Screenwriting - Where to start.
Have you ever been meandering through life when suddenly, 'ding', light bulb moment! You have the best movie idea on the planet, and all you want to do is run home and write it? Or maybe you've been told a story and thought 'now this would make an awesome movie'. Well, below I thought I would give a few helpful pointers to get you started.
Funnily enough, great movies with epic storylines, crazy twists, and a good old-fashioned romance, aren't just pulled out of a magicians hat - unless your Sylvester Stallone, who only took three and half days to write the screenplay for Rocky! Normally, writing a screenplay can take months and potentially years, depending on the movie style and research.
Research - isn't that a word we love to hear. Some people love the thought of research and planning, others not so much. One thing I do know, in my experience of being a screenwriter, is research and planning are essential, especially if you want a well-rounded story, with intriguing characters and a star ending.
There are 5 essential planning staging to think about before writing your movie.
1. The complete story
You need a beginning, middle and end! - this is non-negotiable. Many movies have an amazing beginning or are possibly based around a riveting event, but too many times we've left the movie theatre feeling a little robbed of the ending we deserve (especially at the price it costs to go to the movie nowadays). The ending is just as important, if not more important, so give it some good thought.
Almost all movies follow a three-act rule. Act 1 is your setup. Introducing your main characters and the world they live in. Act 1 should also include an 'inciting incident', a dramatic incident that turns the main character's (the protagonists) world upside down ensuring life will never be the same. Act 2 is the protagonist aiming to correct or fix the inciting incident, normally failing enormously making the situation worse. Act 3 is your resolution. Finally, the protagonist has accomplished and overcome, allowing a complete and soul-fulfilling movie.
During this stage, I would also endeavour to write yourself a treatment for your film (You will have to re-write your treatment when pitching to a production company). A treatment is a quick overview of your movie including all major scenes. Writing a treatment really allows you to think of the whole scope of the movie, ensuring you have a good beginning, middle and end.
2. Characters
Know your characters - and I do mean beyond just knowing their name. Create what's called, a character passport. This means knowing their age, their backstory, their looks, maybe what clothes they would wear and even things like their accent. All these details will assist with the decisions each character makes and also the dialogue. Remember, when a producer reads your script you more than likely won't be there, so writing the dialogue in the characters voice and accent will allow them to get a true feel of each character, and will also keep your script intriguing.
There are 6 types of character you should include in your script
- The Protagonist = the hero and main character of your story.
- The Nemesis = the protagonist's opposition.
- The Attractor = a love interest, connected to the protagonist's emotional development
- The Mentor = provides wisdom to the main characters
- The Trickster = neither friends nor foe but can create trouble for the protagonist
- The Threshold Guardian = Allows the protagonist to prove himself.
Next time you watch a movie, see if you can point out whos who.
3. Theme
What is the theme or style of your movie? Is it a rom-com, an adventure, a sci-fi? Think about the style of your movie and don't be scared to be abstract or unique. Sometimes I enjoy finding a movie with a similar style, for example, my movie 'Creation' has a similar style and colour to the 2015 movie 'Pan'. Obviously, the story is completely different, but imagining some of the cinematography in this movie really helped me when writing mine.
Plus what is your thematic question? - this is relatively new to me but has also been a saving grace. Your thematic question is asked to the main protagonist and normally answered by the end of the movie. Normally the question isn't in the dialogue but is an underlying current throughout the movie. For example in hook, the thematic question is, will Peter remember who he truly is and face his fears to save his family?
Once you have your thematic question, each scene should reflect on whether this question will be answered yes, or no.
4. Scene Breakdown
Now you've worked on your last three-points in depth, it's time to break down each scene. In a movie, there are usually around 60 scenes and you need to have a small blurb for each one - nothing major, just a small paragraph including where it is, the characters and what happens. My advice would be to have A6 notecards, writing the characters on one side, and the blurb on the back. I would then start with your most important scenes first IE: your inciting incident, your meet-cute, your ending, and fix them in order. Then you can use the rest of your notecards scenes to knit the whole thing together.
The little blurbs and notecards are golden when it comes to actually writing your movie. Since you've already thought about your scenes, you should find the description and dialogue easily flows from the picture image in your mind.
Something to think about when writing your blurbs, as mentioned before, does the scene reflect the thematic question? Can the underlying question be answered? And allow each scene to give a different answer and tone too. If one scene answers yes to the thematic question, then make the next scene answer no. Keep your watchers on the toes!
5. Logline
Last but not least is your logline. This little nugget is what I find the hardest, as it's all of your essential story components summed up into 1 to 2 sentences. Yep, that's it, 1 - 2 sentences. Plus, no pressure, but it's the first thing a producer will read when receiving your proposal, and could be the deciding factor on whether they read on to your treatment, or chuck your story onto the rejected file. My point here is to make your longline a good one.
Loglines should include 3 components - protagonist, antagonist and the conflict. You want a story that will bloom in the mind of the reader and if you can add an ironic twist, it's always a bonus.
Some examples I found on google of loglines are:
THE HANGOVER - A Las Vegas-set comedy centred around three groomsmen who lose their about-to-be-wed buddy during their drunken misadventures, then must retrace their steps in order to find him.
DJANGO UNCHAINED - With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.
THE LION KING - Lion cub and future king Simba searches for his identity. His eagerness to please others and penchant for testing his boundaries sometimes get him into trouble.
A few other notes on loglines, firstly, don't give your characters names. As you can see above, the writer has explained the characters by either their origin or their situation. You can also describe them by their flaws, appearance or many another different way. This allows the character to have more depth within the story description. - Obviously, it's not a problem if you decide your character name would be best within the logline, as you can see with the lion king, but the general rule is to keep the name out.
Secondly, ensure your protagonist's goal is clearly stated and thirdly, don't reveal your films punchline! Don't give out your secret twist ending, leave them hungry for more.
So there you have it, my 5 essential tips when planning your screenplay. I hope these tips have granted you insight and will aid you in your screenwriting process - I know for sure they've helped me! I'll continue to post top tips that have aided me within my writing career and through life but for now, let me just say toodle pip, and I look forward to watching those feature film, cinema-worthy, outstanding 5-star review movies you've all written.
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Much love and God bless,
Natasha Cherie