There are thousands of movie scripts that pile up every year with writers that desperately want their work to be produced. The film writer, however, rarely sees success. There are only so many movies that can be made in the year, and the amount of scripts that get submitted is endless.
Come up with a good idea and a genre that fits the story. You can use certain techniques like brainstorming, headline fishing, and sound boarding. Also be sure that your idea has a powerful start to finish.
Familiarize yourself with the rules of the genre. If you have a horror script, make sure your hero has flaws. Your antagonist has to be obviously evil, have many false alarm scenes, and increase the tension in your second act. You'll want to also isolate your protagonist so the audience will worry for his or her escape. By the end of the story, you might want to assert that the antagonist still lives.
Outline your story into three acts. The first act has to have a hook in the opening scene, introduce a hero and the problems he or she will face, and also introduce the antagonist and rest of the characters. The second act will involve the hero getting deep into the problem without any room to escape it. Finally, the third act will involve the hero solving the problem after a period of hopelessness.
In order to properly write your characters, locations, and any events used in the story, do your research. Your script should be in Courier 12pt and single-spaced. You also need to include a header starting at the second page; and make sure there is a title, page number, and is right-justified.
Do not number the cover or first page of your movie script. You should only include a centered block of text that includes the title, author's name, and copyright note. Additionally, the other text that should be included is your contact information spaced down and left-justified.
You should write down "FADE IN" as your script opens the story. Alternately, the story will end with "FADE OUT". When you want to include dialogue, tab in about 4 or 5 times and spell the character's name and space down. Then, tab in about 3 times to type out the dialogue. Be sure to keep the dialogue block under a 2 tab width.
If your dialogue extends into a second page, you have to indicate it by writing "CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE" on the bottom. On the new page, you will write "CONTINUED" at the top. Keep all character names capitalized, and the voice of the script in present tense as well. For example, don't write "Peter walked down the stairs and closed the front door." You should write "Peter walks down the stairs and closes the front door" instead.
You should always label your scenes appropriately, particularly when each scene is introduced. If you have a night scene in the living room, you'll write "INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT". Alternatively, if you have a day scene in the main street, you'll write "EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY".
Come up with a good idea and a genre that fits the story. You can use certain techniques like brainstorming, headline fishing, and sound boarding. Also be sure that your idea has a powerful start to finish.
Familiarize yourself with the rules of the genre. If you have a horror script, make sure your hero has flaws. Your antagonist has to be obviously evil, have many false alarm scenes, and increase the tension in your second act. You'll want to also isolate your protagonist so the audience will worry for his or her escape. By the end of the story, you might want to assert that the antagonist still lives.
Outline your story into three acts. The first act has to have a hook in the opening scene, introduce a hero and the problems he or she will face, and also introduce the antagonist and rest of the characters. The second act will involve the hero getting deep into the problem without any room to escape it. Finally, the third act will involve the hero solving the problem after a period of hopelessness.
In order to properly write your characters, locations, and any events used in the story, do your research. Your script should be in Courier 12pt and single-spaced. You also need to include a header starting at the second page; and make sure there is a title, page number, and is right-justified.
Do not number the cover or first page of your movie script. You should only include a centered block of text that includes the title, author's name, and copyright note. Additionally, the other text that should be included is your contact information spaced down and left-justified.
You should write down "FADE IN" as your script opens the story. Alternately, the story will end with "FADE OUT". When you want to include dialogue, tab in about 4 or 5 times and spell the character's name and space down. Then, tab in about 3 times to type out the dialogue. Be sure to keep the dialogue block under a 2 tab width.
If your dialogue extends into a second page, you have to indicate it by writing "CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE" on the bottom. On the new page, you will write "CONTINUED" at the top. Keep all character names capitalized, and the voice of the script in present tense as well. For example, don't write "Peter walked down the stairs and closed the front door." You should write "Peter walks down the stairs and closes the front door" instead.
You should always label your scenes appropriately, particularly when each scene is introduced. If you have a night scene in the living room, you'll write "INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT". Alternatively, if you have a day scene in the main street, you'll write "EXT. MAIN STREET - DAY".
