Mastering Screenplay

Imagine the life of a blind man. He learns about his surrounding by touching, smelling and tasting things. He has to learn not to bump into chairs, or dip his hand into hot oil and smell a rat. It will take him time but when you see a blind man who has conquered his environment, he can juggle china wares while kids run amuck in his apartment.

For the green screenwriter, screenplay can be like groping in a jigsaw puzzle. There is the 3 act-structure to grapple with, the plot, the beat, sequence, scenes, subplot, context, protagonist, antagonist, synopsis, premise, logline, treatment, step outline, 3-dimensional character, inciting incidence, climax, turning points, focal points, hook, resolution, supporting characters, emotional impact, setting, conflict, complication, screen dialogue, character psychology, prop, costume, minor characters, location, theme, development, time, back story, suspense, surprise and exposition.

In all, you have at least 41 elements to understand and master. Obviously, you can’t achieve that in a week or two. The trick is to get to write as many TV plays as possible. You will use TV plays to sharpen your skills. I call it writing out your rubbish. When you’re done writing rubbish, the process will help you gain mastery over the 41 elements gradually.

It’s like learning how to drive too. You will make the mistake of accelerating when you’re supposed to break. You probably bump into the next car. Thankfully there are no causalities but you would have learnt something vital. So practice screenwriting with TV plays and when you’ve mastered the wheel and can put the car on cruise control, you can do feature films.

You don’t have to take my advice though