Scriptwriting

Manual

Radio Scripting

TV Scripting

Film Scripting (screenplay)

Introduction
 Scripting is the transfer of thought ideas onto paper for presentation by news anchors
or interpretation by directors.
 It is a description of actions in terms of scenes, camera shots and direction to tell a
story.

 It is a blueprint for a subsequent production process in which writers will not

necessarily be heavily involved.

News Scripting
Whether you're reporting the news on radio or on television, you need a script to make
sure the information you distribute is both accurate and communicated effectively.

Like with any kind of writing, producing news scripts requires adherence to specific rules
and conventions.

The most important stages in news scripting include;

 Collection of facts.
 Understand the grammar most commonly used in news stories.

 Organize your script by providing the background for the story, and then what is
happening to change the situation.

 Transition between each of your stories in a graceful manner.

 Consider how the story will sound to the ear before you go to air.

 Understand the house policy

Radio news Script

A radio news script is the simplest of all news scripting. All radio scripts are written in
capitals and double spaced. This is the standard format for broadcast scripts, as it's the
easiest format for the broadcaster to read.

Write the script in the present tense. News radio broadcasts focus on what's happening
now, not what happened 20 minutes ago. Writing in the present tense is standard practice
in broadcasting.

Radio news is written for the ear. When writing for news radio, you must write as you
speak; this is different from virtually every other writing style. Writing for the ear is

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much more informal than many writing styles. Write the news radio script in a voice that
you might use if you were telling a friend about the news story.

Practice word economy. Don't use many words if you can effectively convey the same
message in few words. Short and precise is key when writing for news radio; listeners
have much less patience than readers.

Mention only the vital facts. News radio broadcasting scripts should contain only vital
information. In particular, many former print journalists are tempted to include name,
age, city of residence and other facts that are typically included in print news stories.
Only include this information if it's vital and significant to the story. A 43-year-old
robber's age is not significant, whereas a 9-year-old robber's age is significant.

Estimate and use round numbers. Listeners have a difficult time processing "1,893." It's
much easier to say "nearly 2,000." Only include specific numbers if it's absolutely vital to
the news story; in most cases, rounding the number is more effective.

Include notations on pronunciation when appropriate. The broadcaster's preference will

vary---some prefer that a notation is included on every instance of the word, while others
prefer a notation on only the first instance of the word.

Use dashes for cases where each letter of an abbreviation must be pronounced. This
means "EPA" would be "E-P-A." Conversely, "PETA" would remain "PETA" since it's
pronounced as a word; the individual letters are not spoken.

Once complete, read the news radio script aloud to look for errors, difficult wording or
areas that lack clarity. This is particularly important if the broadcaster will be reading the
script "cold," without having read the script before he reads it on air. A scripting error on
a cold read can be disastrous for the broadcaster.

Look for ambiguity. When reading over the script, check for ambiguity and clarity. Avoid
potentially ambiguous terms like "he" if more than one person is referenced in the news
story. Remember, radio listeners can't reread a paragraph if they don't understand. The
broadcaster has one shot to get the message across, so the script must be clear and direct.

Radio Advert (Commercial)

Outline your radio commercial. Because you have a very short time to sell your product
write a strong opening hook.

Starting the ad with a question is an effective way of capturing the audience's attention,
such as "Are you tired of high fuel prices?" This immediately engages your audience.

Note key selling points in your outline, and include them in the finished script. Include
contact information at least twice in a 60-second radio spot.

Write your script in the proper format. The name of the client should be written at the top
of the script, along with the name of the commercial spot and the running time.

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Format your script into two columns. The left column will be the source column
(speaking characters primarily), and the right will be the dialogue, action and sound
effects.

Understand radio ad conventions. SFX stands for sound effects. Write this in the left
column in all capitals and underline it any time you have a sound you want in your ad.
Write the sound in the second column of your script.

Use ANNCR any time the announcer is narrating. Use a double dash any time you want a
slight pause. Capitalize speaking characters in the left column, and write their dialogue in
the right column. Spell out phonetically any hard-to-pronounce words.

Focus your radio script to include a strong hook that attracts your audience's attention,
engage the listeners with an entertaining presentation and leave them excited enough to
go out and buy what you're selling.

Time your script when you've finished writing it. If the script is supposed to be 30
seconds, be sure it's exactly 30 seconds.

Video Script
Video scripts are formatted differently from radio. Most of them are documentary, news
feature or short films.

Video scripts are written in two columns, with the audio of the script (sound effects
included) in one column and the images (or video) in the other.

The audio and video will run side by side, exactly as they will appear together in the
finished script. Movie Magic Screenwriter and Final Draft have audio/video templates to
make formatting easy.

When writing such scripts, think visually and keep things simple. A video is primarily the
visual imagery on the screen. A director should be able to glance at the script and
immediately see the image you want to convey.

Focus on your target audience while you write your script. A video typically sells a
product or showcases something. If you're writing a commercial script, tailoring your
image descriptions to your target audience will create a more effective, easier-to-shoot
video script.

Keep any dialogue in your video script (notated in the audio column) in the background
and the visuals in the foreground. Unlike a movie script, the video script can include
camera angles and shots to help bring the visual aspect of the video to life.

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TV Commercial

Format your television commercial script in two columns. The left column will be labeled
in all caps and underlined as "Video," and the right column, formatted the same way, will
be labeled "Audio." What you see in the commercial is written in the "Video" column in
all caps. What you hear is written under the "Audio" column in upper/lower case.
Separate each shot in the script with a blank line between them. You can use just about
any commercial scriptwriting software to format a television commercial script easily, or
even Microsoft Word.

Focus the content of your commercial on the product you're trying to sell. The finished
script, which will be about one page long, will result in a commercial that lasts about 30
seconds. You have a very short time to sell the product. Every image and sound you write
should be aimed at doing this.

A television commercial should have a beginning, middle and an end. It should tell a
short story about the product you're writing about or show how the public uses the
product in question. Always keep your target audience in mind, and gear everything in
your television commercial script for them.

Describe everything in the script actively. Use strong verbs, and keep the adjectives light.
You're not writing a novel. The end result of the script is a television commercial the
public will view. Visual writing is the key to a successful commercial. Write so a director
"sees" the product the way you want the public to see it.

Short film
Short films are not a lesser form of cinematic storytelling – although you are unlikely to
make money from them. Although TV broadcast opportunities may be limited, short
films are shown in cinemas, win awards, and work as an introduction to talent. Many of
the best writers and directors started out with shorts.

A short film can be anything from thirty seconds to thirty minutes in length – and this
means they can do and be a great many different things.

The great thing about shorts is that they can be anything – the only limit beyond the cost
of production is that of your own imagination. So don't be hemmed in - let your
imagination fly. Play with your ideas. Play with the form. Every short can and should be
a unique vision.

Film is about telling stories in pictures, which is the most economical way of telling a
story – and in the making of shorts, economy is everything. Show, don't tell. The idea and
story can be focused enough in scope to exist entirely in the viewer's head, and so logic
and time can play a much smaller role in the journey from beginning to end than in other
formats.

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The best short films are often a moment that is played out, but one that has a story at its
heart - a conflict that has to be resolved, where there's a deadline to the action, where
there's a choice that a character has to make. You should always try to tell a story. Short
films aren't an excuse to break all the rules – but they are an opportunity to push the
boundaries of what cinematic storytelling can do.

It's worth thinking about

 The simplicity, clarity and economy of the storytelling

 The vision of the piece, and its visual images
 Making every element pertinent
 Making your story coherent.

It's worth being careful of

 Conflicting and incoherent worlds

 Ideas that are too concept-driven
 A lack of narrative engine and story
 A lack of engaging characters
 A lack of focus and concision
 Action and repetition without meaning
 Descriptive dialogue
 Extended jokes with (usually unsatisfying) punch-lines.

Think about how your film will play to its audience. Does your story have a potentially
universal appeal? What will the audience know and when will they know it? What will
they be guessing? What questions will they have which need answering? And what can
you show without having to explain things away?

The impact of page one is crucial. Are we emotionally engaged? What is the vision and
world of the film? Is it original? Do we inhabit the characters? Do the world and story of
the film have integrity and authenticity? The last moment is also crucial – it's easy to
come away feeling very little about a short, so work towards a meaningful, satisfying
ending.

Be careful of cliché, because there are so many of them in short films (hit-men for hire,
post office heists, people seeing themselves die, children representing innocence,
dysfunctional abusive relationships, films about writing or making films, in-jokes and
navel-gazing). Write what you know and feel passionately about rather than something
second-hand and culled from watching other films. Use the form to be fresh and original
and unexpected - you don't get that opportunity very often in your writing career.

Think about the practicalities of writing your script so that it can be shot with a low or
limited budget – there's never enough money around to spend on making shorts.
Remember that digital technology is freeing up what filmmakers can do, and what they
can afford to do. But remember also that a low budget short doesn't need to look cheap –
unless you want it to.

One potential pitfall for writers can be directing their own scripts. Many of the most
talented filmmakers write their own stories. But be careful of directing your own work
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because you want 'control' over the project. Creative collaboration can be a hugely
rewarding experience - and if you're not a natural filmmaker, there's a chance you will
spoil your writing with inexperienced filmmaking. Go to film festivals, meet filmmakers
– find people with whom you can collaborate.

Spare a thought to the presentation of your script. It isn't hard to make it easy to read, and
it's always worth the effort of rewriting and editing in order to make your story shine.
There are no excuses for your script to not be as perfect as it can be.

Watch as many short films as you possibly can. There is no replacement for knowing
what work is already out there, and knowing what you as an audience (as well as a writer)
think and feel about it.

TV Situation Comedy
Situation comedy is a dramatic form, which means that a script must tell a story. Philip
Larkin put it neatly when he said a satisfying story had a beginning, a muddle and an end.
New writers often start at A and get to Z in a straight line. The muddle in the middle is
what makes a story involving.

It is useful to think of organizing a story in three acts. The first act (from three to five
pages of a 30-minute script) sets up the major story of the episode, and introduces the
major sub-plot. The final act (again, three to five pages) resolves both main plot and sub-
plot. The middle act develops the narrative but, around halfway through the script, pushes
things off into an unexpected direction. The audience should always want to know what
is going to happen next, and be intrigued.

Involvement in a story depends on the characters through whom it is told. Whether the
characters are heightened a lot or a little, they need to be recognizably human, behave in
ways that people behave in life rather than in an artificial sitcom world, have
personalities which will generate comic conflict and disagreement, and have tones of
voice which are immediately and obviously theirs.

When planning a new idea, the characters should come first and if they are the right
characters they will arrive with their world attached. Don't say: "Estate agents (or
libraries, or dating agencies or undertakers) are funny, so I'll set a comedy in that world
and then people it."

Think about the people first, give them histories, test them out in different situations
where they are under pressure and see how they react, think about what makes them
happy or scared or angry, write monologues for each character in that character's tone of
voice, find ways of exploring them fully. Make the people authentic, put them in an
authentic world and then find their comic tone.

It's useful to write a storyline before embarking on a script. Describe what happens in
each scene, remembering that each scene should be a mini-drama in itself, and should
move the story or sub-plot forward. When the storyline is working satisfactorily, then
start on a script.

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Tailor your script to its intended market. If you are writing a sitcom to be recorded with a
studio audience look at examples and note that there are generally three large sets and
perhaps two small ones, that there is a limited amount of location taping, and that the
action generally happens over a short period of time - because every different day
demands a change of costume that slows down the recording.

If you are writing a comedy to be shot entirely on location, then try to avoid complicated
set-ups. Location shows use one camera, and every angle has to be covered. Look
analytically at a sequence in this sort of show, and see how many shots go to make it up.

Radio Drama
Radio drama is the most intimate relationship a writer can have with their audience, and
has one of the largest budgets in that it can create anything that you can imagine. It is said
the pictures are better on radio. There's nothing you can't do. Nobody will say that they
can't afford to build that set, or the lighting's not quite right, or that the bad weather is
going to delay production for days. The only budget is that which is spent between you
and the listener - the cost of two imaginations combined.

Know your ending and leave us satisfied - a poor ending is no reward for sticking with a
story. Finish with a strong resolution (one way or another) to the issues raised.

Radio is not about sound - it's about significant sound. So don't be afraid of silence or
varying the distance between the speaker and the mike. The intimacy of a speaker with
the listener can be immensely powerful.

In real life, lots of sounds happen all at once. Think of Sunday morning noise as a good
example: grass cutters, distant church bells, bubbling pans, kids playing in the street. Use
background sound to create an atmosphere that will help the listeners’ imagination create
an entire world.

Choose a setting with a distinct aural environment and use those sounds to underscore the
story. One way of thinking about the radio play is as a soundtrack - use sound to cut
between places and times.

The medium of radio for drama is liberating, not restrictive - it can mean more variety,
more locations, more action, more imagination, and more originality. So use it to its full
potential!

TV Drama
When writing a TV drama it's always worth comparing the originality of your idea with
current and previous shows. Try not to replicate something that has already hit the
screens, and try to make everything you write unique in some way. But don't try to
simply plug a gap in the market or write something solely because it might appear to be a
novel idea – you should write what you feel passionate about.

Always be specific about what kind of drama you are writing, where in the schedule it
might fit, and what kind of audience it might reach. Is it a continuing, prime-time soap in
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thirty-minute episodes? A returning crime series in sixty-minute episodes? A six-part,
post-watershed serial? A pre-watershed, sixty-minute single drama? Remember that
writing for established formats isn't the same thing as writing to a formula – an
established format allows for individual expression, but it's hard to be individual when
writing to a perceived formula.

The shape and tone of your story will relate in many ways to the format and slot. A
Doctors episode tells a self-contained, character-driven guest story while an EastEnders
episode normally interweaves multiple storylines - both are continuing series told in
thirty-minute episodes, but they are placed at different times in the schedule, and their
tone is likewise different.

Because TV is easy to turn off or turn over, open your story as dynamically as you can.
Try to hook the interest of the audience as soon as possible so that they will want to stay
tuned and, if there are more episodes to come, will want to keep tuning in. Ask yourself if
there's a strong enough sense of character, drama, and story to sustain an audience's
engagement.

Engaging characters are at the heart of all good drama, no matter how mainstream or
unusual your idea may be. Your characters should be believable, even if they are in an
incredible situation. We should be able to empathize or engage with the main characters,
even if we don't necessarily like them. It's hard to care about a character that plays a
passive role in their own story, so make your central characters as active as possible –
There should be all kinds of conflicts and difficulties for your characters to deal with –
scripts are rarely interesting if the writer is too easy on or too nice to the characters.

TV is a visual medium therefore you need to reveal your characters and their story
through the action as well as through the dialogue. Good dialogue should serve the story
as much as tell it, so check whether it is awkwardly explanatory and expository ("But I
thought you said you hated dogs ever since your favorite nephew was attacked by a
particularly vicious poodle?")

All good drama has a meaningful structure. A common problem is that the structure is too
episodic - a conflict is introduced but is then either too quickly resolved or never fully
resolved. Another common problem is that the storytelling is too undynamic - in drama
things should happen as a consequence of, and not merely after, what has happened
before. Another common problem is that of redundant scenes – make sure that every
scene moves the story forward.

Formatting your script properly helps. It suggests a professional approach to your

writing; it is easier to read, assess and ultimately use; and most importantly, it can help
you write to a particular format, and to think and write in visual terms.

Radio Situation Comedy

Just like TV comedy, avoid characters, themes and situations that have recently been
done. Radio is not like film, where a hit will spawn a host of imitators.

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Avoid trying to be too topical, especially given that the length of the commissioning
process will make a flash-in-the-pan topic date quickly. Stories and situations that
resurface frequently include history, space, the media, parallel universes, school reunions,
and the afterlife.

The idea has to be one that genuinely excites you, and that you have some genuine reason
for writing. If someone asks why you want to write the idea and your only response is
"because it hasn't been done," the chances are it will come across as uninspired. Bring
your own unique comic insight into a particular situation or world, and you can probably
only do that if you really care about it.

Having too narrow a theme and overworking it can be as dangerous as having no focus at
all. Many new writers stop at one idea and overwork it - try to work in sub-themes as
well as a main theme.

You don't have to think of an original environment. It's more important to give us a new
perspective on something familiar, or a fresh style.

All your characters should have an original slant, comic potential and mileage. They need
to have a comic flaw or two - some weakness that keeps getting them into trouble. They
should interact with each other to create comedy, but should also remain believable.
Characters should be likable, even if they aren't necessarily 'nice'. Sympathy comes
through making your characters suffer for their mistakes, or by making them blissfully
unaware of their faults.

Telling stories is important. The main story should probably relate to your main over-
riding theme. If your comedy is about how ambition can lead to disaster, then the main
plot should demonstrate that point. It's safer to have several storylines and thus spread the
comic possibilities - they do not necessarily have to connect.

Make sure the humor is driven by the characters and stories, and not just about funny
lines put into character's mouths. Avoid characters sniping at each other 'in a funny way'.
Many writers assume that writing comedy for radio means just writing gags. It's worth
limiting the number of formulaic lines - eg "That's like a cross between..." or "That's
about as healthy as..." or "I haven't seen anything as bad as that since..."

Avoid factual exposition. The audience very rarely needs to know much about a
character's past or how they came to be in the situation they're in. How much do you
know about the pasts of the

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SCRIPT ELEMENTS
There are three elements that should be incorporated into a script. These include;
 Visual elements
 Sound elements
 Story elements

Visual Elements
The visual elements of film, or what the audience ‘sees’ on screen is one of the most
integral aspects of writing a script. These elements include;
- The shot
- The sequence
- Montage
- Talking heads

 The Shot
A shot is a single ‘take’ on an image. It starts and finishes at a ‘cut-point’, which is an
editing break in the image.

A shot is not defined by any particular image, action or event that takes place on screen.
It is more a technical concept. You can have a single shot of a man picking up a paper or
two or three of the same thing. It’s basically what occurs between two breaks in editing.
In a script, a shot is the smallest visual unit of structure.

Technically, a shot may be a structural unit of film language, but what it contains is more
important – action. Shots are made of action. Something needs to be ‘happening’ in a
shot for the audience to see – a man walking, a dog barking, a car reversing, a machine
working, a river flowing – anything at all that has action, images moving. These actions
form events that drive the shot forward to completion. It’s not enough however, just to
have random action on screen. The images, the action, the events have to be meaningful.
A documentary, like any film, has limited time in which to convey a multitude of things
and to tell a story. Therefore, all the components within the film must be specific and
meaningful so as not to waste precious screen time.

Each shot has an underlying ‘meaning’ depending on the nature and arrangement of
objects and actions within it. This visual way of communication or language has evolved
through the years and has three basic elements:

 Icon
This is showing an object or emotion through its likeness – it is what it is and what the
audience sees. The signifier represents the signified through similarity to it. For example,
a face on screen showing fear is a face showing fear. There are no other meanings, no
‘reading between the lines’. This is the most straightforward approach to a shot.

 Index
This measures a quality not because it is identical to it (like an icon), but because it has a
direct and inherent relationship to it. For example, to show heat, or the idea of heat, as a

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visual, the shot could show a thermometer or heat waves over an empty road or perhaps
even a man sweating profusely. This works very well because the scriptwriter can
translate an intangible object, like heat, into a tangible and visual reality.

 Symbol or Metaphor
This is an arbitrary sign in which the signifier has neither a direct nor an indexical
relationship with the signified, but rather represents it through convention. For example, a
rose could be shown to signify love or romance, falling calendar pages could denote time.
This technique of using symbols to express ideas and objects has become very popular
for its artistic appeal but can and should be used with caution and with a view to the
audience’s ability to ‘read between the lines’.

 The Sequence
A sequence is a collection of shots put together that tell a story continuously. A sequence
is an autonomous piece of the larger story of the film. An entire film is made up of a
series of sequences, which can be of varying durations, and are connected to each other in
some way. Each sequence has a visual and audio aspect to it. If a shot is made up of
action, a sequence is made up of events. Events mean change in action. These events are
built up by the action in the shots to make some sort of sense to the audience and pass
along information to them. Sequences usually fall into two categories, namely continuity
and compilation.

A Continuity Sequence is a unit of continuing action which ends in a break in time. This
type of sequence is a collection of shots that show an event or events that happened in the
same block of time. The end of the sequence occurs when that event is complete and the
film moves on to another point in time. The shots within this kind of sequence must be
functional, must be logical and must give the illusion of continuity. For example, a
continuity sequence could be of a man walking from his house to his office. The
sequence starts from when he is outside his front door and the first shot could be of him
locking it. After that there could be shots of him walking along the street in his
neighborhood, passing people on the street, going past a children’s park, walking on a
pedestrian path with other office goers and, finally, walking into the entrance of his office
building. The shots in this sequence would all appear to be in chronological order and
continuous.

A Compilation Sequence is a unit of information or thought and is sometimes called a

‘newsreel sequence’. There may be many breaks in time during this kind of sequence
because the scope is broad. The shots within it could be of events that occurred
independently, at different points in time, at different locations and contain different
people doing different things. The common aspect that ties all these shots together is
conceptual, which is the subject of the sequence. It usually ends when the film’s
discussion of the subject ends. For example, the sequence could be about worldwide
protests against war and could contain different shots of people from all parts of the
globe, some holding banners, some marching hand-in-hand, some giving speeches etc.
the sequence would end, when the subject of these protests ended in the film.

A scriptwriter has many choices to make when deciding about the content, treatment and
nature of sequences. They can have their own distinct ‘personalities’. A sequence can
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have a completely autonomous audio-visual and conceptual quality to it. A sequence can
be a mere chronological aspect within the film, like a link in a chain, without anything
distinct about it. A sequence can be descriptive, where it doesn’t take a stand but just
establishes details. Or it can be a strong part of the narrative within the story and contain
events that drive the story forward. A sequence can occur in linear time, which is the real
time in which events occur, or in non-linear time, when it can cut back and forth between
different moments in time.

Documentary sequences, for the most part, are observational. This means that they
observe events as they happen. If the film didn’t record the event, it would still take
place. For example, a village farmer herding his cattle to graze in the fields is an event
that would occur everyday, whether or not there was a sequence that contained it.
However, sequences can also be organized.

Many filmmakers choose to construct or initiate events that can be then included in a
sequence. For example, if the film dealt with the issue of the fur trade and how animal
rights activists are combating this evil, the filmmaker could organize a rally with a group
of activists and use that sequence in the film. The rally would be a real event and the
filmmaker’s involvement in organizing it doesn’t affect its authenticity.

 The Montage
A montage is a sequence of shots. It’s a process of combining a number of small shots
and weaving them together to communicate a large amount of information in a short
time. The shots are usually not strictly continuous in nature nor need they be compiled
according to subject. A montage can create a whole new meaning out of the two original
meanings of adjacent shots just by coupling them together in a flowing, musical way.
This visual technique is often used extensively by filmmakers to cover either broad areas
of subject matter or to portray emotion. For example, a documentary may use a montage
to portray the past life of an individual character in the film, covering large chunks of
childhood, adolescence, young adulthood and middle age, all in a matter of seconds.

 Talking heads
One of the most common features of a documentary is talking heads. This includes either
interviews of people on camera or people talking directly to the audience on camera or
both. Since documentary is non-fiction, the idea of people talking to the camera, or a
filmmaker seated behind the camera is an acceptable story-telling/information giving
technique. Often these talking heads are experts, people involved in the stories or people
who are directly or indirectly related to the subject matter in some form. For example, a
film on forest conservation in the Himalayas may have interviews with officials from the
government forest dept, with villagers who live in the forests, with conservation experts,
people involved with logging and maybe even people protesting against logging.

Sound Elements
Sound is as important as the image. Unfortunately, this fact wasn’t realized until quite
recently. Sound has always been an extremely underrated aspect of filmmaking and,

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consequently, sound syntax and even technology developed quite slowly compared to its
visual counterpart. One of the reasons this may have happened is because the audience
does not ‘read’ sound in the same way that it does the visual image. Sound is not only
omnipresent but also omni-directional and this pervasiveness led to it being traditionally
discounted as an important medium of film. These days, the same pervasiveness is
considered beneficial and filmmakers have learnt that sound can be manipulated
effectively to enhance a film.

Sound is sometimes far more effective a medium in film than the visual image. Christian
Metz identified five channels of information in film:
(a) the visual image
(b) print and other graphics
(c) speech
(d) music; and
(e) Noise.
Interestingly, three of the five channels are auditory rather than visual, giving testament
to the importance of sound in any film.

However, even though it’s given its due by filmmakers, fiction and documentary alike,
sound is often not considered enough at the scriptwriting stage. A soundtrack can
strengthen script moments and sequences and realize both space and time. In
documentary, sound can be a vivid counterpart to the visual, adding to the drama and
realism of the overall film. It is for this reason that the scriptwriter must incorporate
sound into the script.

There are six types of sound in a film namely

- Narrative commentary / Voice over
- Talking heads
- Music
- Ambience
- Sound effects
- Silence

 Narrative commentary / Voice over

Narration is the sound-track commentary that sometimes accompanies a visual image in a
documentary. It’s also often called a ‘voice-over’ and it can be spoken by one or more
off-screen commentators.
The commentator can be virtually anybody, from a character in the film, the filmmaker to
even someone completely unidentified, whom the audience only relates to by his/her
voice. Voice-over narration has always been a very popular tool in documentaries
because it is an easy and effective way to communicate verbal information in the absence
of dialogue between actors.

However, many filmmakers choose to do away with narration, preferring to communicate

verbal information to the audience through talking heads.

 Talking heads
The speech element of talking heads, or interviews, is an important element of the
soundtrack and also an effective way to communicate information to the audience. In
documentary, filmmakers often choose to discard narration completely in favor of talking

13
heads, as they come across as more credible and in keeping with the non-fiction nature of
documentary. The audience is able to identify the person talking, thus making their
experience more organic for them. The filmmaker is then also able to show the
interviewee talking, cut to visual images while continuing the voice of the interviewee
over these images, which may support or supplement what he is saying. This provides a
smooth flow of sound for the audience, who will ‘know’ the voice they are listening to
and thus feel more empathy with it. Narration and talking heads are not exclusive of each
other as audio communication techniques. Even though some filmmakers prefer only
using talking heads these days, many documentaries have a bit of both and they work
quite well together.

 Music
Feature films have traditionally always relied heavily on music as part of the soundtrack.
Music directors and composers would create masterpieces, which sometimes carried
entire visual sequences. Some films were even defined and identified by their trademark
musical soundtracks. Like feature films, documentaries use music to enhance moments
and create moods and cultural flavor in the film.

Background music appeals on an emotional level with the audience and increases the
level of empathy with the events on screen. Music is also used to establish a particular
geographical location or identify a particular community; for example, images of a rice
field, accompanied by Indian folk music, easily identify the location as somewhere in
India.

 Ambiance sound
The sound that is naturally present in the atmosphere surrounding the visual image and is
recorded simultaneously with it is called ambiance sound. Traditionally, this sound was
referred to as ‘noise’ and speech and music were given more attention. However, as
sound technology developed, filmmakers realized its importance in the construction of a
complete soundtrack. More than anything else, this type of sound is essential to the
creation of a location atmosphere. The environment’s sound or what is often called ‘room
tone’, based on the reverberation time and harmonics of a particular location is its
signature. In documentary, ambiance sound is a necessary part of the soundtrack as it
establishes the film’s visual in reality and gives the audience a realization of space and
time. This is invaluable when dealing with non-fictional subjects. Normally, ambiance
sound is used continuously, along with other types of sound, throughout most of the
documentary.

 Sound effects
Any sound that is not speech, music or ambiance and is artificially injected into the
soundtrack to enhance it is called a sound effect. This could be a natural sound like a bird
chirping to a digitally created or distorted sound like microphone feedback etc. In the old
days of film, sound technicians would have to create thousands of sound effects to put in
a film in the absence of ambiance sound. This was needed when either the camera was
unable to record sound or when shooting took place in studios, where the ambiance
would have been at odds with the visuals on screen. These days, sound effects are used to
enhance the film’s subject or mood, during recreations or when the required sound is
missing from the recorded ambiance. For example: sounds of horses galloping, men
screaming and the clang of weapons against each other could be used while showing a
recreated sequence of an ancient battle; or the sound of a helicopter could be injected into
14
a shot of a helicopter flying that was shot from too far away to catch the original
ambiance.

 Silence
It may sound odd to add the lack of sound as a type of sound element, but in the world of
film, where everything is deliberate, even silence within the film means that the
filmmaker has chosen to put it there. In the days of silent films, filmmakers used to hire
live orchestras to play while the film was being screened to add to their entertainment
value. Today’s filmmakers have realized the power of silence. The lack of any sound
over a particular moment in a film forces the audience to focus on the visual and
heightens their anticipation for the moment when the something happens or when sound
re-enters the picture. This is a technique used quite frequently in horror films. In
documentary, the scriptwriter can use this technique when he wants the audience to hone
in on the visual to such an extent that it takes them into a kind of suspended or unnatural
reality. However, unless it is a silent film or silence plays a thematic role in the film, this
element should be used sparingly. Too long a gap between sounds will struggle to hold
audience attention.

Story Elements
Music, whether it’s hip-hop or classical, would just be noise without a story. A painting
would be just a collage without a story. Across art forms, the innate story is as variable as
it is constant.

A script is not just a compilation of words. It is a compilation of conceptual elements that

tell a story. These elements when woven together with audiovisual elements create a
good film.

Every film, fiction or documentary, tells a story. The elements of story have been
borrowed over time from other art forms like literature and theatre and adapted to suit
film form. The story and its structure are often what make the difference between a good
script and an average one and it is important for any scriptwriter to study them
thoroughly. Like in all other art forms, film story has three broad structural elements:

a) A beginning
b) A middle
c) An end

 The beginning
The importance of a good beginning cannot be stressed enough. The beginning sets the
audience up for all the events about to occur in the film. It sets the tone and mood for the
film and hints at surprises that lie ahead by raising the right questions in the minds of the
audience. In a documentary, the beginning always addresses the issue at hand and
introduces the subject to the audience. A good beginning should achieve the following;

a) Create an audiovisual ‘hook’ to catch the audience’s interest. A ‘hook’ is

something that demands attention and places the film contextually in space and
time. It sets up the flavour of things to come, both in a story and audiovisual
sense.
15
 b) Establish the ‘core assertion’ of the film, which is the point the filmmaker wants
to make through the documentary and the message he wants to communicate to
the audience. It is this message around which the entire film is built going
forward.

c) Create curiosity among the audience. A good beginning reveals the subject and
issue at hand to the audience in such a way that they become keen to see the
events that follow in the film.

d) Show change or the promise of change, which is one of the inherent elements of
story and of film.

e) Creates the element of consequence, which is one event leading to another. Cause
and effect will direct the audience and increase their understanding of the subject
matter.

The Inciting Incident

This is often a common feature used in the beginning to start a story. It is an incident that
radically upsets the balance of forces within the film’s story. It is a dynamic and fully
developed event, not something vague. As a story begins, the forces at play are arranged
in a particular way, whether they are balanced or not. The inciting incident is any event
that swings reality in either a negative or positive way, creating imbalance relative to the
previous way. This storytelling technique is useful because the forces within the film
must then react to the inciting incident, setting the story on its way into the middle. For
example; the leader of a small desert community could be informed that a large
corporation was planning to buy the nearest oasis from the government, effectively
creating a water crunch in his community. The leader could be spurred to then organize
his people to ensure the government doesn’t sell their precious natural water supply. The
leader obtaining the knowledge that his community’s water supply was in trouble is the
inciting incident. This incident upset the balance of forces and impelled them to react.

 The Middle
The big, unwritten space that is the middle of the film is often a daunting challenge for
the scriptwriter. Many scriptwriters focus on the dramatic beginning and end of their film
and get confused and lost in the middle, leading to a meandering series of events that lack
focus.

The key to a good middle is structure. The scriptwriter must ensure that the middle of the
film presents a chain of logic designed to prove its core assertion. Each event and action
must be pertinent and in keeping with the subject and tone of the film. The issues at hand
must be kept in strict focus and events must be arranged in such a way to ensure that the
film keeps moving along and progressing. This ‘tight’ structure will result in a dynamic
and interesting middle.

In order to ensure an effective middle, it helps to divide it further into independent parts,
which come together to form a whole and tell the story. Thereby, the scriptwriter can
think in terms of small, contained chunks of information and place them according to
relevance and importance. These chunks of information are sequences.

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A good middle consists of good sequences, which also have their own beginnings,
middles and ends. Within the sequences, the flow of events determines these parameters.
There could many types of sequences within a film, ranging from the dramatic ones that
decide the film’s direction, to the sequences that lead up to and follow after the dramatic
ones. The scriptwriter must allot a particular message for each sequence and ensure that
each one has an impact on its own. Then, he can explore the order in which he will place
them all depending on flow of information and the gradual increase of impact.

These sequences must be related to each other and unified as a whole in order to give the
film a flow. The scriptwriter can use the following criteria to relate and unify them:

a) Concept, idea, thought – The most common link between sequences is subject
matter. Each sequence is related with the others through the common issues it
deals with.

b) Action – Sequences can be related to each other through the kinds of events and
actions they portray.

c) Setting – Many of the sequences may share a common location and many more
may have different locations within a common, larger setting.

d) Character – Sequences in a film often share the same characters and are,
therefore, unified by these common characters.

e) Mood – Sequences can often relate to each other by having a common flavor or
mood. For example, one sequence could show slum streets around the world,
another could show the defeated faces of employment seekers. The two sequences
are related by the gravity and desolation of their mood.

 The End
In the words of Aristotle, an ending must be both ‘inevitable’ and ‘unexpected.’ The end
of a film is what the audience takes home with them. It is the primary factor that
determines audience opinion about the film they’ve just seen. The end is when the film
concludes with a conclusion, usually a reiteration of the core assertion of the film. In
many films, this is done by hammering home the assertion with a ‘key feature’, which
could be a anything from a phrase to a visual, or many visuals, to one last event that sets
the impression to be left on the audience in stone. All or many issues are hopefully, or at
least temporarily, resolved in the end of a film. That is why it is also called the
Resolution of the film. There are two types of film endings in documentary namely
- closed end
- open end

A closed ending is usually one where all the questions raised in the story are answered
and all emotions evoked are satisfied. The audience is left with a rounded and closed,
overall experience that leaves nothing further to doubt or question. This type of ending is
absolute and irreversible and the film’s subject cannot be extended. For example; a
documentary about a particular sect of women working to change divorce law by passing
a bill in parliament could end with the bill being passed and the battle being won. This
kind of ending doesn’t leave anything further to be said on the matter and the audience is
left with a feeling of closure.
17
An open ending is usually one which leaves one, some or many questions unanswered
and some emotions unfulfilled. This type of ending relies heavily on audience
imagination to fill in the gaps once the lights have come on. The ‘open’ implication
doesn’t mean the film finishes in the middle, leaving everything hanging unresolved. The
questions left are answerable and the emotions resolvable and all that has gone before has
led to clear and limited alternatives that make a certain degree of closure possible for the
audience. For example; a documentary about interreligious relations during Independence
Day celebrations in a particular country may end as night falls on the festivities, but many
questions as to the future of relations between the religious groups may be left
unanswered. This type of ending has become very popular in documentary films after
many filmmakers started realizing that the issues most documentaries deal with are part
of larger problems facing the world to which there are no clear cut solutions or answers.
Each ending has a decided flavour, a mood. A resolution can occur in so many different
ways. ‘Happy endings’ have always been popular in feature films as they leave the
audience on a ‘happy high.’ In documentary, things are not so straightforward. The
flavour or mood of the ending must be determined by the events of real life and cannot be
controlled by the scriptwriter. Depending on the events that occur, the ending can be
optimistic, pessimistic or even ironic in nature. The scriptwriter must judge the mood of
the ending after studying the conclusions the film has come to based on the turn of
events. Some issues may be left unresolved; some may have taken a turn for the worse.
Many scriptwriters feel the pressure to ‘find the silver lining’ and leave the audience on a
high, but they should be obliged to stick to the truth and tell it like it is.

The end of a feature film is often called a ‘climax’. It is when the story builds to a last
revolution in values from positive to negative or negative to positive, with or without
irony, at maximum charge that’s absolute and irreversible. Basically, something big
happens in the end that changes the film radically and moves the audience. The process
of building to this climactic end is also often applied to documentaries in a toned down
manner because it works so well in feature films. ‘Saving the best for last’ is the old
adage and the climactic sequence/series of sequences are the most meaningful and
dramatic in the film in terms of resolving the issues at hand. The climax is the last leap of
the scriptwriter’s imagination and should be clear and self-evident, requiring no
explanation and playing out in a dramatic rhythm and tempo. For example; a
documentary about two boxing champions may end with a climactic series of sequences
in which they fight each other for the boxing title. The scriptwriter could make winning
or losing the title into a spectacular drama played out in the ring and keep the audience on
the edge of their seats.

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Idea Generation
Without an idea a script cannot come to be. If you were to just sit down and attempt to
write a script from whatever was in your head at the time you'd probably get about 10
pages in, lose steam and develop "writers block"

If you want to succeed as a scriptwriter than you really need to put in the thinking time
when it comes to your initial script idea.

Before you even think about scriptwriting, you need an initial idea. Rather than coming
up with something incredibly detailed from the get-go (which few scriptwriters can do)
look at the following questions and mould an idea around them.

Who is the main character?

What is their goal?
What is the script about?
What is the underlying message or theme of the script?

Your Background Vs Your Ideas

Simply put your personal background will make a great deal of difference to the ideas
you have and the scripts you write. If you were raised in a dirt poor area your mind will
naturally be more focused on violence, trying to climb the social ladder, struggling to
make money and so on because those will probably be the actions and influences that
surrounded you growing up.

Think of it this way. If two people happened to meet in the middle of the road with a
dying bird between them (not a daily occurrence hopefully) and one of them was a
farmer, the other a housewife they would want to deal with the situation in a different
way. The farmer would put the bird out of it’s misery by wringing it’s neck while the
housewife may try and nurture the bird back to health or take it to an animal hospital.

Stories to Screenplay

If you want to write a script then you’re going to need a story. Indeed a scriptwriter
without a story is like a body without a soul. First and foremost a scriptwriter has to
actively seek story ideas. You can’t sit back and go about your life expecting a
thunderbolt of inspiration. It simply won’t happen.

There are a few traits which people let hold them back from thinking up ideas and
developing them into stories. This include Laziness, fear, and perfectionism. As you read
those words you will probably recognize at least one or more of them that is part of your
character. These can all be defeated though by creating a routine or period of time each
day that you devote to creating ideas and/or writing. Just an hour or two a day, say 7pm
to 9pm, will result in a lot of productive work being done. Don’t think about thinking,
just think!

Two of the best sources for story ideas are newspapers and magazines, particularly the
human interest articles. You read a small piece in a newspaper about a woman who
19
suffered through a terrible depression she hadn’t been allowed into brother’s funeral after
he had died from a kidney illness. The twist being that she was the only person they’d
found as a suitable kidney donor but she had backed out because she was a single mother
and afraid of what would happen to her children if she’d died during the procedure.

People go to the movies to see characters they can relate to accomplish things that they
can only dream about.

Scriptwriters need to find a story core and a main character that the common person can
relate to. Think about what drives you, what you fear and how you deal with pressure.

It is your goal as a scriptwriter to take the audience on a journey through the character’s
emotions and make them feel what the character feels. A good script/movie shares
elements with a good rollercoaster. There are ups and downs and simulated emotions
(you feel momentary fear on a rollercoaster but you know realistically you are perfectly
safe).

Forgetting the outside world you can look closer to home for your scriptwriting
inspiration. Think about your family, friends, neighbors or even yourself. There’s a good
chance that some sort of tragedy or incredulous event has happened within that circle.
While you certainly never wish these things on someone you know there is an advantage
of finding a story this way over newspapers or magazines. You will have seen first hand
how the crisis affected people and how they dealt with it. As long as you do so in a tactful
manner these people will be more than happy to open up their hearts to you if you
mention that you’d like to write a screenplay based on the situation.

Express Yourself

It’s perfectly understandable that people are becoming more introverted and unable to
express themselves. You are under siege from the mainstream media who exaggerate,
embellish and sensationalize the truth to make news stories seem more horrific in their
quest for ratings and readers. Coupled with a society wide view to conform to the set
standards it can be very hard to express yourself.

When you express yourself in any form it can make you feel weak and vulnerable. This is
especially true of a scriptwriter when their goal is to create a selling screenplay. Suddenly
a part of your world view can be seen by millions of people who will judge you and your
work. Any trace of negative thoughts or actions from the main character get erased. This
results in a lot of generic, politically correct movies straight from the cookie cutter
factory of film production.

It is the expression of honesty that makes scriptwriting such an interesting art form and
adds an important element of realism in screenplays. You can’t expect anyone to be
perfect that includes your characters and most importantly yourself.

You need to learn how to open your heart. All those negative things you think and feel
but would never say. There’s a place for all that negative emotion and it’s in your
scriptwriting. This is especially true in the very first draft of your screenplay when the
story is raw and coming straight from the heart.

20
You don’t need to worry if you go too dark with a character or situation because you can
edit it later. If you express yourself truthfully you will literally feel an emotional weight
lifted from your shoulders. You will feel much better about yourself.

Keep a Dark Diary

If you already keep a diary, that’s great, this is because it keeps you into the flow of
writing. The question is, do you really write down your darkest thoughts and feelings or
do you skirt around them? If you avoid your dark/shadow side in your normal diary then
you should purchase a diary with a lock and key.

In this “dark diary” only write down your negative emotions. If someone pissed you off
at work today then write down what they did, how it made you feel, and what you wished
you could do to them if you didn’t have to suffer the consequences. This is one of the
most liberating things you can do. After you’ve finished writing in your “dark diary” for
the day you will feel lighter, more positive and more creative.

Write a Dark Passage

I’m sure there’s probably been a time in your life where things have seemed dark and
gloomy. It could have been the death of a loved one, a rejection or a period of poor
health. Whatever was the catalyst for this dark period of your life you should write it
down. Write down:

 What happened
 Why it happened
 How it made you feel
 How you dealt with it
 How you wish you dealt with it
 How people around you dealt with you and the situation
 How other people made you feel

Be as dark and cruel as you felt at the time. Pour your heart out onto to paper and unload
all that emotional baggage. This has two effects, it trains you to express yourself and it
may unclog the negativity from your creative process.

Whether you write a dark passage or dark diary remember that you can go as far as you
want because you’ll be the only one who will see it.

Time to Write

If you’re a beginning scriptwriter it probably means you’re working a full-time job, going
to school or looking after your family. It always seems you never have enough time to
write. So after it’s been a few days since you did any scriptwriting you start to feel guilty
and get out of the swing of writing. This can lead to writers block or just giving up
writing altogether.

Here are a few tips that will help you have more time to continue your scriptwriting.

21
 If you do your scriptwriting on your PC, keep it on whenever you’re in the house. If
you write freehand keep a pad a pen nearby at all times. Then whenever you get a
spare moment, even if it’s only five minutes, you can get your head down and get
some work done straight away.
 Learn to multitask. If you’re a housewife or househusband then work your writing
into your everyday chores. While you’re cooking there’s usually a gap where you’re
waiting for something to boil or cool down, use that time to write. If you work or
study then you can write in your lunch break or (if you’re daring) when you’re meant
to be doing your job.

 Write at night. This one is especially for prospective scriptwriters with families. Some
of the most successful people only sleep a handful of hours a night. Cut into your
sleeping time by an hour and get some scriptwriting done. This is how a lot of
scriptwriters have to work before they are able to turn professional.

 Write on the go. If you travel to work or school on the bus/train you have a small
window of time where you have nothing to do. Instead of listening to music or just
staring out the window use the time to think about certain scenes or characters and
what you can do with them.

 Create more free time by suggesting your partner to go out more often with their
friends. This gives you time to yourself, in house, to get some writing done without
feeling guilty for leaving your partner on their own.

 Write a list of the things you need to do next and keep them on your bedroom door.
Every night before you go to bed you must cross off at least one thing before you can
go to sleep.

 The average person spends three years on the toilet! You could write at least three
well thought-out scripts in that time. Next time you go to the toilet take a pen and
pad. Also the air freshener.

 Spend five minutes before you go to sleep going over your plans and script. This will
keep the ideas fresh in your mind and allow your subconscious work on them while
you sleep.

Bit by bit you can always find time to write a script. You just have to be dedicated and
focused enough. Think of yourself as the main character and a finished script as the goal.
There may be obstacles in your path but if you want to grow and develop you need to
beat these blocks, no matter how challenging that may be, and achieve your goal.

22
Screenplay Formatting
There are basically two ways to do this. Either you buy a piece of scriptwriting software
which does the bulk of the work for you or you learn how to do it yourself and use a
typewriter or program like Microsoft Word.

If a Hollywood executive comes across a script with poor formatting then he will
instantly dismiss it as the work of an amateur and not bother reading it.

The script that you are trying to sell is known as a spec script. This is because it’s written
under the speculation it will be optioned later. At this stage it is important to avoid adding
camera angles, editing directions, or anything technical unless absolutely necessary. If
you’re selling your first script it is a lot easier to do purely as a scriptwriter rather than
writer/director. Production companies are a lot more likely to take a risk on an unknown
writer than an unknown writer-director.

Formatting Basics

There are three bodies of a script: Headings, narrative and dialogue. Each of these has
three points to remember.

Headings:

1. Master scene headings which include:

 Camera location - EXT. (exterior or outside) or INT. (interior or inside)

 Scene location (LOCAL RACE TRACK)

 Time (DAY or NIGHT)

23
2. Secondary scene heading

3. “Special headings” for things such as montages, dream sequences, flashbacks, flash
forwards, etc.

Narrative Description:
1. Action
2. Character and settings (visual)
3. Sounds

Dialogue:
1. The name of the person speaking appears at the top, in CAPS.

2. The actors direction (AKA parenthetical or wryly).

3. The speech.

Putting all this together you should come up with something that looks like this:

Script Presentation

If you want to ensure that your script is taken seriously when dishing it out to agents and
producers you need to make sure the presentation of your script is up to snuff.

A finished script should contain the following;

 a front cover,
 a title page,

 the script itself

 and a back cover.

The front and back covers should be a piece of solid-color index stock of the 110 pound
variety, try to keep the color light. Do not write anything on the cover. When an agent or
producer receives your script they will be added into a pile of scripts to be read. An
assistant will go through these and write the title of the script on the side of the binding.

24
The title page consists of the name of the script, in CAPS and quotation marks, in the
middle of the page. Then miss a line, and put “by”, miss another line and include your
name. Your contact details in the centre of the page and copyright details in the bottom
right corner.

The script should be printed on A4 paper, using only one side of each sheet.

These are all to be three hole punched and bound together using a fastener. Make sure the
fastener is strong and secure; this makes it easier for producers and agents to photocopy
the script to pass around which they will do if they are interested in the script.

The Script Itself

You can use scriptwriting software such as Final Draft or Celtx to prepare your script.

The industry standard font is Courier or Courier New at font size 12.

Your left margin should be 1.5 inches while your right margin can be between 0.5 inches
to 1.25 inches, which is down to your personal preference. Both the top and bottom
margins should be 1 inch.

Dialogue should be 2.5 inches (10 spaces) away from the left margin and should not go
past 6.0 inches (60 spaces) from the left margin. Actor’s instructions at 3.1 inches (16
spaces) from the left margin and no longer than two inches. The character’s name should
be 3.7 inches (22 spaces) from the left margin.

Keep the right margin ragged rather than justified.

Each page of the script should contain about 55 lines. This is not including the page
number and blank line after the page number. Page numbers appear in the top right
corner, 0.5 inches from the top edge. No page number is required for the first page of
your script.

Beginning and End

If you choose you can add the title of your script, in CAPS and underscored, to the top of
the first page. Your script will probably begin with:

FADE IN:
Or
BLACK SCREEN:

You don’t have to add a point to insert the opening or closing credits in a spec script. But
if you have a moment that you think perfect for the opening credits then put:

ROLL CREDITS:
Or
BEGIN CREDITS:

When the credits have finished:

25
END CREDITS:

Treat credits as headings.

When you have come to the end of your script you can finish it of by either putting THE
END or one of the following:

FADE OUT
FADE TO BLACK

Formatting Directions

While you should never add too many directions to a spec script, there are times as a
scriptwriter that you do need to add a few flourishes to the action. For example, if you’re
writing a fight scene that you want to emphasis the sounds then you can write:

A right hook SMASHES into Bill’s face.

The capitalization draws attention to the sound. Be careful not to overuse this technique
though as it can be distracting.

Off Screen

If there is a scene in your script in which a character is talking, but you do not want him
to be onscreen then you would format that like this:

BILL (OS)

Voice Over

A voice over is used when you want a character in your script to narrate or verbalize their
thoughts. This is often used to open a film or stitch scenes together. You would also use a
voice over for a telephone conversation when just one character is on camera. The voice
over format is much the same as the off screen format.

BILL (VO)

Actor Directions/Wrylys

These are to be avoided as much as possible. If you use this technique too much it will
anger both directors and actors who will see it as a writer telling them how to do their
job. If you write your dialogue well these should not be needed at all often as the
surrounding dialogue and action should make it clear how the line should be said. If you
do need to use this technique then format it as followed:

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Flashbacks and Dream Sequences

A lot of scriptwriting books will tell you that flashbacks and dream sequences as shoddy
writing, and the sign of a poor script. However if you use these well and sparingly they
can add a new dimension to a character and the story.

There are a few different ways to write these into a script, but the most common way is to
add them to the scene heading. For example:

And then go back to present times with:

Camera Directions

Much like actor directions, camera directions be avoided as much as possible. You are a
scriptwriter, not a director. Instead of adding directions like ZOOM IN and CLOSEUP
try to subtly work these into your action description.

This almost dictates that there has to be a close up on Jennifer’s eyes without you telling
the director how to do his job. Remember the old scriptwriter’s adage, show don’t tell.

Formatting Scene Headings

Master Scene Heading

Usually the master scene heading consists of three parts, although there is occasionally a
fourth.

 Camera Location - This one is simple, is the scene taking indoors or outdoors. You
denote indoors with INT. and outdoors with ENT. Sometimes a scene will quickly
move between outdoors and indoors. In this case you can denote it as INT. /ENT.
 Scene Location - The scene location is the place in which the action is happening.
You don’t have to be overly descriptive. Rather than a long description all you need is
SMALL PARK, no more. Be short and specific.
 Time of day - For the most part you just want to use DAY or NIGHT. You don’t
need to use more specific terms like EVENING, DAWN or specific time. If you want

27
 to denote that a scene is taking place immediately after the last, with no passage of
time, then you can use SAME or CONTINUOUS for the time of day heading.
 Special notations - If the scene takes place in a flashback, dream, or different time
period then you can add a fourth part to the master scene heading. You can also use
this forth part to note if the scenes aren’t in chronological order to keep the reader
orientated.

You must start a new master scene heading if any of the three (or four) parts of the master
scene heading change between scenes. Always double space both before and after any
scene headings. Try to avoid ending a page on a heading.

Secondary Scene Headings

If you need to move between shots in a scene then you can use a secondary scene
heading. These can also be used for locations connected to the original or any special
instant that needs highlighting. Much like master scene headings these should also be
written in CAPS and kept short and specific. You might start a heading like:

INT. JAKE’S HOUSE – NIGHT (this is the master scene heading)

Then want to move to a specific part of the house or denote that time has passed. Then
you could just put:

IN THE BEDROOM(this is the secondary scene heading)

or

LATER

You can also use secondary scene headings to focus the shot on a character without using
directorial terms.

JAKE

pulls a .45 Magnum out of his jacket pocket.

It’s also perfectly acceptable to lump this together as one line of direction.

Jake pull a .45 Magnum out of his jacket pocket.

Special Headings

Special headings all follow the same basic format, with a few minor differences. They
include the MONTAGE, SERIES OF SHOTS, FLASHBACK and (DAY)DREAMS.

If you happen to be writing a movie about a fat boxer with a training MONTAGE then
you could write it like this:

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MONTAGE - STOCKY TRAINING FOR BIG FIGHT

-- -- INT. RICKIE’S TRAINING CAMP - Stocky attempts to execute a sit-up. His trainer
helps by holding a cream cake in front of Stocky’s mouth.

-- -- INT. STOCKY’S HOUSE - Stocky waddles up a flight of stairs and collapses,

exhausted.

-- -- INT. FEMALE ONLY GYM - Stocky struggles to lift a weight. He slips, with the
weight falling across his gut.

END MONTAGE

This is also how you would format a SERIES OF SHOTS or QUICK FLASHES. Bear in
mind that a MONTAGE is usually accompanied by a song. However you should not
suggest a piece of music.

If you would like to add a FLASHBACK, (DAY)DREAM or PERIOD CHANGE then

you can add them to the end of the master scene headline like so:

EXT. VIETNAM JUNGLE - DAY - FLASHBACK/DREAM/1969

Formatting Dialogue in a Foreign Language

There will be occasions in a script where you might have a character who speaks in a
foreign tongue. For example you may have a French waiter mutter something under his
breath, in his own language, under his tongue. It doesn’t matter if you can’t speak French
yourself or are a regular Gerard Depardieu because writing script dialogue in a foreign
language is as easy as pie. Put simply you should not write dialogue in a foreign
language.

Since the person eventually reading your script will probably not be French and may not
speak the language, they still need to be able to understand what is going on.

To add a flavor of the foreign language you could sprinkle in a few French words
amongst the dialogue like so:

29
If you positively have to have a character speak a foreign language in a realistic way then
you have a number of options.

1. If it doesn’t matter or not whether the audience understands the language spoken by
the character or you feel the audience will understand what is going on then you can
write out the dialogue in the relevant foreign language. If you yourself can’t speak
that language then you can use the wryly/parenthesis to let the reader know what
language should be spoken and then write in English, like the first example above.
2. If a character is going to speak a foreign language through a whole scene or even the
full movie then you can note it in the narrative description when the character is
introduced. This way you can write in English and leave it for someone else to
translate later on in the movie making process.

There’s a problem with both these methods though. While these are easy to both read
and write they aren’t going to be easy to understand to anyone watching the movie
unless they actually speak that foreign language. The answer to this problem is to
include subtitles in English.

3 Like the second option you can make note in the narrative description that the
character speaks a foreign language which is subtitled in English. It should looks
something like this:

You can write a full scene in a foreign language with a similar note and a second note
when the subtitles end.

4. You can also use the wryly/parenthesis to note that the dialogue is in a foreign
language and subtitles in English.

5. This is the last option for subtitling. Use his option if the sound of the words in the
foreign language is important, in this example the sound of the language has an
amusing quality.

Whenever possible, though, you should try to use English as much as possible. Subtitles
and foreign languages can distract from the action on screen. You can always give a
sense of a foreign language by mixing in a few foreign words with a hint of the relevant
accent.
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Formatting Electronic Dialogue

There may be times in your script that you wish you write scenes in which characters
interact with each other via an electronic medium, such as a television, radio, telephone
or computer. In an age where electronic communication is taking over one-to-one
interaction this can help add an important touch of realism to your screenplay.

You should be careful not to overdo electronic communication in your script though as it
can slow the pace of the story down and feel rather action-less. Instead it should be used
sparingly when it furthers the story or makes sense that the characters should
communicate in an electronic fashion.

Television/Radio

Both television and radio communication is formatted in the same way. In essence you
format the television or radio as if it were a character. If you just want a few lines coming
from the television in the background then just use television as the character name and
write the dialogue you wish, and the same for radio.

If you want a specific character to be on the television/radio then there are two different
ways to format it. The first method is to mention the character in the narrative description
as being on tv/radio and then use the character’s name as the character caption or cue. A
clearer, and simpler, way is to add a parenthetical: (on tv/radio). E.G:

Telephone

With the invention of the Bluetooth headsets it’s becoming easier to make telephone
phone conversations more exciting. As two characters are talking they can be moving
around with action happening all around them. Telephone conversations are a little more
flexible in formatting, as there are four widely accepted methods of formatting them.

Method 1 - If you only want one character to be shown and heard then this is the method
to use. This is formatted like regular dialogue.

You do not need to tell the actor to add pauses; they will know how to act out a telephone
conversation this way.

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Method 2 - The second method is for when you want both characters to be heard but
only one to be heard. This is a variation of a voice-over.

Method 3 - When you want both characters to be seen and heard then you can use an
INTERCUT. There are two ways of doing this. The simple way is as follows:

Then you would write the dialogue as normal. When the telephone conversation ends, so
does the INTERCUT unless you state otherwise.

The other way of using the INTERCUT method is as follows:

When you use the INTERCUT method you are giving the director free reign on when to
cut between the two characters.

Method 4 - If you have a clear image in your head about how you want the scene to play
out, including character actions and cuts then this is the more hands on method. While it
takes a little more work you allow yourself more control over the scene.

32
 

Computer

Character’s can interact on computer in a few ways. Via email/instant message or web
cam. In the case of a web cam then you can treat that like a television. If they’re using
email or instant message then remember that only words spoken out loud should be
shown as dialogue. You need to find a way of showing the audience all the information
they need to glean from the conversation. There are a number of ways to do this, as
follows:

33
 

Of course you could also adapt the INTERCUT method if you want to cut between two
characters typing to each other.

Learning how to format electronic communication is another tool in your belt as a

scriptwriter. Used well they can add unique elements of drama and comedy to a
screenplay. Try writing out a conversation between two of your characters, practice really
does make perfect.

Effective Narrative Description

Along with dialogue it is the narrative description which takes up the bulk of your script.
The narrative description describes the story within your screenplay which includes, the
action, settings and characters, and the sounds.

The first thing you need to know about writing the narrative description is that it is
always written in the present tense. Even if you’re writing a flashback or other sequence
regarding past events you should always write in the present tense. The reason behind

34
this is that you view a movie in present time. In terms of formatting you shouldn’t indent
paragraphs of narrative description but you should double-space between paragraphs.

It is important to keep your narrative short and sweet. Only provide information that is
completely necessary to progress the story, while focusing on significant actions and
moments. To keep paragraphs short try to keep them down to a maximum of four lines,
although one or two lines are always preferable.

If you wish to use a dash during a paragraph then it should be formatted with a space,
then two hyphens, and another space before continuing the action.

Creating the Visual

You should try and capture every beat of action or image within one paragraph.
Following this guideline will help you keep your narrative description short while
relaying any information you need to give the reader. Each paragraph should help the
reader “see” and “hear” what would be happening on-screen.

Some visual images may only need the briefest of descriptions. Most locations should be
kept relatively simple; it is not your job to describe every item in a room or the exact
layout of a building. If a scene is to be set in an untidy character’s bedroom you can
describe it simply as “A very unkempt bedroom”.

The only time you need to mention specific items is when they will come into play later
during the scene. If your character happens to trip up over a pile of dirty clothing then
you can mention that during your short description of the room. The earlier description
may now be changed to “A very unkempt bedroom. A big pile of unwashed clothes
stagnates in the middle of the room.”

Dramatize the Drama

If you’re writing a scene in your script which you intend to add drama to the story then
make sure it’s dramatic!

To write a dramatic scene you should use short paragraphs (as mentioned above) and put
emphasis on the actions, emotions and any specific visuals you feel will enhance the
scene. A good guideline to keep a smooth flow is to write one paragraph for every beat of
action or visual images.

See how Sylvester Stallone heightens the drama before Rocky’s first fight with Apollo
Creed.

35
 

Specify the Action

Specifying actions helps add color to your screenplay. Some writers like to leave this
until the rewrite, focusing on the actual story during the first draft. It is quite simple to do
though, especially with a little practice. This implies that rather than using words such as
“looks”, “enters”, “walks”, etc use a much more specific word. Instead of “looks” try
“stares intensely” or “glances”.

For example a paragraph that was:

36
Becomes:

This has a lot more spark and gives the reader an idea about Zed’s thoughts and feelings
at that moment. He is determined to scale that mountain.

You can use this technique to add depth to both action and characters. Specifying action
allows you to paint a much better portrait of a character and their motivation. A cocky
character wouldn’t shuffle, they’d stride. A character who’s disobeyed his wife’s orders
and come home later wouldn’t just enter the house; they’d try and sneak in silently.

If you use the techniques illustrated above you will soon find your narrative description
becoming fast paced and gripping which is exactly what it needs to be. Your characters
will also find new levels to work in.

Formatting Character Details

When your character makes their first appearance in your screenplay, then take care to
write their name in CAPS. This makes the character name standout and draws attention to
them allowing you to then follow up with a description (see next sub-headline). So when
a character makes their first appearance it should look something like this:

You don’t have to put a character’s name in CAPS if they are not important in the story,
for example, “man serving slurpees”. You also shouldn’t put a group of people in CAPS,
just individual characters. You should also note that when a name is followed by a
possessive, then the s should be typed in lowercase. Like below:

To keep your screenplay easy to read it is best if you name your character as soon as they
appear. This makes it easier for anyone who reads your script to follow the characters,
which keeps them into the flow of the story. If you wish to have a “mystery character”
then you could refer to them as SHADOWY MAN and then reveal their identity in the
narrative.

Character Descriptions

When your character makes their first appearance it is the perfect time to write out a
description of them. You should focus more on the nature of the character as opposed to

37
physical appearance unless there are a few physical traits which are very important to the
character or story.

Never pin an actors name on a character. Imagine Brad Pitt reading through your script,
absolutely loving it, only the find out that the main character is based on, or written for
Tom Cruise. The love will quickly dissipate. Like most narrative you should keep it short
but descriptive. For example:

Only write description that can be used on screen. You don’t want to be writing about the
character’s backstory as part of their description. Save that for dialogue and action.

It can be very helpful to the reader to give some small visual piece of information that
helps them visual the character. Rather than comment on the facial/body features of a
character try to think of something more like a piece of clothing, an odd tic, a certain way
of walking, etc. You don’t have to do this for every character, just the more important
ones.

Minor Characters Names

Your important minor characters should also have names. However your really minor
characters are better served with a descriptive name so the reader knows not to focus on
them, while giving the character a small amount of identity.

If you name a character DRUNKEN HOBO then it lets the reader know their character
and function without having to write a description. If they don’t have any lines of
dialogue then this is how you should name them, and even if they have a line or two stick
with this method.

If you have a group of characters, maybe who have the same occupation, then try to give
each of them a unique descriptive name. Rather than STRIPPER 1, STRIPPER 2,
STRIPPER 3 give them a functional name, this will help the reader and the actor. Instead
you might have, DIRTY STRIPPER, INTELLIGENT STRIPPER, and ANGRY
STRIPPER.

If a character is not seen or heard then you can simply describe them in the narrative as
an unseen character.

Character Development

It’s been said that a truly great character can save an otherwise poor script. In a perfect
world every script would tell a great story and be chock full of interesting characters,
however this isn’t a perfect world.

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Some people are great storytellers who provide a fantastical narrative to their script but
the characters feel lifeless and more like props to tell the story when, in fact, in should be
a cast of scintillating character moving the script along.

Character Research

You’ve got a great idea for a script. Your main character is a hotel manager who, with
sheer will and determination, wants to become the owner of the biggest chain of hotels in
the world.

Every script needs a main character to drive the story along. The main character should
be, in general, the deepest and most interesting character. When you finally get to sitting
down and starting the scriptwriting process you realise that you don’t know the first thing
about running a hotel. This is where character research comes in.

You need to find what drives these characters, what their concerns are, how they keep
going, what their goals are. It is only in getting to grips with your character that they will
light up your script rather than dragging it along with them.

The one great thing about general character research is that you’ve always got something
to fall back on. Remember how your grandma would always say goodbye to her cat
before leaving her house? Or how your friend would always sit on certain seat on the bus
if it was available? These are all general character traits which can be noticed while
people watching.

Everything you experience in life can be taken as general character research for
scriptwriting. Every emotion you’ve felt, every relationship, every job provides with a
broad background of character knowledge you can draw upon.

Character Background

When you are developing a character for your script you need to be aware that they do
not live in a vacuum. Their environment and upbringing will shape them greatly. A 40
year old man from 18th century England will be vastly different from a 40 year old man
from present day England. If you want to understand a character you need to understand
the context of the character. Think of context as the jug and the character as water. As the
water is poured into the jug the shape it takes depends on the shape of the jug.

Cultural Background

There are many cultural influences you have to consider when planning out your
character.

Ethnic - How would Irish American differ from an Italian American? Think about their
speech, how they express themselves, mannerisms, attitudes and life philosophy.

Social - Is your character from an well-to-do Washington family or a dirt poor Detroit
family? How would this affect them?

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Religious - Your character will have a religious philosophy. They could be Buddhist,
Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Agnostic or Atheist? How would this change their attitudes to
people of other religions? Or how they deal with moral situations?

Education - How long did your character go to school? Did they enjoy it? Were they
popular? What did they study?

The Time Period

Most scriptwriters choose to write in the current period. This is because the audience of
the time can relate to cultural references and a lot less research is required.

Setting a script in the future is no problem as you can choose to take the world in any
direction you wish but the past is a lot more tricky. You need to take into account that the
way characters talk will be quite different. The vocabulary, rhythm, obscenities and
meanings of words will not be the same as today’s speech pattern. Similarly the clothes,
amenities and buildings were vastly different. This all needs to be researched thoroughly
if you want the world your script is in to be realistic.

Location

A script set in New York will undoubtedly have a much different flavor to one set in
Rhode Island. It is a lot easier to write about the place you live than somewhere you have
never even seen before. This cuts down on the amount of research needed as you know a
lot more about the area you’ve lived in for the last 20 years than somewhere you’ve
always wanted to visit but never got round to.

It is unwise to write about a location that you’ve never been to before but it can be done.
It just requires a lot of specific research. The location affects clothing, attitudes, pace of
life, accents, etc.

Occupation

The occupation of a character and how it affects them is often overlooked in film and can
be downright ignored in a TV series. A farmer is going to have a much different pace of
life than a stockbroker. A model is going to dress more stylishly than a postal worker.
Depending on the occupation the character may have a unique set of skills. A negotiator
is going to be very good at working people around to his way of thinking. Also the
occupation and cultural background can prove to be closely related. That well-to-do
Washington man is a much more likely to be the CEO of a company than the dirt-poor
Detroit man.

Character Interview

You might find it helpful to write out an interview with your character to find out their
background. Imagine they are someone you’ve just met for the first time and you want to
find out more about them.

40
Perhaps the best question you can ever ask a character is “what would you do if…?”

When you are developing a character for your script you need to be aware that they do
not live in a vacuum. Their environment and upbringing will shape them greatly. A 40
year old man from 18th century England will be vastly different from a 40 year old man
from present day England. If you want to understand a character you need to understand
the context of the character. Think of context as the jug and the character as water. As the
water is poured into the jug the shape it takes depends on the shape of the jug.

Naming Your Characters

Giving your character the “right” name can often be a big piece in the puzzle of making
your character feel like a real person. For example, if you have a one man war machine
who is killing people left and right don’t call him Bob Smith. No offence to anyone
called Bob Smith but it’s not a name with brings to mind an unstoppable force.

Whenever you create a character you should have a strong feeling on what he/she is all
about. What qualities and characteristics do they possess?

If you have a female character that is quiet and full of dignity the name Emily Lincoln
immediately pops into your head. This is down to personal experience (general character
research), every woman called Emily I know has these personality traits. Lincoln of
course comes from Abraham Lincoln, the very picture of dignity.

One thing to consider in naming a character is their ethnic background. If you have a
character that is Irish-American then surnames like Mahon, McMahon, Flaherty and
O’Neill spring forward.

Also you want to be careful is having too many characters with the same first letter of
their first name. You don’t want a cast of characters called Adam, Alice, Anita, Allan and
Aretha. Try and mix it up instead. Unless both names seem perfect for the character don’t
have any character sharing the same first letter in their name. This sets them all apart and
make them seem more individual.

Finally the internet is a great tool in naming characters. There are plenty of baby naming
sites out there where you can put in character keywords such as “fighter” and “strong”
and come out with a list of appropriate names and their meanings.

The Main Character (protagonist)

Your main character is the crown jewel in your story. Every scene in your script should
reinforce what the character’s ultimate goal is and the lengths they will go to achieve it.
They should be put in peril and constantly tested to bring out their strengths and
weaknesses. As your script progresses your main character will steadily turn those
weaknesses around. But it will take them a lot of work and effort.

The main character needs to be put in such intense situations that he is broken down, only
to be built back up in a stronger form.
41
Make sure that:

Your Main Character is Imperfect

Your main character should have plenty of vulnerabilities and imperfections,

otherwise you have no where to go with them. If you start your script with a main
character who is already complete and ideal then they will be able to overcome any
problem you throw at them too easily.

The Character’s Goal is clear

If you’ve started the scriptwriting process with a firm idea of the story then this one
should come naturally. You already know the basic story arc and where the lead character
is going. However if you’re trying to build a story around a character then you need to
make sure they have a well defined goal. Your main character will go to any lengths to
reach their goal, throwing themselves into more and more dangerous situations as a
result.

The Main Character Re-Acts and Acts

Never have a main character just stand and watch as an event unfolds. They need to re-
act and then act. Imagine for a moment that your family has been kidnapped and you
have been left a few clues on how to find them. Your immediate re-action would be to
feel upset and angry, although possibly relieved that you have a window of opportunity to
get them back. You would then act by looking into the clues and trying to find out exactly
where your family is and how you can get them back. That is you re-acting and then
acting on a situation. Your main character needs to have this “think and do” mentality to
every situation, even if the “do” often overshadows the “think”.

Your Main Character is dynamic

Your main character needs to be the richest, deepest character in your script. Otherwise
why aren’t we following the story of this side character? If you find yourself halfway
through a script and a side character is emerging as more interesting than a main
character then there are a few different actions you can take. You could simply replace
this character with a less interesting creation, and keep the character in mind for another
script. Another option is to reduce the role of the side character, giving them less time to
shine. Or you could kill off this side character as another obstacle or an inciting incident
for the main character.

Then again you could always change the story up a little and turn the script into more of a
buddy movie.

Keep your story focused on no more than two or three characters. There is a reason
ensemble (four or more main characters) movies rarely work. In the space of two hours it
is hard enough to flesh out and keep one character focused, let alone a handful. It is also
very hard to get four or five big Hollywood stars to work together at the same time while
receiving equal billing. If you have a story with half a dozen main characters then you
might want to consider condensing their characteristics into two or three main characters
and one side character.

42
You Build Sympathy in Your Main Character

Look at any western movie, especially a John Wayne film. John Wayne’s house would be
destroyed, his land ruined, his wife raped, his family killed or any other number of
horrific events would happen. You can imagine how awful you’d feel if any of these
things happened to you. It gives John Wayne a green light to do anything he wants while
seemingly perfectly justified in his actions.

Your main character will have something taken away from them in such a way that they
will still seem the “good guy” no matter how far they go to improve the situation they are
in.

Your Main Character Controls Your Writing

The main character will occasionally start to lead you in direction you didn’t expect.
Don’t worry, that’s good. This means that your character has a life of their own rather
than borrowing off yours. If they start going too far, turning the story on its head then you
might need to reign them back a bit. Remember that the character is a player in your
created world and when they start going in their own direction it’s a good indication that
your character is growing into a “real person”, or at least as close as you can get in a
script.

Your main character will make or break your script. Keep them focused, driven and goal
orientated and they’ll stand out as a cut above the rest.

The Villain (antagonist)

Every protagonist needs an antagonist to play off because without evil, goodness means
nothing. Suffice to say that everything your main character stands for, the villain will
oppose and vice versa.

At this point it is important to note that not every antagonist is a villain. Often there will
be several antagonists in a script who don’t have that evil edge required to be classified as
a villain. Rather they are simply doing their job which results in them opposing the
antagonist. For example your main character might desire a bank loan yet be refused
because of a poor credit background. The bank manager is not doing anything evil,
simply carrying out his duty as a good bank manager yet he is directly opposing the
protagonist.

The villain will oppose the protagonist but in a more sinister fashion. While the
protagonist may believe in freedom of speech the antagonist may be suppressing that
right in people in an active manner. Indeed villains are often the most active characters in
a good versus evil story. They’ll lie, cheat, steal, maim, murder, bribe and betray,
anything to achieve their goal.

43
There is a tendency in Hollywood movies for the villains to have little to no motivation
for their attitude and goals, serving only as a shadow to the good force of the main
character. However the truly iconic villain will be every bit as motivated as the good guy.
Remember that no-one in life considers themselves the bad guy, everyone has a rational
and justified reason for their actions…even if only they understand that rationale.

Hitler’s name is often brought up as one of the most evil men in history. His motivation
was to obtain the space and resources needed for the Aryan race to spread and rule the
world. Thus humanity would be in a superior position, smarter and stronger, in his
opinion. Many other people have shared similar beliefs about various races throughout
history but it is the way that Hitler set about achieving his goal, killing millions of people
in a tyrannical rampage that sets him apart as one of the most evil figures in history.

As a scriptwriter you need to explain the why the villains acts in the way they do. The
two main reasons characters become villains tend to be through their own victimization at
an early age, or a self-serving attitude leaving the villain with little to no empathy. The
“victim villain” tends to be a re-actor, with a backstory to explain his evil traits. The
“self-serving villain” tends to have a number of unconscious factors which have resulted
in their maladjusted world view, just like Adolph Hitler as looked into above.

Recognize that no-one is 100% evil. Instead they will have a few positive traits littered
amongst a black cloud of negativity. Remember Blofeld from James Bond movies, while
he had an obsession with killing James Bond (in highly convoluted manners) and world
domination, his Persian cat certainly wouldn’t have seen him as evil. He thought the
world of his cat and treated it with love.

One thing that bonds all villains is a certain form of narcissism. A set of beliefs where
they feel that there world view, their thoughts and their feelings are correct and more
important than anyone else’s. As far as they are concerned they are the only human while
everyone around them is a mindless robot taking human form, therefore they are
“perfectly justified” in sacrificing such pawns to achieve their goal.

Everyone’s always wrong…except me!

Making a Memorable Character

It is important as a scriptwriter to come up with characters that are not only realistic and
gripping but also fit the story you are trying to tell. The most important of these two
considerations is that the character fit in with the plot. You need to create a character that
will deeply care and react to whatever event is happening around them. If your character
cares about what happens around them it makes it so much easier to get the audience to
care about them.

When to begin to create a character, especially a major one, you normally begin with a
couple of personality traits and a vague idea of what they look like. The more visual and
audio media you listen to the easier it is to have that spark of an idea to make a
memorable character. You just need the right voice, line of dialogue, look or goal to get
that initial idea. Once you have that initial idea you need to grab it by the throat and
shake as much detail as you can out of it.

44
Try to draw out this initial idea now and create an image of this character in your head.

 Are they male or female?

 How old are they?
 What type of clothes do they wear?
 How do they style their hair?
 Do they wear glasses?

Now you have a visual image of your character you need to explore the background of
the character.

 What was their childhood like?

 Do they have a family now?
 What kind of people do they befriend?
 What is their profession?
 Do they carry anything around with them?
 Where is their home?
 What do they own?

Once you have figured all this out you have a nice skeleton of a character. You have all
the information you need of this character to write about them. However if you delve a
little deeper you can create a truly memorable character for your screenplay.

Think about what it is that makes this character unique from other characters which might
share similarities. Come up with a single sentence description of the character which
captures their essence and personality. This sentence should capture the character in such
a way that the reader will instantly understand them. Columbo is the scruffy, bumbling
detective with a sharp mind.

While you come up with this sentence you may also want to name your character. By
now you should have a good idea who the character is and what they stand for. Try to
create a name which represents the character without sounding cliché. Lt. Columbo is a
great name for the character. Straight away you know his rank within the police force,
while Columbo is a step away from Columbus, a man famed for the discovery of
America. You might also note that Columbo never gave a first name, adding to his
mystery.

You can still delve even deeper into your character. Take the role of interviewer for a
lifestyle magazine. Ask your character interesting questions, sometimes the answers
might surprise you. Whenever you come across a surprising answer or loose thread
question them further on it. Let the character speak for themselves, let the words flow
through your fingers. Take everything you know about the character and take the role
yourself.

Once you get into the head of a character this way it becomes a lot easier to develop them
to the point where they become completely real in your mind. This is a great thing. Now
you can imagine how they act and react to their everyday activities. Think about them at
their job, going shopping, amongst family, amongst friends and partaking in their
hobbies. You will soon see the small personality changes that naturally happen depending
on the situation the character is in.

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You’ve created a great thing here, a character who is an individual. If you’re scriptwriting
and come to a part of the plot where the character needs to do something which defies
their core then you need to re-evaluate the plot or re-create the character. The best way of
getting around this issue is to have an event earlier on in the screenplay which explains
why the character might react in such a way that goes against what they stand for
normally.

Whether the character you’ve created is likeable or not you have to learn to respect them.
Treat them as the individuals they are. Respect their quirks and contradictions.
Remember that the characters feelings and what happens around them means absolutely
everything to them.

Giving Your Character a Unique Voice

An important part of creating a character is allowing them to have a unique voice. This
means that anyone reading your screenplay would instantly recognise which character is
talking, without even looking at the character tag!

Having a unique voice is another piece of the puzzle in putting together a realistic
character. A character should have their own vocabularies, accent, speech rhythms,
mannerisms and world views. A lot of these things will depend on a character’s
background. A character from Quebec might speak broken English, using French phrases
as exclamation. Another character might use only the words absolutely necessary to
explain what they’re saying.

Or they might ramble around their point.

Of course when you are writing dialogue for a screenplay you want to keep it as concise
as possible. If you have a character that rambles it might be best for them to do so in the
background or have another character constantly cut into them. This way the action isn’t
slowed down to a snail’s pace.

Characters all have a personality which should have an impact on how they talk. If you
have a character who is shy they should probably rarely talk, and when they do it should
be short, soft and non-confrontational. On the other hand your character may be an
extreme extrovert, willing to give their life story to anyone who will listen.

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Age also has a big part to play in a character’s voice. You should aim to have a wide
range of ages amongst the cast of characters in your screenplay. This helps you create
personalities that stand out more. If you write a script containing nothing but 21 year olds
then a lot of the characters are going to blend together. Age also has a big part to play in
the character’s world view. Take these two examples.

Guess who’s the 16 year old girl and who’s the 72 year old woman. Pretty easy to tell
from their attitudes to a boy band and the language and references they use.

The best way to get a handle of writing unique voices for characters is to widen
your social spectrum. Talk to as many people as you can in your everyday life. You’ll
soon pick up a bunch of stuff you can use to improve the your dialogue writing skills and
use to flesh out your characters. Look for vocabulary, accents, slang, points of view,
rhythms, openness and enthusiasm.

Before you start your scriptwriting it can be very helpful to write down a list of the
characters in your screenplay and think of a few unique things about each character’s
voice, to differentiate them.

Oli: Uses a lot of slang and aggressive language.

Wendy: Well educated with a strong vocabulary. Loves the chance to show off.
Sylvan: Speaks with a French accent, occasionally expresses himself using French
phrases.

If you do this then you will soon notice the different flavor in each of your characters’
voices. Anyone who reads the script will too. As a result your script will look a lot more
interesting a prospect to producers.

Keep yourself in check though, you don’t want every character to have some zany quirk
or else it will distract from the story. If you stay subtle and realistic you’ll be on solid
ground.

Even a simple goodbye can be said in a multitude of ways.

Signing off.
Aloha.
Farewell.
Goodbye readers, your loyalty is much appreciated.

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Building Up a Great Character

A good story needs a great cast of characters to be memorable. When you start your
screenplay you need to think about the characters you are going to write about. There are
ten things a character needs to be great. These all apply to main characters, villains,
supporting characters and even minor characters. The ten keys to building a great
character are:

 A Goal And An Opposition

 Motivation
 A Backstory
 A Point Of View And Attitude
 Revealing Action
 Growing Room
 Plausibility
 Details
 Research
 A Strong Supporting Cast

A Goal and an Opposition

There is something that your character wants. The character’s goal should be specific and
measurable. Seeking inner peace is not a measurable goal. Seeking the Presidency is a
goal, you know when it has or has not been accomplished.

A good goal should be hard to achieve and worth fighting for. Nobody wants to watch a
movie about a woman trying to find her spare set of keys. Whatever goal you choose for
your character there also needs to be an opposition, an individual force trying to stop the
character achieving the goal. That individual force should make the character sweat and
work to achieve the goal, and face an inner fear.

Motivation

Now your character has a goal you need to ask yourself a question, why does the
character want to achieve this goal? What is his motivation? The more personal the
motivation the better. This is why there are so many movies where a character has their
family kidnapped. There’s nothing more personal and motivating than that. A deeply
personal motivation will allow the audience to relate to the character in your screenplay.
This is how you create a relationship between the character and he audience.

A Back-story

The back-story is what happened to the characters before the movie began. Having a
detailed back-story helps bring the characters to life rather than being instruments of
telling the story. A character’s past should influence how they act and react to things. If
their parents were involved in a messy divorce when they were young then they may be
very wary of getting married themselves.

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Back-story is a great example of the “show; don’t tell” adage. Rather than have a dozen
flashbacks try to bring out the back-story through the way the character acts what they
say and how they say it.

A Point of View and an Attitude

Everyone has their own world view, attitude and thoughts and feelings. So should your
character. These things are normally closely related to the character’s backstory. The
backstory is the reason for the particular point of view and attitude the character has. A
woman who has been cheated on by her last few boyfriends is likely, and acceptably,
going to have a dim point of view towards men. Use the character’s backstory to create
their point of view and attitudes.

Revealing Actions

Actions speak louder than words. You judge a character on the way they act, not on what
they say or think. Imagine a character who dreams of committing murder every night, and
is constantly thinking of ways to kill people…yet never does so because he realizes it is
wrong. Now imagine the opposite, a character who thinks and dreams of “normal things”
yet one day, for no reason, goes out and knifes an innocent person to death. Who is the
evil character?

Your characters (especially your main one) should always be willing to act, even if they
don’t act in the way they directly think.

Growing Room

A “perfect” character is a boring character. They have everything they want and need so
there’s no story to tell. Everyone knows someone whose life seems to go great beat for
beat, you find yourself envious of them and willing them to fail. Instantly you should see
from this that a good character should be imperfect. They have to be willing to try and
change themselves for the better. Often they will try too hard and end up realizing they
were fine as they were, even if still aren’t perfect.

Plausibility

There’s a major difference between a character in a screenplay and a real life person. A
character is single focused solely on attaining their goal while a real life person often
have a lot of balls to juggle at once, causing a lack of focus. However you can make your
character more plausible in a number of ways.

A character should have human emotions. If they stand there stone faced as the world is
destroyed then they aren’t human, they’re a robotic character. Let them recoil in terror, or
scream in anger. Let them react to situations the way a real human would. Remember
though that humans often fight their emotions or try to hide them, but they still seep
through.

They also need to have human traits and values. Your character could be a mean old
grouch amongst those he works with yet have a heart of gold when with his family. This
doesn’t mean the character is schizophrenic, just that he hates work and loves spending
time with his family. Every character has a dark side and a good side. Even the “bad guy”
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has a glimmer of hope inside, even if it’s just the way he treats his plants. Plausibility
means shades of grey, not blank and white.

Details

Details are the little things that make up life. They are the mannerisms, quirks, habits,
idiosyncrasies and imperfections that make a character human. Along your way through
life you pick up some very unusual traits. If you’ve seen Stranger Than Fiction you might
remember that Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) brushed each of his thirty-two teeth seventy-
six times. Everyone has something peculiar about them; you need to bring out those small
details in your character.

Research

To create a great character for your screenplay you need to put time and care into them.
This means a lot of research. There are two types of research. One is general research, the
other is specific research.

A Strong Supporting Cast

One great character does not make a strong cast. You can have the most interesting
character in the ever thought up but if they have no-one else with any depth to play off
then they’re dead in the water. You need to put just as much care into every character you
create as your main one. Whenever you start a screenplay you want to create at least four
rich characters so you have plenty of room for interplay. This makes writing dialogue so
much easier.

Your characters should share similarities as well as contrasts that bind them together.
Remember that every major character must have their own unique function that moves
the story forward.

Build that character up, one brick at a time.

Character Consistency and When to Break It

A realistic character should be consistent. If you were to put them in the same situation,
while they were in the same mood, everyday they should react in more or less the same
way. However this does not mean that characters have to be predictable and dull. There
are times when a character will realistically act or react in a way that is not usually
normal for them, and that is where the intriguing nature of a character comes from.

For a break in character consistency to mean anything first you need to set up the core
personality of the character, this is their nature under normal circumstances, and gives the
audience an expectation about how they will act.

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The core personality of a character is made up from their world view, attitudes and ethics.
You can illustrate their core personality to the audience with the way the character
interacts with their surroundings. If you have created a liberal, caring character then write
them as characters who speak to others with respect and joins in with local fundraising
efforts. Put them in a number of situations and they should still act in a liberal, caring
manner.

Familiarity may breed contempt but consistency breeds comfort. Allow your
audiences to grow comfortable with your characters. Keep them at a certain level of
consistency. Unless you’re writing for a bipolar character there should be no wild mood
swings, at least until the situation warrants it.

Having an idea about a character’s consistencies also helps when trying to flesh out the
character. You know your character is a liberal, caring type - what type of job would you
expect them to hold? Perhaps they’re a nurse or a social worker. How did they pick up
these character traits, was it through their upbringing, a jarring event or something else?
Liberal is often associated with creativity, maybe your character plays guitar, enjoys
painting or writing poetry.

See how a certain set of characteristics also implies other qualities. A serial killer often
has some kind of sexual malfunction. A woman who grew up in the country might be a
very proficient horse rider. A bodybuilder could have an excellent knowledge of human
biology.

One of the best ways to create a character is to come up with a few consistencies about
their nature and the brainstorm around them. In the space of ten minutes you can go from
a blank sheet of paper to having dozens of interesting and yet consistent qualities that
character may have.

Breaking the Consistency

Having a consistent character in your screenplay already puts you ahead of the curve. If
you can add a few paradoxes and let the character break certain consistencies at certain
times then you have a fascinating, true to life character. It’s my belief that even the
nicest, sweetest person could murder if the situation is right. You need to find the right
sequence of events to justify this sort of character evolution though.

“Insanity is a perfectly natural reaction to an unreasonable situation.”

Insanity takes many forms. Sometimes is can be wild and reckless, other times calm and
calculating. It can last seconds or a lifetime. Going back to the nice, sweet character for a
moment, it can be extraordinarily easy to turn them into a killer. If they were to walk into
their home and find their partner shot on the floor, their children tied up with the unaware
perpetrator’s back turned and a gun nearby then it would be a perfectly natural reaction to
shoot them.

Breaking character consistency is a lot to do with putting them in that unreasonable

situation. Paradoxes are different. When you first meet someone you quickly draw a
picture of them and their background. However when you get to know them better they’ll
throw the book out the window and reveal something you’d never imagined about them.

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Paradoxes don’t have to make sense but it helps if there’s some element of logic to them.
Remember that one of the keys to writing is conflict, try and create that conflict within
the character. That same liberal, caring character we talked about earlier could be pro
death penalty. The reason? They’ve been a victim of crime a number of times throughout
their life.

By adding paradoxes and breaking the consistency in a consistent character you can
create a true to life person the audience can relate to and emphasis with. And that’s
always the main goal in creating any character.

Character Relationships

Rarely does a character exist in their world alone. Even films with the central premise of
lonliness have some form of relationships, such as “I, Legend” where Will Smith has his
canine companion by his side. This is because it’s an awful lot easier to write a script
containing lots of character interaction, it helps progress the story, develop characters and
create conflict.

As the years have gone relationships have become increasingly important in films. It
seems like every other movie produced is heavily entrenched in the story of a friendship,
sexual relationship or family dynamics. The reason for this is simple, we all know how
relationships work, or perhaps more accurately, how they don’t work. The majority of the
research is already done.

One of the most interesting insights character relationships offer is how character act
differently around different characters. A character who appears to be highly successful
and confident may turn into a tongue-tied, blithering idiot around the partner of their
dreams. Sometimes the chemistry between two characters can strengthen one while
weakening the other, sometimes it weakens both character while others both characters
will be stronger for the relationship.

There are four basic elements that any relationship can have. If you are writing a script
based on a relationship story you might want to create the foundation for the relationship
first and then fit the individual character qualities around the relationship. Keep the
following character relationship elements in mind:

 The characters have a common bond that both brings and keeps them together. This is
most commonly seen in “cop movies” such as Lethal Weapon. While the characters
may not like each other to begin with their occupation bond keeps them together until
they grow to be friends. This is an example of character attraction, there has to be
some reason the characters are together and stay together, especially if they don’t like
each other to begin with.

 There is conflict between the characters. Perfect relationships don’t exist, at least not
as featured in movies. While sweet it means there is no room in the story for
progression in the relationship. Just as there is a bond that keeps characters together
there should be some sort of conflict which threatens to pull the characters apart. This
could be anything from a minor difference of opinion to an extra-marital affair. The
conflict in relationships provides the drama, and possibly the comedy, of a
screenplay.

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 The characters have contrasting qualities. They can be total opposites which create
conflict yet strengthen the individual characters through challenges since they have a
partner with different qualities to fall back on. Going back to “cop movies” how
many times have we seen the uptight policeman who does things by the book with a
renegade partner who goes by gut instincts? A lot. That’s because the two characters
compliment each other well, they become a complete crime fighting machine while
being seeped in conflict.

 The relationship could transform both characters - for better or worse. Towards the
end of a movie you’ll find both characters in the relationship tend to morph, and
become more like each other. Soon the renegade cop becomes a little more focus and
less wild while the uptight cop loosens up and is willing to break a few rules.

Those four elements have to be there in a relationship to make it work and keep it
interesting for story purposes. The attraction and conflict has to be balanced otherwise the
relationship would become dull and stale or the conflict would push the characters
completely apart.

One of the best ways to start writing strong relationships is to think of your own
relationships. Pick one to start off with, maybe the relationship between you and your
closest friend. Look at the four elements above and see what it is that keeps you close and
what stop you being even closer. What qualities do you share and what qualities are
contrasting? How have you both changed since you’ve become friends?

Do this for a few different relationships and you’ll soon see a pattern emerging. That’s
when you start to get an “inside eye” for relationships which will help your scriptwriting
greatly.

Now you know how relationships work try creating a new relationship with two fresh
characters. This could be the basis for a million dollar script!

Initial Character Creation

Once you’ve found the basic premise for your character (the heartbeat) then you might
like to write out a character sheet.

Character Sheet

a character sheet is a rudimentary list of physical and background traits that your
character has. At this stage you don’t have to be too in depth, you just want an idea of
who the character is. While I advise that you write down physical traits in a character
sheet you should avoid describing a character’s appearance in your screenplay unless
there is a particularly unusual physical feature. Instead you should use your written
physical description so you have a visual image in your head of the character.

Character sheet -

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Close family:
Close friends:
Occupation:
Social status:
Finances:
Hobbies:
Appearance:
Age:
Place of birth:
Current location:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Biggest accomplishment/failure:
Hopes and fears:
Other notes:
Name:

If you can fill a character sheet like this you have everything you need to know about a
character to make them a viable commodity. The choice of name is put last because it is
important to know about the character before choosing a name that you think fits them. It
should be the very last thing to do when creating a character.

Finding the Character Concept

A character means nothing if they have nothing to do. Now that you know quite a lot
about your character you have to find reasoning behind them. You don’t need to write a
lot, just a sentence or two about who the character is and what they’re trying to do.

“Pike Herring refused to work at the family fishing tackle shop. He left home at a young
age and turned to a life of crime. With the police hot on his heels Pike is determined to
avoid the net closing in on him.”

As jockey as this particular character concept is you should be able to see the potential
for character growth and potential storylines and subplots.

Character Introduction

As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a first impression. That is why it is
important to spend a good amount of time on introducing your character into your script.
In films characters are generally introduced either in their own short scenes or by meeting
a pre-existing character. This means that the first scene of your movie should usually
introduce your main character and do so in a dynamic way so the person reading your
script is instantly hooked. You could also include a friend of the main character which
gives you more leeway in introducing future characters.

The most important thing in character creation is to take your time with it and enjoy it. A
rushed character is all too easy to spot. Make it your goal over the next couple of weeks
to put together one character and see how rich and deep you can make them. This
character could be the one starring in a future blockbuster!
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Character Psychology

The psychology of a character is the inner workings of their mind which define them and
the way the think and act. Once you understand the psychology of your characters you
should know exactly what they’d do in any situation you choose to put them in. Your job
as a scriptwriter becomes so much easier because the character begins to write itself. To
get to this stage though you need to put a lot of work into finding out what makes the
character tick.

The Past Dictates the Future

Your character had a life before your story began. They had parental figures, they went to
school and they interacted with the world around them. Along the way they will have
gone through a series of events that shaped their character and attitudes. This is the back-
story of the character.

If a character felt unloved as a child they may be driven by a desire to prove their worth
and also find it hard to trust or love others. Sometimes an event in the past can lead to a
serious phobia. In The Truman Show the creators of the show manufactured a phobia of
water in Truman by having his father die at sea, this kept Truman in the pre-planned
environment.

A lot of films have an underlying story of a character having to put their past
demons to rest to overcome an external conflict.

You do not need to shoehorn in a great deal of information about your character’s past
within your screenplay but it may be helpful to write a character biography to reference
as you write.

The Unconscious (The Dark Side)

The vast majority of what drives and motivates us is not in the conscious, but the
unconscious. We tend to repress a lot of our past events, experiences, thoughts and
feelings that we consider unpleasant. This ball of negativity is carried around by our
unconscious which drives us a lot more than our conscious.

It is no coincidence that the word conscious and conscience are so similar; they are both
connected to one another. They are the moral side to our personality (the light) to the
more cruel unconscious (the dark).

Applied to a character the unconscious manifests itself through their reactions,

mannerisms and dialogue. There is a constant fight within a character between the
conscious and unconscious. Upon hearing some bad news a character might react by
wrecking an object, that is an impulsive unconscious reaction.

The unconscious has a long-term effect too; it may push a character into the same
professional as their father in the hope of receiving more affection or to prove to
themselves that they are better than their father.

Personality

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There are basically two different kinds of personality when you cut it down to it’s bare
bones - introverts and extroverts. Introverts prefer to be alone, spending their time
focusing on self-improvement and finding their calling. They look within for the center of
their life. Extroverts are the opposite, loving the company of others they are often very
relationship driven.

Majority of movies focus on extroverts as they move the story along and tend to be more
dynamic. However an intriguing play on this concept is to have a character outwardly
appear to be either an extrovert or introvert but actually be the other. This can lead to
complex characters, such as one who outwardly shuns companionship but internally
craves it, possibly due to trust issue.

To expand on the introvert/extrovert personality types there are also four types -
sensation, thinking, feeling and intuitive.

Sensation: Sensation types live through their senses and they live in the now. They are
tuned into the colors, smells, shapes, and tastes around them. Occupation wise they tend
to be good at any job that is physical or sensory. This could be gardening, cooking,
painting, etc. They are driven most of all by visual appeal.

Intuitive: The intuitive type is a dreamer, and very creative. They have a strong idea of
what the future holds for them. Intuitive characters will act with future consequences in
mind. They are well suited for jobs as artists, writers and entrepreneurs. Intuitive types
are never found without a plan.

Thinking: As the name suggests thinking types like to use logic and deduction to solve
problems. They base their thoughts on facts rather than faith or instincts. Thinking types
make good businessmen/women, mechanics, detectives, etc. Inquisitiveness is a common
trait amongst thinking types.

Feeling: Feeling types are emotional, empathetic and get on well with others. They don’t
hide their emotions and are very upfront with others. Suited occupations include teachers,
social workers, careers, etc. Feeling types often have many strong relationships.

Characters tend to have two of the above types which dominate their personality while
the other two may still be apparent but take a backseat. Characters gain information
through their sensations or intuition and then it is processed by their thoughts or feelings.

Strange Behaviour Makes For Interesting Characters

The line between sanity and insanity is not as clear cut as most people would like. While
society would prefer that it was black and white, with the insane clearly marked by a
rubber stamp, that isn’t the case. Like most things there are subtle shades of grey. While a
phobia of snakes in an Englishman who’s never been in contact with them is nonsensical
it is also quite common. The key difference between this and a man who believes that
God is talking to them is that the second case can be a danger to others.

There are six basic types of abnormal behavioural patterns. Each pattern has a partner.
There are manic, depressives, paranoids, schizophrenics, psycho/sociopaths and
neurotics. To illustrate the relationships please see the diagram below.

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Just like the personality types (sensation, intuitive, thinking and feeling) a character
won’t fall completely into one abnormal type. Manic-depressives vary between the two,
as do paranoid-schizophrenics and psycho/socio-neurotics.

Manics: Manics have total self-belief; they believe they can achieve absolutely anything
they set their mind to. The majority of comic book style villains are manics. Manics are
very excitable and sociable, and like to be active. They aren’t happy with sitting back and
letting things happen.
Depressives: Depressives are the opposite, they feel like their life is worthless and they
can’t achieve anything. They withdraw themselves from social situations and appear
emotionally flat.

Schizophrenics: Schizophrenics are very self aware. They are highly sensitive, easily
embarrassed and shy around others. Because of this they try and avoid conflict, instead
they retreat to a safe place and brood. In extreme cases schizophrenics can hear voices
instructing them on what they should do or develop multiple personalities to defend the
character’s ego.

Paranoids: Paranoids are very self-centered, thinking that everyone is out to destroy
them. Because of this paranoid types tend to be aggressive and defensive. Their beliefs
drive them to become leaders and gain power, thus putting them in a safer position. They
are bull-headed individuals who don’t take well to criticism and hold long-standing
grudges for the smallest of reasons.

Anxiety neurotics: See Allen, Woody. Anxiety neurotics fear everything and put a great
deal of thought and grief into the smallest of things. They spend their lives trying to avoid
anxiety yet actually cause the majority of anxiety for themselves. Anxiety neurotics can
also harbor obsessive/compulsive characteristics. This leads to ridiculous seeming habits
like only getting out of bed at an exact time or brushing their hair an exact amount of
strokes.

Psycho/Sociopaths: While I have grouped this pair together there is a difference between
the two. Sociopaths are antisocial characters, often holding a disdain for humanity.
Psychopaths are similar but with a mental unbalance, this leads them to become cold
blooded killers. Each has little to no empathy for people or creatures. They make
excellent villains. Psychopaths and sociopaths are particularly interesting because they do
no transform. They will never become well-rounded, normal characters.

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Hopefully this article has given you a deeper understanding of character psychology. It is
important to realize that the above points should not be the focus of your character, treat
them as the underlying features of a character.

Thinking of characters in this way is particularly useful when creating character

relationships. You can pick and choose traits in a character which will make them
contrast from others, creating more complex relationships. The characters themselves will
also be richer for taking their psychology into account while creating them.

Avoiding Stereotypes in Minor Characters

n an effort to make minor and bit-piece characters stand out it can be all too easy to fall
back on stereotypes. While trying to make every character somewhat unique is
commendable the use of stereotypes is not. There are a few problems with using
stereotypes for minor characters and they are as follows.

 They’re not unique. You might think you’re fleshing out the world of your
screenplay by having a grumpy old man or an Italian pizza boy but you’re doing the
exact opposite. Everyone’s seen these stereotypes before so they completely fail in
being unique.
 They can be offensive. Assume you have a couple of Jewish characters in your
script; they are not friends or relatives and appear in separate parts of your
screenplay. Imagine they both have the same stereotypical male Jewish traits of being
obsessed with saving money and good business men. In this politically correct age
you can bet that anyone who reads your script will notice that and probably discard
your work as a result.

 They’re distracting. You can do all the work you like in building up the drama of
your story but it’s no good if audiences get distracted by “the funny little Indian man
running the 7/11”.

 They’re restrictive. Stereotypical characters are only of any use as comedy fodder,
and even then it’s not good comedy.

The above reasons are why it’s so important to understand the different between the
stereotype and the character type. A stereotype is a (usually) negative portrayal of a
particular race, sex, class, etc. A character type could be a nervous first-time parent or an
overly confident intern. The difference being that the character type doesn’t try to suggest
that groups of people all have the same characteristics while the stereotype does.

Dialogue
Dialogue is an excellent tool in developing a character. It should be used to gradually
grow and evolve your characters and expound on the character arc. A lot of would-be
scriptwriters worry about their ability to write dialogue but a great screenplay needs
strong characters and a captivating story first and foremost. A great example of this
would be the early episodes of Star Wars.

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Effective dialogue should achieve five things:

Move The Story Forward

When you write dialogue you want to make sure that it keeps the story flowing. If your
script comes skidding to a halt during a conversation between two characters then you
need to edit how the information is given out. Break it up, show it through action or
whatever else you can think of to keep your story moving along at a good pace.

Reveal the Emotional Stakes

during every conversation your characters should go through a range of emotions and
display them accordingly. Remember that different characters will display the same
emotion differently. While one character may go into a destructive rage when they are
angry, another might try to mask their anger behind a fake smile.

Reveal Your Character’s Background

every character has a different background which affects how they speak. An intelligent
character might use a myriad of colorful phrases to describe things while a street punk
will use a few monosyllabic words to explain things.

Reveal Conflict
there are many types of conflict which will effectively show they type of relationship
between two characters. A light hearted couple of jibes about a character’s choice of
pants show that both characters are close and friendly. An all out fist fight indicates a
poor relationship with a certain amount of back-story to it. In movies dialogue tends to
replace the inner thought you’d find in a novel. Any conflict must be verbalized and
explored. If there are two characters in a scene and they both want the same thing then
the scene feels flat, everything moves along too smoothly. Nothing goes smoothly in real
life and your script should be much the same.

Create Tension

Every character has an agenda, some are out in the open and some are hidden. Clashing
agendas result in tension either on the surface or in the subtext. When you’re in a scene
remember that each character wants something to happen, often in opposition of the
character they are playing off. How does your character react to these situations? Be
aware that each different situation will result in your character reacting in a different way.
As the script progresses and your characters grow the reaction becomes more focused and
explosive.

Realistic Dialogue

Critics often focus on the realism of dialogue. The truth is though that good dialogue is
not at all like a real life conversation. Dialogue is much more sharp and to the point.
Movies are action orientated, if you want to write a dialogue loaded piece then a play is
the medium for that.

You want to think of dialogue as edited speech, like two friends talking with all the
extraneous and unnecessary parts taken out. No umm-ing and ahh-ing, and no rambling.
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Dialogue should be like a good conversation; everyone makes their point quickly and
succinctly and then allows others to put in their two cents. Avoid having characters going
off on long rants or monologues, instead try and keep any dialogue to a couple of lines.
Occasionally a long speech is needed but you need a really good reason and message
behind the monologue otherwise the audience will get bored quickly.

There are ways you can keep dialogue “realistic” without it being dull and long winded.
Allow your characters to interrupt each other from time to time, have them overlap. They
can lie and exaggerate to each other. Also you want to avoid having characters referring
to the name of the person they are talking to.

When you are writing the first draft of your script you shouldn’t worry too much about
writing dialogue. Don’t over think it. Just let it flow and come from the heart and it will
seem a lot more natural. You can always go over it in the rewrite to tweak and improve it.
Some writers put barely any effort into the dialogue in the first draft, leaving basic
phrases they can change later.

As you write down the dialogue be thinking to yourself, “is there a shorter, snappier way
of saying this?”. You’ll eventually get the hang of saying the most in as few words as
possible. Once you get inside the head of the character you’re writing for it makes it
much easier. This is why some scriptwriters like to write out a character biography and
back-story for their main characters before they begin writing the dialogue.

A character voice consists of eight things:

1. The text/words
2. The subtext/meaning behind the words
3. Grammar
4. Vocabulary
5. Accent and/or cultural influences
6. Slang
7. Professional jargon
8. Style, rhythm and structure

Using Adversity to Develop Characters

There’s a secret in Hollywood. Luckily it’s not very well kept. The secret is that few
stories are happy ones, albeit they often have happy endings. Insiders know that if you
want to have a captivating story with well developed characters then you need a whole
heap of adversity.

Imagine a screenplay telling the story of a couple of shopkeepers on an average day, with
nothing going wrong. It’d make for a poor movie, wouldn’t it? That’s because any good
movie is steeped in conflict and adversity. It is how the characters deal with the conflict
and adversity that creates drama, action, comedy, romance and so on as well as the
boatload of emotions associated with them. Adversity creates the story that you are trying
to tell in your screenplay. There are a number of different types of adversity you could
use to create your story:

Physical

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Physical adversity is illness, injury, death and the threat of each driving your character.
Physical adversity is particularly prevalent in action and adventure movies. There is no
greater adversity than being faced with your own death, or the death of a loved one.

Desire

All characters have wants and needs that are unfulfilled. Some desires are obvious and in
plain sight, others are more hidden and subconscious. It is the unfulfilled desire that often
drives the character throughout the screenplay.

Miscommunication and deception

Favored adversity of the screwball comedy is miscommunication and deception.

Typically a character will either misunderstand or be lied to by another character, altering
his world view into an incorrect one.

Displacement

Whenever a character is placed in an unfamiliar location or situation they are facing

displacement adversity. The best example of a movie dealing with displacement would be
Lost In Translation. Displacement can be big or small. It can be as big sending a
character to a future time or as a small as a new friend being injected into a character’s
clique.

Relationships

Relationships are everywhere. Every relationship you have probably has an interesting
story to tell whether it be a family member, friend, work colleague or pet. Relationships
are forged by characters going through adversity together. When there is adversity within
the relationship a character must either change the relationship status, be changed by the
relationship, accept the relationship or fight against the relationship.

While conflict drives the story forward the adversity drives the character development.
However it is not the adversity that is so important, it’s how the character reacts deals
with the adversity. If you create a character who has no worries, no stress and no
problems then the reader will have no interest. And no interest means no purchase.

Using adversity to develop a character means exploring the character you’ve created. As
the scriptwriter and creator you must find the way a character would react to a situation,
and what it would take for that reaction to change. If a character makes the same
decision, in the same situation, twice and it doesn’t work then your character hasn’t
learned. For a character to develop they have to learn and improve themselves.

It’s natural for a viewer to imagine themselves dealing with adversity in a different way,
but you need to convince them that you’ve captured exactly how that character would
deal with that specific adversity.

To truly develop a character through adversity you need to:

Know your characters inside and out.

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The more time you’ve spent creating your character and analyzing them the more you
will know about them. The more you know about them the easier it becomes to work out
their thought process. Once you know the character’s thought process you can work out
exactly how they deal with whatever adversity comes there way. Bear in mind that a
character will deal with relationship adversity differently than displacement adversity.

Choose how your characters will change and how they’ll stay the same.

As your story develops so will your character. You’ll want a few elements of their
personality to change while others stay the same. You need to decide how your characters
change and then come up with a reason why they change. This has an added bonus of
allowing scenes in your screenplay to almost write them.

Hard Hitting Violence

If you’re writing an action movie then there is a good chance that there will be some
element of violence in certain scenes. With violence come injuries. It is important that
your characters feel the ramifications of violence in subsequence scenes because this
allows the audience to sympathize with them. Pain and injuries show your character to be
human and give your story a gritty, realistic edge.

Imagine you’re watching a movie and the main character gets in a huge fight with a
bunch of goons, taking plenty of blows in the process. In the next scene the hero appears
to be fine, their clothes are straight and their hair is perfectly styled. The James Bond
character has often suffered (or not as the case may be) in the past from this “violence
with no consequences” writing which is why the series took a big hit in popularity. Only
now is the James Bond franchise becoming more gritty and realistic while maintaining
the flair you expect from the character.

If your main character takes a punch to the ribs then they should be holding them in the
next scene. Make the violence hurt the characters or else there is no point to it whatsoever
other than to “look cool”. You should always go for style over substance.

Violence Causing Common Injuries

While gun fights and the like can be exciting most people (thankfully) don’t know what it
feels like to be shot. That makes the situation hard to relate to and therefore hard to
sympathise with. Violence is a great tool to make the bad guys look wicked and cruel
while making the good guys look brave and heroic.

Common injuries are those which the average person has a good chance of having had
during their life, or at least know of someone who has had a similar injury. Broken bones
are a great example of this. Anyone who has broken a bone, seen someone break a bone
or even just known someone who has broken a bone will know that sickening snap and
feeling as soon as they see it on the screen. It will make them wince; they will know
exactly what the character is going through and be able to relate to them.

One movie that made great use of this was the original Die Hard. John McClane was the
ordinary man who had to push himself to do extraordinary things. There is one scene in
the film that is worth to remember. McClane is covered in a computer room, involved in

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a gunfight with three other men. It is most important to note that John McClane was
barefoot. The bolded part is the common injury.

I’m someone who walks around barefoot quite a lot and because of that I have stood of
many painful things, glass, sharp stones, nails, etc. I know exactly how that feels and
every time I watch this scene I relive my own similar experiences. I can relate to John
McClane’s pain, and I’m sure you probably can as well.

SELLING YOUR SCRITPT

Once you’ve finished your script you might feel like your work is done, however nothing
could be further from the truth. Now you have the joy of rewriting to look forward to!

The vast majority of film scripts go through a good half-dozen rewrites before they are
accepted by a producer. It can be extremely deflating to show a trusted friend a finished
script only for them to send it back to you with various scribbles over the pages with
corrections, pointing out plot holes and the like. So much so that you wish you’d never
bothered.

Take heart though because every script goes through numerous rewrites before they are
in a fit state to be sold and produced.

When you begin your rewrite there are two things you should be looking to do, zoom in
and spread out.

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You need to look at every single scene heading, action and piece of dialogue and make
sure that they all make sense, tie into each other and are as short yet descriptive as
possible.

If you have found someone to read through your script ask them to make notes of any
passage (preferably written on the script itself) of places where they felt lost or didn’t
understand exactly what was going on. While it’s fine to have mystery in a script you
never want confusion as confusion leads to rejections.

In terms of tying all the scenes together you may find parts or even entire scenes which
aren’t necessary in telling the story and can be taken out of the script or rewritten to work
into other scenes.

You also will want to cut out any waffle or ramblings in your action and dialogue.
Scriptwriting is very much a case of “why use two words when one will do?” Keep it all
neat and trim, whoever reads your script will thank you for not having to read through a
paragraph of location description. This will improve your chances of your script being
read all the way through and, as a result, purchased.

Copyrighting Your Script

One of the biggest fears for any scriptwriter is their work falling into the wrong hands
and being horribly plagiarised. However, if you copyright your script then this need not
be a worry.

There are certain things that you cannot copyright: ideas, titles, plots, phrases and
basically anything that isn’t written down. You can though copyright your original spec
script.

As current copyright law stands, as soon as you write your script you already own the
copyright to it. The problem with this though is that you have no proof of copyright date.
To rectify this problem you will need to register your script with the Copyright Office.

When you have gone through the procedure of copyrighting your work you will need to
put notice of this somewhere on your script, preferably the cover page. It should look like
this:

Copyright 2008 L L Wanyama

Or
© 2008 L L Wanyama.

To make sure your copyright is respected worldwide you want to add the phrase “All
Rights Reserved” when registering with the Copyright Office.

Despite this all being very simple most scriptwriters do not copyright their script. This is
mainly because once the script has been sold the production company will own the
copyright to the script anyway. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t copyright your
script though. Copyrighting your script gives you the best protection possible and also
provides you with the peace of mind to begin circulating your script.

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Other Ways to Protect Your Script
There are a few other ways to protect your script other than copyrighting it. If you give
copies to people you trust and get them to read it then they can testify that you have
written the script and when they read it.

“Poor Man’s Copyright”

This entails posting your script to yourself via registered mail and keeping it somewhere
safe, without opening it. Because the date should be stamped on the envelope this proves
when you wrote the script. However there is no guarantee that this method would hold up
in a court of law.

The final thing to consider is actually one of the few advantages to being a first time
scriptwriter. If you manage to successfully sell your script it will be a lot cheaper for the
producer to just pay you 8,000,000/= rather than steal your script and pay a recognized
writer 24,000,000/= to develop your script.

Putting the Pieces Together To Sell Your Script

Before you send off your script to everyone, you need to have a plan. Here are the tools
you will need to sell your script.

The Script – you need to have your script ready.

A Hook This can be the logline of your movie or the basic concept or premise. You can
use this hook in your query letter, on the phone or your pitch. Hollywood is big on “high-
concept” movies as they tend to have more chance of being a box-office smash so make
your script sound as high-concept as possible, even if it isn’t.

Story Summary - A story summary is normally one or two paragraphs long and can be
used in your query letter or as part of your pitch. The story summary has an offshoot
known as the pitch on paper which consists of your hook, followed by the story summary
all on one page.

Query Letter - Before you send your script to anyone you should first send a query
letter. This letter must convince whoever you send it to that they need to read your script.
It consists of your hook, story summary and any relevant qualifications.

Synopsis/Treatment - The synopsis is a one or two page story summary which is to be

written in present tense, double-spaced, using a conservative 12-point font (Times New
Roman, Courier, etc) which you can sent with your query letter (if requested), use as a
guideline for your phone pitch or directed to producers, actors and directors. You will
want to create a cover letter for your synopsis that contains the concept, title, genre and
any relevant qualifications.

Similar to the synopsis is the treatment. If you are asked for a treatment they are very
similar to the synopsis only longer, normally 3-4 pages unless you are asked for more.

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Telephone Script - If you get the chance to speak to an agent, producer or other piece of
talent you need to know what you’re talking about. Think of yourself as a telephone
marketer. Any company who employs telephone marketers will give them a script to
guide them through making the sale. By your telephone at all time you want your
telephone script as there is nothing worse than going blank on the phone, whoever you
are speaking to will simply put the phone down.

Your telephone script should consist of a brief introduction about you and your script
followed by your pitch. Not only should you be trying to sell your script, but yourself as a
piece of talent too. Whoever your are speaking to might already have three romantic
comedies in production so they won’t want the Love & Laughter script you have written.
However they might be impressed enough with your work to offer you a scriptwriting
assignment.

The Query Letter

Your query letter is crucial to your success as a scriptwriter. It doesn’t matter how
dynamic your script is if you can’t convince anyone to read it. In the space of one page
you want to make the agents of the world salivate at the prospect of reading your script.
Keep your letter to the point and intriguing, you want the agent to know quickly that
they’re dealing with a great screenplay.

You will want to include:

Why you’re writing - You’re writing because you’ve just finished your most recent
script (never mention if it’s your first) and are now looking for representation.

Category/Genre - Is your script a feature length film, or the pilot for a new sitcom? Is it
a comedy, love story, war epic, etc? Here you will want to include the logline of your
story. You want your logline to be inventive and dynamic enough for the agent to ask you
to send a copy of your script. You will tell the basic premise of your script in a single
sentence or two which makes your script sound as fresh and interesting as possible.

Story Summary - This should be a paragraph or two on about the story of your script. It
is a brief account of what happens in your script.

Background and Achievements - If you’ve written your script based on a personal

experience then let the agent know that. Even if your story is related to a hobby of yours,
this shows a personal knowledge and passion. If you’ve ever won any scriptwriting or
filmmaking competitions you certainly want to add that here.

Don’t include a full CV as the majority of the information will be irrelevant and make
you look amateurish. You can send your query letter to as many agents as you want. I
recommend between 5 and 10 at a time, this gives you a wide reach without making it
difficult to keep track of exactly who you’ve sent your query letter to.

You can make the agent’s life easier by including two self-addressed postcards. One
postcard with “Please send script” and one with “Don’t send script”. If you receive the
postcard which asks you to send the script include it in the package with your script to
remind the agent.

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If you don’t hear anything from an agent in a couple of weeks you can assume that they
aren’t interested. Don’t expect a letter of recognition for sending a query letter.

If one of your strengths is phone sales then you might prefer to call an agent direct rather
than right them a letter. Have a couple of cue cards by you and give them the pitch. You
will find out right away if they’re interested or not, and if they are, who to send your
script to. If you’re talking to a receptionist offer to send them your script to read. Most of
them will be agents in training who will be looking to make their own mark.

After an agent has received your query letter you may get a phone call asking for an
exclusive period in which to review your script. This period of time is normally only a
few days and is worth agreeing to, but make sure they don’t keep trying to extend the
period. Your time is money too.

Finding and Working With an Agent

People often have a negative perspective of agents. After all, who wants to give up 10%
of their income to someone who just mails out their scripts and occasionally phones them
with bad news? The truth about agents is much different though.

Put simply a good agent will save you time and actually make you money. They know
the ins and outs of the industry and they know how to get you the best deal possible.
Remember that an agent doesn’t take any money from you until they’ve sold a script, so
it’s pretty much win/win.

Finding an Agent

The first thing you want to do is to get a list of approved agencies from the Writers Guild.
They have a coded list so you know which agencies are currently accepting scripts. Keep
in mind these are agencies rather than individual agencies. To find an individual agent
you will need to purchase the latest Hollywood Representation Directory from Amazon.

You need to get the name of a specific agent. This might require you phoning an agency
and asking them which of their agents are currently accepting new clients. You shouldn’t
tell them that you’re a new scriptwriter just that you’re a scriptwriter with a new script.

Once you have pinpointed a particular group of agencies or agents that you would like to
represent (and are accepting queries) you then you should send a query letter to around 5
to 10 of them. Make sure though that you’re only contacting one agent per agency.

Working with an Agent

With the right amount of skill and luck at least one agent will get back to you and request
a copy of your script. Then you should mail a copy of your script, complete with a cover
letter to the agent. Hopefully your script will have enough impact for the agent to request
a meeting. This is a chance to get you know each other personally and ask any questions
you might have about them.

A reputable agent will take only 10% of your scriptwriting income with no extra charges
(travel, reading, sending out scripts, etc.). If you meet an agent who differs from this then

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you should politely back out of any further dealings with them. The only cost you many
have to pay for are photocopying scripts.

You want to present yourself to the agent as a passionate writer and a great pitcher. The
more scripts you can produce then the more money the agent stands to make which
makes you a great acquisition for them. The agent will want to know where you see your
career heading. For example, what genres interest you; would you also write for
television, can you travel to Hollywood regularly for meetings, etc?

Once you have signed a Writers Guild-signatory contract your agent has a 90 period to
sell your script before you can terminate the deal. Do remember though that selling a
script takes time, so don’t rush to end the contract unless you strongly feel nothing is
being done. An agent is primarily concerned with making money though so it would
make no sense for them not to be trying their hardest to sell your script.

There are four different deals your agent can strike for you, they are:

Outright Sale: If your script has created enough interest and buzz around Hollywood
then it may be sold in an auction like style. As you can imagine the bidding can get high,
at least six figures and can go as high as seven figures. You will also receive a bonus
when then script has actually been produced as well as residual fees for things such as
DVDs and TV showings.

An Option: This is a lot more common than an outright sale. The buyer will purchase the
option to rights of the script for a period of time (6 to 16 months). During this time the
production company tries to attract talent and/or money towards the script. An option fee
can be anything from $0 to $20,000. You will be paid this fee at the end of the optioning
contract, at which time the option may be renewed or pass on the script. If they pass on
the script you receive the option fee and retain rights to the script.

Development Deal: Your agent will use your spec script to arrange a meeting with a
producer. In the meeting you will pitch ideas which can result in a development deal or
sale (if you have already scripted the idea).

Audition: This deal secures an audition with a producer to develop their idea into a
script. This could film or TV. In the case of a TV series you will receive money to write a
couple of episodes and will get residuals if the show goes into syndication. If you impress
you may be asked to work full time on the staff of the TV show.

Once you have an agent you should do all you can to stay in touch with them. Arrange a
time to call or meet with them once a month or so and keep to it.

Market Research

Before you sit down to write your script it is hard to know what the movie market will be
like by the time you have finished it. No-one can predict the future, especially about
something as volatile as the film industry. While some types of movie are always in
demand (action, romantic comedy, etc) it is very hard to look at a script and know if it
will sell or not at the box office. It doesn’t matter how good the script is.

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What you can do is a little market research and use of a little common sense. If you’re
writing a script on social drama then keep it a low budget affair. These types of movies
generally don’t do well at the box office or are produced as a “made for TV movie”.

Stars drive Hollywood. With that in mind, if you can create a character than an A-list
actor would love to play; then you’re in business. To do this requires writing a screenplay
that revolves around a unique character who grows through a period of high drama, this is
known as a strong character arc. The high drama gives the actor a chance to flex their
muscles and show off their full range of acting emotions. While it is true that there are
more A-list male actors, females are catching up so don’t let that sway the choice of sex
for your main character.

What to Do With a Finished Script

The first thing you want to do with a finished script is to let it ferment for awhile. Give
yourself time to come up with ways of fixing any problems in the screenplay. You may
get new ideas on ways to improve the story and the characters. At the same time though
you want to be careful of re-writing the life out of the screenplay, the first draft is full of
passion and you don’t want to lose that.

This break also allows you to become more objective. It is easier to admit mistakes after
giving yourself some distance from the project. The break also gives you more time to
assess the market. If a movie similar to yours is released and does well then you should
send your script out as soon as possible. If it bombs then you should leave it around a
year before you send the script out.

Use this time to write another screenplay, having more than one will show that you’re
productive and are a sound investment for any agent or producer.

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