*Curtsies* hello, Duke! I was wondering whether or not you’ve ever had any experience in screenwriting for TV or film? That is my absolute dream job, and I’ve had a bit of playwriting experience and just wondering how similar/different it is in your opinion.

dukeofbookingham:

*Curtsies* I worked as a script consultant for an indie TV show I was on in college but it was very low-key and mostly consisted of me saying to the writers “How am I supposed to say that with a straight face?” and fixing the grammar. So I’m not sure how much help I’ll be here, but I do think you have to acknowledge that TV has a lot of tropes and conventions that stage plays really don’t, because TV scripts are written for a group of characters that already exist and have to fit into a certain time slot and follow a certain type of narrative arc. Not so in the theatre. In the theatre pretty much anything goes. But again, this isn’t really my area. You might look into the book Save the Cat! A couple of my screenwriter friends have gushed about that in the past.

J. Michael Straczynski has written a really good scriptwriting book. He wrote for Babylon 5 as well as exec produced it. He’s also written for movies, comics, etc. Definitely a good place to start.