Screenwriting For Dummies

Laura Schellhardt is an Associate Professor of Instruction at Northwestern University, where she heads the undergraduate playwriting program in the Department of Theatre. She’s dedicated her life to creating new work for stage and screen, and it’s her mission to help other writers do the same.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: So you want to write for Pictures 5

Chapter 1: Introducing the Art of Screenwriting 7

In The Mind’s Eye 7

Developing the Writer’s Mind 8

Approaching Screenwriting as a Craft 9

Finding Your Screenplay’s Story 9

Working through the Writing Process 10

Formatting Your Screenplay 11

Constructing Your First Draft 11

Rewriting Your Script 12

Adapting Your Screenplay from an Outside Source 13

Selling Your Screenplay to Show Business 13

Chapter 2: Preparing to Think Visually 15

Is It Cinema? Considering Other Mediums 15

Is it a screenplay or a novel? 16

Is it film or theater? 17

Is it a movie, visual art, or poetry? 17

It’s probably a screenplay if  18

What You See Is What You Get: The Visual Life of a Screenplay 20

Crafting images from the outside in 21

Crafting images from the inside out 22

Chapter 3: Diving Into the Screenwriter’s Mind 25

Finding Your Feet: How to Learn From Other Writers 26

Reading for dramatic intent 27

Recognizing a screenplay’s genre 28

Art and Life: What’s the Difference? 30

Developing an Artistic Sensibility 31

What a writer sees 32

What a writer hears 33

What a writer remembers and what a writer forgets 34

Recognizing a Story When You See One 36

Identifying the call to write 36

The four important P’s of story 37

Finding an opening image 37

Chapter 4: Approaching Screenwriting as a Craft 39

Invoking the Muse: Examining the Creative Process 40

Imagination: Your Creative Arsenal 41

Flexing the imagination 42

Putting the imagination to work 43

Identifying your writing voice 47

Craft: A Vehicle for Your Imagination 49

Form 50

Technique 50

Discipline 54

Part 2: Breaking down the elements of a story 57

Chapter 5: Unpacking Your Idea 59

I Have This Great Idea Now What? 59

Identifying your interest in the idea 60

Documenting your interest in the idea 61

Getting to Know Your Audience 63

Matching the story to the audience 63

Connecting with your audience 66

Knowing What Happened Before Your Story Began: Creating the Backstory 68

Identifying the elements of a backstory 68

Developing a screenplay through backstory 70

Identifying the Tone of Your Piece 71

Establishing Your Story’s Time Clock 72

Deciding When to Start Your Story 74

Getting to Know Aristotle: A Dramatist’s Best Friend 76

What’s It All About?: Writing an Effective Synopsis 77

Chapter 6: Plot Part I: Beginnings 81

Crafting an Eye-Opening Opener 82

What to show first: person, place, or thing? 82

Conflict: What’s wrong with this picture? 85

Possible ways to begin your story 86

Three Compelling (and Contrasting) Movie Beginnings 87

Jaws 88

Lady Bird 88

Moonlight 89

Chapter 7: Plot Part II: Middles 91

Muddling through the Middle 92

From Lights to Camera to . . . ACTION! 93

Action versus activity 94

Revisiting the story’s time clock 95

Status: Where’s the Upper Hand? 96

What’s Your Problem? Introducing Conflicts and Obstacles 99

Exposition: From Clunky to Creative 101

Sharing info the characters know 101

Sharing info the characters may not know 103

Determining What to Write from What You’ve Written 104

Three Compelling (and Contrasting) Movie Middles 106

Jaws 106

Lady Bird 107

Moonlight 108

Chapter 8: Plot Part III: Endings 111

Are We There Yet? How to Know When You’re Done 112

Tracking the change: What’s different now? 113

Crafting your story’s conclusion 117

Danger Will Robinson: Threats to an Otherwise Healthy Plot 120

Would that really happen? The probable versus the possible 120

Scenes where nothing happens: Two final threats to watch for 123

Ultimate Success: Tracking Three Movies through Their Triumphant Conclusions 125

Jaws 125

Lady Bird 125

Moonlight 126

Chapter 9: Character Building 127

Portrait of a Person: Constructing a Physical World 128

Your character’s physical being 128

Your character’s physical environment 131

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Constructing an Internal World 135

Dreams, desires, and passions 136

Your character’s engine: Needs versus wants 137

Talents and expertise 138

Internal obstacles 139

Your character’s argument 140

From the Inside Out: Making the Inner World Visible 142

Balancing character dialogue with character action 142

Crafting concrete character goals 143

Providing character opportunities 143

Establishing routines that change 144

Forcing your characters to choose 144

Using a mentor 145

Using a narrator 146

Crafting secondary characters 146

Chapter 10: Delivering Dynamic Dialogue 147

Diction: What’s in a Word? 148

Isn’t versus ain’t: Diction’s determining factors 149

The highs and the lows of language 153

Name That Tune: Crafting Your Character’s Music 156

Sound 101: Using poetry as a guide 157

Fascinating rhythm: Crafting your script’s pulse 158

Letting the Listener Lead 161

Putting It Together: Characters in Conversation 163

Setting the scene 163

Dialogue do’s and don’ts 165

Chapter 11: The Nontraditional Film 173

Breaking with Tradition: Other Ways to Get the Job Done 174

Tinkering with Time 175

Song and Dance: The Movie Musical 177

How much music is too much music? 178

Original musicals 179

Musical adaptations 181

One Click Away: Writing a Web Series 183

Show me the money! 185

Tackling the pre-production work for a web series 186

Getting involved in web series production 189

Successfully steering the web series post-production process 190

Scripting the Short (Film) 192

Finding the Festival for You 193

Chapter 12: Maintaining an Audience’s Trust 195

Screenwriting and Ethics 196

Screenwriting and Responsibility 197

What are you willing to put your name on? 197

The immunity factor 198

Is this story for you? Appropriation and authenticity 200

A Gift for Gab: How to Conduct a Meaningful Interview 203

Preparing for an interview 203

Setting up an interview 204

Conducting an interview 205

Part 3: Turning your story into a script 207

Chapter 13: Mapping Out Your Screenplay 209

Conceptualizing Your Concept 210

How to Treat Your Treatment 212

Before you begin 213

Putting it on the page 214

Exploring the Ins and Outs of an Outline 217

One beat at a time 218

Filling in the gaps 220

Crafting the conclusion 221

What to Do When the Outline’s Through 222

Chapter 14: Surviving Writer’s Block 225

Moving from Panic to Peace 226

The top reasons for writer’s block 227

A survival guide 230

Reevaluating Your Routine 231

Seeking Outside Help 233

Chapter 15: Formatting Your Screenplay 235

How the Screenplay Looks on the Page 236

Formatting a title page 236

Setting up the seven components of a page 237

Setting your typeface and margins 238

Spacing your script correctly 239

Making your computer work for you 243

Creating a PDF 244

Making Your Format Flow 246

Cinematic description 246

Character introductions 248

Transitional directions 252

Camera concerns 255

Sample Scenes 260

Chapter 16: Putting It Together: Structuring Your First Draft 261

Traversing the Three-Act Structure 262

Act I: Introductions 263

Your opening moments 263

The first fifteen pages 264

The inciting incident 265

Plot point one 266

Act II: Salting the Wound 266

Know where the action is 268

The about-face 270

The midpoint 270

Plot point two 270

Act III: The Final Frontier 271

The climax 272

The resolution 273

A Note on Subplots 273

Variations on the Routine 276

The five-act structure 276

The eight-sequence structure 277

Chapter 17: Take Two: Rewriting Your Script 279

Downshifting between Drafts 279

How to work when you’re not working 280

Your first time back: Read-through #1 282

A second glance: Read-through #2 284

Back in the Saddle Again: Rewrites 291

Recruiting a Reader 293

Capitalizing on Your Critique 294

Chapter 18: Adaptation and Collaboration: Two Alternate Ways to Work 297

Procuring Primary Material 298

Knowing when you need a copyright 298

Comprehending copyrights 298

Procuring permission 299

Assessing how much to adapt 301

Navigating between Forms 302

From fiction to film 302

From stage to screen 305

From meter to movies 307

Mastering the Process of Adaptation 308

How to approach an original work 308

What to do when you’re stuck 310

Studying the Art of Collaboration 311

What to look for in a writing Partner 311

How to approach collaboration 312

Learning collaboration from the pros 313

Part 4: Selling your script to show business 317

Chapter 19: Before You Send It: Pre-Marketing Considerations 319

Understanding the “Biz” in Showbiz 320

Getting to know the players: The Hollywood hierarchy 320

Getting to know the buyers: The studio hierarchy 322

Getting a “grip”: Hollywood jargon 324

Preparing Yourself for the Biz 327

Putting on a happy face: The art of attitude 327

Organizing your records 328

Reaching out to the right resources 331

Setting personal goals 333

Polishing the Copy You Send 334

Checking last-minute details 334

Finessing your front page 336

Protecting Your Work 336

Registering with the Writers Guild of America 336

Pursuing the “poor-man’s copyright” 337

Chapter 20: Getting Your Screenplay Noticed 339

Designing Your Own Package 340

Highlighting the universal 341

Gaining the competitive edge 342

Considering the reader 343

Preparing to Pitch 344

Perfecting the teaser pitch 345

Selling the story pitch 346

Finding a Manager or Agent 348

Approaching an Agent or Manager 349

Sending a query 351

Pitching Your Script without an Agent 354

What to Do When They Say Yes 356

Meeting with an agent 357

Meeting with executives 358

Looking Ahead: Upon Achieving Success 359

A Final Note 360

Part 5: The Part of Tens 361

Chapter 21: Ten Screenwriters You Should Know 363

Sofia Coppola 364

Nora Ephron 365

William Goldman 366

Charlie Kaufman 367

Spike Lee 368

John Logan 370

Jordan Peele 372

Issa Rae 373

Taika Waititi 374

Phoebe Waller-Bridge 376

 Chapter 22: Ten Screenwriting Myths 379

I Have to Live in Los Angeles to Write Screenplays 379

I Have to Go to Grad School to Learn How to Write 380

If I Can Write for Film, I Can Write for TV 381

I Haven’t Written Before and It’s Too Late to Start 382

Writing Is a Lonely Profession 383

Hollywood Has No Ethics; It’ll Ruin the Integrity of My Script 383

It’s Not What I Know; It’s Who I Know That Matters 384

I Have Too Many Obligations to Be a Writer 385

I’m Only as Successful as the Last Screenplay I Sold 386

I’m Not Talented Enough to Be a Writer 386

Appendix A: Sample scenes and online Resources 387

Index 405