Thursday, October 12, 2017

Screenplay Plot In Five Steps


Here are five steps that will help you work out your plot:

1: Write a two-sentence summary of the story.
The first sentence should include the protagonist and the conflict .Normally this is the extent of a log-line. For this purpose I suggest adding a sentence that gives more information about the conflict and reveals the outcome.
2: Brainstorm about all the key elements of your summary.
You can put your thoughts into a mind map or onto index cards.
• What ideas come up about your protagonist? What is his background? What is his life like now?
• What’s the nature of the opposition the gang? What makes him or her tick?
• What are some possible escalations of the conflict?

3. Winnow.
Go through all the raw ideas you came up with in step two and cross out or put aside the ones that won’t work or are too familiar.
4: Use the remaining elements to construct a rough outline.
It may be useful to employ a simple three-act structure: beginning, middle, end.

5: Start writing when you’re happy with the outline.
Writers like to go from a very rough outline to starting to write the script. Others prefer to refine the outline until they have all the building blocks in place.
start writing with only a very rough outline, until get about a quarter of the way through the script and then stop to outline the rest of the story in greater detail.
Experiment with what works best for you, and use this method of breaking down the process into small steps to help you keep going.

No comments:

Post a Comment