WELCOME:This blog is assembled and contributed to by writers who are interested in developing the craft of screenwriting. We've created a number of exercises that will aid you as a writer. Use it by selecting an exercise and following the instructions listed within. For a more detailed and organized list of exercises, visit the category pages. If you'd like to contribute an exercise, email basil@beingmedia.com. This website is now optimized for the iPhone & iPod Touch. Thanks for visiting! |
Written/Contributed by Hal Ackerman
Do this with a writing friend. Each of you separately concoct a perfect crime: Circumstances, motive, execution, getaway. Perpetrator. Victim. Write it out in some detail.
Then exchange papers. Create a character who will solve this crime. How will the hole in the plan be discovered? By what means of detection?
Written/Contributed by Hal Ackerman
Two cars, a sports car and an SUV arrive at the same parking spot. Write the scene or sequence of scenes in
a. A Romantic Comedy
b. An Action Adventure
c. A Film Noir mystery
d. Science Fiction
You may change the vehicles and characters inhabiting them as you please.
Sometimes the same story can be completely different when told in a different context. For example, A coucil meeting (like the council of Elrond scene in the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) would look, sound & feel completely different if it took place in a western or a comedy. Your Task: Take a scene from a screenplay and re-write it in another genre.
Many science fiction movies create whole new worlds for the audience to partake in. Identifying the rules for these worlds and displaying them for the audience is important to explaining your plot. Your task: Write a short science fiction script that’s no more than 7-pages. In this script, write no less than 4 scenes. Before you begin, identify 2 rules for your new world. For example, is there gravity? Gravity is a rule for Earth. Make up the rules and write your script around them.
In the world of music, most bands, when asked what their style of music is, will say that it is “unique.” The same can be true for genre. Many independent films are mis-categorized by the mainstream genres out there. Your task: Make up your own genre. Give it a name and define 2 of its’ main characteristics. Now, write a 1 to 2-page scene in your genre.
There are certain characteristics that give a movie its’ genre. For example, all comedies are intended to make people laugh. Focusing on comedies for this exercise, let’s take a lesson on what makes you laugh. Your Task: Watch a comedy that you think is actually funny. Watch it again. On the second time through, stop the movie every time you laugh and make a log of the joke. When you’re done, look at all the jokes and free-write for 10-minutes on the question: What’s the common thread in these jokes that really makes me laugh?
Taking a movie out of the genre it was written for can be an excellent lesson in understanding what a genre is. Your Task: Re-write your favorite scene from a movie as if it were part of 1. A western; 2. A horror film; and 3. A science fiction film.
This site was initially established by Basil Shadid and produced by being MEdia as a way to develop the screenwriting craft. He wanted exercises that would challenge his abilities as a writer. billie rain, an amazing writer and editor, came on board soon after, to create new exercise ideas and to hone the ideas that already existed.
Enjoy!
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