Many of you have been asking about software/apps for scriptwriting. So, I thought I'd pop a quick little guide in here for you. Let me know if I've missed anything out! You can write a basic script using any word processor - Word, Google Docs, Pages etc. But if you want to get serious about scriptwriting, and if you want to share your work with actors at your local theatre, or agents, or film producers, at some point you’re going to want to use an app or software package to create scripts in industry-recognised formats. (and you’re also probably going to get a bit fed up of using the tab button/spending ages formatting each part of your document at some point). And yep, you did read that correctly - formats. Plural. Because each branch of the industry has its own specific format(s) - radio, TV, film, theatre - and there are even some regional variations. But, honestly, until you’re in production with something where there are very specific formatting needs, for now, you just need something to do the most common types - screen and stage. The word you’re going to see me use a lot here is ‘elements’. By this, I mean the different parts of a script. Not scenes or acts. I mean what each bit of a script within each scene tells us. These are basically the following: - Scene heading - in theatre, usually the scene number, sometimes a title for each scene.  - Character - the name of the character who is speaking, or performing some kind of action (‘MARK walks into a room’, for instance) - Dialogue - the words a character says, either out loud within the actual scene, off camera/offstage, or as a voiceover (like a narrator in a film) - Action - anything that can be seen or heard in a scene, other than the dialogue. - (Parentheticals) - usually within dialogue to explain how something is delivered - shouting, whispered, to another specific character -  or a pause.  - Transition - at the end of a scene, how it ends - e.g. blackout in theatre, fade or ‘cut to’ on screen 

Hi all. Here’s a question. Do you write more easily during the week or at the weekend?

Good morning! I'm a little quieter on here at the moment, as I attempt to get the first/riot/vomit/ugly draft of the script I'm working on finished... and, like many of us, I sometimes find it hard to keep motivated. So, earlier I was looking through the very first writing notebook I kept, and realised I'd found and recorded lots of quotes about writing. Here's one that is hugely relevant for me today... "Writing is the art of applying the ass to the seat." - Dorothy Parker What's your favourite quote on writing? And what keeps you motivated? Happy writing! Mark :-)

…takes place this Sunday at 7pm GMT. Here on Skool (assuming my middle-aged brain can make the tech work!) Looking forward to meeting whoever can make it/drop in. And looking forward to chatting about what’s ahead! Pets VERY welcome - I’ll have at least one dog with me. Hope to see you there/then!

One thing I hope we're going to do a lot of on here is sharing our work. Reading scripts is a vital part of learning to write scripts (We learn what works and what doesn't, what we like, what we don't like, and - most importantly - what is possible in a script.) So, in the spirit of that, I'm sharing (for the first time anywhere ever) the Episode One/Pilot script of my ITV drama Tell Me Everything, which ran for 2 seasons (and is still available to watch on ITVX and various other platforms around the world - You can watch this episode here https://www.itv.com/watch/tell-me-everything/10a1188?utm_source=IOS&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_campaign=product_social-sharing-programme-page&utm_marketing_tactic=acquisition). Happy reading, happy writing!