What is A Screenplay and Why is it so Important?

So I am really excited about the next series of blog posts coming up.

I am writing a 3 part series called from ‘From Script to Screen – A Guide To The Filmmaking Process’ that details how films are made.

Though it is impossible to detail every step to filmmaking, this will give a general overview of each step in the movie making process.

It will be broken down into the 3 major parts of film and television creation.

Pre-Production, Production and Post Production.

Before we get into the 3 steps above though it’s important to talk about a key piece of the process. Without this piece you cannot even start pre-production. Can you guess what it is? Well of course, it’s…

The Screenplay!

Without the screen play we don’t even get to step 1 of making our film. The screenplay or script is key to the entire process but many people don’t truly understand the details of what it is, how it works and why it is so important.

That is why before we launch into next weeks 3 part series I thought we would take this week to give the screenplay its proper due.

After reading this you will know what a screenplay is, some details of how it works and why it so important.

Where Does a Film Begin?

Any film project begins with the script or screenplay. Trying to make a film without a script would be like trying to cross the ocean without any type of navigation. It is the blueprint that everyone  working on the film refers to when they are fulfilling their part of the process. Usually everyone working on the film has a copy and they refer to it throughout the making of the project.

So where does a script or screenplay come from?

Typically it works in one of the following ways.

• A Standard Script is pitched to Producers or the Studio and if they are interested, it is than developed and written with their input. Sometimes a well known scriptwriter will be approached to write a script based on a concept. I’ve recently negotiated this type of deal. There are a number of terms to negotiate, including compensation, payment structure and creative input.

• A Spec Script is written by a writer in advance with no solicitation in hopes that it will be optioned and eventually purchased by someone who can turn it into a film like a producer or a studio. These are considered more long shots because the writer is usually unknown, with little to no entertainment industry contacts and this is how they are trying to break into the business. Despite being a difficult route to Hollywood there are some famous examples of movies that originated from spec scripts like ‘Good Will Hunting’ and “American Beauty’.

• An Adapted Script is adapted from something that already exists in another form like a book, a play, TV show, prior film (remake) or even a real life news story. There are so many countless examples of this but probably the most common are best selling books. Now days if there is a best selling fiction book its almost a guarantee it will be adapted for film.

Earlier this year my client who pens the children’s book series Dork Diaries granted Summit Entertainment/Lionsgate an option to adapt the series into a motion picture. While it might sound like adapted scripts would be easier on the writer since the story has been proven, it comes with its own set of challenges.

First of all the material has to be written into a screenplay format which is very different than how books are written. Also, if you have extremely passionate fans of the original material (comic book and sci-fi fans are notoriously hard to please) they can be very tough on the script writer.

There is a balancing act of staying true to the original spirit of the book while still making it work on film and with the screenwriters own twist.

If you’d like to hear more about acquiring the underlying rights for scripts and existing material, check out a video I did on the subject a while back for my class when I taught Business Affairs at New York Film Academy.

What exactly is a Screenplay and why is it so important?

The screenplay is the guide for the Producers, Director, Actors, Crew of exactly what will appear on screen.  It is the common ground that everybody on the film will work with from start to finish of production.

It tells the complete story, contains all action in the film and all dialogue for each character. It can also describe characters visually so filmmakers can try to capture their style, look or vibe.

Since the script is the blueprint for the movie or TV show it also the best predictor of cost.

Making a film takes careful planning of the budget and cost estimation can best be gleamed from the script. For example if the script calls for scenes that only CGI can accommodate the producers know they are in for a bigger budget. If the film is mostly dialogue driven, with no special effects and limited locations the budget should be much lower.

As an example lets look at 2 recent Fox movies; Rise of the Planet of the Apes and The Fault in our Stars. According to Box Office Mojo Apes (as of this writing) has grossed about $177 million while Stars has made about $124 million BUT…. Apes had a production budget of $93 million while Stars production was only $12 million!

If you knew nothing else about these films but looked at their scripts it would probably be obvious to you why there was such a difference in production budget. To interpret what’s on paper to screen for Apes it would be clear that it would take a ton of CGI and other costly special effects.

Stars on the other hand had no costly special effects and was mostly a character and dialogue driven story. Understanding what general budget your script portrays is important because financiers are mostly looking to invest in films like Stars (lower risk) and these are the films that a studio will greenlight.

The script also goes a long way in determining the schedule of your film. The schedule of the film  is important because it has a direct impact on the budget. A common cause for budget overruns is when their are disruptions or rescheduling that needs to be done.

This is all meticulously planned out before hand using the script as a guide.

When it comes to actual filming time, typically filmmakers will decide how many pages of the script they will film per session.

Screenplay Terminology

Let’s take a look at some of the common terminology used in screenplays and by screenwriters.

Scene Heading or “Slugline”

A scene heading or “slugline” is a brief description that sets the upcoming scene. It includes: is it Interior or Exterior? What is the Location? What is the Time of Day?

Here is an example: INT. BANK LOBBY. DAY

This would show that the action is taking place inside a bank during the day. So for those hundreds of movies we have seen with bank robberies the script probably had a scene heading similar to that.

Action

Action is just what it sounds like and it describes in detail exactly what is happening, step by step.

An important thing to note and the main reason why screenplays are different than books is the writer cannot write internal feelings.  Since the audience cannot ‘hear’ what the characters are thinking the writer must find a way to effectively externalize their thoughts and feelings. (having talented actors who can emote well definitely helps in this area!)

Character Heading

The character head should always be capitalized and shows who is speaking.

Dialogue

The dialogue is what the characters say when they speak.  The dialogue should reveal the characters personalities, feelings, and emotional state. Unless its strictly an action or horror movie, well written dialogue is typically a big part of how well received a movie will be.

Parentheticals

Parentheticals are brief descriptions of character’s attitude in speech, for ex. (happily), (distracted) (enraged); again good actors will go a long way in helping here.

Parentheticals also dictate where dialogue is coming from, for example; (O.S.) , (V.O.) O.S. stands for Off screen meaning it describes a voice that is not shown on the screen (coming from another room etc..) V.O stands for Voice Over and is used when the speaking character has no physical presence on screen (on the phone, television background, voice in head etc…) Parentheticals while helpful should be used sparingly and only when necessary.

Shots

Shots emphasizes camera angles or movement, describing camera direction. This is for the most part should be left up to the director so in the script the only time mentions of camera movement are normally in there is if the writer thinks its important for that part of the story.

Transitions

Transitions dictates how the story moves from scene to scene.

Here are some samples of transitions: Cut, Fade in, Fade out, Dissolve to.

Transitions are another thing that writers probably do not want to use to much. Especially with a spec script you may want to save some of that text for words that advance the story in a meaningful way.

Screenwriting rules of thumb

Here are some general rules of thumbs for screenwriting:

• One page of script = roughly one minute of screen time
• Average feature film script is approximately 100 – 110 pages
• Average one hour television series is approximately 43 pages ( leaving time for commercials)

So I hope this gives you a good idea on what scripts are. I think this post is a good lead in to my 3 part series starting next week ‘From Script to Screen – A Guide To The Filmmaking Process’. This series of posts will describe the steps that happen to make movie magic.

From Script to Screen Series

First the Screen Play (this article)

Part 1 – From Script to Screen: Pre-Production

Part 2 – From Script to Screen: Film Production 

Part 3 – From Script to Screen: Post Production

PROTECT YOUR WORK!

If you are working on a Documentary or Independent Film I always recommend you have agreements and contracts in place to protect your work. 

Without the proper agreements in place no major player will ever take you seriously.

I have put together affordable individual and packaged agreements you can buy and download instantly.

Click Here:  Documentary and Independent Film Agreements

Click Here: Reality TV agreements/Digital Production Agreements

I hope you enjoyed this weeks article!

Please leave a comment and join the conversation.