How to write a screenplay

The short answer

A screenplay is a plan for a film, written in a standard layout so that one page stands for about a minute of screen time. Work through these steps in order.

1. Write a logline.One sentence: a character, a goal and the obstacle in the way.
2. Outline the big turns.Beginning, middle and end, with the moments that change everything.
3. Break it into scenes.List each scene with where it happens, who is in it and what changes.
4. Write it in screenplay format.Scene headings, action, character names and dialogue, in the layout readers expect.
5. Finish a rough draft.Get to the last page before you start fixing.
6. Check the length.Count pages and estimate the running time.
7. Rewrite in layers.Story first, then scenes, then dialogue and the polish.

Screenplay basics and format

A screenplay describes only what can be seen and heard. There are no thoughts, no backstory narrated to the reader, and no camera directions unless they matter. The layout is designed to be read quickly and to keep the page count a rough guide to running time.

The Academy’s Nicholl Fellowships rules, for a screenwriting competition, ask for standard industry screenplay format in 12-point Courier. That is the one formatting specification we can point to a source for. Margins, indents and spacing vary between guides and software, so check the guidelines of whatever contest, agency or production you are sending to. The example below shows the six elements; its spacing is approximate and meant for reading on screen.

An annotated example scene

This original scene shows each element in use. A baker has been waiting for a delivery that does not come.

What to keep off the page

Because a screenplay is a blueprint for something other people will make, a few habits help readers. Describe what is on screen, not what a character secretly thinks. Skip long passages about a character’s past; if it matters, find a scene that shows it. Leave camera moves and shot lists to the director unless a specific shot is essential to the story. And do not pack the page: short paragraphs and plenty of white space make a script quicker to read.

How long is a screenplay?

The usual answer is “about one page per minute,” and it works as a first estimate. Stephen Follows analyzed 2,520 feature screenplays in US Letter format and found that a page averaged about 55 seconds of film, a ratio of about 1.1 pages per minute. So the rule is a fair rule of thumb that slightly overstates how much screen time a page buys on average. It will not predict the running time of any one film.

Page counts by format

There is no official page count for any format. These are published targets and limits, and we show where each one comes from.

The TV figures come from a single craft-blog article, so treat them as a starting point, and check the guidelines of the show, contest or company you are writing for. We have left out a page range for short films because we could not find a reliable source for one. Use the calculator above to work backward from the running time you have been given.

Structure

Start with a logline

A logline is a single sentence that captures the story: who the main character is, what they want, and what stands in their way. A useful test is whether a stranger could repeat it back. For the bakery scene above, a logline might be: When a flood cuts off her supply route, a stubborn baker must decide whether to trust the stranger who brings her the wrong flour, or lose the shop her family has run for three generations. If you are stuck, the plot generator can give you a character, goal, obstacle and twist to react to.

Think in three acts

Three-act structure is a way of dividing the story into a setup, a confrontation and a resolution. It is a map used by many writers, not a law. A common way to think about it:

• Act one: setup. Introduce the character, their world and their ordinary problem. It ends with a decision or event that commits them to the story.
• Act two: confrontation. The character pursues the goal and meets harder obstacles. Around the middle something shifts what they understand or want, and near the end of the act things look worst.
• Act three: resolution. The final confrontation, the choice the character makes, and the aftermath.

The proportions are the writer’s call. If your second act sags, it usually means the obstacles are repeating rather than escalating.

A worked example

Here is the bakery story reduced to its turns, one line each, using the three-act idea above:

1. Setup. Rosa runs a failing bakery that needs this week’s delivery to keep its biggest customer.
2. Turn into act two. Dev arrives with the wrong flour. She has to decide whether to use it.
3. Complications. The wrong flour bakes differently, the customer inspects the first batch, and Rosa learns Dev took the delivery job to hide from his own debts.
4. Midpoint. The loaves turn out better than her usual recipe, and Rosa has to admit she may have been holding on to the old way for the wrong reasons.
5. Low point. The customer cancels anyway, and Dev disappears.
6. Climax. Rosa takes the new bread to the market herself, and has to ask for help.
7. Resolution. The shop survives, changed, with a second apron on the hook.

Outline, then treatment, then scene by scene

1. Outline. A list of the major turning points in a page or less.
2. Treatment (optional). The story told in prose, in a few pages. It is a useful test of whether the story holds together before you invest in the script.
3. Scene by scene. A numbered list with one or two lines per scene. For each, note where it happens, who is in it, what the character wants and what changes by the end. If a scene changes nothing, cut or combine it.

The plot generator builds an outline from a genre and tone, which is a quick way to see another take on the same beats as your own.

Writing craft

Write what can be seen and heard

Replace “she feels guilty” with something an actor can play: she hides the receipt, apologizes too fast, stops with her hand on the door. If the audience cannot see or hear it, it does not belong on the page, except for the brief description a reader needs to picture a new character or place.

Make dialogue do two jobs

Good dialogue usually carries information and reveals the speaker at the same time. Let characters want different things, interrupt, dodge a question or answer a different one. People rarely say exactly what they mean. Read your scenes aloud and cut every line that two characters would never say.

Be economical

Keep action paragraphs short, a few lines at most, so the eye moves down the page. Start a scene late and leave it early. Cut the hellos, the goodbyes and the walk to the door unless something happens on the way.

Name characters distinctly

Readers keep track of people by name, so avoid giving two characters names that begin with the same letter or sound alike. The character name generator offers a quick list when you need one.

Common first-draft problems

• Everyone sounds the same. Give each character a different way of speaking: shorter or longer sentences, blunt or evasive, a favorite word they overuse.
• Characters explain the plot to each other. If both people already know a fact, they would not say it aloud. Find another way to let the audience learn it.
• Scenes start too early. Enter when something is already happening, and leave once the question of the scene is answered.
• The goal disappears. If you cannot say what the main character wants on page 40, the middle of the script will wander.
• Too much description. A long paragraph about a room slows the read. Pick the one detail that tells us who lives there.

Rewrite in passes

1. Story. Does the main character want something, and does it get harder?
2. Scenes. Does each scene change something? Is each one in the right place?
3. Dialogue and action. Tighten, sharpen and remove repetition.
4. Format and length. Check the layout, count the pages and compare against the page range for your format.

Next steps

• Write your logline today, and test it on one friend.
• Make a one-page outline of the major turns.
• Write the opening scene in the layout above, using any word processor.
• Set a page goal for each day, and use the calculator to estimate the running time as it grows.
• If you want a prose version of your idea first, our guide to writing a book covers outlining, drafting and revising, and a lot of it applies here too.
• When you want a title, the title generator can spark patterns to react to.
• If you plan to measure a script against a prose project, the words-to-pages converter shows how a word count turns into manuscript pages. A script page is laid out differently, so the two will not match.