Writing a Screenplay – 2 Things You MUST Do

If you’re just starting out as a screenwriter, learning how to develop your story idea into a well-crafted, well-structured screenplay is your biggest challenge.

I’ve talked previously about how to get started, making sure your screenplay is correctly formatted. I’ve also written about the most important element in a story. This time I’ll talk about taking your basic idea and expanding it into 5, 10 or 200 pages of screenplay.

Creative writing is limitless

Unlike other areas of filmmaking which have certain technical restrictions, with screenwriting your options for creative expression are limited only by your imagination.

Let’s try it. Here, I’ll type the first crazy thing that comes into my head.

A wizard flies to Venus on the back of a magical elephant.

That took me 6 seconds to think of and type. But now, try to turn that into a movie. How long do you think it would take to turn my 12 word sentence into a movie?

Simplest way I can think of would be to draw a wizard on an elephant and Venus on pieces of paper and cut them out. Then use stop-motion animation for the flying part. It probably wouldn’t look too impressive and it would still take several hours.

So, this is like lesson number 1 for any aspiring screenwriter.

Being practical – limit your ideas

When writing a novel you can literally go anywhere your mind takes you. Words describing a wizard flying through outer space on a magic elephant cost the same as words describing a guy travelling to work on a bus.

With screenwriting, however, every word you type has a different practical cost when it comes to turning those words into moving images.

I once met a guy who told me he worked for the BBC in “script development”. When my eyes lit up he said, “Not that kind. We go through scripts and work out how much each element will cost.” His job was often to tell writers to re-write parts of their story which were too expensive to shoot.

So you see, understanding the cost of what you’re writing is very much a part of your craft as a screenwriter. Perhaps one day screenwriting software will not just total your word count, as you type, but calculate the estimated cost of making a movie from your script.

A (0$) wizard ($350) flies ($4200) to Venus ($53,000) on the back of a magical ($75,000) elephant ($127,000).

I think this would save many new screenwriters a lot of time, and might help prevent them writing screenplays that will almost certainly never be made. Until you get a job at Pixar where you have so much power they’ll spend millions making your spec script, that is.

If your name is J.J Abrams, ignore this advice. Everyone else, please take note…

“Nobody Knows Anything” William Goldman

Okay, but what about the actual craft of writing?

Step 1 to Becoming a Screenwriter

Thing is, there’s no set way to learn and develop your screenwriting craft. There are many and infinite paths open for you. Just like in life, there is no ultimate way to live – because everyone is different. Despite that, there will be a large number of people lining up to tell you what they think you should be doing.

The same goes for creative pursuits such as writing. There are 1000s of “experts” online who want to convince you their method is the best route to Hollywood success. Mostly, their aim is to make money out of gullible wanna-bes.

Meanwhile, others say you can’t teach someone to write, anyway. They say it’s a natural talent, which you either have or you don’t.

I do understand why people might think this. However, the problem with this belief is it’s based on subjective opinion regarding what is good and bad. And as the recently passed legendary screenwriter famously said, “Nobody knows anything.”

However, there’s one thing we can all agree without doubt: if you practice writing screenplays you will get better.

I know – it sucks

When I was about 16 years old, like many teenagers I wanted to be rock star. So I went and bought myself a £100 electric guitar. Until that day, I’d never displayed any great talent for music.

Undeterred, I plugged it into my little Vox amp and tried to get my fingers into a chord shape. After some practice, I could crudely strum the chord of C. With a bit more, I could crudely strum as I moved my fingers from the chord of C to the chord of E and back again.

And that took me a week. It was then that I realised being a rock star (you know, one who could make awesome rock guitar sounds like they did in the music I loved) wasn’t as easy as they made it look.

The reason it looks easy is because they’d been practicing for hours, days, months, years… until they had blisters on their fingers. Well, actually until their fingertips had become hardened by months of relentless practice.

And here’s an unpleasant truth for you: writing is exactly the same.

You simply cannot be good at screenwriting unless you practice. For… like… ages.

This is boring – what about the cool stuff?

Just sayin’… if this is your first screenplay, it almost certainly sucks. But what did you expect? You’d magically be a genius somehow? Because this movie is playing in your head and… wow it’s awesome!

When I was starting out as a screenwriter, I discovered a website run by 2 successful Hollywood writers. Before they got too famous and didn’t have the time anymore, they filled it with really cool articles.

The amazing thing is – it’s still there! It hasn’t changed since I last looked at it, about *mumble mumble cough* years ago. It’s a website stuck in time. I guess they can afford the $80 a year server and domain fee.

But one of the things I remember reading was how they wrote 3 feature length screenplays and just threw them in the bin. They just wanted to practice. Because they didn’t want to waste Hollywood execs’ time with beginner stuff.

So… what about the fun stuff, like character arcs, 3 act structure, major turning points, the refusal of the call and all that?

Well, yeah. That stuff is fun. And I will get to it.

You know that’s what we came here for. Why are you wasting our time with this boring stuff?

Shit, am I talking to myself again?

Yep.

Well, it’s fine. That’s what writers do, anway, isn’t it?

Talk to themselves?

Yeah, I mean, 35% of a screenplay should be dialogue.

I didn’t know that. Is that true?

Haha, well I’ve no idea, really. I just Googled it.

So, can we talk about the fun stuff now?

Only if you promise to limit your ideas and practice writing.

(crosses fingers behind back) Sure.

What’s that behind your back?

Eager to learn more?

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