If you’ve ever dreamed of writing a screenplay, you’ll know that a lot of work goes into it. A lot of people can’t name the writers of their favorite movies because the director gets all the attention, but without writers, there would be no movies. Writing a screenplay is tough, and there are some essential things you should do to get it right.
Brush Up on Your Writing Skills
Creative Writing as a Career: What Are Your Options?
Being able to write is obviously crucial if you want to write a screenplay. Anyone can put words together to form sentences, but there are many techniques that go into writing creatively. You might want to take a class or join a writing group.
Understand How to Format a Screenplay
How To Format A Screenplay – 5 Basic Elements : FRIDAY 101
Creativity is vital, but it also helps to get the technical stuff right. When you watch a movie, you don’t see how it started out on the written page. It’s important to know the layout of a screenplay and what it should look like.
Watch and Listen to People
How To Tell A Story People Actually Want To Listen To
Screenplays are mostly written as dialogue, with perhaps some directions and additional information, like character descriptions. A lot of the rest is left up to the director, actors, production team, and everyone else who works on movies. So your dialogue needs to sound natural, and watching and listening to others can help you with that.
Look at Trends in What’s Popular
There’s often a difference between a well-written screenplay and one that sells – although they can be one and the same. Paying attention to what’s popular will help you hit on a winning idea. How about this poster for a fantasy Christmas movie, made by analyzing what people love?
