[0:05] in my opinion writing is the hardest
[0:06] part of the film making process and
[0:08] there's plenty of in-depth story talk
[0:10] online so I wanted to strip it back to
[0:12] the basics the 101 of screenwriting to
[0:14] help you get started if you've never
[0:15] done it before but I'm not here to tell
[0:17] you the correct way to write a script
[0:19] I've written hundreds of sketches around
[0:21] 20 short films and a handful of features
[0:23] I've also developed a few projects with
[0:25] large production companies and I still
[0:26] feel like I'm learning a lot with every
[0:29] single project so my goal for this
[0:31] episode is to show you what's working
[0:32] for me right now in hopes that it helps
[0:34] you as well we're going to be talking
[0:35] Concepts log lines structure formatting
[0:38] writing and feedback and rewrites we
[0:40] have markers for each section below if
[0:42] you want to jump to anything specific
[0:43] but otherwise let's start with
[0:45] Concept a concept is the central idea of
[0:48] your story for instance the concept of
[0:50] Back to the Future is a young man
[0:52] travels to the past where he encounters
[0:54] his parents as teenagers or we have the
[0:56] concept for Inception a thief uses
[0:58] advanced technology to enter people's
[0:59] dreams and extract valuable Secrets
[1:01] often the concept is just the central
[1:03] sticky idea that you can build on top of
[1:05] but how do you come up with that initial
[1:07] idea some of my favorite Concepts came
[1:10] as bolts of lightning out of nowhere I
[1:12] think these lightning bolts are just the
[1:13] result of your brain taking your
[1:15] experiences as ingredients and tossing
[1:17] them into stew of how you see the world
[1:19] but there are plenty of Concepts I came
[1:21] up with intentionally like when a
[1:23] production company requested something
[1:24] specific or I have a single ingredient
[1:26] to start with something like a base idea
[1:29] of an action film where the lead needs
[1:31] to seal money to pay off the main baddy
[1:33] this puts you into a box and adds a lot
[1:35] of restrictions and I think that's a
[1:37] good thing if you have a whole universe
[1:38] of possibilities it's impossible to
[1:40] drive that down to one single idea but
[1:43] if you start with even a single
[1:44] ingredient you have a lane to follow now
[1:46] you can start building on top of that
[1:47] idea to find what the sticky concept is
[1:49] like what if our lead was a gambling
[1:51] addict and he owes several violent
[1:53] bookies money all of which are coming to
[1:55] collect at the same time now we can
[1:57] start to think about who this
[1:58] protagonist is is this an Everyman women
[2:00] have they barely had a fight their whole
[2:01] life or do they come from a background
[2:03] of violence you could start trying ideas
[2:05] out sampling these different flavors
[2:07] together and the key here for me has
[2:09] always been time I don't always have the
[2:11] luxury of it but when I do I like to let
[2:13] ideas cook as long as possible but even
[2:16] if my idea started from a moment a theme
[2:18] or just a vibe that I can see or feel
[2:20] more than articulate yet my next step is
[2:23] always what's the base concept and then
[2:26] how does that build into my main premise
[2:28] and a great way to refine and explore
[2:30] that is with a log line a log line is a
[2:33] short summary of your story the idea of
[2:35] a log line is to get someone interested
[2:38] enough to read your script for an
[2:39] example and sticking with R2 from before
[2:42] the log line for Back to the Future is a
[2:44] young man is transported to the past
[2:46] where he must reunite with his parents
[2:47] before he and his future cease to exist
[2:50] as you can see we're getting a bigger
[2:51] sense of what the plot will be here and
[2:53] it can go deeper like the log line for
[2:54] Inception a thief who steals corporate
[2:56] Secrets through the use of dream sharing
[2:58] technology is given the inverse task of
[3:00] planting an idea into the mind of a CEO
[3:03] but his tragic past May Doom the project
[3:05] and his team to disaster we have a lot
[3:07] more of the story hinted here we have a
[3:10] sense of the genre the protagonist the
[3:12] goal and the conflict and another one I
[3:14] really love is from Home Alone an
[3:16] 8-year-old Troublemaker must protect his
[3:18] house from a pair of burglars when he is
[3:20] accidentally left Home Alone by his
[3:21] family during Christmas Vacation it
[3:23] tells you everything you need to know
[3:25] and gets you curious enough to want to
[3:27] find out more and honestly I used to
[3:29] hate log lines they've been required for
[3:31] every script that I've sent out and each
[3:33] time I was doing those log lines after I
[3:35] wrote the script but once I shifted and
[3:37] made writing the log line a part of my
[3:38] development process I kind of fell in
[3:40] love with them they became a way of
[3:42] reducing the idea down to its most basic
[3:44] elements and helped me to find the best
[3:46] Direction forward and it is a whole lot
[3:48] easier to write a log line before you've
[3:50] gotten into all the detailed Nuance of
[3:52] the script this approach might not be
[3:53] for everyone but give it a shot using
[3:55] the log line as a sort of creative
[3:57] practice to prompt you in a direction
[3:59] and I'm going to put links below to give
[4:00] you some details about how to write a
[4:02] log line right before I start toying
[4:05] with the structure of the story I'm in
[4:07] my idea vomit phase this is where I'm
[4:09] whing like a Badman what if the
[4:11] protagonist lost his wife what if she
[4:13] died while he was driving what if she
[4:15] left him because of the gambling he lost
[4:16] everything and now he's about to lose
[4:18] his life too what if there's a scene in
[4:20] a repair shop he drops a car on someone
[4:22] what if this action scene or that action
[4:24] moment happened how does he get the
[4:25] money what if he steals it from the same
[4:27] people he owes it to what if he somehow
[4:29] fixes a gambling event to make sure he
[4:31] will win what if he doesn't get the
[4:33] money going through all these ifs for
[4:35] every angle helps me dial in what the
[4:38] story wants and doesn't want and as I
[4:40] get further along with this idea dump
[4:42] structure starts to bleed into this
[4:44] process I start figuring out where in
[4:46] the story I'm going to place ideas that
[4:48] are sticking mostly I'm looking at
[4:50] Landing the big moments here who is the
[4:52] character what do they want what do they
[4:54] need what is their Arc then my mile
[4:55] markers like the opening the midpoint of
[4:57] Act One the shift into act two the mid
[4:59] point of act two the shift in act three
[5:01] and the ending I personally don't move
[5:03] into the next phase until I have all of
[5:06] those they often will change as I
[5:07] develop but having something there gives
[5:09] me a Target to aim at as I go I'm not
[5:12] going to get into the different
[5:13] structure ideas like the three five or
[5:15] six acts there's story clocks and save
[5:17] the cat all great and viable just
[5:19] depends on what works for you I'll put
[5:22] some links below for you to dive into if
[5:23] you want to learn more about structure
[5:25] some are episodes that we've done some
[5:27] aren't including an episode of script
[5:29] notes that I think is required listening
[5:31] for any writer but figuring out the
[5:33] structure is where my actual writing
[5:35] begins during this stage I start my
[5:37] scriptment and this is where formatting
[5:39] starts to come in but before we get to
[5:41] that let's thank today's
[5:44] sponsor everyone knows finding the right
[5:46] song for your project is timeconsuming
[5:48] and endlessly frustrating especially if
[5:51] you have a specific type of song in mind
[5:53] finding something that matches that is
[5:54] usually next to Impossible well used to
[5:57] be recently music bed released a new AI
[5:59] powered tool called search by song that
[6:01] allows you to use any song by any artist
[6:03] in the world to instantly find hundreds
[6:05] of similar songs ready to license for
[6:07] your next project all you have to do is
[6:09] type the name of any song or artist here
[6:11] and click find similar 1 second later
[6:13] you have hundreds of songs that fit that
[6:15] Vibe I can even grab a link to a song on
[6:17] Spotify and paste that here to
[6:19] accomplish the same goal it's
[6:20] impressively accurate but you can still
[6:22] refine your search by filters or
[6:24] attributes if you want and this saves a
[6:26] ton of time since you aren't having to
[6:28] give a broad keyword word then click
[6:30] song after song sifting through things
[6:32] that aren't in the right lane for you
[6:34] now you just reference a song and you
[6:36] get a ton of options that fit that style
[6:38] right away and it lets you discover
[6:39] music you wouldn't have otherwise and
[6:41] with over 60,000 songs music bed has the
[6:44] largest curated collection so you know
[6:46] you won't use the same song Twice plus
[6:48] it's music bed so you know you're
[6:50] getting emotional and authentic music
[6:51] for your film and honestly it is easily
[6:54] the best song search I've used yet so
[6:56] switch to music bed and experience what
[6:58] you can only find with their exclusive
[6:59] collection of music using the link in
[7:01] the description below formatting is an
[7:04] easily solved problem with any of the
[7:05] great script writing software that's out
[7:07] there now you have Highland final draft
[7:09] fade in as the top three and I actually
[7:11] use all of those for different things
[7:13] I'm writing a few comics in Highland
[7:14] film riot in fadein and final draft for
[7:16] my features and short films but any of
[7:18] them will work great for you it's just a
[7:20] matter of preference but even with the
[7:22] software handling the margins for you we
[7:24] need to know what the elements are and
[7:26] how to use them and first is the scene
[7:28] headache this help tells you inside or
[7:30] interior int or outside exterior which
[7:33] is EXT or if it's both like a car scene
[7:35] you can use
[7:37] ex/ after that you have the location
[7:39] this is obvious enough but if you have a
[7:41] location inside of a location say a
[7:43] character's bedroom it would become
[7:45] Avery's house bedroom followed by the
[7:47] time of day next you have an action line
[7:48] which will describe what happens in your
[7:50] scene and it's written in the present
[7:52] tense this is where you describe your
[7:54] setting characters their actions give a
[7:56] sense of pace and tone it's all the
[7:58] important information outside dialogue
[8:00] here is my favorite opening Action Line
[8:02] which is from the first page of Mite
[8:04] shyamalan's the six sense interior
[8:06] basement evening a naked light bulb
[8:08] Sparks to life it dangles from the
[8:09] ceiling of a basement light quick
[8:11] footsteps as Anna Crow moves down the
[8:13] stairs Anna is the rare combination of
[8:15] beauty and innocence she stands in the
[8:17] chilly basement in an elegant summer
[8:18] dress that outlines her slender body her
[8:20] gentle eyes move across the empty room
[8:22] and come to rest on a rack of wine
[8:23] bottles covering one entire wall she
[8:25] walks to the bottles her fingertips
[8:27] slide over the labels she stops when she
[8:29] finds it's just the right one a tiny
[8:31] Smile as she slides it out Anna turns to
[8:33] leave stops she stares at the shadowy
[8:35] basement it's an unsettling place she
[8:37] stands very still and watches her breath
[8:39] form a tiny cloud in the cold air she's
[8:41] visibly uncomfortable anac Crow moves
[8:43] for the staircase in a hurry each step
[8:45] faster than the next she climbs out of
[8:47] the basement in another burst of light
[8:48] quick footsteps we hear her hit the
[8:50] light switch the light bulb dies
[8:52] dripping black devours the room so you
[8:54] can see we're getting a really great
[8:55] sense of character location but also
[8:56] tone and pace and the dread that's going
[8:58] to be coming through throughout the film
[9:00] and you'll notice a few things were
[9:01] capitalized in an action line the main
[9:03] things you'll capitalize are the first
[9:05] time a character is introduced this
[9:06] signals to the reader that this is a new
[9:08] character sounds important props
[9:10] vehicles or other elements that need
[9:12] specific emphasis and you can also use
[9:14] it sparingly to add emphasis on A Moment
[9:16] Like This here then another thing to
[9:18] keep in mind with your action line is
[9:19] its length the more lines in an action
[9:22] line the more daunting it feels for the
[9:23] reader and the more likely they're going
[9:25] to skim you can also use the length of
[9:27] Your Action Line to convey pace overall
[9:30] action lines are like music there's many
[9:31] genres of music but each has its Rhythm
[9:34] and function the best thing to do here
[9:35] is read a lot of scripts see how they do
[9:37] action lines when it's effective for you
[9:39] analyze that next up you have the
[9:40] character cue then next to that you'll
[9:42] have your character extension you have
[9:44] vo for voiceover and Os for offscreen
[9:47] offscreen is for characters that are
[9:48] physically in the scene but not shown on
[9:50] camera and voice over is for characters
[9:52] that are not physically in the scene for
[9:54] instance someone yelling from the other
[9:56] room would be off screen while a voice
[9:57] from the radio would be voiceover under
[9:59] that before dialogue you can add a
[10:01] parenthetical this is a bit of direction
[10:03] for the below dialogue like to John or
[10:05] to herself or sarcastically like
[10:08] capitalization you're going to want to
[10:09] be sparing here but of course after that
[10:11] you have dialogue and the final one
[10:13] we're going to talk about is Transitions
[10:14] and it's what it sounds like and it
[10:16] looks like this that is the base 101 of
[10:18] formatting there's plenty more to get
[10:20] into and we could spend a whole episode
[10:21] on that maybe we will but for now we're
[10:23] going to leave it at that but at this
[10:24] point in the process I have my main plot
[10:26] I know who my main characters are I have
[10:28] my ideas for all my main mile markers
[10:30] and most importantly I know the
[10:31] beginning and the ending most often I
[10:33] have an idea of what my theme is but it
[10:36] often changes so I stay completely open
[10:38] to the story taking me in whatever
[10:40] Direction it wants but having at least
[10:41] the idea of a theme helps me stay on a
[10:44] specific course and as I'm doing all
[10:45] that I'm creating a beat sheet as I
[10:47] place my ideas like I showed before so
[10:49] now I can take that and begin writing my
[10:52] scriptment a scriptment is a document
[10:53] that lives somewhere between a script
[10:55] and a treatment made Popular by James
[10:57] Cameron you can read some of his on
[10:59] online to get an idea if you'd like but
[11:01] it's a document that uses the format of
[11:03] a treatment and a script so you have
[11:05] dialogue and action lines like you would
[11:07] in your final script but it's all a lot
[11:09] more loose if I'm feeling inspired I'll
[11:10] fully draft a scene but if I'm feeling
[11:12] stuck I'll just write it in sparse
[11:14] treatment style or leave it just with
[11:17] something like Liz argues with her mom
[11:19] finds out her dad's still alive then I
[11:20] move on doing it this way I won't get
[11:22] stuck trying to figure out the details
[11:24] of a scene I'm not ready to write yet
[11:26] but it does allow me structurally to
[11:28] place in all the elements that I know
[11:29] I'm going to need and where I'm going to
[11:31] need them which also makes it easy to
[11:32] move that around later my latest was
[11:34] done at the request of a production
[11:36] company they wanted a treatment but I
[11:37] went for this instead in the end I had
[11:40] this 42-page document that clearly
[11:42] conveys the film in a deeper way since
[11:44] I'm drafting some scenes out more to
[11:46] give a full sense of how the horror will
[11:48] land or how the characters will talk but
[11:50] what I love most about this is once I'm
[11:53] done I have a massive jump start on
[11:55] writing the actual script I have most
[11:57] the intimidating parts of the process
[11:59] all figured out and I can just start
[12:00] filling in the details in this dock for
[12:03] me this process forces me to
[12:04] consistently and rapidly iterate
[12:06] building consistently on ideas instead
[12:09] of marrying myself to any of them like I
[12:12] just showed we miate ourselves and we
[12:14] have a big jump start on the script at
[12:15] this point and honestly covering the
[12:17] creative writing side could be three
[12:19] videos all on their own so I just want
[12:22] to talk about the three main things here
[12:24] show don't tell pacing and tell the
[12:26] truth show don't tell is what you've
[12:28] already heard a million times but
[12:29] something I'm always trying to do is
[12:31] reveal information to the audience in a
[12:34] host of ways and letting that
[12:35] information trickle in throughout the
[12:37] script with the main goal of avoiding
[12:39] the cursed info dump which is where
[12:40] entertainment goes to die because it's
[12:42] just true information is a lot more
[12:44] interesting when it's received through
[12:45] the movement of the story it's not to
[12:47] say a character can't be delivering it
[12:48] through dialogue but do that through
[12:50] forward motion and sparingly there's a
[12:52] great quote on how to handle every scene
[12:55] in your script and that is arrive late
[12:56] and leave early which means to enter
[12:58] scene already in progress and leave
[13:00] while it's still interesting seeing a
[13:02] character enter a room sit at a table
[13:03] and start a conversation is usually not
[13:05] that interesting though nothing is
[13:07] definitive everything can work in the
[13:08] right context but in my experience 99%
[13:12] of the time this is true instead of
[13:13] showing them enter and doing all that
[13:15] cut right to the table in the middle of
[13:17] the conversation it's much more
[13:19] entertaining and engaging when the
[13:20] audience is forced to catch up instead
[13:22] of being ahead of your story this is a
[13:24] weird one since I'm writing fiction and
[13:26] making it all up there's nothing to be
[13:27] honest about but weirdly I have found
[13:30] that I can feel it when I'm not allowing
[13:32] the story to be honest and there's two
[13:34] sides to this for me the first is write
[13:36] what you know and I'm not saying don't
[13:38] write about space because you've never
[13:39] been there what I mean is you can't
[13:41] truly be emotionally honest about
[13:43] something if you haven't experienced
[13:44] that emotion in some way if you've never
[13:47] had children you aren't going to be able
[13:48] to understand what the specific love
[13:50] feels like from the perspective of a
[13:52] parent so I need to understand thematic
[13:55] and emotional elements of my story or
[13:57] I'm just AI recrea what other people
[14:00] have made and the second element is what
[14:01] the story wants to do once I know my
[14:03] characters and the world I'm creating I
[14:05] can sort of feel it when I'm not being
[14:06] honest which is to say not doing what
[14:09] the story wants I know that sounds kind
[14:11] of cryptic and dumb but I think that
[14:13] you'll see what I'm saying once you are
[14:15] at this point in the process the key for
[14:17] me is to listen to my gut when I have
[14:19] that tension there's a reason and I need
[14:21] to dig back in this is a hard one
[14:24] because who you select to give you
[14:25] feedback can energize you or become a
[14:27] massive speed bump for me it took years
[14:30] of asking different people for feedback
[14:32] to find my small group of trusted
[14:33] friends that I know understand my voice
[14:36] and give clear honest and constructive
[14:38] feedback and most importantly share my
[14:41] taste and I like their taste my main
[14:43] advice here is to look for people who
[14:45] don't feel like they need to give
[14:47] feedback some of the most damaging
[14:48] feedback I've been given is from people
[14:50] who feel like they need to have an
[14:51] opinion on something either to prove
[14:53] that they deserve their job in a studio
[14:55] or production company sense or a friend
[14:57] who just wants to be helpful in feels
[14:59] bad not giving you anything or Worse
[15:01] wants to look smart another helpful
[15:03] thing which is an idea I stole from a
[15:04] friend is I'll make a questionnaire on
[15:06] Google forms that the reader can just
[15:08] fill out after the fact this takes the
[15:09] pressure off them for coming up with
[15:11] things to comment on and allows you to
[15:13] get specific reactions to things you're
[15:15] curious or unsure about it's also a
[15:17] great way to see if your themes are
[15:18] coming across or how they felt about the
[15:20] characters and so on I love rewriting
[15:23] this is where you make everything work
[15:25] trying new directions throwing things
[15:27] out bringing back old ideas is and so on
[15:30] Jordan Peele has a great quote for this
[15:32] when I'm writing the first draft I'm
[15:33] constantly reminding myself that I'm
[15:35] simply shoveling sand into a box so that
[15:37] I can later build castles my first
[15:39] rewrite is done after I finish the
[15:41] script and take a few days to get a
[15:43] fresh eye on it then I'll read it again
[15:46] do my own notes and dig back in after
[15:48] that is when I'll send it out to those
[15:50] friends that I talked about before wash
[15:52] rinse repeat with each draft I'm
[15:54] focusing on pulling the characters out
[15:56] more making them more consistent and
[15:58] unique and at this point I know my theme
[16:00] so I'm doing the work to pull that to
[16:02] the surface as well and layering in
[16:04] subtext throughout and I will say about
[16:06] the rewriting process for my first
[16:07] couple of scripts each time it was
[16:09] terrifying and I didn't love it yet and
[16:11] I think that's because I felt like hey I
[16:13] wrote this thing that was pretty good I
[16:15] like it and there's no way that I can do
[16:17] it again so if I have to rewrite it I'm
[16:19] just going to make it worse not better
[16:21] but once you do the rewrite you find
[16:23] that every single rewrite makes the film
[16:25] a whole lot better not worse and you get
[16:27] more comfortable with it over time again
[16:29] this is my personal process which is
[16:31] sort of an amalgamation of things that
[16:32] I've adopted from other writers and
[16:34] things that I've discovered along the
[16:35] way myself of course what works for one
[16:38] may not work for another so take what
[16:40] makes sense and throw out the rest but
[16:42] that is it for today writing is a
[16:44] massive topic that we could spend hours
[16:45] and hours on but hopefully these basic
[16:48] ideas will help you get started in the
[16:50] right direction as always if you dug
[16:52] this episode give it a like and don't
[16:53] forget to subscribe and hit the Bell so
[16:55] you're notified when we put up more
[16:56] content and until next time don't forget
[16:58] to write shoot edit repeat
[17:01] [Music]