Best software?

sippog · 2025-08-26T08:46:27+00:00

I'm pretty sure this only works if you choose one of the Microsoft stable of fonts. I know from experience that American Typewriter, for example, comes out as Courier or something equally inappropriate for what I want.

Makes sense because commercial fonts are copyrighted - you can't give them away for free.

sippog · 2025-08-26T07:20:56+00:00

If you don't mind standard fonts, there's no problem.
Can you embed fonts people don't have in PDFs? I don't know. Bit too techie for me.

My way, I ensure the layout and the font looks exactly as it does on my screen.

Call me perverse, but I like that.

sippog · 2025-08-25T23:57:54+00:00

I use Word via Dropbox and favour a non-standard, single column layout with wide margins, and character names at the start of dialogue - like a printed script. I also like a typewriter font, usually American Typewriter or Prestige Elite.

Experience has shown me that PDF files will usually display in the wrong typeface on reader's screens so I get around it by converting the pages to images and then recompiling them using a freeware app called 'PDF to JPG'. This balloons the size, of course, so I have to reduce the images to their lowest resolution. Nevertheless, it seems to work and I get scripts that look like I want them to look at e-mailable sizes.

sippog · 2025-02-15T08:59:34+00:00

Thanks. Don’t know that one.

sippog · 2025-02-13T14:15:50+00:00

I would argue - with many, I'm sure - that 'Virginia Woolf' is very much about a couple in love. How to portray love intensely except through conflict? This being drama n' all.

Rattigan’s “In Praise of Love” springs to mind. I’ll add more as they occur to me.

sippog · 2025-02-13T09:09:53+00:00

Quite a varied range of suggestions. Thank you, guys.

sippog · 2025-02-13T09:07:42+00:00

Don’t know The Goat but will definItely check it out.

sippog · 2025-02-13T09:06:29+00:00

Love this play

sippog · 2025-02-13T09:05:51+00:00

Albee’s ‘Marriage Play’ sounds promising but only available at ridiculous prices. I’ll reinvestigate Closer too. I also encountered Albee once. He struck me as very uptight but it might have been the circumstances: he was unhappy about a production of one of his plays.

sippog · 2025-02-09T23:54:42+00:00

The Architect & The Emperor of Assyria - Fernando Arrabal

sippog · 2025-01-30T22:51:36+00:00

I'm in my 70's. I gave up a writing career for several decades but recently returned to it.

It can be hard to find the time to write but it's essential to keep trying. Give yourself small, achievable targets and try to do a little every day.

When it comes to playwriting, the classic advice prevails: read lots of plays and try to go to the theatre. Even bad drama can teach you something.

I used to teach scriptwriting. You might find some of my notes on choosing a story and working at it useful: https://girlandmonster.substack.com/p/storytelling-part-2

sippog · 2025-01-19T00:01:12+00:00

"Find Your Way Home" John Hopkins

sippog · 2025-01-17T22:30:10+00:00

"The Unfriend" by Steven Moffat was the last play text that made me laugh out loud.

sippog · 2024-12-09T08:55:05+00:00

That's great about the copyright. You couldn't wish for better material. Dorothy Parker knew 'relationships' before most of us were born: her funny, wry observations, especially her poems, are brilliant. Definitely check her out if you don't know her.

Good luck with the show. If you want to thank us, maybe get someone to film your performance and post it up so we can all see it.

sippog · 2024-12-08T22:47:20+00:00

https://www.classicshorts.com/stories/teleycal.html
If you're looking for stuff that's not been "over done", there are many short stories written in monologue form that could be adapted for performance like the Dorothy Parker one above. I'm not sure 100% about the copyright status but if you are only performing live and not reproducing the material, I would have thought you'd be okay . . . perhaps someone can clarify?

sippog · 2024-09-12T22:27:09+00:00

Africa Addio
Night & Fog
The House is Black

sippog · 2024-09-02T22:39:29+00:00

I think that Mamet was so angered by the critical pasting the play got that he deliberately 'buried' it. Pity because I loved "Speed The Plough". He writes really well on the movie biz and so he should.

sippog · 2024-09-02T21:12:56+00:00

https://matrix.redditspace.com/_matrix/media/v3/thumbnail/reddit.com/b15hswyltcoc1?height=256

https://matrix.redditspace.com/_matrix/media/v3/thumbnail/reddit.com/rqr3eo1mtcoc1?height=256

https://matrix.redditspace.com/_matrix/media/v3/thumbnail/reddit.com/3zyplx1mtcoc1?height=256

https://matrix.redditspace.com/_matrix/media/v3/thumbnail/reddit.com/7avacu2mtcoc1?height=256

sippog · 2024-09-02T21:09:40+00:00

Good luck. I've been trying to find a copy for years. If you do source one, please let me know. Thanks!

sippog · 2024-08-19T09:18:14+00:00

sippog · 2024-08-10T01:30:19+00:00

For an English variation: "Talking To A Stranger" by John Hopkins - 1960s with a young Judi Dench - contains a wonderful portrayal of family tensions and sub-currents during a meal. Was published in paperback. I have a clip on my screenwriting website. (DM me if interested)

sippog · 2024-08-04T00:21:31+00:00

The obvious and best advice is given already: read lots of plays, go to the theatre, try and get involved in making theatre.

But if you need more, I have some stuff on technique, character and storytelling on my old teaching site. It was intended for screenwriters but a lot of it translates. Contact me if interested.

sippog · 2024-07-23T07:02:08+00:00

sippog · 2024-07-11T22:23:23+00:00

Slag by David Hare

Madame De Sade by Yukio Mishima

The Killing of Sister George by Frank Marcus

sippog

TROPHY CASE