A Guide to Writing, Pitching, and Selling a Screenplay

Writing a screenplay is not easy. You will need discipline and you will need to learn the structure, character development and format. Not to worry, that is why I have condensed seven years of experience, hundreds of books and movies, into this article.

I have written six screenplays now, two television scripts, and two music video scripts (under my real name). Similar to many writers, to date I've had no scripts actually make it to the silver screen. Breaking into screenwriting often times requires persistence and focus and many, many years.

Story logic, character development and structure are paramount when writing a traditional script. Each film follows a six stage plot structure which you can read all about at Michael Hauge's Screenplay Mastery web site.

Robert McKee's Story tells us that you must be good at the nuts and bolts of a scene. Each scene hinges upon the other scene and everything must continue to move forward. A good story is a detective story - the audience wants to know what is going to happen next? Keep them guessing. You never want to be predictable. Scenes need to turn on at least one value charged condition of a character's life through action - reaction. Real truth is found in underlying meaning and real entertainment is when humans experience charged values and emotion.

The first thing you must do is determine your controlling idea which is the ultimate meaning expressed in one sentence. Next write your logline, which is your pitch to a producer or studio and summarizes your movie set-up, conflict, and resolution. The American Association of Screenwriters recommends you keep the logline to three sentences. For character-driven movies include identification, connection, potential crisis, and risk. There are plot-driven scripts in which you want to highlight complications in the logline.