How to Write a Screenplay

Edited by Keifer Albin, Ben Rubenstein, Marshall "Disgrace", Sondra C and 43 others
Have a great idea for a movie? Here are the steps to get it onto paper.




EditScreenplay Help


Sample Script Outline

Sample Script

EditWriting Your Own Screenplay


  1. Read screenplays. Read as many as you can. Think of a movie you liked, (or hated), and get a sense of how the page translates to the screen. A great place to find scripts to read is Drew's Script-o-Rama[1] or ScreenWriterCenter[2] or just look around on the web for other sites.


  2. Familiarize yourself with the format of a screenplay. There are many books regarding the format, as well as the content of screenplays. Don't get too hung on this, but there are conventions to be obeyed.

  3. Great beginners books include "How Not To Write A Screenplay" by Denny Martin Flynn, "Screenwriting For Dummies", by John Logan and Laura Schellhardt, "Making A Good Script Great" by Linda Seger and "Screenplay" by Syd Field.

  4. Great books once you have the hang of the basic concepts are "Story" by Robert McKee, and "Screenplay, the Sequence Approach", by Paul Gulino.

  5. Generate an idea. Develop the idea with characters and plot. Outlines work best but storyboards can help "visual" thinkers.

  6. Buy some good screenplay formatting software program. If your script is not in the proper format, producers will not accept it. Suggestions are Montage Software or Storyist for Macintosh, Final Draft for Windows, or Scripts Pro for iPad and iPhone. Another option is to get celtx[3] which is a free screenplay/storyboard software package. Formatting templates are also available for most word processors, including Microsoft Word[4] and OpenOffice.org Writer[5].

  7. Write your screenplay! The best way to learn is through experience.

  8. Rewrite your screenplay. Be sure to check dialogue, structure, and the story itself. Many people get caught up in the dialogue, and forget about making sure the story makes sense. Also, you are not going to write an Oscar-worthy screenplay the first time. Editing is essential.

  9. You are finished! Your first screenplay, again, may not get you any awards, but keep writing. The more scripts you write, the better you will become.



Edit Tips

  • Always think about telling stories that have the power to move people. Action movies have their place, but even then if the audience cares about the lead characters your movie has a far greater chance of taking off.
  • Try putting your plot into a rough draft. You will have a guideline for your script. Try to create a beat sheet for your story - that's a list of all the story events, one sentence each. When you see your story mapped out like this it is much easier to see the bits that don't work.
  • Very popular commercial programs are Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter. (http://www.finaldraft.com and http://www.screenplay.com) They tend to be the ones the bigger studios use, so if your career takes off you will probably end up owning both.
  • Another free alternative for screenplay software is Celtx, available for download at http://www.celtx.com/.
  • Make sure your completed screenplay is between 100 and 120 pages of standard format. This makes it far more likely to be read if you submit it cold to a studio.
  • These days some really great writing is found on television in shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier, Prison Break, LOST and other top end shows. Watching these shows can teach you a lot about tight plotting and taut dialogue.
  • For iPad and iPhone users, a must have app is Scripts Pro, which allows for writing and editing scripts in FDX and CELTX formats available for download in iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scripts-pro/id348543183?mt=8.
  • Get friends or family to read your scripts. They are great at catching the mistakes made. But be wary when they tell you what needs changing. At this early stage it's far more important to think about bigger story questions than obsess over fine dialogue details.
  • RoughDraft is a free, Wordpad-like text processor, with automatic screenplay formating. Download it at http://www.rsalsbury.co.uk/rd_download.htm


Edit Warnings

  • Once you write it, do not get discouraged if your final draft does not come out the way you planned. The trick of creating a really great screenplay is to stay at it. Most writers do not realize that screenplays should be re-written many times before you send it out to Hollywood.
  • If it is your dream, go for it. But realize that it is a challenge. Make sure you're ready to settle in.
  • Screenwriting is tough. Many people who watch movies think that they could easily write something better, but they don't realize how tough it is.
  • If you want to write a script, that's great. Go for it. Just realize that it can take days or weeks to even work out your story before you start writing the script itself.

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