Introduction 1
About This Book 1
Foolish Assumptions 3
Icons Used in This Book 3
Beyond the Book 4
Where to Go from Here 4
Part 1: So you want to write for Pictures 5
Chapter 1: Introducing the Art of Screenwriting 7
In The Mind’s Eye 7
Developing the Writer’s Mind 8
Approaching Screenwriting as a Craft 9
Finding Your Screenplay’s Story 9
Working through the Writing Process 10
Formatting Your Screenplay 11
Constructing Your First Draft 11
Rewriting Your Script 12
Adapting Your Screenplay from an Outside Source 13
Selling Your Screenplay to Show Business 13
Chapter 2: Preparing to Think Visually 15
Is It Cinema? Considering Other Mediums 15
Is it a screenplay or a novel? 16
Is it film or theater? 17
Is it a movie, visual art, or poetry? 17
It’s probably a screenplay if 18
What You See Is What You Get: The Visual Life of a Screenplay 20
Crafting images from the outside in 21
Crafting images from the inside out 22
Chapter 3: Diving Into the Screenwriter’s Mind 25
Finding Your Feet: How to Learn From Other Writers 26
Reading for dramatic intent 27
Recognizing a screenplay’s genre 28
Art and Life: What’s the Difference? 30
Developing an Artistic Sensibility 31
What a writer sees 32
What a writer hears 33
What a writer remembers and what a writer forgets 34
Recognizing a Story When You See One 36
Identifying the call to write 36
The four important P’s of story 37
Finding an opening image 37
Chapter 4: Approaching Screenwriting as a Craft 39
Invoking the Muse: Examining the Creative Process 40
Imagination: Your Creative Arsenal 41
Flexing the imagination 42
Putting the imagination to work 43
Identifying your writing voice 47
Craft: A Vehicle for Your Imagination 49
Form 50
Technique 50
Discipline 54
Part 2: Breaking down the elements of a story 57
Chapter 5: Unpacking Your Idea 59
I Have This Great Idea Now What? 59
Identifying your interest in the idea 60
Documenting your interest in the idea 61
Getting to Know Your Audience 63
Matching the story to the audience 63
Connecting with your audience 66
Knowing What Happened Before Your Story Began: Creating the Backstory 68
Identifying the elements of a backstory 68
Developing a screenplay through backstory 70
Identifying the Tone of Your Piece 71
Establishing Your Story’s Time Clock 72
Deciding When to Start Your Story 74
Getting to Know Aristotle: A Dramatist’s Best Friend 76
What’s It All About?: Writing an Effective Synopsis 77
Chapter 6: Plot Part I: Beginnings 81
Crafting an Eye-Opening Opener 82
What to show first: person, place, or thing? 82
Conflict: What’s wrong with this picture? 85
Possible ways to begin your story 86
Three Compelling (and Contrasting) Movie Beginnings 87
Jaws 88
Lady Bird 88
Moonlight 89
Chapter 7: Plot Part II: Middles 91
Muddling through the Middle 92
From Lights to Camera to . . . ACTION! 93
Action versus activity 94
Revisiting the story’s time clock 95
Status: Where’s the Upper Hand? 96
What’s Your Problem? Introducing Conflicts and Obstacles 99
Exposition: From Clunky to Creative 101
Sharing info the characters know 101
Sharing info the characters may not know 103
Determining What to Write from What You’ve Written 104
Three Compelling (and Contrasting) Movie Middles 106
Jaws 106
Lady Bird 107
Moonlight 108
Chapter 8: Plot Part III: Endings 111
Are We There Yet? How to Know When You’re Done 112
Tracking the change: What’s different now? 113
Crafting your story’s conclusion 117
Danger Will Robinson: Threats to an Otherwise Healthy Plot 120
Would that really happen? The probable versus the possible 120
Scenes where nothing happens: Two final threats to watch for 123
Ultimate Success: Tracking Three Movies through Their Triumphant Conclusions 125
Jaws 125
Lady Bird 125
Moonlight 126
Chapter 9: Character Building 127
Portrait of a Person: Constructing a Physical World 128
Your character’s physical being 128
Your character’s physical environment 131
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Constructing an Internal World 135
Dreams, desires, and passions 136
Your character’s engine: Needs versus wants 137
Talents and expertise 138
Internal obstacles 139
Your character’s argument 140
From the Inside Out: Making the Inner World Visible 142
Balancing character dialogue with character action 142
Crafting concrete character goals 143
Providing character opportunities 143
Establishing routines that change 144
Forcing your characters to choose 144
Using a mentor 145
Using a narrator 146
Crafting secondary characters 146
Chapter 10: Delivering Dynamic Dialogue 147
Diction: What’s in a Word? 148
Isn’t versus ain’t: Diction’s determining factors 149
The highs and the lows of language 153
Name That Tune: Crafting Your Character’s Music 156
Sound 101: Using poetry as a guide 157
Fascinating rhythm: Crafting your script’s pulse 158
Letting the Listener Lead 161
Putting It Together: Characters in Conversation 163
Setting the scene 163
Dialogue do’s and don’ts 165
Chapter 11: The Nontraditional Film 173
Breaking with Tradition: Other Ways to Get the Job Done 174
Tinkering with Time 175
Song and Dance: The Movie Musical 177
How much music is too much music? 178
Original musicals 179
Musical adaptations 181
One Click Away: Writing a Web Series 183
Show me the money! 185
Tackling the pre-production work for a web series 186
Getting involved in web series production 189
Successfully steering the web series post-production process 190
Scripting the Short (Film) 192
Finding the Festival for You 193
Chapter 12: Maintaining an Audience’s Trust 195
Screenwriting and Ethics 196
Screenwriting and Responsibility 197
What are you willing to put your name on? 197
The immunity factor 198
Is this story for you? Appropriation and authenticity 200
A Gift for Gab: How to Conduct a Meaningful Interview 203
Preparing for an interview 203
Setting up an interview 204
Conducting an interview 205
Part 3: Turning your story into a script 207
Chapter 13: Mapping Out Your Screenplay 209
Conceptualizing Your Concept 210
How to Treat Your Treatment 212
Before you begin 213
Putting it on the page 214
Exploring the Ins and Outs of an Outline 217
One beat at a time 218
Filling in the gaps 220
Crafting the conclusion 221
What to Do When the Outline’s Through 222
Chapter 14: Surviving Writer’s Block 225
Moving from Panic to Peace 226
The top reasons for writer’s block 227
A survival guide 230
Reevaluating Your Routine 231
Seeking Outside Help 233
Chapter 15: Formatting Your Screenplay 235
How the Screenplay Looks on the Page 236
Formatting a title page 236
Setting up the seven components of a page 237
Setting your typeface and margins 238
Spacing your script correctly 239
Making your computer work for you 243
Creating a PDF 244
Making Your Format Flow 246
Cinematic description 246
Character introductions 248
Transitional directions 252
Camera concerns 255
Sample Scenes 260
Chapter 16: Putting It Together: Structuring Your First Draft 261
Traversing the Three-Act Structure 262
Act I: Introductions 263
Your opening moments 263
The first fifteen pages 264
The inciting incident 265
Plot point one 266
Act II: Salting the Wound 266
Know where the action is 268
The about-face 270
The midpoint 270
Plot point two 270
Act III: The Final Frontier 271
The climax 272
The resolution 273
A Note on Subplots 273
Variations on the Routine 276
The five-act structure 276
The eight-sequence structure 277
Chapter 17: Take Two: Rewriting Your Script 279
Downshifting between Drafts 279
How to work when you’re not working 280
Your first time back: Read-through #1 282
A second glance: Read-through #2 284
Back in the Saddle Again: Rewrites 291
Recruiting a Reader 293
Capitalizing on Your Critique 294
Chapter 18: Adaptation and Collaboration: Two Alternate Ways to Work 297
Procuring Primary Material 298
Knowing when you need a copyright 298
Comprehending copyrights 298
Procuring permission 299
Assessing how much to adapt 301
Navigating between Forms 302
From fiction to film 302
From stage to screen 305
From meter to movies 307
Mastering the Process of Adaptation 308
How to approach an original work 308
What to do when you’re stuck 310
Studying the Art of Collaboration 311
What to look for in a writing Partner 311
How to approach collaboration 312
Learning collaboration from the pros 313
Part 4: Selling your script to show business 317
Chapter 19: Before You Send It: Pre-Marketing Considerations 319
Understanding the “Biz” in Showbiz 320
Getting to know the players: The Hollywood hierarchy 320
Getting to know the buyers: The studio hierarchy 322
Getting a “grip”: Hollywood jargon 324
Preparing Yourself for the Biz 327
Putting on a happy face: The art of attitude 327
Organizing your records 328
Reaching out to the right resources 331
Setting personal goals 333
Polishing the Copy You Send 334
Checking last-minute details 334
Finessing your front page 336
Protecting Your Work 336
Registering with the Writers Guild of America 336
Pursuing the “poor-man’s copyright” 337
Chapter 20: Getting Your Screenplay Noticed 339
Designing Your Own Package 340
Highlighting the universal 341
Gaining the competitive edge 342
Considering the reader 343
Preparing to Pitch 344
Perfecting the teaser pitch 345
Selling the story pitch 346
Finding a Manager or Agent 348
Approaching an Agent or Manager 349
Sending a query 351
Pitching Your Script without an Agent 354
What to Do When They Say Yes 356
Meeting with an agent 357
Meeting with executives 358
Looking Ahead: Upon Achieving Success 359
A Final Note 360
Part 5: The Part of Tens 361
Chapter 21: Ten Screenwriters You Should Know 363
Sofia Coppola 364
Nora Ephron 365
William Goldman 366
Charlie Kaufman 367
Spike Lee 368
John Logan 370
Jordan Peele 372
Issa Rae 373
Taika Waititi 374
Phoebe Waller-Bridge 376
Chapter 22: Ten Screenwriting Myths 379
I Have to Live in Los Angeles to Write Screenplays 379
I Have to Go to Grad School to Learn How to Write 380
If I Can Write for Film, I Can Write for TV 381
I Haven’t Written Before and It’s Too Late to Start 382
Writing Is a Lonely Profession 383
Hollywood Has No Ethics; It’ll Ruin the Integrity of My Script 383
It’s Not What I Know; It’s Who I Know That Matters 384
I Have Too Many Obligations to Be a Writer 385
I’m Only as Successful as the Last Screenplay I Sold 386
I’m Not Talented Enough to Be a Writer 386
Appendix A: Sample scenes and online Resources 387
Index 405
