How to Write a Screenplay

Kevin Coolidge

INT. HOME OFFICE—EVENING
Furious typing. Shuffling of papers. Desk lamp silhouetting a man mumbling

COLUMNIST
(to himself)
Okay, okay, I have to finish this column on how to write a screenplay. Hmm, there are hundreds of books on the market, all trying to teach me how to write a screenplay. How is How to Write A Screenplay by Mark Evan Schwartz different? Well, for one, this screenwriting manual is written in the form of a screenplay.

From the opening page to the “Fade to Black”, this book is just what the aspiring screenwriter needs. There are many great books on how to write a screenplay, but they mostly feel like textbooks. The best can tell you the “how to” of the art and craft of screenwriting. The worst are often dull and lifeless, and they all feel like books.

I love books, but a screenplay is not a novel. What I found so useful about How to Write a Screenplay is that it looks like a movie script, feels like a movie script, and reads like a movie script. It follows the cardinal rule of scriptwriting by showing and not telling. Instead of explaining on how to write a script, the book is one.

Our protagonist, the aspiring screenwriter Danny, is hopelessly in love with a Hollywood starlet. But she won’t go out with Danny until he proves he can write a brilliant screenplay to showcase her talents. The script’s story is loosely and comically based on Dante’s Inferno. There’s a modern Virgil who guides our hero through the different levels of screenwriting hell, explaining the writing faults that condemned the victims. Throughout his journey, he is given examples of how to write better dialogue, create strong characters, and build effective conflict.

In addition to the screenplay itself, the book includes a short scene on “the pitch”. Some writers make the pitch before committing the time and energy to writing a screenplay in the hopes of finding support and financial backing. Others finish the draft, and then start the quest for the greenlight process. You can have a great story, but if you fail in showing that big-shot producer what a prize you have, you are going to fail in selling that little gem. Schwartz shows how to keep it simple, clear, and entertaining while avoiding lengthy explanation.

There’s also information on other items frequently requested by producers and agents during the pitching process—such as the logline, synopsis, and treatment. Also included are tools that will help make the script easier to write, like the character profile and the beat sheet. Once you’ve written your masterpiece, you are going to want to guard it from greedy executives, and there’s information on copywriting and registering your precious baby as well.

I found this book to be a fast, informative and a fun read. How’s the best way for you to use How to Write A Screenplay? I suggest reading it several times and then reading the scripts of some of your favorite movies. You’ll get the format down in no time, and perhaps soon you can see that brilliant idea opted for the big screen.

INT. HOME OFFICE—LATE EVENING
The illumination of a computer screen shows the columnist contemplating the words he’s written. With a subtle nod, he hits save and sends it to his editor.

FADE TO BLACK
The End.

Writing a screenplay? Or the great American novel? Email me at from_my_shelf@yahoo.com Have writer’s block? Visit htpp://frommyshelf.blogspot.com and be inspired by past columns. Hobo the cat is currently working on the screenplay for “Hobo Finds A Home”, but read the book before you see the movie. The book is always better…