---
title: 'How To Write A Screenplay (For Beginners)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=0SNaOisC2II'
video_id: '0SNaOisC2II'
date: 2026-06-28
duration_sec: 1036
---

# How To Write A Screenplay (For Beginners)

> Source: [How To Write A Screenplay (For Beginners)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=0SNaOisC2II)

## Summary

The video provides a beginner-friendly guide to screenwriting, covering the entire process from concept development to final rewrite. The creator shares personal experience and practical techniques like loglines, scriptments, and feedback strategies.

### Key Points

- **Concept Definition** [0:45] — A concept is the central sticky idea of a story, e.g., Back to the Future: a young man travels to the past and meets his parents as teenagers.
- **Generating Ideas with Restrictions** [1:26] — Start with a single ingredient (e.g., an action film where the lead needs money) to impose restrictions and focus creativity.
- **Logline as Development Tool** [2:33] — A logline is a short summary that hints at genre, protagonist, goal, and conflict. Writing it early helps refine the story.
- **Idea Vomit Phase** [4:05] — The 'idea vomit' phase involves asking 'what if' questions to explore all angles before committing to a structure.
- **Structural Milestones** [4:50] — Map major milestones: opening, midpoint of Act One, shift into Act Two, midpoint of Act Two, shift into Act Three, and ending.
- **Scriptment Method** [10:52] — A scriptment is a hybrid of script and treatment, allowing loose notes and full scenes to avoid getting stuck.
- **Creative Writing Principles** [12:24] — Key writing principles: show don't tell, arrive late and leave early, and tell the truth (emotional honesty).
- **Feedback Strategy** [14:24] — Find a small group of trusted friends who share your taste and don't feel pressured to give feedback. Use a Google Form questionnaire for specific reactions.
- **Rewriting Mindset** [15:22] — Embrace rewriting; each draft improves the film. Jordan Peele: first draft is shoveling sand into a box to later build castles.

## Transcript

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