WHO ARE WE?
BlackScreenplays.com is the creation of Ted
Rudolph (BSEE-Oakland, CA) and Robert Cunningham (BSMS-Atlanta,
GA)
with Stephen Leonard (MCSD, OH).
This web site comes about because one day we were looking
for some information about writing screenplays about
the African-American community. We had an interest
in African-American movies, and had thought about one day
writing a screenplay. We hit all of the major web search
engines with the simple inquire: African-American screenplays.
To our surprise nothing returned. We tried "Black screenplays",
again nothing returned. We could not believe that in the
entire web universe their was not one site on writing screenplays
about the African-American community. We ended up doing
a general search on screenplays and found several websites
on screenwriting, but none had the information we were looking
for. The idea for this site was born that day.
As you are probably aware, African-Americans are
underrepresented in Hollywood today. To try to remedy this situation, we decided to place
all the information we have found on screenwriting on
this web site. Their are a number of reasons why Blacks
are underrepresented in Hollywood; We didn't want a
lack of knowledge about screenwriting to be one of them.
Remember, Great Black movies start with Great Black
Screenplays!
WHAT IS A BLACK SCREENPLAY? We define a Black
screenplay as a screenplay that is either about the
African-American community, or has African-Americans
as the main characters. Other than those two things
a Black screenplay is the same as any other screenplay;
All of the rules of screenplay formatting, character
development, dialogue, and story development are the
same. You do not have to be Black to write a great Black
screenplay (check out the movie "Nothing But a Man"
(1964) by Robert M. Young and Michael Roemer
), but it does help sometimes. Some Black writers find
being classified as a Black screenwriter as limiting,
and somewhat constraining. Our response to this is that
a Black screenwriter is limited only by their imagination,
because their are still so many more African-American
stories to be told.
Now, don't think of this site as some high-brow intellectual
site about writing the great Black intellectual movie
epic. If your project is "Booty Call 5-The Return of
the Rump Shaker" so be it. We simply want to provide
the information you need to write a logical, and properly
formatted screenplay (Bad movies-maybe? Bad screenplays-
never!). We would hope that the information provided
on this site would help you write a meaningful and thought
provoking movie, but what you decide to write is strictly
up to you.
We have always had an interest in Black movies, and
screenwriting. We are not professional screenwriters
(which means we do have day jobs), but over the years
have taken screenwriting courses from the UCLA Extension,
and our local colleges.
WHERE DID THIS INFORMATION COME FROM?
The information on this site was collected from
various written and web sources. Most of it was collected
when we were writing our screenplay "It's Not A Game" .
The topics covered on this site are listed below:
* Screenplay Glossary is provided to help with
some of the screenwriting terms.
* Screenplay Formatting takes care of the screenplay
page format and layout.
*Screenplay example is the screenplay we wrote,
along with a script analysis
and edited screenplay by screenwriter Mr. Paul W. Cooper.
*Featured Screenwriter spotlights a working screenwriter
who answers
questions about screenwriting, and the screenwriting business.
* The Screenwriting Books is a bibliophiles
of books that will provide more detailed information on
screenwriting.
*Screenplay Software is information on screenwriting
software that can make the writing process easier.
*Screenwriting Classes provide information on
online screenwriting classes.
* Writing Screenplay Characters is about how
your characters should be presented in the screenplay.
*Screenplay Plot and Story Development gives
information of how to put your story together in a logical
manner.
*Screenplay Copyrighting provides information
on how to copyright and register your finished screenplay.
*From Screenplay to Movie provides information
on converting your screenplay into a film.
*Links provides addition web resources that
might come in handy to you.
*Feedback is for you to communicate with us
about this site.
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