How to Write a Screenplay

STORY

Not all stories make great screenplays, but all screenplays should have a great story.  Instead of some dry and academic definition of a story, let’s just try to expand on your intuitive notion of what a story is and highlight a few elements that are common to all screenplays. 

A story is not just following a character while things happen to and around him.  A story contains a character who wants something.  A good story’s character has a goal.

If he or she gets it, the story is over, so let’s put some obstacles in the way.  Can they be just any old obstacles?  Can you ask your mother, your boss and your favorite teenager what was the toughest thing that happened to them today and just throw those events into your story?

No, we might get a story about a person who, after messing up a skateboard trick, lost $1,000,000 in a merger deal while burning a lemon meringue pie.  And you didn’t even know your boss was a cook?  A relationship exists between the main character and the events of the story. The events are obstacles orchestrated in such a way that they push, pull and challenge the character in a way that is appropriate to him or her.  The external obstacles will work in conjunction with internal obstacles to create a meaningful challenge for the character, one that will test him on a personal level.

Movies last a couple of hours, so we know we need obstacles enough to keep the character away from the goal for that long.  We also know that people will get bored if they watch the same thing over and over.  So, just as important as obstacles and conflict are surprise and change.  A constant influx of new challenges and events in the story are necessary.  The state of the story has to change.

There will be numerous changes—sometimes called twists and turns—in a story that lead to the biggest change of all: the climax of the story.  A combination and culmination of these changes create the climax. The world of the story is fundamentally changed, or the audience’s understanding of the story or of an idea is changed.  The nature of the Hollywood storytelling paradigm is transformative. Therefore, the climactic moment usually requires a change in the character.

The characters’ change is specific and related to the story.  When, why and how they change are all questions that are answered in the telling of your story.  Keep reading to learn how this all ties together.

Your ultimate goal as a storyteller is to avoid boring the audience.  So two factors are all you need to start: 

1) Use obstacles and conflicts to make the going tough for your character. 

2)  Every so often reveal something new; surprise your audience again and again.

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