1. Writing for the Screen Or … How I learned to stop worrying and embrace the process

2. 2 Screenwriting Basics Find a premise Create characters Find the conflicts Structure the story Discover your themes

3. 3 The Premise What if … The idea that inspires the writer ’ s desire to create a story.

4. 4 “ Character is Action ” F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Last Tycoon)

5. 5 Creating a character 1. Physiology 2. Sociology 3. Psychology

6. 6 Character ’ s Physiology 1. Sex 2. Age 3. Height and weight 4. Color of hair, skin, etc. 5. Appearance 6. Defects 7. Heredity

7. 7 Character ’ s Social background 1. Class: upper, lower, etc. 2. Occupation 3. Education (aptitudes, etc.) 4. Home life

8. 8 Character ’ s Social background 5. Religion 6. Race, Nationality 7. Place in the community (Leader?) 8. Political affiliations 9. Interests, hobbies

9. 9 Character ’ s Psychology 1. Sex life, moral standards 2. Personal goals, ambitions 3. Temperament 4. Attitude toward life

10. 10 Character ’ s Psychology 5. Complexes, fears 6. Extrovert, introvert? 7. Abilities 8. Qualities 9. Intelligence?

11. 11 True Character Revealed by the choices a human being makes under pressure.

12. 12 Character Arc Good writing not only reveals true character, but “ arcs ” or changes to that inner nature, for better or for worse, in the course of the story.

13. 13 Character ’ s Object of Desire 1. What does the character want and need? 2. What must he do, what obstacles must he or she overcome to achieve this goal?

14. 14 Protagonist Audience must either sympathize with our lead character, or at least empathize with him/her: that is, understand how this person was led to make these life altering decisions.

15. 15 Antagonist Should be an interesting, worthy opponent, with complex motivations based upon needs and ambitions. Pressure on the antagonist will cause him to take greater risks to achieve greater rewards.

16. 16 Characters and the Story If E=MC 2, Then Story=Character x conflict 2.

17. 17 Inciting Incident An event that will radically upset the balance of forces in a protagonist ’ s life and force him or her to react to it.

18. 18 Story Structure The function of structure is to provide progressively building pressures that 1)force characters into more and more difficult dilemmas, and leads them to 2) make more difficult, risk-taking choices and actions that gradually 3)reveal their true natures, even their unconscious self.

19. 19 Act One 1. Setup: introduces main characters, and situations. 2. Includes the Inciting Incident. 3. Contains the first major Turning Point that drastically alters the protagonists world.

20. 20 Act Two 1. Introduces many of the obstacles and conflicts the protagonist must face. 2. Develops the subplots. 3. Creates a Mid-Point Crisis that sends the story in another direction. 4. Leads to the Second Turning Point, usually worsening the protagonist ’ s situation.

21. 21 Act Three Conflict intensifies, forcing the protagonist to make the ultimate, inevitable last choice that will lead to the climax and resolution of the screen story.

22. 22 Climax The event following a last radical choice by the protagonist. 1. A choice that still offers hope of achieving his Object of Desire. 2. This final choice reveals his deepest, innermost nature.

23. 23 Resolution Either simultaneous to the climax, or following it. 1. Ties up other subplots, 2. Brings the world of the story back into balance.

24. 24 Theme: The Controlling Idea We often discover the theme of our story when examining the climax and working backwards. What is the story about? What is it trying to say? Has the Controlling Idea been introduced early in the story?

25. 25 Books on Screenwriting Field, Syd, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting,Dell Publishing. McKee, Robert, Story, ReganBooks.