Developing a screenplay

Genna Clemons , Nikolai Harrell,Tyerane Jones, Giselle Mojica

What is a screenplay and how are they developed?

A Screenplay is the blood of the movie and is one of the most important parts in creating a story.

The screenplay has everything that is seen on the movie screens in it, it is the baseline of which the story is made of, so before we go into following the screenplay in production, or even writing the screenplay, let’s go into how to think of and format good stories.

Basic obstacles

Most beginning writers make the common mistake of writing the entire story, missing essential parts and only ending up at page 60.

Experienced writers suggest to always have a basic format showing what the story will be like, to keep a nice flow and to always meet the expectation of the audience.

The Title

The title is an essential part in attracting a specific audience and describing just what your story will be about, without revealing what happens.

Good movie titles shouldn’t be to long so it’s boring and hard to remember. Here are some good movie titles:

The Avengers Jurassic Park

Terminator Alien

The Lorax Toy Story

Story structures

A screenplay, or really every type of story, is about a main character who has to over come obstacles to reach his/her goal.

To remember and put these obstacles in a good order many writers like to make a “story outline”, the basicotline which allows the, to tweak and edit their story as they write on.

Some writers like to write the ending before the beginning so they can focus on the obstacles.

The one thing every writerhas to do is have the basic “Three act story structure”

The Three act story structure

“The first act” is the first step, it consist of the first 25% of the screenplay and involves the setting up of the story.

“The second act” Consists of the next 50% of the screenplay and is also known as the “Confrontation” the part in the movie where the main character over comes the obstacles.

“The third act”, also known as the resolution, is made up of the last 25%of the movie, it is when the problem is solved or the main character reaches his/her goal.

The screenplay characters

The next important step is to come up with good characters and to write about each character including their sex, age and personality.

The subplots are waves of different stories that come in and out the story introducing new themes or conflicts for the characters to overcome.

The screenplay premise

The screenplay premise brings you back to the beginning of your story, you have to think about your story and what you want the audience to know about the whole story and what you’re trying to show with your story.

Continue the Screenplay Development

The screenplay should be as character driven as possible, character interaction instead of making up the plot.

To make your movie much more interesting you should reverse your character ideas.

Men into women, women into menHeroes into villains, villains into hero

You want to try and include at least 6 to 8 surprising reversals throughout your movie.

Questions

What is a screenplay, and how are they

developed?

There are many ways, one is to make a type of chart.

What’s the most common mistake writers make?

Writers sometimes write out their entire story in only 60 pages.

What attracts people into watching a movie?

A good story and character

What’s the three story act structure?

The first, second and third act.

What are subplots?

A story that runs along the original plot.

what can you do to make your story more interesting?

Make your good guy the bad guy, make your female a male………

Swap things around and see how it comes out