Make a Movie Script
If you love movies and have a lot of imagination, you may be thinking it would be fun to write a movie script yourself. Thanks to a host of creative resources on the Internet, software programs that take the guesswork out of formatting and even opportunities to pitch your work to prospective producers, you don't even have to live in Hollywood to generate your own movie magic. Here's get started.
Instructions
1. Decide the length and genre of the movie you want to write. If you're brand new to this medium, you may want to start out with a film short rather than a full-length feature. A film short can be anywhere from 3 minutes to an hour and uses only a few characters and locations. In contrast, a feature film is more complex and ranges anywhere from 90 minutes to 3 hours, the average being 2 hours. Genre refers to whether your film is a drama, comedy, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, western and so forth. For your first screenplay, it's best to start out writing in a genre that you personally enjoy watching.
2. Rent and watch at least 10 films in your chosen genre to familiarize yourself with their structure and the elements that make them click. A comedy, for instance, relies on wacky situations, sight gags, and snappy banter. In contrast, a horror story takes advantage of light, shadow, music and surprises that jump from out of nowhere. Visit your local video store and ask for genre recommendations, flip through a DVD catalog or visit Netflix online to search for films to study.
3. Download free screenplays from websites such as Simply Scripts and Drew's Script-O-Rama to study formatting and structure. Rent the DVD of one of the free screenplays you download to compare how what is written on the page translates to what actually appears on the screen. Screenwriting is about brevity. Accordingly, you're not going to be writing every single detail about what the characters are wearing, what color the house is or how many times the camera moves because these things are left to the discretion of the director, cinematographer, wardrobe designer and other professionals.
4. Study books about the craft of screenwriting. Publishers such as Michael Wiese Productions specialize in how-to texts for film and television writing and offer invaluable resources in constructing your story, gleaning advice from industry professionals and understanding the fundamentals of how movies are financed, filmed and distributed.
5. Outline your story before you start writing it. Screenwriting is about three-act structure. The first third of your script introduces the main characters and identifies the core conflict or quest. The second third escalates the stakes and forces the protagonist to take bigger risks. The third act throws in more obstacles to place the protagonist between a rock and a hard place and then resolves all of the outstanding issues. One of the easiest ways to outline your screenplay concept is to decide how many pages it will be and divide it by 3. Since 1 page of typed script equals 1 minute of screen time, a 15-minute film short would be 15 pages in length, and each act would be 5 pages long.
6. Identify who your protagonist (hero) will be. This person will have the most visibility on screen and will also have the core conflict or quest around which all other events revolve. Identify who or what is going to oppose your protagonist's objectives. The antagonist (villain) can't be bad just for the sake of being bad or he will come across as superficial. The villain's goals must be as clearly defined as those of the hero to constitute a battle worth watching.
7. Decide how many settings and how many additional characters you will need to tell your story. It's best for a first-time screenwriter to think economically about production costs to make his or her screenplay accessible to as many prospective producers as possible. For instance, a 15-minute short that has a cast of 500 actors, multiple costume changes and expensive sets replete with explosions and natural disasters isn't likely to attract any buyers.
8. Start writing your script. If you don't have a screenwriting software program such as Final Draft (finaldraft.com) loaded on your computer, it's still feasible to create a script as a Word document. The downside to this, however, is that you're going to make a lot of extra work for yourself and, furthermore, your finished product may not look as professional as those of your competitors.
9. Get feedback on your screenplay. Join or start a local screenwriters' critique group where you can read and evaluate each other's work. Enter screenplay competitions through websites such as Movie Bytes (moviebytes.com). Have your screenplay professionally evaluated through services such as Hollywood LitSales. Pitch your polished script through websites such as InkTip (inktip.com).
Tags: film short, websites such, your screenplay, your story, anywhere from, anywhere from minutes