I now have “How to Write a Movie in 21 Days,” “The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters,” and a book that I love: “the Story Solution-23 Steps All Great Heroes Must Take.” 2 months ago

I’‘ve decided to check out a Screenplay book from the library. I’ve also decided to use my collored index cards to help plan my script. 2 months ago

I’ve wanted to do something creative. Now, I need to create the main characters. Next, I’ll brainstrom ideas about the plot. The, I’ll do the outline. 3 months ago

I have downloaded all the software I need to do it properly and have about a million ideas. 75-100 pages is fine. 3 months ago

Writing a screenplay is easy. The only difficult part is the formatting. However, MS Word has screenplay templates to download, as do most word processing programs.

For me, dialogue is easy, as is plotting. Before I type a word, I give serious thought to the plot. The when, where, why, who, and how of the story. There needs to be at least one secret, one surprise, and one side issue. How big of each of these items depends on the main story.

Once you have your idea, sit down and scribble out a description of the beginning using the question words above. Then, write out the end of the story and how the character(s) have transformed. Most screenplays have three acts. Act one sets up the conflict. Act two, the tough one for most writers, throws obstacles of increasing difficulties to the character(s). Act three answers all the question words and ties up the secrets, surprises, and side issue, preferably not all on the same last page. Because this is YOUR creation, if the end you started with doesn’t work or seems too banal, change it!

Last, type The End, and ignore it for a week. Watch other movies, take notes on how you’d like to edit your finished work, then after the time is up, go back and polish the script. 4 months ago