Wordplay

This is our favourite screenwriting site on the internet. Why? Because it's great. Why is it great? Because you know you've stumbled across something really special as a screenwriter. It's not the sort of site that visually grabs you. But don't give that a second thought. From the first few sentences you can see that the guys who run this site have a sense of humour, which helps when you're banging your head against the wall trying to get a script finished. Also, these guys, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are seasoned professionals. Their credits include The Mask of Zorro, Disney's animated feature Aladdin, Shrek, Antz, as well as the truly dreadful Godzilla, which they are happy to explain turned out to be very different from their original script. They hated the film too.
Everything on this site has a laid back feel to it. Ted and Terry have their feet up on the sofa while they wow you with just about everything you need to know, and every problem you've ever encountered whilst thrashing out a screenplay.


These guys are busy professionals, so the site is updated fairly irregularly, but there's plenty to get your teeth into while waiting for the next update. The six circles at the bottom of every page take you swiftly to your area of interest.


SPECIAL FEATURES


Columns This is more wisdom, straight from the horses mouth, than you could hope to find anywhere on the net. You don’t want to browse this section, you will want to start at the top and methodically take in every word. At the time of writing there were more than 40 columns. They not only advise on every aspect of the scriptwriting process, but also cover the business and what you might expect to encounter if you’re ever out there playing with the Hollywood big boys.


Letters Fairly obvious to guess what goes on here. Answers to questions writers like you have sent in. But there is so much honesty here it’s extremely refreshing, ‘movies are fun, writing is hard’. It’s nice to know they think so too.


Indy Pros Excellent interviews and discussions with some big names in the film world. Even if some of the names are unfamiliar you’ll know their work, which includes Awakenings, Beverly Hills Cop and The Fly.


Archives Here, for your convenience you can download the Columns as text files or even have them sent to you via email. Three of their screenplays are available too.


So you know what to expect when your time comes, you can also see what a contract looks like. There are a host of other downloadable bits and pieces including Aristotle’s Poetics and the fascinating ‘Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations’, which explains every variation on a plot line that it is possible to conceive of.