a few random thoughts on telling stories and writing screenplays
If you’ve made it this far through the process then – good news! We are finally going to start writing a script. Fire up Final Draft (or the scriptwriting application of your choice), put on a pot of coffee and get ready. Trust me, because of all the work you put in beforehand, this is going…Continue Reading “The Screenwriting Process – Step 6. Scenes”
(or, the art of writing a “scriptment”) So, you’ve got a solid outline of five or six pages that step through what’s going to happen in your script — you can now just crack on and write the damn thing, right? Nope. You’re going to hate me now. But it’s time to outline again. I can’t…Continue Reading “The Screenwriting Process – Step 5. Outline… again!”
So. You’ve got your inspiration, your premise, all your characters sorted. Surely now, you can jump into writing the actual damn screenplay? As Shia LaBeouf would say: “No, no, no, no, NO!” Now is the time to outline. Nothing has improved the speed and quality of my writing than learning the importance of creating an…Continue Reading “The Screenwriting Process – Step 4. Outline”
Some people might think that the natural next step after nailing your premise is to put together a plot. And that’s a legitimate way to go. But I find that I’m creating more organic and meaningful plots when I’ve done some work on the characters who will people the narrative beforehand. Why? Because that way…Continue Reading “The Screenwriting Process – Step 3. Characters”
Now that you have your idea and you’re all fired up and ready to write, you need to start and do a little real work. The place this work begins is writing a premise. What is a premise? For me, it is a one-sentence summary of what your script is all about. In the industry,…Continue Reading “The Screenwriting Process – Step 2. Premise”
Don’t start. That’s the first piece of advice I’d give anyone who asks me how to start a script. Don’t start. At least, not yet. The quickest and simplest way to get yourself a half-baked script that no one wants to read is to set off without knowing where you’re going. To dive in and…Continue Reading “The Screenwriting Process – Step 1. Starting”