HOW TO WRITE A SCREENPLAY

By Corin Metzger

THE PREMISE The premise in screenplay writing is

the basic concept that drives the plot. Ask yourself “What is my story

about?” A good premise is almost always

derived from an emotion. If your story doesn’t have a clear

premise it will lack the focus and drive it needs.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT

The four main characters in

Stand By Me

Every good script starts with a protagonist character.

The antagonist is the one against the protagonist.

All of your characters should have their own quality that set them apart from one another.

Create biographical information about your character before you begin your screenplay.

STRUCTURE After creating your basic storyline, you

need to think about the obstacles that you want your protagonist to face.

The 3 act structure Sub-plots used to be only for comic

relief, but now they are used to advance the main plot.

SETTING THE SCENE

A scene from the movie Milk

The first few pages of a screenplay are the most important.

Scenes should not run much more then two minutes (or two pages long)

The back story A scene should end

with a punch.

FORMATTING AND THE FINISHED PRODUCT There are many

formatting rules. Share with others

when you are done your first draft.

Be open to suggestions and criticism when making your second draft.

Be prepared to write many more drafts before you write your last “the end”.

MY SCREENPLAY: JARS AND JUDGEMENT DAY I need to start thinking about what I will

write next.

SOURCES American Film Institute. The Basics Of Screenwriting. Reference

From:

http://www.fathom.com/course/21701762/session5.html Trottier , David. The Screenwriter's Bible. 3rd Expanded ed.

Beverly Hills: Silman-James Press, 1998. Print.

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