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How To Write A Screenplay
By Alan Leach
How to write a screenplay
Advances in specialized screenplay software have made the formatting of screenplays considerably easier. Even so, it tells us very little about actually how to write a screenplay in the first place. Therefore for those of you interested in learning how to write a screenplay, the following should serve as useful advice.
One key difference where screenplays differ from novels is that a novel allows the reader to visualize much of the information presented, whereas a screenplay must explicitly tell the reader what they will see. Remember the whole purpose of a screenplay is that it will be made into a movie so the important thing is to think how to present this to whoever will read your screenplay.
Naturally, like other forms of writing, a screenplay is nothing if you do not write a good story. The ability to write a good story is not one that can necessarily be learned, but some ways to learn how to write a good story include using themes such as conflict, love and adventure. Think about the good books you have read or the good movies you have seen. Hopefully you can see that there were several common elements to the stories that many of these books and movies shared.
Length is a key consideration for those of you who want to learn how to write a screenplay. Assuming you are working on a feature length film, your screenplay should probably be about 100 pages long, with a margin or error of around 15 pages either way. Naturally, a lot will depend on the information you have provided. For example, you could write an action scene that only takes up three lines of your screenplay, but ten minutes of the movie. Conversely, a two page conversation between friends might only take 30 seconds in the movie itself. While the length of the script might vary, you should try to ensure each scene keeps the movie moving along, and if the scene is not absolutely necessary for the overall movie, think seriously about deleting it altogether.
Proofreading is important for those of you wanting to know how to write a screenplay. Sloppy grammar or spelling will not be looked upon favourably and software spell check programs should not be relied upon totally. Better is to read and edit carefully yourself first, before asking two or three close friends to do the same. After spending a lot of time to write the screenplay, how disappointed would you feel to find out it had been rejected due to too many errors?
Print the screenplay when you have finished writing and checking it and bind it professionally. Always print the screenplay on good quality paper, and remember to keep a hard and soft copy for yourself! It is likely when you send out your screenplay that you might not get it back. Always make sure you have copies! A key thing to remember when learning how to write a screenplay is the idea of copyright. Make sure you have not plagiarized someone else's work, and just as important, make sure you get a copyright on your own work so that other people cannot steal your ideas.
We have looked at some of the basic steps in learning how to write a screenplay. As mentioned already, software can considerable help speed up the process of writing the screenplay, saving you much time, but it cannot help with the ability to write a good story, which is and will always be the key element in learning how to write a good screenplay. Happy writing!
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