How To Write A Screenplay
Interview and Advice From Hollywood Screenwriter Ray Griggs
Suite101 interviewed Ray Griggs who discussed his process of screenwriting, how a story develops visually in his mind, and when he knows he's finished writing.
Suite101: What inspires you to write a script?
Griggs: It depends on what I sit down to do with the genre. With Super Capers it’s a mixture of emotions. It's a family comedy, but with serious moments played by the characters. With writing the screenplay for Lucifer, I was inspired by the bible and what meaning God had in my life. So when I wrote that it was from a very godly perspective and a cinematic grand overtone. With my third script, The Wind In The Willows, it’s a mixture of the two.
Suite101: You say you're visionary director. How does that translate when writing a script?
Griggs: As a visionary, when I get an idea I will literally watch it in my head over and over and just picture watching a movie over and over again. I’ll go to sleep thinking about it and when I wake up I think about it and I’m constantly watching this movie replay, fast forward, and changing scenes a little bit. It forms this great idea and concept so when I sit down and start writing, I’m transcribing that image on paper. It’s not a long process when I’m writing because I’ve already done all of that in my head in terms of what the actors are saying, wearing, the lighting, and colors. Once I write the script, I take an objective view and erase all the images and just read the script as itself and see how that holds. And then tweak and make modifications.
Suite101: How do you know when you’re done with a script?
Griggs: Basically, I have to give credit to my wife. I’ll finish a script and she’ll be my first audience member because the beauty of her is she was neglected growing up. She didn’t watch that many movies. So if I can captivate her, then I got something. I’ll let her read the script and if she cannot put it down, I’ve got something. Then I’ll take it to a few other sources to get feedback and responses. When I say I’m officially done is when I tell myself. It’s almost like an oil painting.
A movie is never really done, you can always add to it and add to it. I look at it, I read it a couple times and think if I can add anything to it until I get to a point where I say, “Could I green light this and could it be a good film as it stands right now?” I want to make sure it’s good before I put millions of dollars into it.
Ray Griggs is the Director of Super Capers, which stars Justin Whalin, Tom Sizemore, Adam West, and Clint Howard. Ray is also the Award-Winning Director of the short film Lucifer. He is CEO of RG Entertainment, a film production company in Beverly Hills, CA.
Screenplay
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Screenwriter/Director Ray Griggs
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