Big Screen, Small Screen A practical guide to writing for flim and television in Australia

Thinking in pictures is a gift; transferring them to words on paper is a craft. Put them together, and that's the screenwriter's art.

Big Screen, Small Screen is a complete guide to writing for film and television for beginners as well as more experienced writers. It covers all aspects of screenwriting from changing a film genre to picking a television timeslot.

Taking you through the basics of screenwriting with step by step guides to structure, character and the first draft script, and valuable tips and exercises, it also shows you how to find and agent, deal with producers, market your script and apply for funding.

Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART 1 - Preparation: Before the writing begins

1 Big Screen, Small Screen

2 Changing genres for the market

3 Who wants what - and who gets it?

PART 2 - The writing process: Getting it down on paper

4 Character function

5 Creating characters and back stories

6 Structure

7 Adapting the structure

8 Dialogue and scene construction

9 Subtext and visual text

10 The range of formats

11 Formatting the first draft

PART 3 - The completed script: Now the fun really starts

12 Revising the first draft

13 Pre-production relationships

14 The television serial

15 Selling your script

Film and television references

Bibliography

Index