Screenplay Writing Advice 101

Hi readers-- I've been writing screenplays for a long long time, first on my old website "Screaminglygoodscreenplays.com" and now here on blogger. And although it's true that none of my more than 200 screenplays have been made into major motion pictures (so far!), I have adapted several of my works into animated and stop motion shorts, and during those processes learned a great deal about the creation of screenplays. Those of you who remember how much time I spent writing the third act of The Lurcherer, and how the realities of stop motion made the stadium of mirrors completely impractical, can see how much you can learn from just a few days "on set."
In addition to writing and producing screenplays, I've also read literally thousands of other screenplays sent to me by my agent and posted on other sites like this-- notably AttentionHollywood and screenplaywritingistotallyfunyoushoulddoit.com. In any case, I feel comfortable offering some simple tips to new screenplay writers.

Obviously there are no real "rules" to writing a screenplay-- but these are some sound tips that can point you in the "write" direction. If you have to break them, go ahead-- just know why you're doing it.

1. USE THE THREE ACT STRUCTURE
Every good screenplay has three acts-- the Beginning, in which we meet the main character and figure out what his or her weakness and special powers are, the Middle, in which the main character is motivated by something like his wife getting killed by mobsters or animals or something, and the End, in which the character learns something about himself.

Each act should be thirty pages long.

2. MAKE YOUR STORY INTERESTING
Even though it may be tempting to write a story about someone just hanging out and getting coffee with his friend and then driving to the drycleaners to get his suit, that's not going to make anyone go into a theater and so it's not going to get your screenplay produced. Try to put something amazing into every screenplay you write, something people aren't used to in everyday life. For example, in previous screenplays I have added the following interesting ideas:

An evil hat that drinks mercury
Psychic Sex Dinosaurs
The futuristic crime of "Superrape"
Robots enjoying music
A psychic that can see murders before they happen
Close up shots of penises
An audience member of the people watching the movie fake committing suicide during a childbirth scene
Upside down trucks

You'll be surprised how far an interesting idea can take you in the writing of a screenplay as well. But be careful not to add too many interesting ideas to a screenplay-- I made that mistake in Psychic Dryclean Karate Horse Coffee Date: Boners that Can Talk and I've been meaning to go back and fix it ever since.

3. ADD ACTION

Any screenplay can be given more "Hollywood Appeal" with the simple addition of a few explosions, fights, gun battles, prison escapes, tortures, freeway collapses, and slaps. I make an effort to add at least one of each of those things to every screenplay I write. Obviously it's not always possible, and sometimes you have to compromise (for example, in my period drama Napoleon The Second I changed the freeway collapse to a Superrape.) but as a general rule action is key to making a good screenplay.

I always figure it's better to put too much action in so it can be scaled back later by the producer or whoever.

4. WRITE, WRITE, AND REWRITE

For me, writing is a very long and difficult process, and a lot of times I'll go over the same scene four or even five times before I decide that it is perfect and move on to writing the next scene. You never know what kind of mistake you might make the first time you write it, from forgetting important dialogue that can link the whole movie together to spelling a character's name wrong. Once you're writing the next scene, you're never going to want to go back, so do it right the first time.

It's also helpful to write on a computer, because you can easily copy (control C) and paste (control V) relevant dialogue from other movies you've written if you're going to use it again.

5. SEX THINGS UP

Movie goers really love sex scenes, because like all of us, they're lonely. That's a basic fact of writing. Even if there's no room for a sex scene in the whole movie, you can always add a long, lingering shot of someone's butt or sexy hands or add a couple of masturbation scenes. In fact, the sexiest screenplay I ever wrote, Jeff Conners, the Last Ultimate Fighter on Earth, featured only one heterosexual male character.

If you can though, add the "magic number" of movie sex scenes, 8.


Well, that's all I can tell you right now. Writing a screenplay is hard work-- Don't give up, keep writing, and maybe the dream of Hollywood will one day be yours!

Steve