Screenplay Writing Software

What is the best literature to aid in writing a screenplay or movie script?

I have an idea for what I would like to see as a movie... Yeah, I know... Fat chance... But I would really like to write a script for it and be able to present it in prefessional form. My history in writing is limited to poetry, songs and what writing I was required to do in school. So I am completely in the dark when it comes to writing a script or screenplay (see... for all I know, a script and a screenplay are the same thing). But I am aware that there is some kind of standard blueprint for how to write a script properly (ie: fonts, spacing, etc...). I am also aware that there are certain terms and lingo used in a professionally written script that the average Joe (me) are dumb to. So can anybody tell me a good resource for learning a good script outline and familiarizing myself with the lingo? I saw "Screenwriting for Dummies" on ebay and several other books and computer software. I'm not looking to jump into this blind and start writing before I can really delve deep into understanding how to properly write, package and present a script. So any help would be tremendously appreciated. Thanks guys.

Public Comments

1. While I dont know the particular answer to how a script is written, I would say the best thing to do is to look at the script of your favorite movie and see the differences between it and the movie. My favorite movie is a film called Pitch Black, and so when I saw the script for it, I loved it because there are some things that I read that made me visualize everything that I saw in the film, and other things that I noticed had been changed. I know it's not what you asked, but I thought I'd still share. Here is the script to Pitch Black, it shows how the person who wrote this particular script decided to organize it. I hope this helps! http://sfy.ru/?script=pitch_black
2. Chris Vogler's The Writer's Journey and Paul Argentini's Element's of Style for Screenwriters are both good. Celtx is a free online program for screenplay format. If you want to use a bought program, I use Final Draft a lot of others use Movie Magic Screenwriter. I know FD and it works for me, I can't comment on MMSW. An average script is about 20,000 words. There's all kinds of BS about script lengths. A script is as long as it needs to be as long as it's under 120 pages. Most seem to come in around 93-98 pages these days. Hell I've got one in production that came in at 85, so it's a crap shoot. There's a whole lot of people who are trying to separate the new screenwriter from their cash. There's no secret to this, it's not a mystery. You sit your ass in a chair and write and write and write some more and make sure the story's good and you care about the characters. That is really it. Who knew. I've had a bunch of little stuff on TV, I've had two films produced (and believe me it's not the best thing that can happen to you) and I've got three films on the slate for next year (which I have higher hopes for). You can get stuff made, you don't always need connections but they sure don't hurt. Good luck. I'm a produced screenwriter