and i can write a script like an artisan.

You'll need various skills to be able to jump into freelance effectively, who's going to hire a bad scriptwriter, right? (Unless you're writing for Hollyoaks, in which you don't really have a choice. (Don't sue me.))

One of the most important skills you'll need is being able to communicate effectively to the people who've commissioned you. They'll want regular updates on what's happening and how much progress you've made, any problems you've run into, and how well it's going. I'd argue this is more important than actual writing ability, but not by much.

That leads me on to my second point, you need to be able to write effectively, convincingly and with emotion to cause immersion. Like i said before, nobody wants a bad writer. People will hire you, review you, and spread your work around like hot sauce, and who wants bad hot sauce on their steak? On an unrelated point, is it weird i like hot sauce on steak? Anyway, moving on.

I'm not perfect however, there are still skills i need to develop before i can become one of the best that high earning producers want to use. My writing skill is always improving, and every time i get hired, it's a chance for improvement. One of the most important lessons in life is "Mistakes are there to be learned from." Get criticism, reflect on it and use it, this also folds into communication nicely, as your commissioners will tell you what they want changed, and if you can't handle that, you're not fit for freelance writing.

I'm going to develop my writing skills through practice, practice, practice. I can also improve by reading other people's scripts. The BBC Writer's Room is a fantastic resource for this, as it houses hundreds of scripts written by other people all over the world, it's an endless sea of experience for you to learn from just sitting there! Go use it!

I'm bad at: Photoshop

So i tried to make a banner, and you can see my efforts above.

...As you can see, not the best, is it? I am absolutely horrid at using that magic wand tool thing, which caused every image currently in it to look really really choppy, but it's the best i could do on short notice, so maybe i'll give it another bash sometime later. I also have no fonts downloaded onto this college Mac, so the text looks really bland. And to think, i wanted to be a graphic designer a few years ago! Ha, ha, ha. *cries*

Unfortunately this also shoehorns me into the position of not being able to change the blog template from "simplified" to anything else, as the edges show up much more clearly than they already do when there's colour behind them! Oh, the tragedy.

The Beginning!

Hello everyone and welcome to my new blog! This will be where i keep information on all lessons i have from here on forward (January 14, 2014). Here's a little bit about me:

I'm a level 3 student at Hertford Regional College Broxbourne

I've been at this college for 2 years

I studied ICT Networking level 3 for a year before joining this course

I went to Simon Balle Secondary School

This blog will be used primarily as a place for me to recap on all my lessons and to keep all my readers updated on how my second year of media is going. I look forward to hearing all your comments and thoughts on what i do and i hope you all have a happy 2014!