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How to Read Others' Screenplays

If you're a beginning screenwriter, reading screenplays is a way to familiarize yourself with the screenplay format. Studying professionally written screenplays, in particular, allows you to compare your writing with that of working screenwriters. You can also take a look at the work of budding screenwriters to gauge your writing skills against theirs. This process also allows you to uncover tips that will strengthen your own writing. Even if you take a class or read books about the nuts and bolts of the craft, reading actual screenplays helps you understand how to execute them more effectively.

Instructions

    • 1

      Join a local or regional screenwriters group. These groups often have online sites filled with useful information. A number of locales have screenwriters groups designed to allow writers to network and read one another's work. Consider starting a group yourself if one does not exist in your area.

    • 2

      Sign up for an online screenwriting forum such as Done Deal Professional. In addition to the resources that this particular site offers for a fee, Done Deal Professional offers free information on both the business and craft of screenwriting, including discussions of both produced and unproduced scripts. The site also offers an opportunity to read pages from other site members' screenplays.

    • 3

      Visit a website such as Simply Scripts or Drew's Script-O-Rama. Both these sites -- and others like them -- provide free links to screenplays.

Screen Writing

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