Now that Frenzy is over, I miss it. I want to try writing another screenplay. The trouble is, I have only one idea--and I'm pretty sure I couldn't make a feature-length film out of it. Where do you get your ideas? How do you get to know your characters? (I was lucky enough to have a whole cast just start talking to me about 2 weeks before Frenzy, but I know very little about their lives before the story.)

Also, where can I learn more about camera shots? I would like to add a much greater variety of them than I've been able to find in the screenwriter's FAQ, but I don't know anything about them and what they mean.

Ideas just surface. They're all over the place, you just have to train yourself to find them. If you haven't read Stephen King's book On Writing, I highly recommend it.

If you want to learn more about the technical aspects of making movies, watch DVD Director's Commentaries and check out the special features for things like storyboards and shooting scripts. Seriously, they're a wealth of information and it's a lot cheaper than film school.

Also, consider taking an Intro to Film class at a local junior college.