Practical Screenwriting: Preparation

You've got it. You've got an idea for the next blockbuster, awards darling film that will capture the hearts and minds of generations, the only thing you have to do is write it. Maybe you've just got a solid idea for an action movie, or a funny idea for a romantic comedy. You have something, though, and you know it's going to be good.

Before you sit down in front of your computer or typewriter or pen and paper to get down to writing this screenplay, which will surely earn you fame and fortune-- stop. You're not ready to write it yet. I know. It's pretty much going to write itself it's such a good idea. The characters, the plot, the big reveal at the end that changes the way we'll all see the world around us you've got it all in your head. That's great but first you should take some time to prepare yourself and the story for getting into the meat of the writing. You're going to have to write the story before you write the story.

I wasn't always a fan of this. Why would I do all this other work to create my story when I can just sit down and write it all out now? Because, it will be better. I promise you. It's going to be a better story after you do this. Believe it or not you're going to save yourself a lot of time.

So, now that you're on board we can get started with writing your screenplay before you write your screenplay. Your first assignment is hard: watch a movie. Now, not just any movie. Watch a movie in the genre you're going to write for. Not just any movie in your genre, the most well regarded movie in the genre that is most like your idea. If you think there is nothing like what you're writing, then your assignment is to watch every single movie good, bad, and inscrutable in your chosen genre until you find a movie like yours and then use that to proceed.

You're going to watch this movie again and again until your DVD player begs you to stop. The first time you watch the movie you're just going to watch it. Absorb the overall plot and characters, let everything sink in. The second time you watch it you need a notebook and paper. As you watch this time write down a short description of every scene. When the movie changes location or time the scene has changed. Make note of the scene and what time the scene occurs at based on the timecode on your DVD player. That way you can easily find the scene again for reference.

Now that you have a list of all the scenes you're going to watch and re-watch the movie taking notes about every scene. What happens, what works, what doesn't work, what's the point of the scene, what characters are in the scene, write everything down. Keep doing this, watching and making notes and you'll soon understand the movie better than pretty much anyone else who has ever watched the movie. You need to know this movie backwards and forwards, inside and out.

With this knowledge of the film so prominent in your chosen genre you see what works and what doesn't and what you should probably make sure to do and avoid in your own script. Now, you can get started actually thinking about your own story. You're not writing the script yet, though. You're still in the preparatory stage.

Buy a packet of index cards or something else you can easily take notes on shuffle, resort, and rearrange. On these cards you will write out every scene that comes to mind for your screenplay. Whatever good or bad idea for a scene comes to mind write it down. Consider the scenes in the movie you analyzed. Consider the major plot points and be sure you have scenes that build character and plot much the same way as the movie you studied. Keep writing out cards in no particular order until you have 100 cards. Now, you should try sorting all 100 of these scenes into a rough order that you think would make for a good movie.

Now that you have all 100 cards in a nice order that you think will make for a great screenplay, throw out 50 of the index cards. Go through your stack of 100 and remove half of them. You must remove 50. No removing 49 and thinking that's close enough. Once you've disposed of your 50 cards take a look at the 50 you kept and consider how you might need to reorder these. Reorder them as necessary.

What you now have are 50 scenes for your screenplay that give you a rough idea of your story. With that done you can now move from this stage of preparation to the slightly more fun but still no writing yet outlining stage.

Writing in this sort of way with lots of pre-work can be frustrating but it's highly beneficial. As anyone who has taken a serious approach to writing a short story, novel, or screenplay can tell you as you write you start to discover problems or even just new ideas that can hamper completing your piece. By engaging in pre-writing steps where, to a degree, you are writing your story before you write your story you'll be able to find many problems or new ideas the might have slowed you down and much more easily incorporate them or find your way around them.