screenwriters toolkit

When developing an idea, two good questions to ask are: Has this been done before? If so, how is my project unique? Your Task: Research your idea. Check out the IMdB search function and do a word search in the “plots” category. This will search the plot summaries of the movies within the database.

One of the best ways to learn is to practice! Your Task: Read Screenwriter John August’s blog entry, “How To Write A Scene.” Following the instructions (minus step 11), grab an article from today’s news and write it into a movie scene.

Google has become so popular as a search tool that it often becomes the only instrument used when doing internet research. Expanding our horizons gives us more information from a variety of sources. Your Task: Read “Conducting Research on the Internet.” Now, using 3 methods from this article, research a random subject to come up with 5 facts.

Are you a visual person? If so, how do you structure your writing? Timelines are visual tools that help create chronological outlines of your characters lives. Your Task: Create a timeline for the internal and external events in your character’s life from the beginning to the end of your story. Internal events are things that happen to your character inside their mind or body. External events are those that happen on the outside (ie. meeting people, going places, etc.).

With the Internet around, it’s easy to forget other avenues of research. These other sources, however, can oftentimes provide more thorough information. Your Task: Re-acquaint yourself with research methods. One quick way to do so is to read this tutorial from the Houston Community College Library.

Go! Your Task: Write a chase scene using one of these methods of travel: horse, helicoptor, boat, foot, car or combo of methods. Now, re-write that same scene 3 other times. Switch the method of travel each time you write it.

Getting out of writer’s block can occasionally be done by pushing oneself out of the ordinary of our everyday lives. Your Task: Go to this week’s headline from “News of the Weird”. Imagine the actions that are taking place in the story (or, the actions that took place to make this story possible). Write a 2-page scene that shows these actions.

Let’s use a transformational moment in our lives to explore screenwriting structure. Your Task: List 3 transformational moments in your life. Pick one incident and answer these questions: What was your life like before the transformation? What took place during the transformation? What were the obstacles to transforming (both inside yourself and external)? How did you face these obstacles? Name the people involved in this transformation. What were their roles in your transformation? What happened to them because of this transformation? What was the outcome for you? Now, create an outline of the specific incidents that occurred before, during and after this transformational experience. Visualize a movie with each of these specific incidents as a scene in your movie. Freewrite: What do I think about my movie? What am I leaving out? What can I add to make it more powerful?

It’s time to listen. Your Task: Poll 10 people with the following questions:

- What’s your favorite action movie?
- What are 2 specific things you like about this movie?
- What’s your favorite scene or scenes in that movie?
- What’s your least favorite action movie?
- What are 2 specific things you disliked about this movie?
- What scene or scenes made the movie so bad?

Now, find and watch at least 4 of these movies. Pay close attention to the specific scenes mentioned.

Lastly, freewrite about your impressions of each movie; about whether your opinion is in line or differs from the people polled; and, about what you can learn from these movies about how to write action in a script.

Learning how we get ideas out of our head can give us a better understanding of how we write action sequences. If the screenplay is merely a map for actors, directors, producers and other crew, then action is really creative instruction. Your Task: Get a partner. In pairs, partner B is to instruct partner A how to put on a shoe (preferrably one with laces). To do this, parter A must start by taking off one of their shoes. They are also to pretend that they have never seen a shoe, don’t know what it is and don’t know what it’s various parts are or do. Now, partner B needs to explain the process of putting on a shoe. Partner B should do this verbally and without pointing at the parts of the shoe. Every part of the explanation should try to be clear, verbal and effective enough to get partner A to get that shoe on. Lastly, partner B can freewrite for 10 minutes, answering the question: How was it to give clear instructions?