Brief Beginner's Guide to Screenwriting

Think you can do better than most of the writing you see coming out of Hollywood (who doesn't, at least sometimes)? Have a stellar idea that would make a fantastic movie? If you answered yes to either of those, screenwriting might be an ideal path for you. Here are a list of things you need to fully understand before writing down that blockbuster.

1. A completed screenplay is the only viable way to market a movie idea for an outsider. While you may think having a tremendous premise for a movie is enough for a production studio to get interested, it simply is not. Very few ideas are worth anything by themselves, and the best screenwriters come up with new ideas all the time. Before you even make a phone call or an e-mail, you need to have a completed first draft, preferably registered with the Writers Guild, Copyright Office, or a similar organization.  Registration is key because it gives you proof or authorship with a neutral legal source and helps you in case one of the shadier producers out there decides to rip you off.

2. Read, read, read (and watch)! When I say "read," I do NOT mean to go to the store and buy an "Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting." I mean find actual screenplays of a variety of great movies and read the screenplay. Study movies more closely. If one wants to write a great novel, they do not purchase a book called "writing novels," they read a bunch of other novels and learn from the successes and failures. If you think you can write a great screenplay merely by having a great premise and reading a how-to book - like far too many amateur writers - you had better enjoy swimming in rejection letters.

Someone writes these, why not you?

Credit: Pam Roth

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