Ten Steps to Completing Your Screenplay
Screenwriting
is a skilled trade, and a good screenplay must be molded and managed with
craftsman hands. But the hard truth is that good screenwriting is a “nose to
the grindstone” occupation. And if you want to be a serious screenwriter, you
must make the commitment. Be disciplined, get organized, prioritize, and above
all else, write. So if you're willing to do the work to turn your idea into a completed screenplay, follow these ten key steps:
1.
Choosing Your Material:
Your
foundation is you. There are stories in all of us, and you are
what you write, so writing
from within is always a good place to draw
from. It’s usually a mistake to write
out of your realm, especially for the beginning
screenwriter. And writing a screenplay is no easy task; it takes months,
sometimes a year or longer to go from conception to final draft, and you don’t
want to work with material you don’t enjoy, so be smart and write
what you love.
2.
Getting Started: The Idea:
Screenplays
evolve essentially two ways: story drive (often called High
Concept), when a writer plugs original
characters into a tailor-made plot, or character driven, in which the plot is born organically from the characters,
usually an unforgettable main protagonist. But regardless of the approach, a
screenplay often sinks or swims on the idea alone. So have lots of ideas. Lots of them! And make sure they are fresh, original, and
unique.
3.
Character Development:
There
are many ways to go about creating
characters – using a character
questionnaire, doing character
exercises, exploring your hero’s
top ten rules, or even applying our 7-day
character schedule – but regardless of how you
research your characters, you must always ask yourself the why: Why do your
characters ask to be in a story? What do they want? Because then you begin to
find out why you want to write the whole story, and story starts with
character.
4.
Story Development:
Screenwriting
is telling an exciting story about an interesting character, who wants
something badly, and is having trouble getting it. Here’s the equation:
[(Character + Want) x Conflict = Story]. And asking questions is the key. Using
a Story
Questionnaire to help you clarify key story
elements, such as theme, location, population, and situation, will help you understand the world of the story, create
polarity, and apply plausible obstacles.
5.
Learning the Genre:
Film genres (and subgenres) are important because people rarely go to
the movies to be surprised. The audience knows the girl will get the guy in the
end, the villains get their just deserts, and that rom-coms are nothing like
reality. In the real world, love is hell and sometimes the bad guys win, but in
the movies, love is pure and the hero always saves the day. Screenwriting is
not about reinventing the wheel. The key is to understand the genre and meet the
expectations of its audience.
6.
Understanding Your Audience:
All
good writing is crafted with the audience in mind, but simply understanding
your audience and the rules of the genre you're working in means next to nothing if you fail to connect
with that audience. If your audience isn't invested in
the story, if they don’t care about the characters, if they are not intimately involved, anticipating,
reaching conclusions, and adding it up... well, then you're in trouble, riding
a sinking ship.
7.
Planning Your Foundation:
You
are the architect of your screenplay, but before you FADE IN on page one, you
must do the prep work and plot out your story. Sure, you can build something without
a blueprint, but you can build something so much better with a clear, organized
plan. And this is your Outline. The perfect outline is unique to each writer, but it
should include at the very least how the story ends and
begins, as well as the screenplay’s five
major plot points.
8.
Building Your Structure:
This
is the hammer and nails part - the rough carpentry. Every script from every
genre is built from Three-Act
Structure: Act One (set up), Act Two (obstacles), and Act
Three (resolution). The total number of sequences included is debatable, depending upon the genre (every
Action film has an extra sequence as it begins with the end of the last
adventure), but the Eight
Sequence Structure is a good universal standard to
build from.
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9.
Applying Your Detail:
This
is the craftsman work. It’s one thing to have a great story idea with
unforgettable characters and a crystal clear plan, and it’s another thing
entirely to apply it in screenplay form, maximizing the visual
page. But you must also write with an original voice, while delivering concise scenes that reveal character and move the story forward. And then
there is the dialogue: Show, Don't Tell. Film is a visual
medium, not verbal storytelling through
talking heads.
10.
Completing Your Script:
Writing
a screenplay is a marathon, not a sprint. And the goal is to complete your
screenplay, not to make it perfect. You'll have plenty of time for improvements
in the 2nd, or 7th, or 17th drafts. Writing
is rewriting, but you can never honestly call
yourself a screenwriter until you first complete a screenplay. So create a
practical writing
schedule and stick to it. Dedication,
fortitude, and simply showing up everyday to write… now that is the
secret....
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