screenwriters toolkit

Editing our own scripts is sometimes wrought with our own defensiveness and inability to let go of what we originally put on the page. Practicing with other scripts can improve our skills and help us see that no matter how done we think a script is, it can always use a little more work. Your Task: Download and read someone else’s script. Answer these questions: What opportunities have the writers missed? What loose-ends have not been tied up? Does this seem important to the writer? Why or why not? How would you make this script better? Explain each element you would change in detail. To go even further, share your notes with someone who has read the script or seen the movie. What do they think of your comments?

One of the best ways to learn structure is to analyze someone else’s work. Your Task: Pick 1 movie and watch it a few times. While doing so, make a list of all the characters in it. Then, make a list of each scene — where it takes place and a brief (anywhere from a few words to a couple sentences) description of the point of the scene. Is it purely for character development? Does it move the plot forward? What happens?

It’s time to practice writing beginnings. Your Task: Take this story idea: 2 Teenagers with stockings on their faces and a handgun enter their neighbors house. Brainstorm 5 possible ways this story could begin. Write your favorite one as a properly formatted scene.

Is all action fast paced? What other ways are movies paced that draw audiences in? Your Task: Find a movie with slower pacing that you find compelling. Answer these questions: What are 4 elements that draw you in? How did the movie makers use other things to make it interesting?

So many new writers make place a sidenote in their scripts. Let’s change place around and see how it effects everything. Your Task: Write (or find) a 2 page scene that takes place outside in the sunshine. Now, rewrite it 3 times — once while it’s raining; once while it’s snowing; and once at night.

I would argue that the 3-act structure has been one of the most influential tool for screenplay development. Regardless of people’s move beyond this structure, it’s history, & applicability are important to understand for someone whose developing their craft as a screenwriter. Your Task: Write a 5-page essay on the 3-act structure. Where did it come from? What’s it’s history? What is it and how is it used? What are some of the challenges against it? What are some of the movies that use it? Has it developed over time? How?

Let’s get a handle on alternative screenplay structure, and the various ways to outline your script. While the 3-act structure remains very popular in use, other structures have seen an increase in finding their way to big and small screens. Your Task: Write a 5-page essay on alternative screenplay structures. Research different methods out there. Then compare and contrast them in your essay. Linda Aronson’s “Screenwriting Updated: New (and Conventional) Ways of Writing for the Screen,” is an excellent book to use. But don’t stop there. Many screenwriting teachers and theorizers have come up with very useful screenwriting structures.