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Step 1
Write a single sentence synopsis of your concept: "Quarterback devours defensive lines, cheerleaders and classmates," "alienated teen girl discovers she's inherited the family's werewolf traits," "werewolves invade corporate retreat and show who the real predators are." Werewolf movies usually follow two themes: the hero or heroine trying to adapt to their werewolf identity or ordinary people trying to survive werewolf attacks. Working from a synopsis focuses your thinking during the screenwriting stage and gives you a pitch for producers.
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Step 2
Create your characters. Devote a page to your werewolf and hero (remember, they are sometimes the same). Supporting characters usually include a love interest who needs protection, a well-meaning sheriff who doesn't believe in the supernatural and a scientist or scholar on the track of the werewolf.
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Step 3
Develop an unusual setting, one that hasn't been done before (or at least very often). Werewolf movies usually take place in isolated rural villages with lots of countryside, grimy urban settings or high schools. Try to find a new wrinkle (a ghost town, the 'hood, alien werewolves on a star ship).
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Step 4
Outline your movie in three acts using note cards or a word processor. Act one reveals the threat (the hero/heroine is a werewolf or discovers the presence of a werewolf); in act two the hero and friends try unsuccessfully to warn the town before a total bloodbath occurs; in the final act the hero and a few allies survive the cataclysmic blood bath and defeat the werewolf. Throw in a plot twist to keep your audience from guessing the outcome (the werewolves are actually trying to save the hero from a bigger threat or the town sheriff breeds werewolves to sell).
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Step 5
Write your script, making changes to your outline as needed. Make sure you know screenplay format and keep the script to 90 to 100 pages (about 90 to 100 minutes of screen time).
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Step 6
Keep your target audience in mind. This is especially important with movies about people who grow hair and eat their friends. Modern werewolf movies are usually marketed at teen audiences, which means your movie should include human to werewolf morphing scenes, scenes with blood spilling and viscera and scenes designed to startle the audience out of their seats.
