Selling Short: 5 Screenwriting Tips for Writing a Short Film

So you've spent months, or even years, working on your first feature-length screenplay. You've created outlines, developed character profiles, and broken down each scene. You've written and rewritten and polished and tweaked until your script has the shine of a new car and the sizzle of bacon on the stove.

The problem that you may have encountered in getting these scripts made into films often arises from forgetting the primary purpose of a screenplay. The script must serve as the blueprint for a film that an audience will go out and watch, not as a work of literature they will sit down and read. Even the lowest-budget feature screenplays require thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours and dozens of workers to assemble into a film.

However, you can hone your craft and build an audience by writing scripts for short films. Numerous short films use aspiring directors, up-and-coming actors and hard-working crew members to tell well-crafted stories in a wide range of genres. Here are some tips on how to approach writing your short film script.

Screenwriting Tip #1: Start With a Bang

Just like with a feature film, you want to start with a memorable opening image. The opening image serves to pull the audience into the world of the film while also establishing how that world works. In a feature film, you have more time to build the world and ease the audience into it. In a short film, the opening image has to pull the audience by the hand and establish time, location, character and situation all at once.

Screenwriting Tip #2: Keep It Simple, (Not) Stupid

Most short films operate on highly limited budgets, with very few locations, tight filming schedules and minimal special effects. You can still write a successful short film by using these limitations to your advantage, rather than viewing them as restraints on your creativity. A skilled writer can still tell a powerful story in ten minutes, without relying on exotic locales, extraneous effects, or an excessive budget.

Screenwriting Tip #3: Show, Don't Tell

Although many writing teachers have employed the phrase “show, don't tell” to the point of cliché, the idea behind it is an essential part of screenplay writing. In short films, you don't have time for characters to go off on long soliloquies or navel-gazing monologues while the audience waits for the next story beat. 

Instead, you should focus on how to get the characters to show their desires, fears and conflicts by using the least amount of dialogue possible. This approach makes your scripts shorter, the action more concise, and the tasks for the director and actors much easier.

Screenwriting Tip #4: Be Quick, But Don't Rush

On the other side of the coin, many first-time writers of short scripts attempt to tell the story as quickly as possible. The downside to this approach is that they rush through the action and skip through too many story beats. You should find the quickest method to establish each point in the story, without skipping over any essential information the audience needs to understand the characters.

Screenwriting Tip #5: What Happens Next?

You should end the script at a point where the action during the film has changed the character and has the audience asking, “What happens next?” In too many instances, short film screenwriters don't know how to create a memorable ending. Since short films frequently don't allow for noticeable character arcs, writers often get frustrated and reach a stopping point in the story.

Since making short films is typically much easier and cheaper than the same process for features, writing for short films often can establish your reputation as a screenwriter more so than writing and submitting unproduced feature screenplays. Many young directors and actors actively seek out talented writers to help them develop their ideas into scripts, which they can use to launch their own careers. 

Producers, studio executives and agents can make the time to watch a ten-minute short film on YouTube or another video sharing site, where they would not clear two hours out of their schedule to read your feature-length script. Short films also show the powers-that-be that other talented people have invested time, money and effort into bringing your ideas to life, which can influence them to follow suit.

If you want to learn how to create a compelling short script with dynamic characters, contact us at StoryIntoScreenplayBlog [at] gmail [dot] com. You can also follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. We can work with you in turning your concepts and ideas into dynamic screenplays that can get the attention of agents, managers and producers.

Screenwriting Tips: How to Create Dramatic Tension With VOTE

If you read last week's post, you learned how to create dynamic characters with Victories, Obstacles, Tactics and Energy. This week, you'll see how to use these character traits to build dramatic tension in each scene. “Dramatic tension” can apply to over-the-top comedies and quiet character pieces as much as it does to intense family dramas and slam-bang action pieces. This tension keeps the story moving and keeps the reader's eyes riveted to the page.

Establishing Dramatic Tension

When you've established two strong characters and set them against each other, their encounters should result in an emotional explosion. The meeting can turn into a high-energy fist fight or a tense screaming match. Characters can communicate in whispered promises or veiled threats. You can establish this conflict by examining the VOTE sheets for each character and seeing both the obvious differences and the subtle shades in their approaches to their aspects of the story.

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Dramatic Tension: Victories

Your script may call for the most obvious source of dramatic tension, which comes from characters with two different conflicting victories they must achieve. The mathematical term “zero-sum game” refers to a game in which one side has to lose for the other side to win. Characters locked in a zero-sum game are in direct conflict: if A achieves his victory, B fails in his; if B wins, A loses. In the first Rocky film, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) wants to go the distance, but he must outlast hard-punching heavyweight champion Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Apollo wants to put on a show, but Rocky stands in his way.

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Dramatic Tension: Obstacles

While your characters may want to achieve the same victory, they could also encounter different obstacles in their paths. In Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Bob (Casey Affleck) and Ruth (Rooney Mara) want to bring their family back together after Bob escapes from prison. Bob must avoid the authorities who want to send him back to prison, while Ruth must deal with her growing attraction to Deputy Wheeler (Ben Foster). When they finally come together, the relief of their reunion does not wash away their conflict.

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Dramatic Tension: Tactics

You can also create tension between characters when they each have the same victory and encounter the same obstacles, but they use different tactics. In the X-Men films, both Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Eric “Magneto” Lensherr (Ian McKellen) share the victory of protecting mutants and the obstacles of violence and discrimination they've encountered. The two lifelong friends take radically different tactics: Xavier promotes the causes of peace and coexistence, while Magneto wants to subjugate humanity and place mutants above ordinary humans.

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Dramatic Tension: Energy

Your characters can agree on nearly every facet of their drive toward their respective victories, but they can still have conflict stemming from the different energy sources that drive them down those paths. In the comedy The Internship, Billy (Vince Vaughan) and Nick (Owen Wilson) have the same victory of being selected for the Google internship. They have the same obstacles: advanced age, lack of maturity and complete ignorance of technology. They use the same tactics to build their team and achieve their goals. While Billy's energy comes from a drive to win, Nick's evolves into an effort to prove his worth  to Dana (Rose Byrne).

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Dramatic Tension in Every Scene

You should remember that, while maintaining dramatic tension during the whole script is an admirable goal, you must not forget to include some tension in every scene. A scene with dramatic tension moves the story forward, while one without tension sits like a speed bump in the road. The use of dramatic tension is especially important in scenes requiring exposition.

In The Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belmont (Leonardo DiCaprio) explains the technical aspects of his stock scam to the audience. His brokers do their deals in one room as federal investigators pore over his records in another. The contrast between the wild brokers and the stoic Feds creates enough tension to make the audience sit still long enough for a lesson in securities fraud.

If you want to learn how to create stories with dramatic tension, contact us at StoryIntoScreenplayBlog [at] gmail [dot] com. You can also follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. We can work with you in turning your concepts and ideas into dynamic screenplays that can get the attention of agents, managers and producers.

Screenwriting Advice: How to Write SUPER-Powerful Characters

WikiMedia Commons

Characters drive stories. Powerful characters give writers reasons to create stories around them. Directors want to create moments around that power. Actors want to channel that power. Audiences want to take part in that power. As a writer, your job it to give them that power in every line of the script. They give audiences someone to watch, to love, to admire, or to hate.

Years ago, I took acting classes in college. One of the tools that the instructor gave us came from an acting book by Robert Cohen called Acting One. In his book, Cohen outlined his techniques with the acronym GOTE:

• Goal
• Obstacles
• Tactics
• Expectation

Cohen recommended that actors “Get their GOTE” to understand how to portray their characters. As a writer, you can also benefit from this technique, but I've given it a slight twist – not to mention simplifying the mnemonic device. Remember this: every character should have the power of the VOTE.

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V for Victory 
The character's Victory answers the question, “What does he want in this story?” Strong characters either have something that they want to accomplish, protect or regain, which compels them into action.

Character 1: He wants to win the championship.
Character 2: She wants to leave her abusive husband and take the children.
Character 3: He wants to capture the murderer.

This answer always comes in the form of action verb, NEVER a “being” verb. Powerful characters don't whine about their jobs, gaze at their navels or pontificate about the meaning of life.

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O for Obstacles
The character's Obstacles answer the question, “What's stopping him from achieving his Victory?” You must place obstacles in that character's path that force him to go over, under, around, or through them.

Character 1: The current champion is undefeated.
Character 2: Her husband keeps her from the children.
Character 3: He can't get to the evidence he needs.

These Obstacles can be as small as a cancer cell or as large as the entire universe. They can be an innate personality flaw or a fifty-story brick wall, but they have to represent a series of challenges the character must overcome to reach his victory.

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T for Tactics
The character's Tactics answer the question, “What's he going to do to got past the Obstacles and achieve his Victory?” Tactics can not only include the actions the character takes to reach the Victory, but also those actions the character refuses to take.

Character 1: He trains as hard as possible, but refuses to take steroids.
Character 2: She sues for custody, but refuses to reveal a family secret.
Character 3: He uses every method within the system, but he won't break the rules.

In the best stories, the character must choose between his Victory and his original of Tactics. The first choice of Tactics never works (or else the story would be over in thirty seconds), so the character must use Tactics which either are beyond his current abilities or that violate his beliefs. These dilemmas create conflict and ignite the story.

WikiMedia Commons

E for Energy
The character's Energy answer the question, “What drives him to want to achieve his Victory?” While a character's Victory is always tangible, the Energy is usually intangible. The Energy forms the character's emotional driving force throughout the story.

Character 1: He wants to prove himself to his father.
Character 2: She loves her children and wants to rescue them from an abusive environment.
Character 3: He wants to show that the “justice system” can truly deliver justice.

Powerful emotions create meaningful motivations and spur characters into memorable actions. Each character's Energy forms the fuel for their part of the story.

Power of the VOTE
When you develop a VOTE for each character, you give them power. Just as the ballot box gives voters the power to choose their leaders, the VOTE gives characters the power to take control of their side of the story.

If you want to learn how to create strong and diverse characters, contact us at StoryIntoScreenplayBlog [at] gmail [dot] com. You can also follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook. We specialize in turning concepts and ideas into screenplays that include powerful characters, dramatic conflicts and memorable moments.

Screenwriting Tips: What is Plot?

When describing their projects, aspiring screenwriters often hear many of the same questions:

“What's the plot?”

“What's the story?”

“What's the theme?”

“What's it about?”

Some rookie writers may not even understand the difference between plot, story, theme, sequence and structure. While some of these differences can appear subtle at first glance, a writer who understands these differences can create a rich, deep, fascinating story, regardless of the medium.

Screenwriting Tip #1: Plot vs. Sequence of Events

Many writers begin describing their plot as a sequence of events. They treat the plot like a series of stacked dominoes knocking each other down and creating a beautiful pattern as they fall. The difference between a sequence of events and a plot is this: falling dominoes create a sequence of events; a couple sharing an intimate moment in the same room as the dominoes and causing them to fall is a plot.

Screenwriting Tip #2: Plot vs. Structure

Numerous screenwriting teachers subscribe to a particular structure when instructing students on how to develop their plots. Some of the most notable include Syd Field's three-act structure, Blake Snyder's “Beat Sheet” and Chris Soth's “mini-movie method”. All of these structures are highly useful in developing a plot, but they are not intended to act as substitutes for a plot, nor are they meant to place limitations on an original idea. The structure serves as the dressmaker's dummy, but the designer must still wrap, stitch and cut the fabric to make the dress to fit that dummy.

Screenwriting Tip #3: Plot vs. Message

Writers in some genres feel compelled to use their plots as the means to deliver a sermon, rather than to tell a story. As the legendary producer Samuel Goldwyn was quoted as saying, "If you want to send a message, use Western Union." The main function of a plot is to show the character's journey, not to hector an audience into following the writer's beliefs.

Screenwriting Tip #4: Plot vs. Theme

On the other end of the spectrum are the writers who confuse plot and theme. These writers see the primary function of the plot as a means to make grand declarative statements on the nature of humanity, relationships and the universe at large. While such efforts can appear to be deeply philosophical and artistically ambitious, they still fail to serve the main goal of a screenplay: telling a story. Here's a hint: if the logline or description includes all “being” verbs (is/are/was/were) and no “action” verbs, then you've written a thesis, not a screenplay.

Screenwriting Tip #5: Plot vs. Action

Another big mistake rookie screenwriters make is that they use their plots to move their characters around like pieces in a board game. They see the characters as servants of their overarching plot, not masters of their own lives. Audiences want to see active characters, not puppets jerked around on strings by an omnipotent puppeteer, even in movies that feature puppets. The best scripts have characters that drive the action, not ones that sit in the passenger seat and wait for the inevitable collision.

If you want to learn how to find the plot in your story, contact us at StoryIntoScreenplayBlog [at] gmail [dot] com. We specialize in turning stories, concepts and ideas into screenplays that you can present to agents, managers and producers to launch your screenwriting career.

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Screenwriting and March Madness: Final Four Things You Should Do Before Sending off Your Screenplay

For fans of college hoops, March is the most marvelous month of the year. The annual NCAA men's basketball tournament, also known as “March Madness”, gives fans the chance to watch dozens of games, fill in tournament brackets, compete for prizes and possibly win some cash and prizes in friendly (legal) wagers. The goal of each team in this highly competitive tournament is to “survive and advance” in an effort to reach the Final Four and the National Championship game.

For screenwriters, March can also be a maddening month, as both first-timers and veteran writers prepare to submit their scripts to various screenwriting contests. The deadline for this year's Scriptapalooza competition is April 14, while the Austin Film Festival deadline is April 30 and the Script Pipeline deadline is May 1. All of these contests represent opportunities for aspiring screenwriters to “survive and advance” in their careers.

Before you can reach the “championship” level – whatever that means to you – you must go through the “Final Four” steps to prepare the script for submission.

#4: Don't Shoot! Like a nervous freshman in his first tournament game, a rookie screenwriter may be tempted to “shoot” too much. Spec scripts should not include cuts, close-ups, pans or other camera directions. These directions show contest judges that the writer is a newbie and may have received his education from reading shooting scripts rather than spec scripts. Writers establish the story, but choosing the shots falls on the director and cinematographer.

#3: Drive the Lane. Aggressive players look for chances to drive down the free throw lane to get easy baskets, draw fouls and go to the free throw line. Their aggressive play gives their teams more chances to win. Aggressive screenwriters use action verbs and short, quick dialogue. Don't use the script to tell the reader what happens, show it on the page. Save the purple prose for your best-selling novel – where the screenwriter who will write the movie adaptation will cut it all anyway.

#2: Stay Active. Since only one player on the floor can have the basketball at any one time, his four teammates must keep moving and stay active to get open shots and find weaknesses in the defense. Writers must make sure their story stays active, even in the slowest scenes. You don't need car chases, explosions or hardcore sex in every scene, but you do need conflict, escalation and tension. If a scene doesn't have these elements, cut it and replace it with one in which the characters are actively pursuing their goals.

#1: Play in the Present. Teams in the tournament must forget their previous performance and must not look past their upcoming opponent. They must focus on the present if they want to “survive and advance”. Screenplays also focus on the present, as they always use present tense in their actions and descriptions. Too many rookie writers, especially those transitioning from prose to screenplays, fail to account for something as simple as the use of present tense.

Overtime: Focus on the Fundamentals. The best players in the game practice their fundamentals to the point that they become second nature. They analyze their game tape for every possible flaw, since they know that one minor slip can cost their team the game. Screenwriters should also focus on the fundamentals of writing, such as grammar, punctuation and spelling. Writers should go over their scripts with pen and paper, without relying on their software's spelling and grammar checking systems, to avoid making a simple yet fatal error.

With just a little effort, you can plant the “seeds” of a winning screenplay and hoist your own trophy, just like the players in Dallas on April 7.

When you're ready to turn your next story idea into a screenplay, get in touch with us at StoryIntoScreenplayBlog [at] gmail [dot] com.

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P.S. Kansas, Arizona, Virginia, Louisville, with Arizona winning the title over Kansas 82-76.
All images obtained through Wikimedia Commons and approved for reuse.

Screenplay Reading: I WILL Read Your F*&^ing Script, But...

In 2009, Josh Olson, the screenwriter of A History of Violence, posted an article titled "I Will Not Read Your Fucking Script".

The article describes how Olson's reading of a two-page synopsis from an aspiring screenwriter turned into weeks of torture. Olson discusses how the writer had no clue about the requirements of basic sentence structure and grammar, never mind story arcs and character development.

What I was handed was, essentially, a barely coherent list of events, some connected, some not so much. Characters wander around aimlessly, do things for no reason, vanish, reappear, get arrested for unnamed crimes, and make wild, life-altering decisions for no reason. Half a paragraph is devoted to describing the smell and texture of a piece of food, but the climactic central event of the film is glossed over in a sentence. The death of the hero is not even mentioned. One sentence describes a scene he's in, the next describes people showing up at his funeral. I could go on, but I won't. This is the sort of thing that would earn you a D minus in any Freshman Comp class.

As I mentioned in my first post on this site, people often who believe they have a "great idea" for a movie, but don't take the time and effort to develop that idea into a cohesive and intelligible story. They see the end product of so many bad Hollywood movies that they're convinced that they can do better.

The truth is, with all the elements that go into the creation of a film, audiences should be more surprised when the process creates a wondrous experience and less upset when it results in a turkey. The script, while essential, is only a part of that process.

My business cards carry the slogan, "Turn Your Story Into A Screenplay." Everybody has ideas, concepts and stories, but very few know how to turn them into screenplays.

That's where I come in. Unlike Olson, I will read (and have read) some incoherent, unorganized scrawlings that attempt to pass themselves off as scripts. Also, unlike Olson, I am willing to help those poor, misguided souls who believe that writing a screenplay takes no more effort than ordering a mochaccino and sitting in front of a laptop for an hour or two.

But....it'll cost you.

Granted, not as much as some professional consultants with extensive IMDB credits or walls full of awards, but it will cost you.

Two complete read-throughs of a full-length script can take two hours or more, with another two to four hours required for notes, edits and analysis. That's four to six hours just to read the script and assemble the notes before the real work begins.

Proper grammar, spelling and formatting are absolute requirements, as most readers won't even touch a script without these elements. This goes for scripts, synopses, treatments and even loglines. If you can't show the basic writing and communication skills, your "million-dollar ideas" are essentially worthless.

If you have a dream of selling one script and making big bucks in Hollywood, regardless of your writing skill, read Olson's article and allow him to burst your bubble.

If you aspire to tell meaningful stories and want to share them with others as those stories play out on a screen, I can help.

If you've never written a screenplay, but you believe in your story, I can help.

If you want to create memorable characters that audiences will want to see and actors will want to portray, I can help.

When you're ready to turn your next story idea into a screenplay, get in touch with us at StoryIntoScreenplayBlog [at] gmail [dot] com.

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6 Screenwriting Tips on Writing Effective Dialogue

A major issue most beginning screenwriters encounter revolves around writing dialogue. Too many beginners hope to write memorable lines and funny quips that viewers can quote to their friends or that will stick in the mind of producers. 

These writers miss the entire point of a character's words: to move that character closer to his or her goal. Any words serve to block or detour characters from accomplishing the goals they set out to accomplish interfere with telling the story.

Here are some tips to help your characters sound both believable and memorable.