: Re: Why write a book when there's a movie in my head? Around a decade ago, I had a dream. An actual middle of the night dream. An entire movie played in my head, all I had to do was write

@Jessie137

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Screenplays are collaborative, whether you like it or not.

Actors will say the lines. Directors will alter the tone. The photographer will create their own vision. And the producers will hire other screenwriters to "fix" your screenplay because they have spent a great deal of money and will hire more experts than they need. The star will have some demands. Characters will be combined or discarded because of shooting schedule. And the year your screenplay goes into production a certain special effect will be trendy and an extra scene is added to showcase it. the studio has decided the film needs a soundtrack album of vintage hits from their back catalog. And the entire story has been transposed to Vancouver for budget reasons.

And then there is editing. And test marketing.

A screenplay is not a stand-alone document. screenplays aren't an "end in themselves" the way a novel is (comment: BruceWayne). A screenplay is really "spec" for more work in the industry, writing and fixing screenplays. As the writer you will not have much control over the final product.

As a novel author you might be asked to make changes in a rewrite, but a screenplay is not realized until long after it leaves your hands and has been reinterpreted in hundreds of ways by everyone involved.

You can pay to self-publish and you have a book. It will cost a lot of money to produce your screenplay.

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