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How To Begin Writing A Screenplay

Assignment One: Writing Your Short Synopsis

OK, this article is for those writers who aren't sure how or
where to begin writing a screenplay. We're going to start from
the very beginning. Let me start off by saying that every writer
is unique therefore each writer has a preferred writing method.
Only you can explore the different methods and choose what
works best for you. I simply bring you my experience and best
advice. There are few things you are going to need to help you
get started.

· Something to write on
· Something to write with

I know, you just spent $300.00 on the best super duper

screenwriting software on the market and I just told you all
you are going to need are a pen and paper. Trust me, you're
going to need the software and as a writer that's the single
best investment you ever made. You just don't need it right
now. Be patient. You'll get there.

The basis of every good screenplay is a good story. The first

thing you need to figure out before you start typing is what
your story is. Yes, you can put pen to blank paper and begin
writing dialogue scattered with great scenes and characters
but that all means nothing unless you're telling a good story.
Some screenwriters tape their story to a corkboard or even
their computer monitors so they never forget why they sat
down to write in the first place.

You should be able to tell us what your story is in just a few

sentences. You can do this by writing what we call a short
synopsis. This is where your pen and paper come in. Before you
write down the short synopsis to your own film make sure you
know what one is. Here is an example of one from a well
known film.

EXERCISE ONE

Below are a list of popular films. With your pen and paper
write down what you think the basic story (synopsis) is. Trust

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me, it's not as easy as it looks. Even if you think you know it in
your head write it down. This will get your brain thinking in
terms of story and that's exactly what you want. Once you have
finished writing the synopses for that film click on the films
title and a synopsis for the film will appear. Your synopsis will
never match word for word but hopefully you've captured the
basic story.

Stand By Me

The Shawshank Redemption

True Lies

EXERCISE TWO

Now that you know what a short synopsis is, it's time to
write your own. On a new sheet of paper write a short synopsis
for the screenplay you are planning on writing. It should only
be a few sentences long. Once you've written down the story
you would like to tell, take that piece of paper and hide it. Don't
look at it for one or two weeks. Then read it again and see if
it's the same story you want to tell. Writing a screenplay takes
months if not years and if you're already bored with your story
after one week, then it's not the story you should consider
writing. If the idea still strikes you as exciting then you now
have your story for your screenplay.

Spend at least two weeks on this assignment then check back

to see what we'll be working on next.

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CONCEPT

Conjure up an exceptional concept, premise, or theme for your

movie considering: autobiography/biography, big vs. small,
chick flicks, imagination, impact on writer, metaphor,
originality, and universality.

concept
· a general idea derived or inferred from specific instances
or occurrences.
· something formed in the mind; a thought or notion.

motif
· recurrent thematic element in an artistic or literary work.
· in literature and the fine arts, a salient feature or element
of a composition or work; esp., the theme, or central or
dominant feature; specif. (music), a motive.

premise
· a proposition upon which an argument is based or from
which a conclusion is drawn.
· v.t. set forth beforehand, or as introductory to the main
subject; to offer previously, as something to explain or aid in
understanding what follows; especially, to lay down premises
or first propositions, on which rest the subsequent reasonings.

Theme
· a unifying idea that is a recurrent element in a literary or
artistic work; "it was the usual 'boy gets girl' theme"

AUTOBIOGRAPHY/BIOGRAPHY

Stories best suited for cinema have strong dramatic structure.

Such stories are often difficult to pull out of biographies as
these tend to be chronologically linear and difficult to
encapsulate in a launch-story-climax design. Strong cinematic
life stories do indeed tell such a story, carefully extracted by a
skillful writer, but the challenge might best be saved for later
scripts. Where no cinematic story can be extracted from a life
or true story--e.g., a romance, another relationship, a challenge
or series of similar challenges--generating a theme might serve

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a similar function. Otherwise the personality of the subject

needs to be fascinating enough to make readers and audience
members want to follow an episodic rendition of life events.

Inventing the Truth: The Art and Craft of Memoir

Autobiographies suffer the same difficulties and more:

· fixation on what happened
· lack of perspective
· belief others want to see your life story

The truth provides a good basis for a story, but in film one must
be truer to the cinematic story than the actual events. Those
who sit around learning about proper screenplay format so
they can turn their lives into movies aren't the ones living
movies anyone else wants to see. The true cinematic heroes
are too busy achieving greatness--or having it thrust upon
them--to study screenwriting. Given the inherent difficulties of
crafting an autobiographical script, and the inherent desire to
do just that, it's best to save the personal life story until a few
scripts into one's writing career.

How to Write the Story of Your Life

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BIG VS. SMALL

Big stories are generally more marketable and compelling than

small. A bigger-than-life subject, life and death stakes, a
universal theme, etc. generally characterizes a big story. Small
stories--one character's approach to his life's challenges--can
be powerful, too, but the writer must work harder to make it
pertinent to the rest of us. Small stories can be made big
through universal truths and metaphors.

CHICK FLICKS

Any mother will tell you that her daughter will go see "boy
films" but her son will not go to see "girl films", so she ends up
taking them both to see "boy films" or loses half of her
audience. The same holds true into adulthood: either make
films that appeal to guys or cut out fifty percent of your
market. Though the woman still picks the film, she wants the
guy to come along (and often wants him to pay for it). It might
be said the whole movie industry depends on this
interrelationship. While most women don't see the use in
"shoot 'em ups", guys avoid "chick flicks" like the plague. One
crossover seems to be horror films, which the gals seem to
enjoy even more than the guys, but this is a pretty specific
genre not beloved by all writers.

Vive la différence.

feminine masculine
internal external
compassion fairness
agenda mission
people things
feelings actions
family tribe
social political
"no" "yes"
blame no excuses
security risk
complain fix
etiquette respect
relationships alliances

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emotions anger
manipulate command
love protection
form function
mystical mechanical
glamour valor
practical philosophical
earth sky
intuitive logical
verbal mathematical
indirect direct
mean tough
home abroad
shopping cars
victimhood fuggedaboutit

The two most popular movies of all time, in terms of box office
sales, operate on two levels, one tending to appeal most to
women and the other to men. GONE WITH THE WIND posed a
torrid love affair against the backdrop of war, the bloodiest in
U.S. history. Who's to say men don't enjoy love stories, too, but
need to hide their interest behind the more "acceptable"
martial battles? Love stories appeal more to women, war
appeals more to men. Overlapping the two can make a
powerful combination at the box office. The longest-running
top grossing film of all time, TITANIC works a similar
compromise when it poses a love affair against the backdrop of
an engineering marvel, a massive steel ship, and it's ultimate
destruction, with all the adventure and blood that entails. It
became the only movie ever to outsell GONE WITH THE WIND
(in real dollars). Appealing to young and old audiences equally
helped, too.

See what women say about chick flicks in . . . · "More Movies

Should Be About Being Moved" by Donna Britt in the June 7,
2002 Washington Post; and · "Women Hanging Together:
How Long Must We Watch?" by Alex Kuczynski in the June 9,
2002 New York Times . . . "reprinted" here.
Men Writing the Feminine: Literature, Theory, and the
Question of Genders

CULTURE

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Much of life, much of what drives good dramatic stories, is

human behavior. And human behavior extends largely from
culture. Culture is the prism through which natural impulses
and urges are bent on their way to external comportment,
"acceptable behavior" in a group or region. Even universal
truths and eternal verities attain a flavor from the ambient
culture. Female culture is distinct from male, young from old,
black from white, European from American, Asian from African.
Individual organizations have cultures all their own, to which
people adapt, and adapt quickly, or find themselves bounced
out. Small regions--neighborhoods, say--have distinct, readable
cultures. Much dramatic success stems from nailing the depth
and breadth of a given culture, and then clashing it with
another. The fun arises from the inherent humor of such a
clash, self-awareness gained, but also the potential cross-
adaptation to make a situation work, the reciprocal character
changes. The good dramatic writer will also tend to be a good
amateur anthropologist with a critical and perceptive eye for
making such things real and resonant. Boomers, Xers and
Other Strangers

IMAGINATION

A few things have debunked the old saw "Write what you
know!":
· E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
· STAR WARS (1977)
· RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981)
· the other Top Grossing Movies of All Time

The authors were aliens? Space warriors? Archeologists?

Superheros? No, but they were able to pen the greatest money
spinners in history. "Write what you imagine!" is a better
guideline to follow, as Lajos Egri might well say. So much of
good writing is about the life of the imagination, imagination
that can be fueled by actual events, real life experiences,
books, dreams and all manner of other things. Writers create
new, unexplored imaginary worlds no one, including
themselves, has ever beheld. Encountering these imaginary
worlds offers moviegoers escape from humdrum existence, a
big reason they frequent dark cinemas to begin with.

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"Don't write about what you know, write about what you didn't
know you knew." ARTHUR KOPIT

The Writer's Block: 786 Ideas to Jump-Start Your Imagination

IMPACT ON WRITER

Project concepts are best selected based on their ability to:

· expand the writer's consciousness
· help the writer to grow intellectually, emotionally, or
spiritually
· enhance the writer's life
· advance writing skills
· enhance the writer's enjoyment of life

Such concepts:
· yield the best material
· inspire marketing efforts
· make the whole effort worthwhile for the writer even if no
one buys the script
· help the writer improve dimensionally with each project

The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

METAPHOR

A story that is a metaphor--or "a model of some aspect of

human behavior" (see Chris Vogler on concept)--fulfills the
extraordinary power of cinema, makes itself more universal by
definition, and raises itself above the ordinary Hollywood fare.
Done properly, this metaphor is woven so well into the story

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and images that people "get" it subconsciously--or because

they went to film school, a crowd we enjoy impressing.

Metaphors Dictionary

ORIGINALITY

Fresh, non-derivative ideas--that's what Hollywood says it

craves. The most often heard complaint from producers is "I've
seen that movie before!" Before you write your movie, has
anyone seen it before? Have you seen it before? There is
something to be said for stories that are close enough to other
popular stories that comparisons can be made. This can
facilitate pitching--"it's a kind of KING KONG meets CINEMA
PARADISO"--and ensure producers that the idea isn't too "out
there". One writer has even suggested developing movie
concepts in the way he heard a writer of great popular songs
did--start with a hit movie and alter one note at a time until it's
yours.

Defying the Crowd: Cultivating Creativity in a Culture of

Conformity

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS/VICTIMHOOD

The era of Political Correctness will likely be looked upon one

day as among the most ridiculous in human history, not to
mention scariest. Here we have fascist tactics combined with
communist objectives and results. The culture of victimhood,

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power through victimhood, wholesale language changes, male

bashing, zero tolerance, labelling, the personal made political .
. . the movement amounts to a collective Thought Police.

New Thought Police: Inside the Left's Assault on Free Speech

and Free Minds

Any writer in the English language who cares about the art of
writing, should note the attack on our tongue by the forces of
Political Correctness . . .

· "Congresspeople": the word "congressmen" already

means "the people in Congress" with no implication of gender
one way or another.
· "Actor" applied to female thespians: what was wrong with
"actress" to begin with? An actress is a very different creature
than a male actor and needs to be designated as such.
· "Chair": has always referred to the piece of furniture. To
refer to someone as a piece of wood when he's actually a
person is an insult. "Chairman" sufficed to begin with (see
above).
· "Businesspeople" . . .

Such linguistic abominations require no further discussion.

What would such people do in countries where the language
spoken uses concordance, i.e., most words have a gender
inflection?

Official Politically Correct Dictionary and Handbook

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But writing a ridiculous screenplay, that might one day be

made into a ridiculous movie, is the least of the problems for a
screenwriter dabbling in the cult of victimhood. Perhaps we
should all be so lucky. A major problem is that we all want to
see strong central characters at the movies, not weaklings who
are victimized. Pitiable characters don't make good cinematic
fodder. In fact generating pity tends to be death in the
performing arts. Even worse is that victimhood is a fallacy, a
fiction in and of itself. We are but victims of our own behavior,
especially in these United States, so to make victimhood work
in a movie much must be manufactured out of unreality. See
the Jennifer Lopez movie ENOUGH (2002) for proof of this.
Remember who buys the tickets. You want them to feel like
they've been clubbed to death on their night out on the town?
How about the people who read your script trying to decide if
they want to make it into a movie?

Who Stole Feminism?: How Women Have Betrayed Women

Better for a screenwriter to turn all this on its head, writing a

story with characters that celebrate the fallacy and lunacy of it.
Or to seek his own "truth" on these matters, and in so doing
find something new. Best of all: avoid "political correctness"
altogether. It's fallacious, hateful, and destructive, and the
world turned for many thousands of years without it, spinning
many timelessly classic stories that had nothing to do with
victimhood. If they had they would not have become timeless
classics.

UNIVERSALITY

A story with a universal theme--one that touches a "universal

truth that goes beyond culture, race, age, or geographic
location" (see Syd Field on concept)--will reach more people,
making it more likely to get produced. Political stories, stories

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with an overt message, stories based in victimhood that beat

up one audience group or another--white males being the
popular one of late--just don't make good sense. This goes to
for stories about diseases and medical conditions.
Your powerful message won't get through if presented overtly
because: · Nobody likes to be preached to. Thus . . . o No one
will want to produce your movie. o No one will want to see
your movie. o Those who do see your movie won't speak
highly of it to others.
People go to movies to enjoy themselves watching strong
characters go out into the world and make things happen. A
message is best sent woven into the fabric of the story, carried
through strong characters who face the world bravely each
day. Reading the enduring stories, especially the classics,
acquaints us with universal themes and truths, and shows us
how to relay them without the audience realizing that's what
we're doing.

THE TEN BEST MOVIES OF ALL TIME

1. CITIZEN KANE Orson Welles U.S. 1941
2. VERTIGO Alfred Hitchcock (English) U.S. 1958
3. LA REGLE DU JEU Jean Renoir France 1939
4. THE GODFATHER/THE GODFATHER: Part II Francis
Ford Coppola U.S. 1972/4
5. TOKYO STORY Yasujiro Ozu Japan 1953
6. 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY Stanley Kubrick U.S. 1968
7. BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN Sergei Eisenstein Soviet
Union 1925
8. SUNRISE F. W. Murnau (German) U.S. 1927
9. 8 1/2 Frederico Fellini Italy 1963
10. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly
U.S. 1952
Critics Top Ten Poll 2002 from British Film Institute's "Sight
and Sound"

Great Movies

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