My Script

[Loller65]

Ugh...I am writing a script for a friend (a particularly attractive female friend, mind you). She wants it feature length. Has anyone here written a feature length script, and if so, what are some handy tips for completing it?

[Dr Gonzo]

Make sure you're getting paid, first of all.

[Swindall]

Or getting some off that chick bro.

[thegreenape]

overall story, basic outline of what's going on, major characters, background, then work on the detail

[Fender]

Yea, make sure you're gettin paid in some form. (I'd really like to know who this particular female is, buddy )

Also have a good, deep story. Make sure to introduce and bring out the characters' personalities thouroughly.

[Dr Gonzo]

When planning your character development, keep in mind that every person deals with every other person in a different way. We are all different people, depending on who we are dealing with. If your story only has two characters, there is only one relationship to explain and to develop, but if your story has three characters, there are six different relationships (and more, if you count relationships against other relationships).

Think about this: Person A interacts with Person B differently than with Person C. Person A interacts differently with both B and C together. And the Same for Person B, with A and C, individually and together.

The more complex and rich your story will be depends solely on how many characters you have, and how often they interact and to what extent.

Oh yeah, make sure you're getting paid, either in dollars or dates (not the kind that come from palms. Palm trees. Definitely the other kinds of palms, though. Get paid in those if you can.).

[CC]

You can also use traits of persons you actually know to help flesh out your characters. Also, keep either a note pad and pen or a recorder with you all the time as changes or new ideas pop into your head, especially if you have a commute to work where you can think about your story.
EDITING! That's what stops me in the tracks of nearly everything I have written.
I have wrote a western saga. I have wrote a tongue in cheek private eye caper.
I have nearly finished an e-book I plan to sell online.
BUT! The stories I have written or not edited. With run-on sentences and a host of other rules broken by my lack of writing skills they are not MANUSCRIPTS. If I was to send them (I have also written several short stories) the way they are the would hit any publisher's trash bin without them ever reading it.
For me, editing (assuming I knew the English language well enough) is like taking it apart brick by brick while checking for several factors at once. I don't have the education or skill to do that. My wife will not do it. I know one person who would, but as I put much of myself into the characters I don't want soemeone I deal with business-wise to know that much.
It cost a fortune ($10 per page) to have someone else re-write it but even then there is no garuntee that it will be published.

I have find that the more time I take to make my final outline the easier it is to keep the story moving forward.
The creative process is the easy part for me. I wrote a poem based on a rock. The editing part however, kills me.
Good luck, I'm going to have to kick myself out of here and another site to get anything done!

[Spartacus]

I suggest writing about -- or borrowing heavily from some event in history -- as usually the real story is more intriguing than anything someone could make up...

Like:

[Loller65]

Mine takes place during WWII.

[Epic]

Two things with WW2: one, with so much info available it is easier to research and write about. Two, with so much info available its easy to miss something or if you've gotten something wrong for others to call BS.

[Loller65]

It isn't a war film that's just its era.