Everybody likes movies with its potent stories and engaging characters. But, behind every movie is a strong screenplay that builds the foundation. If you don't create a screenplay that not only tells the story, but also has all the required information, it becomes much harder to make your film.
But what is a screenplay? A screenplay is a written version of your movie that contains the story, dialogues, and technical information that helps the production team and actors shoot the movie.
To learn more, here's my detailed blog post on what a screenplay is and also, I included some helpful tips for creating one.
Key Components for Crafting a Screenplay
The best scripts are clear and concise and follow a specific format. Here are some of the essential elements a proper screenplay format includes:
Plot: For anyone to understand your character’s problem, you need to know their motivation and backstory. So, the first thing you need to do when writing an outline is define your protagonist’s problem.
Characterization: After defining your protagonist’s goal, you need to figure out why your main character wants to achieve their aspirations. You need to know if the main character is a hero or a villain. And, you need to describe them in detail so that readers can easily visualize the screenplay.
Dialogue: Another essential element of a screenplay is excellent character dialogue. It makes sense for your characters to speak with one another because it will help your audience empathize with them.
If there’s too much back and forth about nothing at all, then it feels like work to read the entire script. Ensure that every line has meaning and keeps the mood light enough not to tire the reader’s eyes.
Structure: Writing screenplays requires structure because it’s essential to keep your story organized. To ensure that your movie script flows well, you should use a strong arc. An arc is a path over which your story progresses.
A good angle creates tension by pushing towards the climax and resolution. Each chapter of your screenplay should be focused on solving one particular problem for your character. For example, if your character needs money, it would make sense to focus on how she gets that money.
Conflict: Every successful screenplay features conflict. The problems faced by your protagonist usually cause it. Without good conflict, your audience won’t care about your characters or any of the other parts of your narrative. As such, your job as a writer is to find ways for your main character to face obstacles. These could include misunderstandings, fear, anger, greed, love, etc.
Resolution: Once your protagonist solves their problem, they might feel relief. But, the real victory comes from the fact that they made it through their hardship. To create satisfaction for your audience, you must end your narrative on a positive note. Your main character doesn’t always win, but they should emerge stronger than before.
Theme: Even though your primary idea may revolve around a specific topic, you don’t have to limit yourself to using only one concept for the whole story. Instead, try to develop multiple meanings within your spec script.
For instance, if your theme revolves around love, then you could explore different types of relationships: friendships, familial bonds, cohabitation, and so on. The more complex your hooks are, the better it will make your final draft stand out from the crowd.
Genre: Some writers write exclusively in one genre, while others mix several genres. Either way, when developing a new idea, make sure to consider what type of material you want to produce.
Audience: When shooting scripts, you must understand your target audience. While reading the script aloud to a friend is valuable, writing it down helps you see the details that you miss otherwise. Knowing this information allows you to create an original screenplay instead of simply reworking someone else’s creation.
Characters
: Of course, a protagonist will play a significant role no matter the type of film you plan to write. However, it would be best to give each of your characters something unique. If two people act precisely the same, why bother with their stories? By defining your characters’ traits early on, you can easily create exciting conflicts between them later.
Style: In terms of style, some films work best when told from the first-person point of view. On the other hand, the third-person point of view works fine for action movies. Whatever suits your style, stick to it throughout the development process.
By understanding and implementing these elements, you’ll ensure that your screenplay is well-structured, engaging, and ready for production.
How Long Should a Screenplay Be?
The number of pages depends on the subject of your movie. It also takes into consideration whether the screenplay includes dialogue. Typically, the average page count is 40. However, if your script contains minimal discussion and is heavily reliant on visual storytelling, then you can probably get away with fewer pages.
What Font to Use When Writing a Screenplay?
Generally speaking, you shouldn’t use Comic Sans MS because most screenplays contain elements like dialogues and subplots that are meant to be printed off. Instead, stick to Times New Roman because its readability is far superior. Another option would be to use a monochromatic font like Lucida Grande Bold Extended.
The vast majority of screenplays are written in Courier font (the default font used by Microsoft Word). In all fairness, however, there are exceptions to the norm. If you’re passionate about a particular design choice, it's worth researching the pros and cons. It will allow you to get the right balance between legibility and aesthetics.
What are the Right Screenplay Margins?
When writing a screenplay, you should never forget that the margins are significant. The reason behind this is simple: many readers prefer to print off their scripts rather than view them online. As such, you must ensure that your margins are broad enough so that they don’t have to crop any text.
Additionally, avoid using excessive white space, as it can make the script appear messy. To prevent this from happening, you should leave a margin of at least 1 inch on both sides of every page.
Screenplay Genres
There are three main types of genres: comedy, drama, and thriller. Each one offers a different set of challenges and opportunities. For example, comedy usually requires more character development, while thrillers require more plot progression.
Comedy
A comedic story revolves around an ensemble cast and often involves slapstick humor. Examples include Anchorman, Knocked Up, and Bridesmaids.
Drama
Drama is the most common genre of a screenplay. It features a single protagonist who faces various obstacles along the way. Examples include American Beauty, Forrest Gump, and The Shawshank Redemption.
Thriller
Thrillers tend to rely on suspense and surprise. They typically involve twists and turns that make the audience wonder what will happen next. Examples include Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense, and Unbreakable.
Types of Screenplays
There are many different types of screenplays. This depends on what your shooting, including the medium and genre. Although the differences vary, they are important since a vide game script has different requirements compared to a movie screenplay for instance. Let's check it out.
Feature Films
A classic film screenplay has a three-act structure in the form of a beginning, middle, and end. Imagine this as the skeleton, and the meat are the fine details such plot points, dialogues, and evolving character arcs. This is what most of us imagine when talking screenplays and common genres are drama, comedy, thriller, and any other movie genre with a linear story.
TV Show Screenplay
The most obvious difference between a TV and feature film screenplay is that the show one must account for the episodic structure. Each episode has its own screenplay, depending on if episodes follow the narrative or if each episode is its own story. TV screenplays often have a five-act structure. This is common for classic hour-long dramas.
Stage Plays
Although often interchangeable, a script and screenplay aren't the same. A script is a general term, and screenplay or a stage play script are its subcategories. So although stage play scripts aren't screenplays, we'll talk about scripts so we understand the differences.
Stage plays depend on dialogue and character interaction. As such, it uses a stage play script. The focus here is to make it easy for actors to understand where they have to be, how they must act, and what they must say in each moment of a live play.
The format is more flexible (depending on the play length), and has multiple acts or scenes.
Video Game Scripts
Video-game scripts have a heavy non-linear approach. Often, games allow players to make story-altering choices and the script must account for that. Even if a player never sees a scene because of the choices they make, the script must cover it.
As such, vide game scripts can be more complex with its branching storylines and several endings. The most recent example is Baldur's Gate 3. The game has 2-4 main endings, but with the variations thanks to player's choice, epilogues go up to 17,000 different endings. This accounts for even minor differences, such as player's romance choices.
Short Films
Short film screenplays are one of the simpler types. The screenplay is short, about 40 pages on average, and often focus on a single idea. Creators use short film screenplays as sort of a proof of concept for their project. Furthermore, screenplay writers will use them to showcase their writing skills.
Web Series
Alongside vide game scripts, web series script are one of the newer ones. Designed for digital platforms, such scripts take into account the specific platform, such as YouTube. Another big difference is that web series are often snappier and must catch attention quickly, no matter if you're creating a fictive story or a fun interactive video.
Animation Screenplays
Animation screenplays have a somewhat similar structure as movie screenplays. The main difference being that it must also include animation instructions. Meaning, there are a lot more visual descriptions, alongside dialogue and other technical information.
Elements of a Screenplay Format
Here is a list of items that make up the screenplay format and indenting info. While you can use screenplay format templates to format all these elements automatically, it’s essential to have a working knowledge of each component.
Scene headings: Scene headings are short descriptions of the current scene. The purpose of this section is to help readers quickly grasp the location, time, and setting of the story.
Action line: An action line summarizes the events taking place during the scene.
Dialogue: Dialogues are where the bulk of the story happens. They should be formatted to flow well.
Subplot: Subplots are minor storylines within the main plot. These usually involve secondary characters and serve to advance the overall narrative.
Character name: Each character should have a name at the beginning of every scene.
Character description: Character descriptions are summaries of each character’s personality and appearance.
Parenthetical: Parentheticals describe things that aren’t part of the main storyline. For example, intermediate lines may include information about the weather, background music, etc.
Today, parenthetical expressions are rarely used, but sometimes they’re needed. With roots in the playwriting style, they’re used when necessary.
Even though parentheticals are generally frowned upon, they still value the reader. As such, you should only use them sparingly.
One important format in screenplay writing is the master scene script. It divides the script into individual scenes, helping the production team to see and organize the shoot better.
How to Format Screenplay Headings
Screen headings are significant for any screenplay. If you don’t know how to format them properly, then chances are you’ll end up with a bad-looking script. Here’s how to format the headings correctly.
Title page: You use the title page to make it clear what the document is about and include basic information such as your name, the year you wrote the screenplay, genre, etc. Ensure your title page is understandable since it will affect if a decision-maker even opens your screenplay in the first place.
Table of Contents: Depending on the screenplay type, table of contents should list different scenes. The goal is for anybody checking the document to find the scene they are looking for. (most commonly when continuing a shoot)
Formatting Basics
You always want to write screenplay headings in ALL CAPS. Next, follow the simple structure such as INT. or EXT. depending on where the scene is happening and DAY or NIGHT. Here's a simple example of a classic formatting:
"Scene 2 INT. APARTMENT - NIGHT"
Screenwriting Process by Steps
Now, let's do a quick rundown of the screenwriting process to get the basic idea of how it might look for you. First, we start with idea generation.
Idea
The first (and the most obvious) step in to come up with an idea. Now, this can sound simple. But "I want to create an action-comedy about a hero who fights aliens who want to steal all gold" isn't an idea. Although still nothing more than a mental image, you should have the details ready before moving forward. For example, is it possible to bring your idea to reality or do you even know where to go to get the people you need. This will naturally bring you to the next step.
Research
Research also depends on what you're working on. Maybe you have all the details, but you need to figure out how to round up people you need to make the idea come to life. Besides actors, do you need camera professionals, audio professionals, or you can do it yourself (or have a friend to help you out).
Another scenario is that you have all the technicalities, but need help with fleshing out the story. Depending on your needs, that's where the research takes you.
Remember that at this phase, you're still not hiring anybody. But you should do the basic research.
Outline
Now that you have the basic idea and are sure you can make it work, it's time to create the outline. This is the moment where you give your idea the basic structure in form of plot points, character descriptions, and key scenes.
Basically, an outline for your screenplay is what a blueprint is a for a house.
Writing the First Draft
After creating the outline, it's time to write the first draft. Unlike with the outline, here's you'll focus on everything, from general descriptions to fine details. This is where you put your idea into a usable format. Nevertheless, it is a first draft, so you don't have to (and shouldn't) go all-in on perfection. There will be time to rework and provide the screenplay that perfect shine.
Revisions and Editing
Now that the first draft is ready, you'll probably want to let is sit cold for a couple of days. After, get back to it with a cool head and make necessary changes. It's probable that "obvious mistakes" will pop up, some you didn't even notice while creating the first draft. It's normal to do several rewrites before settling on the final version. The main thing here is to not give up and take your time.
Feedback
After the first draft is ready, you'll either want to let it sit for a couple of more days and do provide feedback to yourself, or give it to someone else to do the work. In most cases and if possible, the later is the better option. Gather feedback, discuss and implement the feedback.
Final Draft
After you finish integrating feedback, you should arrive at the final draft. It's only a final draft if alongside the finished content, you also have formatting that follows the standards. And that's it. Unfortunately, unlike reading the summarized step process, getting to a final draft takes much more time. But, with passion to guide you, we're sure you'll arrive at this point and take a bold step to submitting your screenplay.
Submission
Once you have your final draft, it's time to research and submit your screenplay wherever you can. Don't be shy and reach out to production companies, world-wide contests, and agents. This will require that you create a cover letter and a pitch. You want to be polite, but also effective. You don't want to be rude and unprofessional.
Screenplay Software Benefits
Since the process isn't easy, it's a good idea to take advantage of screenplay software that can simplify steps such as formatting. Here are core benefits of using screenplay tools:
Formatting Done for You
Besides doing the formatting job for you, another big advantage is that with the right tools, the chances of making a mistake plummet. You can be sure that the format is correct as long as you keep a one eye on it.
Organized Structure
Similar to the first benefit, tools are much better at maintaining a consistent structure. Juggling a story and management isn't easy, so having a tool to do half the work helps. This also brings us to the 3rd benefit.
Time-Saving
When there's fewer work, there's more time! Screenplay software saves time. What I need to preface here is that you still need to invest time into learning the software to gain the benefit. I'm saying this so you don't make the mistake I have, where the expectations exceed the reality.
Professional Appearance
Next, screenplay tools will give your screenplay a more professional look. This will mostly be result of having a consistent format. I don't think there are worser things that having one screenplay page have one font size, and another something completely different. You don't want your screenplay to look like some screenplay Frankenstein.
Squibler offers templates that streamline your writing process, ensuring that your screenplay meets industry standards while also providing AI-powered suggestions to enhance your script’s dialogue and plot development.
Final Remarks
A screenplay is much more than just a collection of words on paper. It’s also a set of rules that you should follow. To get the most out of your screenplay, you need to understand these rules.
Whether you’re a budding filmmaker or have dreamt of changing the world by shooting a script, this guide can help you know what to do next. With a screenplay written in the proper format, you’ll be well on your way to bringing your vision to life.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are some common questions and answers to help clarify key aspects of screenplays.
What is the difference between a screenplay and a script?
A screenplay is a specific type of script used for visual media such as movies and TV shows. It includes scene headings, character dialogue, and action lines. A script, on the other hand, is a broader term that can refer to written works for stage plays, video games, and other forms of moving media. Both require proper script formatting to ensure clarity for the production crew.
What is the primary purpose of a screenplay?
The primary purpose of a screenplay is to provide a detailed blueprint for the filmmaking process. It outlines the film’s plot, character development, and scene settings. A well-written screenplay ensures that everyone involved, from camera operators to industry professionals, understands the story, facilitating a smooth production process.
What are the essential elements of a successful screenplay?
A successful screenplay includes scene headings, character descriptions, dialogue, and action lines. Proper script format is crucial to ensure clarity and professionalism. Ensuring these elements are well-crafted and seamlessly integrated will help create an engaging and compelling screenplay.
What is the proper screenplay format?
The proper screenplay format includes specific elements such as scene headings to indicate the location and time, action lines to summarize events, character names capitalized and placed above their dialogue, and transitions to signal scene changes. This structured approach ensures clarity and professionalism, helping everyone involved in the production understand the script’s direction and facilitating a smooth filmmaking process.
