A screenplay is a blueprint for a film. It is not a novel, not a play, and not a treatment — it is a specific document format designed to communicate visual storytelling to a production team. Learning to write one means learning both the craft of storytelling and the conventions of the format.
Start with the Story, Not the Format
Before you open any screenwriting software, you need a story. Specifically, you need:
- A protagonist — who is the story about?
- A want — what does the protagonist want?
- An obstacle — what prevents them from getting it?
- Stakes — what happens if they fail?
These four elements drive every scene in your screenplay. If you cannot articulate them in one sentence, you are not ready to write pages.
The Logline
A logline is a one-sentence summary of your film. It forces you to distill your story to its essence:
When [protagonist] encounters [inciting incident], they must [goal] before [stakes/deadline].
Write your logline before your screenplay. Revise it until it is compelling. If the logline does not work, the screenplay will not work either.
Structure: The Three-Act Framework
The Writers Guild of America does not mandate a specific structure, but the three-act framework is the most common in produced films:
- Act 1 (pages 1-25) — setup: introduce the protagonist, their world, and the inciting incident that disrupts it
- Act 2 (pages 25-85) — confrontation: the protagonist pursues their goal, faces escalating obstacles, hits a midpoint reversal, and reaches an all-is-lost moment
- Act 3 (pages 85-110) — resolution: the climax, final confrontation, and aftermath
A feature screenplay is typically 90-120 pages. One page equals approximately one minute of screen time.
Formatting Basics
Screenplay format is standardized. The core elements are:
- Scene heading (slug line) — INT. or EXT., location, time of day. Example:
INT. COFFEE SHOP - DAY - Action — present tense description of what we see and hear
- Character name — centered, in caps, above their dialogue
- Dialogue — what the character says
- Parenthetical — brief direction within dialogue (used sparingly)
- Transition — CUT TO:, FADE OUT, etc. (used sparingly in modern screenplays)
Use a screenplay editor that formats these elements automatically. Do not waste time adjusting margins in a word processor.
Writing Scenes
Every scene needs a reason to exist. Ask: what changes by the end of this scene? If nothing changes — no new information, no shift in power, no decision made — the scene is not earning its place.
Enter Late, Leave Early
Start each scene as late as possible and end it as early as possible. Skip the greetings, the sitting down, the ordering coffee. Begin at the conflict and end when the point is made.
Show, Don''t Tell
Film is a visual medium. Instead of a character saying "I''m angry," show them slamming a drawer or walking away mid-conversation. Trust your actors and director to convey emotion through behavior.
Dialogue
Good dialogue sounds natural but is more efficient than real conversation. Tips:
- Each character should sound distinct — cover the character names and you should still know who is speaking
- Subtext over text — characters rarely say exactly what they mean
- Read it aloud — if it sounds awkward spoken, it will sound awkward on screen
Revision
Your first draft is a discovery draft. The real writing happens in revision:
- Structural pass — does every scene serve the story? Cut what does not
- Character pass — is each character''s voice consistent and distinct?
- Dialogue pass — tighten every line; cut words that do not earn their place
- Format pass — ensure every element is correctly formatted for production
From Script to Production
Once your screenplay is polished, the next steps are script breakdown, shot listing, and budgeting. These pre-production tasks transform your creative document into a production plan.
Write your screenplay in Seikan — auto-formatting, scene detection, Fountain and FDX import — then break it down, shot-list it, and budget it in the same workspace. Free to start.