Chapter 1: Where Do You Find a Good Story?

Coming up with a good story idea is the first step to developing your screenplay. It can be a fun, creative process, and sometimes it can be a daunting one too…but it doesn’t have to be. Hitchcock once said, “Drama is life with the dull bits cut out.” And he was right! Story ideas are all around us – in our news, our families, our own personal life experiences.

So where to begin? Here are some ideas to ignite your creativity, and remember, it’s a process. Let the process take its time and don’t be too concerned if your perfect screenplay idea doesn’t just suddenly appear. In fact, I recommend coming up with several screenplay ideas to take the pressure off and give yourself some creative choices.

Check out news headlines and don’t read the articles. Just let the headlines inspire you to create your own story, characters and conflicts.

Listen to music and let the melodies and/or lyrics take you away to another place.

Visit locations where your story could take place. Immerse yourself physically into your story. People watch and be the “fly on the wall.” Great characters are believable characters, and what better place to draw from than from real life.

Watch movies…lots of them. Discover what you love and don’t love about certain films and what kinds of stories you’d like to tell.

Read screenplays! Not only is this a fantastic way to improve your writing skills, but you’ll get some creative story ideas as well.

Write down your dreams. Sometimes our subconscious comes up with amazing imagery and storylines that can inspire a character or storyline.

Get busy. Sitting in front of an empty computer screen or blank sheet of paper can spiral us into writer’s block. Walk your dog, exercise, garden or meditate…any activity that helps both your mind and body relax to get those creative juices flowing again.

Research. If you love to learn random facts about all kinds of things, then research is your key to finding inspiration for new and exciting worlds and characters.

Interview interesting people. Most people would love to tell you their story if asked. And this is also a great way to learn about different professions and expertise, whether that be deep-sea diving, trading stock on Wall Street or delivering babies.

Tips for writing a Short Screenplay

Both feature length and short screenplays have their unique challenges. Writing a feature requires many plot twists and turns, multiple characters and subplots. When writing a short screenplay, however, you are limited on what you can include in your story.

Here are a few tips to help you formulate your ideas for a short screenplay:

• Focus the story around just one or two characters.
• Give the protagonist one clear goal and clear obstacles.
• Make sure there’s a clear and worthy antagonist and force against the protagonist.
• Limit the number of locations.
• Keep the timeframe short – in other words, a story that takes place over an hour or a day is much easier to tell in 10 – 20 pages than a story that spans decades.
• Limit the number of subplots.
• Does it take place in another reality? If so, write out the “rules” of this reality to avoid plot holes.
• Watch short films to get a sense of the timing in a short screenplay.

Here’s an example of a Writing Exercise that you can use to help spark creative story ideas from a News Headline, but you can adapt this exercise to inspire ideas from any source.

ADAPTING A NEWS HEADLINE FOR A SCREENPLAY

Choose a newspaper headline (or combine headlines) and follow the example below. Write out the headline(s) at the top of the page. Then complete each category below with a brief paragraph, no more than 4 or 5 sentences. The goal is to be clear and concise.

ARTICLE HEADLINE: “Lottery ticket bought with stolen credit card – $1 million ticket purchased with card that belonged to dead person” MSNBC.com

1. PREMISE: (include the 4 points from the premise chapter 2) Darcy buys a million dollar lottery ticket and wins! But in the midst of living the glorious high-life, her world skids to a halt when a jealous sister-in-law turns her in for fraud and for “borrowing” the card from her dead mother-in-law. Now Darcy must find a way to keep the fortune for herself and away from her greedy siblings.
2. MAIN CHARACTER: Darcy is a middle-aged woman with mediocre success in her life. She lives next door to her now dead mother-in-law despite the fact that her husband has been missing for the last 14 years. It was a complicated, love-hate relationship between the two women. Her day of passing couldn’t have come too soon for Darcy.
3. MAIN CHARACTER’S GOAL: Darcy’s goal is to keep her winning fortune.
4. OBSTACLES (be very specific/imagine a scene in a movie):

1. Greedy siblings take Darcy to TV court.
2. Darcy is slandered with bad publicity and her history of dirty laundry is broadcast on the primetime news.
3. Darcy is blackmailed by her suddenly resurrected missing husband and she’s forced to pay him off.
4. Darcy is arrested and she must explain other stolen items purchased with the same borrowed credit card to city police.
5. Mobsters discover Darcy hiding her fortune in the desert and decide to make it their own – they happen to be burying a dead body in the same location.

5. CENTRAL QUESTION(S): Will Darcy get caught or get to keep the fortune? And will she share the wealth or keep it for herself?

6. POSSIBLE THEMES:

1. Money can’t buy happiness.
2. Greed will stab you in the back.

Worksheet

TITLE:

1. PREMISE: (include the 4 points – use Premise handout)

2. MAIN CHARACTER: (creative description)

3. MAIN CHARACTER’S GOAL:

4. OBSTACLES: (give details – describe actual scenes)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. CENTRAL QUESTION:

6. POSSIBLE THEMES:

7. GENRE: