How To Write A Screenplay (For Beginners)

[00:05] in my opinion writing is the hardest

[00:06] part of the film making process and

[00:08] there's plenty of in-depth story talk

[00:10] online so I wanted to strip it back to

[00:12] the basics the 101 of screenwriting to

[00:14] help you get started if you've never

[00:15] done it before but I'm not here to tell

[00:17] you the correct way to write a script

[00:19] I've written hundreds of sketches around

[00:21] 20 short films and a handful of features

[00:23] I've also developed a few projects with

[00:25] large production companies and I still

[00:26] feel like I'm learning a lot with every

[00:29] single project so my goal for this

[00:31] episode is to show you what's working

[00:32] for me right now in hopes that it helps

[00:34] you as well we're going to be talking

[00:35] Concepts log lines structure formatting

[00:38] writing and feedback and rewrites we

[00:40] have markers for each section below if

[00:42] you want to jump to anything specific

[00:43] but otherwise let's start with

[00:45] Concept a concept is the central idea of

[00:48] your story for instance the concept of

[00:50] Back to the Future is a young man

[00:52] travels to the past where he encounters

[00:54] his parents as teenagers or we have the

[00:56] concept for Inception a thief uses

[00:58] advanced technology to enter people's

[00:59] dreams and extract valuable Secrets

[01:01] often the concept is just the central

[01:03] sticky idea that you can build on top of

[01:05] but how do you come up with that initial

[01:07] idea some of my favorite Concepts came

[01:10] as bolts of lightning out of nowhere I

[01:12] think these lightning bolts are just the

[01:13] result of your brain taking your

[01:15] experiences as ingredients and tossing

[01:17] them into stew of how you see the world

[01:19] but there are plenty of Concepts I came

[01:21] up with intentionally like when a

[01:23] production company requested something

[01:24] specific or I have a single ingredient

[01:26] to start with something like a base idea

[01:29] of an action film where the lead needs

[01:31] to seal money to pay off the main baddy

[01:33] this puts you into a box and adds a lot

[01:35] of restrictions and I think that's a

[01:37] good thing if you have a whole universe

[01:38] of possibilities it's impossible to

[01:40] drive that down to one single idea but

[01:43] if you start with even a single

[01:44] ingredient you have a lane to follow now

[01:46] you can start building on top of that

[01:47] idea to find what the sticky concept is

[01:49] like what if our lead was a gambling

[01:51] addict and he owes several violent

[01:53] bookies money all of which are coming to

[01:55] collect at the same time now we can

[01:57] start to think about who this

[01:58] protagonist is is this an Everyman women

[02:00] have they barely had a fight their whole

[02:01] life or do they come from a background

[02:03] of violence you could start trying ideas

[02:05] out sampling these different flavors

[02:07] together and the key here for me has

[02:09] always been time I don't always have the

[02:11] luxury of it but when I do I like to let

[02:13] ideas cook as long as possible but even

[02:16] if my idea started from a moment a theme

[02:18] or just a vibe that I can see or feel

[02:20] more than articulate yet my next step is

[02:23] always what's the base concept and then

[02:26] how does that build into my main premise

[02:28] and a great way to refine and explore

[02:30] that is with a log line a log line is a

[02:33] short summary of your story the idea of

[02:35] a log line is to get someone interested

[02:38] enough to read your script for an

[02:39] example and sticking with R2 from before

[02:42] the log line for Back to the Future is a

[02:44] young man is transported to the past

[02:46] where he must reunite with his parents

[02:47] before he and his future cease to exist

[02:50] as you can see we're getting a bigger

[02:51] sense of what the plot will be here and

[02:53] it can go deeper like the log line for

[02:54] Inception a thief who steals corporate

[02:56] Secrets through the use of dream sharing

[02:58] technology is given the inverse task of

[03:00] planting an idea into the mind of a CEO

[03:03] but his tragic past May Doom the project

[03:05] and his team to disaster we have a lot

[03:07] more of the story hinted here we have a

[03:10] sense of the genre the protagonist the

[03:12] goal and the conflict and another one I

[03:14] really love is from Home Alone an

[03:16] 8-year-old Troublemaker must protect his

[03:18] house from a pair of burglars when he is

[03:20] accidentally left Home Alone by his

[03:21] family during Christmas Vacation it

[03:23] tells you everything you need to know

[03:25] and gets you curious enough to want to

[03:27] find out more and honestly I used to

[03:29] hate log lines they've been required for

[03:31] every script that I've sent out and each

[03:33] time I was doing those log lines after I

[03:35] wrote the script but once I shifted and

[03:37] made writing the log line a part of my

[03:38] development process I kind of fell in

[03:40] love with them they became a way of

[03:42] reducing the idea down to its most basic

[03:44] elements and helped me to find the best

[03:46] Direction forward and it is a whole lot

[03:48] easier to write a log line before you've

[03:50] gotten into all the detailed Nuance of

[03:52] the script this approach might not be

[03:53] for everyone but give it a shot using

[03:55] the log line as a sort of creative

[03:57] practice to prompt you in a direction

[03:59] and I'm going to put links below to give

[04:00] you some details about how to write a

[04:02] log line right before I start toying

[04:05] with the structure of the story I'm in

[04:07] my idea vomit phase this is where I'm

[04:09] whing like a Badman what if the

[04:11] protagonist lost his wife what if she

[04:13] died while he was driving what if she

[04:15] left him because of the gambling he lost

[04:16] everything and now he's about to lose

[04:18] his life too what if there's a scene in

[04:20] a repair shop he drops a car on someone

[04:22] what if this action scene or that action

[04:24] moment happened how does he get the

[04:25] money what if he steals it from the same

[04:27] people he owes it to what if he somehow

[04:29] fixes a gambling event to make sure he

[04:31] will win what if he doesn't get the

[04:33] money going through all these ifs for

[04:35] every angle helps me dial in what the

[04:38] story wants and doesn't want and as I

[04:40] get further along with this idea dump

[04:42] structure starts to bleed into this

[04:44] process I start figuring out where in

[04:46] the story I'm going to place ideas that

[04:48] are sticking mostly I'm looking at

[04:50] Landing the big moments here who is the

[04:52] character what do they want what do they

[04:54] need what is their Arc then my mile

[04:55] markers like the opening the midpoint of

[04:57] Act One the shift into act two the mid

[04:59] point of act two the shift in act three

[05:01] and the ending I personally don't move

[05:03] into the next phase until I have all of

[05:06] those they often will change as I

[05:07] develop but having something there gives

[05:09] me a Target to aim at as I go I'm not

[05:12] going to get into the different

[05:13] structure ideas like the three five or

[05:15] six acts there's story clocks and save

[05:17] the cat all great and viable just

[05:19] depends on what works for you I'll put

[05:22] some links below for you to dive into if

[05:23] you want to learn more about structure

[05:25] some are episodes that we've done some

[05:27] aren't including an episode of script

[05:29] notes that I think is required listening

[05:31] for any writer but figuring out the

[05:33] structure is where my actual writing

[05:35] begins during this stage I start my

[05:37] scriptment and this is where formatting

[05:39] starts to come in but before we get to

[05:41] that let's thank today's

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[05:48] and endlessly frustrating especially if

[05:51] you have a specific type of song in mind

[05:53] finding something that matches that is

[05:54] usually next to Impossible well used to

[05:57] be recently music bed released a new AI

[05:59] powered tool called search by song that

[06:01] allows you to use any song by any artist

[06:03] in the world to instantly find hundreds

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[06:07] your next project all you have to do is

[06:09] type the name of any song or artist here

[06:11] and click find similar 1 second later

[06:13] you have hundreds of songs that fit that

[06:15] Vibe I can even grab a link to a song on

[06:17] Spotify and paste that here to

[06:19] accomplish the same goal it's

[06:20] impressively accurate but you can still

[06:22] refine your search by filters or

[06:24] attributes if you want and this saves a

[06:26] ton of time since you aren't having to

[06:28] give a broad keyword word then click

[06:30] song after song sifting through things

[06:32] that aren't in the right lane for you

[06:34] now you just reference a song and you

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[06:56] switch to music bed and experience what

[06:58] you can only find with their exclusive

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[07:01] the description below formatting is an

[07:04] easily solved problem with any of the

[07:05] great script writing software that's out

[07:07] there now you have Highland final draft

[07:09] fade in as the top three and I actually

[07:11] use all of those for different things

[07:13] I'm writing a few comics in Highland

[07:14] film riot in fadein and final draft for

[07:16] my features and short films but any of

[07:18] them will work great for you it's just a

[07:20] matter of preference but even with the

[07:22] software handling the margins for you we

[07:24] need to know what the elements are and

[07:26] how to use them and first is the scene

[07:28] headache this help tells you inside or

[07:30] interior int or outside exterior which

[07:33] is EXT or if it's both like a car scene

[07:35] you can use

[07:37] ex/ after that you have the location

[07:39] this is obvious enough but if you have a

[07:41] location inside of a location say a

[07:43] character's bedroom it would become

[07:45] Avery's house bedroom followed by the

[07:47] time of day next you have an action line

[07:48] which will describe what happens in your

[07:50] scene and it's written in the present

[07:52] tense this is where you describe your

[07:54] setting characters their actions give a

[07:56] sense of pace and tone it's all the

[07:58] important information outside dialogue

[08:00] here is my favorite opening Action Line

[08:02] which is from the first page of Mite

[08:04] shyamalan's the six sense interior

[08:06] basement evening a naked light bulb

[08:08] Sparks to life it dangles from the

[08:09] ceiling of a basement light quick

[08:11] footsteps as Anna Crow moves down the

[08:13] stairs Anna is the rare combination of

[08:15] beauty and innocence she stands in the

[08:17] chilly basement in an elegant summer

[08:18] dress that outlines her slender body her

[08:20] gentle eyes move across the empty room

[08:22] and come to rest on a rack of wine

[08:23] bottles covering one entire wall she

[08:25] walks to the bottles her fingertips

[08:27] slide over the labels she stops when she

[08:29] finds it's just the right one a tiny

[08:31] Smile as she slides it out Anna turns to

[08:33] leave stops she stares at the shadowy

[08:35] basement it's an unsettling place she

[08:37] stands very still and watches her breath

[08:39] form a tiny cloud in the cold air she's

[08:41] visibly uncomfortable anac Crow moves

[08:43] for the staircase in a hurry each step

[08:45] faster than the next she climbs out of

[08:47] the basement in another burst of light

[08:48] quick footsteps we hear her hit the

[08:50] light switch the light bulb dies

[08:52] dripping black devours the room so you

[08:54] can see we're getting a really great

[08:55] sense of character location but also

[08:56] tone and pace and the dread that's going

[08:58] to be coming through throughout the film

[09:00] and you'll notice a few things were

[09:01] capitalized in an action line the main

[09:03] things you'll capitalize are the first

[09:05] time a character is introduced this

[09:06] signals to the reader that this is a new

[09:08] character sounds important props

[09:10] vehicles or other elements that need

[09:12] specific emphasis and you can also use

[09:14] it sparingly to add emphasis on A Moment

[09:16] Like This here then another thing to

[09:18] keep in mind with your action line is

[09:19] its length the more lines in an action

[09:22] line the more daunting it feels for the

[09:23] reader and the more likely they're going

[09:25] to skim you can also use the length of

[09:27] Your Action Line to convey pace overall

[09:30] action lines are like music there's many

[09:31] genres of music but each has its Rhythm

[09:34] and function the best thing to do here

[09:35] is read a lot of scripts see how they do

[09:37] action lines when it's effective for you

[09:39] analyze that next up you have the

[09:40] character cue then next to that you'll

[09:42] have your character extension you have

[09:44] vo for voiceover and Os for offscreen

[09:47] offscreen is for characters that are

[09:48] physically in the scene but not shown on

[09:50] camera and voice over is for characters

[09:52] that are not physically in the scene for

[09:54] instance someone yelling from the other

[09:56] room would be off screen while a voice

[09:57] from the radio would be voiceover under

[09:59] 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]