thinking of writing a screenplay
I’ve been screenwriting for about five years, having never written before that. I’ve made decent progress, placing in a few competitions -- and feel bullish about my prospects going forward. Best advice I could give is… don’t believe any of that “you can write a hit movie in 4 months” jive that a lot of sites try to push. Writing a screenplay is no easier than writing a novel. You need a great concept, great story, good prose, and adherence to screenwriting conventions. Its not as easy as it’s made out to be. You’re essentially writing both a good to great story AND movie. You should be prepared to invest plenty of time and effort into it… if you’re serious.
As far as Software is concerned, Writerduet, Fade In, and Celtx, would be my recommendations (in order of preference).
Some general advice:
read plenty of amateur screenplays/spec scripts. There’s a slew of great books on the subject, wouldn’t invest in buying any though, as if you google search you’ll find a few great one’s on-line for free.
Hint: Story, by Robert McKee
A few interesting sites to follow, read, listen to are:
Scriptnotes (hosted by the writers of Chernobyl, and Aladdin)
Wordplay (a series of articles written by Terry Rossio, who wrote Pirates of the Caribbean and a zillion other movies)
DoneDeaPro (screenwriting forum with a treasure trove a great advice)
Scriptshadow (Screenwriting blog that hosts amateur screenwriting competitions every week. A good place to find amateur spec scripts.)
R/Screenwriting (has loads of links to scripts and screenwriting information. Very beneficial.)
If you feel the itch, then go for it. Best of Luck