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How to Write a Screenplay.net
How to Write a Screenplay
The key to screenwriting is to choose stories that have a visual component, or to find ways to translate your ideas into visual elements. Let’s continue with the sentence above.
Jenny closes her book, stands up and walks out of the room.
Let’s say the next idea you have in your novel (or head) is “After Jenny left, Jake felt her looming absence.” To twist the quote from A League of their Own, “There’s no ‘feeling’ in screenwriting.” The audience is not in the mind of the reader. The actor does not have telekinetic powers. We can’t know exactly what he feels. However, we can use visual and aural elements (sight and sound) that both provide insight into what the character is thinking AND to highlight information we want to call to the attention of the audience. So here’s what we can express through screenwriting form:
Jenny closes her book, stands up and walks out of the room.
Jakes sighs and looks at her empty rocking chair, which still sways back and forth.
Before you write a word of your screenplay, read several of them or at least look at a few to get a sense of the form.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE SCREENPLAY FROM THE FILM CASABLANCA.
When you are ready to actually commit words to the page, check out CS Web’s site on formatting.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FORMAT
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