Screenplay Writing Guide

Check out Syd Field’s“The Definitive Guide

to Screenwriting”

“But I don’t have any ideas!”

• Plot

• Genre

• Experiences

• News stories

The 7 Basic Plots

• The Quest• Voyage and Return• Rebirth• Comedy• Tragedy• Overcoming the Monster• Rags to Riches

Screenplays are storiestold with pictures

Keep it visual• Screenplays are stories told with pictures. • Film is a visual medium. You must find

different ways to reveal your character’s needs, conflicts, fears and dreams visually.

• Do not have them talking to someone and telling them how they feel or telling them what has happened to them in the past, or telling them what their intentions for the future are.

Show it visually!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iPFK5T_G3U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e9CkhBb18E

Show, don’t tell!• If they are an insecure angry person, show them

beating up a salesman who knocks on the door.• If they have had a traumatic experience in the

past show them having a panic attack in a train station.

• If they are really happy after receiving good news show them dancing while baking a cake.

• What ever you want to reveal about your character, do it visually with physical actions. Only use dialogue to give information when you absolutely have to!

Part 1: Creating Characters

Characters

• How do you make your character interesting and dramatic?

• There are three aspects to consider when creating your characters:

1.Dramatic need2.Point of view3.Behaviour

1. Dramatic Need• You must define a clear need for your character.• What do they want to get or achieve during the course

of the screenplay?• Every protagonist in a film has a dramatic need. It is

that need that drives the story forwards and makes things happen.

• What are the needs of the following characters?• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5juO62j7W3Q• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQdy98B1nf0• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip6GolC7Mk0• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlx4n_ibNZE

2. Point of View• What makes us unique? What makes us different

to everybody else around us? • The way we see the world and our point of view.• Whose point of view does your character reflect.

Where are they coming from?• A housewife's point of view• A criminals point of view• A poor mans point of view• A parents point of view• A lazy students point of view• All these characters would see the world in a very

different way!

2. Point of View• What is your characters point of view?• Caring, sharing and giving?• Selfish?• Someone who believes in fate and destiny?• Bitter and pessimistic?• Optimistic and grateful no matter what?• To create drama and conflict, surround them

with characters with completely different points of view.

Opposites• Make sure your character is surrounded by

characters who are opposite to them in every way:• Emotionally• Physically• Opposite needs• Opposite behaviourNot just the villains and people opposed to the hero.

Make everyone opposites. Friends, partners, family, EVERYONE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvOQeozL4S0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvsZtGxsvV0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hd_aN0LAgMo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jaI1XOB-bs

3. Behaviour• Behaviour is an important thing

to consider as it shows visually what the character is thinking and feeling and what their dramatic need is.

• Body language, gestures, the way they enter a room, eat, move, talk etc, all explain and show who they are and what they are.

• Are they serious, nervous, talkative, disgusting. The characters physical behaviour must reflect their dramatic need and point of view.

Part 2: Creating Scenes

Writing a Scene

“Enter late and get out early”• As a general rule, enter the scene 3 lines

before the purpose of the scene is revealed. Therefore you only need a minimum amount of dialogue.

• This is only a general guide but a good rule to remember as it will stop your scene dragging and being boring.

“Enter late…”• Imagine a journalist interviewing a famous

criminal. Do we need to see her arriving, sitting down, setting up, exchanging pleasantries and beginning the interview?

• If there is no conflict during this time then your script will be dull and slow.

• It would make more sense to begin the scene 2 or 3 lines before the drama/conflict begins and the purpose of the scene is revealed. E.g. A dramatic question, or reaction or revalation.

“…get out early.”• Leave with some kind of tension so the reader

will want to see what happens next.• With the journalist example, do we need to see

her packing up and leaving and getting into her car? Do we even need to see her finish the interview? Leave at the most dramatic part. End on a high!

• Make the transition to the next scene interesting, smooth and where ever possible visual. Show the characters intentions visually through their body language and actions.

Purpose of a Scene• Every scene should have a purpose. It

should move the story forwards by revealing new information to drive the narrative.

• It should reinforce the characters dramatic need and help show who they are and their view of the world.

• Before writing it consider if it is a dramatically charged scene with lots of action and information

Or• Is it a subtext scene where what’s not said is

more interesting than what is said?

ExampleScene

“Enter late&

get out early”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0fgAfo-e3w

Scene and Character Analysis:1. Does this scene “Enter late and get out early”?2. Purpose. Is the purpose of this scene to give new

information or to reinforce the character? (Both?)3. Just from this scene what would you say is the

characters’:Dramatic NeedPoint of View of the WorldBehaviour

4. Finally, how does this scene “Show not tell”?

Vampire’s Kiss (1988)Plot•A publishing executive is visited and bitten by a vampire and starts exhibiting erratic behavior. •He pushes his secretary to extremes as he tries to come to terms with his affliction.•The vampire continues to visit and drink his blood, and as his madness deepens, it begins to look as if some of the events he's experiencing may be hallucinations…

ExampleScene

Scene purpose:Info or

Character?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghhpe7n7Gi0&feature=player_embedded

Recap: Characters and Scenes1. Pick a plot.2. Choose a genre (or genres) to write within.3. Create a character with a strong and clear dramatic need,

point of view and behaviour, and surround them with opposites.

4. Decide what the purpose of your scenes are. What it should reveal about your characters or the situation they are in.

5. Once you have decided, “Enter late and get out early!”6. Most importantly Show don’t tell.

“Screenplays are storiestold with pictures”.

So keep it visual!