screenwriters toolkit

Have you ever read a choose-your-own-adventure? This exercise is similar. Your Task: Create a character and the situation they’re at in their life. Now, pick 3 different journeys for their story. Once you’ve got that, come up with 5 major events for each of the 3 journeys. For example, Marla is a high-school senior. It’s 4 months before graduation and she just found out she’s pregnant. Her parents will kill her if they find out. 1 of the 3 possible journeys might be: Her boyfriend convinces her to drop out of school and run away with him. 2 of the 5 major events of this journey include: 1. She tells her parents and they freak out on her; 2. She and her boyfriend are in a park weighing their options, when he comes up with a plan for running away. Now, it’s your turn.

The first time I had my screenplay read out loud, I immediately knew many of the things that had to change. Try it! Your Task: Get hold of a finished screenplay. Get a group of people (at least 2 others). Assign parts to each person and read the screenplay out loud. Finished? Now, have each person do a 10-minute freewrite answering the following questions: What are my impressions of this work? What do I wish was in it? What am I glad that was included? Share.

You’ve finished a draft of your script! Congratulations. Now it’s time to re-write. Before you get started, get someone else to help you clear your thoughts. Your Task: Get Interviewed! Have a friend interview you about your script. Here are some questions: What do you like about your work? What do you want to change? What should never be changed? Why? How do you feel about writing? What about yourself as a writer? If you had to give up your script to a production company today, what would you be embarrassed about? What are you proud of? Hope that gets you started!

It’s inevitable. Every step of the production route will change your script! Your Task: Check out some examples of how this has happened. Download a script for a movie you like. Watch the movie and follow along with your script. Note what’s been changed, what’s been cut or added. Immediately following the flick, freewrite for 10 minutes on what you just saw.

In Secrets of Film Writing, Tom Lazarus describes Morris the Explainer as “the guy who comes in at the end of your script to explain all the things you haven’t written clearly enough in the body of the script.” Your Task: Become Morris. Re-read the script you just wrote and take notes throughout. While you’re reading, note what still needs explanation to an audience or producer.

Editing a script entails knowing it inside and out. Your Task: Break down a script to learn more about it. To do this, you’ll need to download a script for a movie you like. Also, get a stack of notecards. Reading the script, write a 1 or 2 sentence description of each scene. When you’re done, (cogratulate yourself on a huge task, then) pick 11 random cards from the pile and write the purpose of that scene.

The art of re-writing lives in your ability to let go of key concepts in your original work. I had an art teacher once who painted vigorously one day, then came back the next day looking at her painting “as if it was a blank page.” She taught me to let go of my artistic ego and drop the attachment I had to specific elements of my work. Doing this opened me up to criticism and taught me a lot about writing. Your Task: Pick a scene that involves 1 protagonist, 1 antagonist & 1 other person. This could be a scene that you’ve written, or a scene from a movie that you’ve downloaded the script for. Now, switch the roles of the characters (antagonist becomes neutral, protagonist becomes antagonist, etc) and re-write this scene with the same action from the original scene.

It’s time to get some help from the world outside your creativity. Script consultants provide writers with valuable feedback and tend to know quite a bit about re-writing your script. Learning some of the things they know can enhance your editiing ability. Your Task: Find a willing script consultant, and interview them about the kinds of notes they take. Alternatively, research articles on script consultants and read 5 to 10 of them. Now, make a list of 10 things to consider when re-writing.

Scenes move viewers through action at a specific pace. Mastering the art of pacing gives you the freedom to adapt the physics of your screenplay. Your Task: Pick an action scenerio. One person chasing another down a city block is one example. Next, write this scenerio once as a 3 page scene. Now, write the same exact scenerio as a 1 page scene.