Can't offer you much advice on the actual "writing" part, as every attempt at screenwriting I've tried has been awful, but on the technial side, Final Draft is your friend for screenwriting. It does all the formatting for you, and is easily available on any torrent list. (Pay for software? Who does that?)
And most media companies don't know what to do about fans, now that fans are visible. Once upon a time, fans were hidden in the recesses-kept their fic and their fanworks to fanzines and the ilk. But now...now there's the internet, and the fans are suddenly that much more visible, and companies don't know what to do with them, and the works they produce. I don't blame them, really, these are companies that are very very slow to change and adapt-it may be frustrating, but these are people who simply see derivative works-they don't see the moneymaking potential. yet. i'm sure they will-many companies are-but until then, well, we're stuck playing by their rules.
We sure are stuck. I see fanvids as akin to movie trailers. Just enough tantalizing bits are shown, enough to get us into the theatre or to make us want to buy the DVDs. I wish these companies would get a bit more progressive in their thinking.
I found Celtx which appears to be decent screenwriting software. It was a Firefox add-on, I think.
Celtx is pretty good too, but I haven't really worked with it all that much. I got used to Final Draft, and once I get used to something I'm one of those people that refuses to change. I'd still be using Win95 if it wasn't that Chrome won't run on it.
Fanvids may be harmless, but hey, the internet is this big scary new place to a lot of companies, I can see why they freak out over little things-it's going to take them a long time to get used to things. Hell, there's still authors that go on and complain about fanfic (see: the recent Gabaldon wank) even though fanfic has been around for decades. It's going to be a long time until companies get used to this whole idea of being able to see their fans, and the crazy things their fans do.
I had a WGA agent and wrote a Star Trek: The Next Generation teleplay (which didn't sell) when I was 17. I later went on to college where I took a college-credited screenwriting class from Jeff Bridges' mother-in-law. Does that count as experience as a screenwriter? :)
HereTV is probably under negotiations presently on a DVD deal for their show. In order to look good to distributors, they can't have their stuff all over the net. It makes distributors think, "We're gonna lose all our profits on this; it's practically in public domain!"
Maybe you're about the DVD thing, but the DVDs are already available on netflix. I've got them on my list.
Just checked. They are out on DVD so we can spend about $25 per season unless we get them used. Hmm. Maybe the fanvids were cutting into DVD sales, but I don't know how one would determine that.
Wish I'd asked the makers of those fanvids to let me have copies of them. Oh, well. Too late now.
That does count as experience! I keep wondering if a Raffles movie would have to start with Ides since the characters aren't as well-known (unlike Holmes) or if it could just start with a daring caper. Thoughts?
I've thought about the Raffles movie/series idea for some time now, and I think the best answer is to start where you find it the most interesting. Because if you find it interesting at that place, then there's a big chance that others will find it interesting, too.
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And most media companies don't know what to do about fans, now that fans are visible. Once upon a time, fans were hidden in the recesses-kept their fic and their fanworks to fanzines and the ilk. But now...now there's the internet, and the fans are suddenly that much more visible, and companies don't know what to do with them, and the works they produce. I don't blame them, really, these are companies that are very very slow to change and adapt-it may be frustrating, but these are people who simply see derivative works-they don't see the moneymaking potential. yet. i'm sure they will-many companies are-but until then, well, we're stuck playing by their rules.
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I found Celtx which appears to be decent screenwriting software. It was a Firefox add-on, I think.
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Fanvids may be harmless, but hey, the internet is this big scary new place to a lot of companies, I can see why they freak out over little things-it's going to take them a long time to get used to things. Hell, there's still authors that go on and complain about fanfic (see: the recent Gabaldon wank) even though fanfic has been around for decades. It's going to be a long time until companies get used to this whole idea of being able to see their fans, and the crazy things their fans do.
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Well, my friend the_lucky_ducky did a screenwriting class once, maybe you can DM her.
I'm glad I don't live in the country anymore. It's bad enough here in the suburbs.
And no, I found the picture not interesting at all. :D
Edit (for the 2nd time) to fix the ***** link
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Thanks for offering your friend's help. I'm just not sure how to proceed with a project like this.
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HereTV is probably under negotiations presently on a DVD deal for their show. In order to look good to distributors, they can't have their stuff all over the net. It makes distributors think, "We're gonna lose all our profits on this; it's practically in public domain!"
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Just checked. They are out on DVD so we can spend about $25 per season unless we get them used. Hmm. Maybe the fanvids were cutting into DVD sales, but I don't know how one would determine that.
Wish I'd asked the makers of those fanvids to let me have copies of them. Oh, well. Too late now.
That does count as experience! I keep wondering if a Raffles movie would have to start with Ides since the characters aren't as well-known (unlike Holmes) or if it could just start with a daring caper. Thoughts?
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