Below is a selection of useful tips and techniques compiled to help alleviate the frustrated scriptwriter. Providing you with a condensed but comprehensive view behind writing a script for film or TV. You'll find there is a substantial amount of established rules, most you will find to be obvious, and even maybe a little stupid, however they need to be taken into account if you are to produce a workable script.

The first thing you need is a story.....well at the very least an idea for one. This is one thing I can't help you with, your just going to have to sit down and figure one out by yourself. You can get stories from practically anywhere… Newspapers, Documentaries, Books, your Granny, other films.

But lets remember there are only really 7 different types of stories. Yes, 7! And most of them follow a certain structure. Here are a couple of ideas for you.

The Quest. Nearly all stories have a Quest. Your Hero could be sent on a mission to recover the Ark of the Covenant, the Golden Fleece, a Gem hidden in a bank Vault. Whatever they are looking for, the Quest represents something different to everyone. It could be Love and he hand in marriage of a beautiful woman/Man (whatever your persuasion). It could be about Redemption from past sins, like Clint Eastwood’s western ‘Unforgiven’.

THEME. Either way, there are always reasons why people get up out of bed each day, and this can form the THEME of your script. The theme is what your movie is all about. It may be about a jewel heist, but to the hero it’s about getting even for all those years spent in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. For him it’s not about wealth and financial gain. It’s about REVENGE! Have a strong theme that the audience can believe in, through in a few car chases and explosions and Bob’s your uncle!

PUZZLES, CONUNDRUMS, PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS. Look at the films you most enjoy. What are they about? They are generally about someone who is trying to find a solution to a problem. The convicted criminal who is trying to escape from prison, the Mother who is trying to get custody of her children, Mr Suburbia who is trying to make sense of the fact that he is drawn to a mountain after seeing a UFO and doesn’t know why. Most good stories are about getting a group of characters that we can empathise with, throwing problems at them and watching as they try to get back to how things were. It’s known as EQUILIBRIUM in narrative theory… The Status Quo… What you want to do is force your hero/heroines to solve problems in order to find a resolution that will allow them to go home. If we break down the story of The Lord of The Rings, in essence all Frodo and Sam are trying to do is get back home. Sometimes the quest is voluntary. Sometimes they have no choice. But that is a very powerful drive in a story. Will they wont they? Remember though, the quest will be completed, but no one comes out of this unscaved. People must CHANGE, and things can never go back to the way they way. The drive is always to return to how things were before the troubles, and this is often achieved. It is a resolution of sorts, but things have to change, for better or for worse.

With the basics of a story outlined you can work on a plot, in other words developing what happens in your story in some form of sequential order. Traditional plot structures follow a three act system, a begin, middle and end, I told you it was going to be obvious. For the most part the dramatic elements happen in the middle or towards the end. Once you have achieved the outlining plot structure you can move onto formalising your script.

Writing a script is all about telling a story which must be easy to visualise whilst reading. Write your script for the purpose of it being seen. Provide the individual who's reading your script the sensation they're watching a film. A good script should be referred to as a 'fast read' in other words it should be free flowing from start to finish. Don't give the reader pause for thought, stuck trying to imagine the scenes visually.

Descriptive terminology is essential to help the reader visualise the scene and helps with the overall flow of the script. If you have a character doing something, taking an action or reacting to a situation write it down. However avoid directing the reader through the shots describing the camera angles. It's not usually appreciated if you include camera movements in scripts this can often slow down the read, conflicting with the readers own visuals and imagination, this is a big NO NO. Avoid to much parenthesis, phrasing words or sentences to give direction. If however you wish to direct your actor to act in a specific way hide it in the dialogue itself, emphasize demands through your writing its sneaky but effective. Keep in mind scripts are different to novels in one basic fact... in novels you can get inside peoples heads... ie

John furrowed his brow, puzzled. 'What the hell is going on', he thought.

In scripts we absolutely categorically must not write this, as scripts are all about showing... remember, scripts are about 1) Dialogue. 2)Direction

This needs to be naturalistic. i.e:

JOHN
My God, you can be such a dick sometimes

rather than-

JOHN
My goodness, sometimes you can be rather offensive and uncouth!
It should sound like your actors are making it up naturally, speaking the way we speak in verbal conversations and not the way we write.

Direction tells us what people are DOING. Because we cannot get into peoples heads we must show how they feel by their expressions...

John looks puzzled, one eyebrow is raised, and he rolls his eyes...

Direction tells us what they are doing...

John grips the steering wheel tightly, his head snapping from left to write as his foot guns the accelerator...

So, when you write a script you have to write it as though you are watching it... remember the two ‘D’s- Dialogue and direction.