How to Write a Movie Screenplay

Formatting the screenplay is not hard, but writing a selling screenplay is the achievement of a lifetime. The two types of scripts are the shooting script and the submission script. The submission script is for a story idea that hasn't been sold yet. A shooting script is one that will actually be used when the film is shot. Regardless of the type of script, the general rules of writing a screenplay are the same.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer with word processing program
• 8 1/2- x 11-inch white 3-hole punched paper

1. Open up a word processing program.

2. Set the font to 12-point Courier.

3. Set the top margin to 5 inches and the bottom margin to 1 inch.

4. Set the left margin to 1.2 inches and the right margin to .5 inch.

5. Create a heading for your first scene. The scene heading is named after the location where the scene takes place. The heading is written in all capital letters. The time of the day is often included, i.e., "LIVING ROOM - DUSK."

6. Write each action scene with the active voice. Describe everything that happens in the scene.

7. Add characters into the scene. Come up with one name for each character. This can be an actual name, a brief description or an occupation. For instance, "BOB, TALL WOMAN, ACCOUNTANT." You can use numbers to indicate more than one character with the same profession or name. For instance "ACCOUNTANT #1" and "ACCOUNTANT #2."

8. Add dialogue by placing the character's name as a header and centering the typed dialogue in the center of the page.

9. Use parentheticals to describe the actions and demeanor of a character that is occurring simultaneously with a dialogue phrase. Place the parenthetical below the character's name and above the dialogue.

10. Make the script 95 to 125 pages.

Tips & Warnings

• Read the dialogue in your script out loud. Try to have your dialogue drive the script. Try to imagine the action scenes in your head when reading the action scene in the script to see if you're describing it well. Add the abbreviation O.S. at the name of the character header if the character is speaking off screen. Use V.O. if the character is doing a voiceover.
• Avoid describing camera shots unless absolutely necessary.