Independent Film Screenwriting 101

1. Introduction: Hello. My name is Hank Crayon. I am independent filmmaker based in London, UK, and in this course, we're going to be talking about how to write a screenplay specifically for independent film. Many screenwriters, when they start writing a film, they don't realize there is a big gap between writing for independent film and studio film. This is what we're going to be covering in this course, something that we independent filmmakers will be able to shoot on our own without relying on anybody else. With a limited budget, but yet concentrate on great story and be able to get our film out there and get distribution hopefully. So far in my screenwriting career, I wrote a dozen of independent film screenplays, and I'm here to share with you what I know, tips and tricks from start to finish. In this course, I will share with you everything I know to help you write your independent film that you will be able to shoot without relying on anyone else. This course is specifically dedicated to independent filmmakers who want to write and shoot and get distribution for their own film. So without wasting too much time, let's get started. 2. Screenplay Format, Software, Title, The Whos: Okay, guys, before we begin with the screenwriting course, first things first, what is a screenplay? To simply put a screenplay is a piece of narrative work that is meant to be shot into the movie. It's a blueprint for the movie. Screenplay is not meant to be published, it's not meant to be read by people, so it's fine to make mistakes when you're trying to format your screenplay as long as it serves a tool and medium to help you bring your words from pages the screen. Is that magical thing in between that writers use to bring their stories and characters to life through the director. And director's job is to communicate writers vision through the crew that's present to make the film and bring it once again to the screen using actors. It's all a team work. And when people say it's a blueprint, I think this is the most perfect and most fitting description of a screenplay. So say that, do you need to format your screenplay in Hollywood way? It helps. It helps because we are filmmakers. We are used to one specific screenplay format that looks like that. And as you can see, it starts with interior exterior day and night, followed by action and scene description, a character name, and a dialogue. Now, you can use some free screenwriting programs. I'm not going to promote any of them in this course because it's sponsored, and I'm not affiliated with any of them, but I will mention that final draft is industry standard writing software that what I use and thousands of other writers. Paid, but you don't have to spend money because there are many alternatives, like I said, that are completely free. However, many filmmakers, even big filmmakers write script in anything like notes, Microsoft office, open office, whatever, because like I said, guys, remember, it's not meant to be read by others. It's purely a tool for filmmaker and writer and cast to communicate, to be able to understand the same story and bring it to life as simple as that. To answer this question, it's a no. You don't have to stick to Hollywood screenplay format. It helps, but you don't have to. Now, there are exceptions, for example, if you are writing a screenplay to submit to film festivals, then yes, you're going to have to stick to the system or else you won't even be considered for the festival run. So how do you get started with this screenplay endeavor? Well, first thing I like to do is literally take a piece of blank paper. And come up with a movie title. A movie title for me is everything. The way my movie sounds will influence the rest of the movie Acigenal. Now, some writers prefer to come up for Stepck story first, maybe inspired by some events or characters, but me, title first, then everything rest. And remember, when you come up with a title, it has to be different and it has to be catch. It has to be memorable. Because on somebody's going to watch your film, they need to remember that they watched your film because they're going to have to mention to their friends and family that they watched your film. They enjoyed it, and they should check it out, too, because if somebody watches your film and forgets straight away how it was called, I mean, it's not good for marketing. And remember, we are independent filmmakers, and marketing is everything because we don't have a lot of money to promote our films. So remember that. Catch your title, that is simple, and that stands out. So literally, all you have to do to get started is to take a piece of paper, write your title. Add your contact information, copyright information, take a break, take a coffee, go have fun, have a drink, stare at the thing for a few hours, and soon you will realize that your creative process has started. And once that happens, you're going to be overwhelmed with ideas, and you will be ppelled to sit down and start typing. However, don't do that because what happens if you just start typing without any plan, without knowing where you head, you're going to hit page 50, you're going to be still in Act one, and you will be lost. You will have no idea what's next, where your story is going, and you'll just be stuck. So don't do that. Before you start writing, sit down, take another piece of paper, and just write this. Who? What where and when? Try to understand the general structure of your story. This is where you're supposed to come up with at least main character and know what the story is about. Have to have a superficial understanding of your main character, protagonist. You have to know where and when the story is happening. I'm not asking you to do a lot here, just basic information written by a pen on a piece of paper. That's all it takes to get started, a title page and a piece of paper to get started with your general film idea. If your film is based on a story or on an event that happened in real life, great. You already have your characters, you already have your story. Maybe down the road, you're going to add some plot points, but other than that, you're good to go. In the next video, we're going to be talking about 3. What Kind Of Film Are You Writing: Guys, before we head any further, I want you to sit down and decide what kind of film are you trying to make? Seriously? What kind of movie are you trying to make? Because sometimes the problem is about screenwriting. In fact, one of the biggest problems is that sometimes we don't know what we want to write about. And what even worse, sometimes we start one story, and then we got carried away by this idea we just had and we start writing completely different story, which is a big no no. So what I would want you to do is to sit down, take a piece of paper, have a coffee, and just think what kind of film would you like to make realistically? Remember, we are independent filmmakers and we want to make film realistically, on our own without relying on anyone. So it has to be something that you can do on your own, and yet it has to be interesting to the point. It has to be unique. It has to stand out. It has to touch very sensitive subject. It has to be memorable by your audience. Remember, we are all different, and of course, you should be doing whatever works best for you. Go travel, get inspired by places. But once you have the idea, you got to stick to it. Meaning, once you start writing your film, you cannot go back, you cannot give up. You cannot abandon until you finish the last page of the script. And that is for two reasons. Number one, I want you to have this mentality of starting things and never finishing. And number two, even if you cannot shoot a film that you wrote right now, they will come when you can, and it's good to have options. And when I ask you what kind of film you want to make, all I want you to realize is that literally what kind of movie is it going to be a comedy, a horror, a sci fi? That because different genre of movie requires different writing skills, different locations, different costs, different expenses. So sooner you get that out of the way, the better. Because remember, guys, we are independent screenwriters mean we have a budget in mind that we have to stick to. Studio screenwriters, on the other hand, they can write wherever they want, knowing that if the studio likes the script, they will find the money. We cannot afford to do that. 4. Character Research: Alright, guys, let's talk about characters. Every movie is made of three kind of characters protagonist, main character, antagonist, which can also be a main character, which is usually a bad guy or a bad guy changing into the good guy, and lastly, but not least supporting character. Now, there are extras, of course, but I'm not going to mention this because this course is for independent filmmakers, and most of the time, we're not going to be able to get extras. So protagonist, antagonist, and supporting actors, let's go. A protagonist is your main actor. Usually, it's a guy or a girl that is lost. They have no purpose, and they're trying to figure out where their life is heading. Or it can be a character that has everything at that stage, the loses everything, and they try to get back on their feet. Or it can be a character that's going through a life change. It can be any character. It can be any story. Protagonist is simply our main hero. We are telling their story, we are watching their story as simple as that. Antagonist, on the other hand, is equally as important as protagonist, because antagonist usually is a bad guy, and usually in every movie is the main force stopping our elite character getting to their dream, from point A to point B. To put simply, protagonists will do everything they can to get to their goal, and antagonists will do everything they can to stop our protagonists getting to their goal. Now, like I mentioned, in some movies, antagonists can change from a bad guy into a good guy. This can happen on their own, or this can happen with the help of our protagonist. It all depends on the story you're trying to tell. A bad guy can become a good guy and vice versa, a good guy can become a bad guy. Lastly, you have supporting characters. Now, those characters are not as important as our main characters. However, they're still very important to the story in general. Supporting characters are the characters that our protagonist or antagonist interacting that help them make their decisions that eventually influence on the development of the story. Simply put, they can be the force in the shadows that can inspire the outcome of your film. At this stage, all you have to do is just sit down and come up with these three kind of characters, protagonist, antagonist, and supporting character. Now, those characters can be multiple, of course. Once again, like I said, depending on the complexity of the story. The reason why it's important right now to come up with those characters is because like I said, we need to know where the story is heading, not necessarily know what the story is about at this stage, but at least have general idea where the story is going, that is how it starts, how it ends, and the problem in the middle that's called a midpoint. This is going to be a superficial information that will help us shape the movie. That is very important for one reason. It will give us an idea if we can shoot this film on our own. Not. Because if we cannot shoot this film on our own, there is no point of carrying on writing this film because, guys, I don't want you to chase years of your life trying to chase that investor because there is a big possibility that it might never happen. So if you write a film, I want you to shoot that film on your own, relying on no one, and get that film out there to be seen. Remember, start and work your way up. The important thing is to start. Look, your job as a screenwriter is to make sure your characters are connected to your audience. How do you do that? Well, you have to make sure each one of your characters that includes protagonist and antagonist has a goal, has a need in a film. For example, for our antagonist, it can be to destroy the world, and for our protagonist is to save the world. Now we have two characters that have different wants and they need to fight for their wants. The other thing you can do to make our protagonists much likable is to show their weaknesses. Show them as humans, show them their fears, desires, dreams. Just show that they are human, just like us. Because what happens when you have that connection, we cannot take our eyes off the screen. We want to know what's going to happen next with our character. And that is how you keep the audience engaged throughout 1 hour and a half because, remember, we cannot lose them as we go. If your audience loses interest in main character, they're not going to finish the film. They will just leave it at that. 5. How To Write A Good Backstory: Guys, in this video, we're going to be talking about back story. And specifically, we're going to be covering two parts. What makes a good backstory, and we're going to do a visual chart on a piece of paper. A backstory is a series of events that are there to support the main plot. As an example, let's say our character is Sara and Sarah, when she was young, she lost her favorite beloved cat. And now, when she's older and growing up, she's terrified of having cats again because she knows that one day they will die and maybe she's afraid of being attached to them. That can be an easy example of a backstory. When researching a backstory, you have to realize who is your main character. Where are they from? What did they do? Where are they going? What was their dreams? Because all of that is a part of a good backstory. On one hand, people change. On the other hand, we always remain the same to some extent, even if sometimes we act differently. For example, our character is a sweet and loving flower salesman. However, in the past, he was convicted criminal. Now, what led him to commit the crime and what led him to change? We have two empty spaces in between that can make a big difference on a movie, was he desperate for money, that he had to commit the crime. And then when he got caught, was sent to prison, and then was released, what happened? What changed his mind that all of a sudden, he left his life of crime behind and became a flower salesman. All of this is hugely important, and we don't even have to show it to the audience because subconsciously as the story progresses, our audience will know exactly what's happening. Some of the worst things you can do as a filmmaker, as a screenwriter is to spoonfed your story to your. Always recommend a new screenwriter to not rush this part. Sit down and really dive into your characters. You as a screenwriter, have to absolutely know who they are, because you are the one telling their story. There will be some things that you would prefer to keep a secret from your audience, which is fine. In fact, it becomes kind of a game, and it feels really good when you discover some details about your characters that are not so obvious on the surface. The more details you put into your characters, into your backstory, into your story as a whole, the better, the more dynamic your film is going to be. You have that out of the way, what I like to do is I like to have visual representation of what I have in mind. I want to bring what I have here to the paper. And for a long time, I was really thinking, what should we do as an example? Because right now we have blank piece of paper, and I really didn't want to take an existing film and work it backwards like other courses do. So I have decided instead, I try to come up with something fresh. So let's dive into Look, it all starts with the simple blank piece of paper. Don't be afraid of a blank piece of paper. Now, the way I like to do is I like to start with a simple line in the middle. Then I like to break it in half. Then I'm going to split it once more, one smaller line here, one smaller line here. Now, this might be very familiar to some of you who are into screenwriting already. If not, let me explain further. This will be Act one. This will be Act two. This will be Act three. Now, as you can see, Act two is the longest. Hence Y is the hardest to do. However, even if Act one and three are shorter, they are equally crucial to the story. Now, you may see I put two lines here. That's for a reason as well. This line is called plot 0.1. And this line is called plot 0.2. Now, once again, those of you who are into screenwriting, you already might know what this is. However, if you're new, don't worry. When Act one starts, usually, from start to about 15 minutes, you have an introduction of your story, of your characters, of the locations, so on and so on. And then an event happens in every film ever made around minute 15 that changes the direction where your story goes. And same goes with plot 0.2. Around minute 60, there is always an event that spins your story in complete opposite direction. In most of the films, this is where your character will fail drastically and they have to get up back on their feet and keep going, keep trying until they succeed at the end of the film. Now, you might see this line. This line is what called a mid point. I usually just put MP. And now we have a basic screenwriting, visual chart that we can start working on our story. And of course, guys, you can do this on a computer, on an iPad, on a tablet. But I don't know, I always prefer a pen or a pencil and just a piece of paper. There is something magical about having this thing in front of you and just sometimes looking at this literally for hours, going, having a coffee, coming back, sitting down and just thinking and just thinking about what you're trying to make, what kind of movie. You trying to make? I think you cannot replicate this on a PC on a laptop or on an iPad or tablet. But like I said, this is entirely your preference and up to you. Like I said, I didn't want to use an existing film for this course. So let's try to come up with something new instead. Now, this usually can be very hard and very challenging. So let's start with Act one. Ask yourself, who are your characters? Let's say our main character called Adam. He's 30. He's single. And he lives in New York. Now we have a basic. So we have Adam 30s lives in New York. We have the name, we have the age, and we have the location. So let's use this. Here we're going to introduce Adam. And we're going to cover who Adam is. We go to cover? What is he doing? Location. We're gonna show it's New York. One again, production you guys. And closer to minute 15, we're gonna establish a problem. I'm going to put it in capitals because I wanted to realize that this is very important and this is going to be plot 0.1. Let's establish who Adam is. For this example, let's say Adam is a simple pizza delivery guy who is broke, who lives in a terrible place, who is not very social, and in general, whose life is not what one would wish. Here we're going to show him doing some deliveries and maybe even being treated extremely bad. Location, New York, why not have a shot of a nice Brooklyn Bridge and Adam just sitting and thinking about what is his life? Where is his life going? What's next? Let's show Adam lost because we all as human beings can connect to that, someone being lost and not knowing what next. Now we're going to introduce a problem. And, guys, this can be anything doesn't has to be anything complicated. Let's say, in this case, the problem will be he's broke. He cannot pay rent. And his landlord comes and tells him that he has to move out. Simple. Now we have this guy who is in New York, God forbid it's winter, but we can make it December. It's freezing cold, he cannot afford his rent, and he has to move out. Now, look, this part is just 15 minutes long. And right now we have one, two, three, and four, and 15 divide four is 3 minutes, 70 seconds. As you can see, it's not that hard. Now, when this is done, what I like to do is I like to skip this part and I like to jump to midpoint. Now, midpoint is an event that will spin you story in completely different way. For example, how about someplace here, Adam meets a woman called Sarah who is very young in her 20s. And let's say she's drug addicted. And he would meet her somewhere here when he would have hardships surviving on the streets of New York. Now, this is not important how they meet as of right now because we're going to be working on that later when in the next video, we're going to do this 90s. I'll tell you more about that soon. So in this case, let's have a midpoint, something very, very big. Once again, depending on what kind of film you're trying to make, this can be anything. Let's make this film a drama. So in midpoint, Sarah will die. And it's going to be because of Adam's fault. Now, like I said, it's not important why and what happened yet. We can decide that later. Now, when midpoint is done, we can go to plot 0.2. Plot 0.2 is just like plot 0.1 is an event that will change the direction of your story. Look, right now, we have a guy who lost his place, who met a beautiful, smart woman during hard times, and then she died because of him. So obviously, his life is going to go downhill, maybe even depression. So let's say plot 0.2 is where Adam awakens. And he decides to change his life and show everybody like him in his situation that it's not all lost that as a human being, you can keep going no matter what. He opens a bakery and he decides to give 80% of his profits to fight drug addiction in New York. However, remember this is not the end of the film yet, and we can add more events here, as well as here, as well as here. Guys, I wanted to realize that I am creating this story in my mind as I'm making this course. I did not prepare for this. I did not research my characters because I want to be an example for you of what to do when you're starting a script. Sometimes you start a screenplay out of the blue. You just sit down and you decide, You know what? Today, I'm going to write a movie, and I'll shoot it myself. If that's the case, if you are like that, welcome to this course because it will help you. All you have to do is to keep yourself motivated and keep doing every single day, keep writing, even if it's one page a day. Before I mentioned that I'm able to write screenplay very fast, and that is because two things. One, I always do visual chart Number two, I always do nine ties. And we're going to be talking more about this in next video. 6. Back To 90s: I call this part back to the 90s. Here's why. As you can see, this page has 90 numbers. Average movie runs for 90 minutes. Each number corresponds to a scene, meaning what we have to do we have to come up with 100 short scenes that run for at least a minute, and we already have a feature film just like that. This is why I prefer this page to write in a screenplay because it's much faster, it's much more convenient, and it's visual. Of course, you can do it on your laptop, but I prefer old school piece of paper and a pen or pencil. Post this video anytime and download template attached below. Look, in this course, guys, I want to share with you the way I write film, and, of course, some of you will find it helpful, and some of you might find it not very helpful, which is fine. But however, I think if you follow my technique and my advice, you'll be able to write first draft of any script much faster and in general, be much more realistic about what you are trying to get. Now, do you need this to write a script? No, you don't, but we're going to be using this for this course. And in the next video, we're going to start filling this out and you will see that it makes a lot of sense to use. 7. Beginning, Middle And An End: Okay, guys, and now we are going to do the heavy lifting. Remember in previous video, we did this chart. Now we're going to use this template, which you can download, and we're going to transfer this information to this template and work on beginning, middle, and the end. So first thing we need to do is to find our plot point. And remember, like I said, every movie truly begins at minute 15. So this is going to be our plot 0.1. And this number is very important, guys. Now we're going to go back to the chart and we're going to transfer our problem, and that is not being able to pay rent. Here. I'm going to write being evicted. Now that's a problem because we don't want to end up on the street. Now, when we have that, we're going to go to number 70. I think I'm going to go plot 0.2. And once again, you're going to transfer our information. And in this case, this is a life changing moment for Adam. He awakens. So I'm just going to write Adam awakens. Now we have a midpoint. This is going to be number 45, and I'm going to write midpoint. And this is Sara dies. Now we have plot 0.1 being evicted. Plot 0.2, Adam awakens. This is going to be life changing for our character, and midpoint, Sara dies. Remember, she dies because of Adam's fault, which is already quite powerful. Remember, guys, we need to build this roller coaster. We need to keep our audience always on the edge. Now when we have this information, we have to start working on Act one, Act and Act. And now we have visual representation. This would be Act one. This would be Act two, and this would be Act. I'm going to write it here so it's clear. Act Act two, and Act one. Here we go. So we have three acts, and we need to make sure they are dynamic. We need to make sure our audience can relate and connect and stay around and find out what's going to happen next. So since we already came up with some information in the previous chart for Act one and Act three, and we have a midpoint, first thing we're going to do, we're going to transfer existing information to our batter plan. I like to call this battle plan. So to start, we need to obviously introduce our character. So I say, Adam, apartment work. And let's say he's at home, he wakes up, he realizes he's late for work. This way, we can see who is he, what's his living condition, and where he's heading. 1 minute to introduce him is enough now. Then we're going to introduce the city let's say he's rushing to work through New York, then we're going to introduce his job. He arrives to work. And remember, guys, each one of these is just a minute, and it's not hard to feel this for a minute. Now, I'm going to skip few scenes and I'm going to go to, let's say, scene ten, and I'm going to write broke. This is when Adam will realize that he's broke. He can go to ATM or maybe he can get a call from the bank telling him that he's overdraft and he needs to deposit some money in his account can be anything to make him realize that he has no money, which eventually down the road, just in one, two, three, four, five scenes will lead to him being evicted. And as an example, let's say in scene 13, what I'm going to do is I'm going to add landlord warning. In this scene, landlord will warn him that he has to pay money because he will be evicted. In scene 14, we're going to have Adam asking friend for money. Obviously, his friend will say no, which once again leads to him being evicted. Now we have marked this bakery here. I'm going to go to act two to about scene 77 and add bakery. Let's say Adam walks down the street, he sees this old abandoned closed bakery and now he has interest. Maybe he makes a call and get some information about the bakery. Is it vacant? Can he rent it? Then maybe he goes to bank and he's rejected. He tried to get money, he's rejected. I'm going to go a little bit here, and this is going to be success. He gets approved. He gets the money. Here, he opens the bakery. Next scene, line of people outside, everybody's happy. Now here at midpoint, we have Sarah dies. We're going to go to Midpoint in here and we can work around on how did she die? Maybe at scene 43, they've been at a party, had fun. Maybe on scene 44, Adam he got some free drugs and he offered to Sarah despite knowing that she has addiction problem and it's hard for her to handle herself. Now we're going to go back and here we have just after plot 0.1, Adam meets Sarah. So here, it can be anywhere. But because our character, Sara and Adam, they both have addiction problem, let's make them meet at the shelter. Adam meets Sarah. They meet, sparks emerges between them and the rest is history. Here, I'll just quick make a note. Let's say for good ten scenes, I want to have romantic journey between them. I'll just write romance. Adam plus Sarah, A plus S, to be sure. After she dies because of his fault, he blames himself. Of course, remember, we are human beings. So what I'm going to do is jump to in scene 45. She dies. I'm going to jump to 46, and he's at the hospital. Adam at the hospital, maybe like a nice dramatic scene. He's sitting in the hallway, not knowing what to do, crying. I want to show Adam as a human being that's lost. Now, remember, guys, all of this is a roller coaster. So I'm going to go to number 50, and I'm going to write Adam tries to commit suicide. Tries to commit suicide, but he fails. And I hope at this point, you get an idea. Look, as of right now, we have a couple of scenes in Act one. We have a couple of scenes at Act three, and we have a couple of scenes at Act two. Guys, this, I think, is one of the best ways to write a film because it's all there in front of you. And what you have to do next, once you have Act one, Act, and Act two, is you see those blank spaces that's purely for you. Now once Act one, Act two, and Act three out of the way the structure, the general structure, you have the most important scenes out of the way, of course, you can change them. But once those important scenes are already on paper, now it's purely up to your creative mind. Sit down and here, you write whatever you want. Remember, every movie is different. Make it emotional roller coaster if it has. For example, here, I mark those ten scene as romance, and this can be anything walks next to the river, having cute dates, doing cute stuff, giving her flowers, smiles, going to the museums, so on and so on. Guys, it can be anything you want. Once again, it all depends on the story training to tell. And this is where our differences as screenwriters truly come to light because some of us can tell the story by including a lot of details. Each one of these scenes can contain details. Our job my job right now is to show you the to make those details visible to you. When you write the script for the film, it's not about the format. It helps, especially if you want to send it to festivals, but it's all about details. It's all about what you include in those scenes and it's all about your scenes being connected to each other. Remember, those scenes, they build the sequence and the sequence makes the film. So each scene you write in here, has to be connected to the previous and to the next one. As a screenwriter, as a filmmaker, never include a scene that's not relative to your story. If you have this fancy location that you want to use in the film, just because you have it, stop. Don't do it. In every film, Act two is going to be the hardest to write. That's because it's the longest. And your job as a screenwriter is to keep your audience engaged. And this is where I'm going to reveal why I like to work this way. Attention span is very short now, and I would rather prefer having 90 scenes that are 1 minute long than fewer scenes that run for longer. Remember, attention span is very short. And so far from my experience, by having more scenes, but shorter scenes that are connected to each other, that tell the story, this is the key, short scenes that tell the story, the scenes that influence the next scene and the next scene and the next scene until you get to the end of the movie. Personally, for making five feature films and writing a lot more I found this way is the best way for independent filmmaker to write a film that they can realistically shoot, and that is entertaining. Because remember, guys, at the end of the day, it's all about entertainment. People go to watch movies because they are bore. They want to experience a story. So give them that experience. Don't let your audience lose interest in your film. And in the next video, I'm going to give you some tips on how to make Act one, Act two, and Act three more interesting, more dynamic. So let's 8. Make Act I, II and III Better: Guys, we are almost done. Now, this course will be complete without few but very important tips. So this video is all about tips. Let's go in order and start with Act one. First thing you need to do is to establish your characters. Your characters are going to be the few, the core of the film, and it's very important for us for the audience to like them. Number two, is you need to establish the environment. Where is your story taking place? This can be a city. This can be a specific location. Show our audience where exactly this story is happening. Number three is establish mood for your film. This can be tricky because some films begin and change as the story progresses, but try to establish the mood for your film. What kind of film are you making? Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Is it a horror? Is it a suspense? Be sure to establish your mood as soon as possible because different audiences prefer different kind of a movie. As a filmmaker, it's very important to know your targeting audience, and some people who really enjoy comedy movies might not enjoy horror films as much. Number four, establish your time period. When does your story take place? What year or what era? Again, this is important and showing when your film is happening adds to the story. It's just small detail that makes a big difference. Is it in the future? Is it in the past? Is it at the present? Or maybe it's a time show. Show it. Number five, establish a problem. What is the problem your character has to face? This is the first problem of the film. In the example we show today, first problem is obviously he has no money, or maybe even he's about to lose his job, and the next couple of scenes, he's going to face the eviction. And that can be the problem number two. Remember, it's all about a roller coaster. Number six, establish the want, the need of your character. What does your character want? What's their goal? What's their dream? Show it here. Show how far they are willing to go. We are all human and we always want Samson. Even if some of us are extremely rich and looks like we have everything, I promise there is Samson we want. Maybe it's love, maybe it's something else. And number seven, last thing to conclude Act one, introduce your antagonist. Who is the bad guy in the movie? What have they done to be bad? How are they connected to our protagonist? Are they connected at all? Or are their stories parallel? And now let's talk about Act two. This might be the hardest act to write. Once again, those tips are general depending on what kind of movie are you trying to make? Is it a comedy? Is it a horror? Is it adventure? These tips are general just to give you an idea in which direction to keep Number one, as soon as Act two begins, you need to establish a new goal. What is that new thing that your character wants? In the example we come up for this course, it can be as simple as to finding a new place to sleep. Because, trust me, depending on where you are, even in a big city, it can be extremely hard to find a nice and safe and warm place to sleep. Second, two, complicate and raise the stakes. In other words, make it harder for your character. Imagine your character spent a night looking for a safe place to sleep. They found safe what looks like a safe place to sleep, only to be beaten up and robbed. Now, what we just did, we rose the stakes. Now they got nothing. No money, no idea. It's winter and they have nowhere to go. And remember, guys, once again, it all depends on what kind of film you're trying to make. Number three, introduce a big story. Maybe a character bumps into somebody they used to know that are willing to help them. Or maybe there is another story happening at the same time that our protagonist is not aware of. Number four, change the direction of your story. Anything up to this moment your character thought they want is not important anymore. This is the moment when your story spins in totally opposite direction. This is a point in story that has a very important and very dramatic event that changes the entire direction of the story. Number five, force your character to make a choice. Give the option A and option B, and force them to make a choice. Way we as an audience watching the film can see that our characters are human too, and nothing is perfect, and they have to make a choice, which sometimes can be quite scary. Number six, once again, raise the stakes, make it all on nothing, literally. Make sure your character understands that whatever happens next can either lead to success or they can lose it all. Number seven, reveal arts. Introduce an unexpected twist in a story that literally nobody expected to see. Once again, guys, I mentioned this before, but it's all about Roller Coaster, and it's all about keeping our audience engaged. More story, more details, more big story, more events that influence your story, the better. Because remember, all we're trying to do, we're trying to build the sequence that will make our movie. And now, last but not least Act three. Now, a good way to start Act three is to introduce the lowest point for your character. Don't be afraid to show your character miserable. Don't be afraid to show your character suffering. This is how we humans connect to each other. We relate to the emotions we are going through. This is how you build even stronger connection between your audience and your character. Make it seem like it's over. There is no way out. Number two, show them dealing with the problem. Show them literally getting off their *** and fighting back. Number three, realization or it's also called false hope. Show your character that there is a possibility they might win. Number four, raise the stakes. Whatever the problem is, your character is fighting, escalate that. Make sure our audience realizes that if our character loses, they will lose everything. Number five, it's all about winning or losing. This is where your character either wins or loses. This is big outcome of your story. Now, once again, it all depends on what kind of story you're trying to tell, your character can either win or it can lose. It's all up to you as a writer. And last but not least the final scene. Guys, I don't even know how to say how important this is. Final scene of your movie well, this is how your movie is going to remember. If your final scene is weak, your movie will not be very successful. Some of the best movies, the very last scen of the film is so memorable. There sometimes when you think of the movie title, the last scene comes to head. And this is how powerful final scene can be. So however you want to end your movie, make sure it's powerful enough for your audience to remember. 9. How To Approach Rewrites: Guys, first of all, congratulations. You just wrote a feature film. That's admirable. Now, what next? Well, you have two options. Number one, stick with your script and go and shoot it. Go and make your film. Number two, rewrite. You probably have heard the saying that nothing is written, it's rewritten. That's for a reason. However, the trick about screenwriting is that sometimes you are never happy with your outcoming. You always want to rewrite. Case, it's good to maybe get an external opinion from a friend, filmmaker or maybe an agent and see what they have to say about your script. Because sometimes you don't even realize that what you wrote is already amazing and ready to be made into an amazing film. But if you don't want to share it with anyone and you're not on deadline yet, and if you haven't started your pre production yet, maybe it's a good idea to start some rewrites. So here are a few tips on rewrites. Highly recommend you before you make any changes to the script, back up your project. Literally. Just save a copy of your file to some external hard drive that can be saved. Because sometimes what happens when you get carried away with rewrites, you change your script completely to another film. It happened to me, guys. Once in LA, I wrote a film called Heavens Light and it became despair. I would just recommend you sit down, have a coffee. Read your script a couple of times because sometimes what happens when you go through the same script all over again and again, there are some things that will become obvious to you that probably don't work for the story, or maybe you would like to enhance them or maybe you would like to remove or even move them around. That's totally fine because what we are doing now we are rewriting the script. Also another thing to keep in mind the rewrite is maybe there is something that you cannot get for your film, for example, location or very expensive or unaffordable prop. If that's the case, maybe it's just better to talk to your producer, director, and just remove it from the script because what happens if you lock your script right now and you're going to go to pre production and then to production when you get to the shooting stage and you cannot shoot that scene, well, it leaves a gap in your film, and then you're going to have to improvise on set, and that might influence the quality of your film. Rewrite is the magical in between phase where you're supposed to just sit down and just read the script all over again and make changes as you read. One final tip of advice I'm going to give you each time you are happy with the rewrite, you change to draft one, draft two, draft three, and so on this way, you know that it was a rewrite of previous draft and you don't get confused with all of the versions of 10. Screenwriting Tips: Alright, we got this far looking good. Let me give you some few more tips. Screen lengths. How long a screenplay should be. Well, to answer this question is actually very difficult because different story requires different time to be told, right? As a general rule of time, screenplay for a feature film should be 90 pages long, and one page equals to 1 minute. But like I said, that's subjective because according to Academy standards, a feature film is something that has a runtime 50 and more minutes. So since this course is concentrated for independent filmmaking, I would highly recommend you not to cross 90 minute mark because usually independent films they lack in different departments, and the longer your film is, more chances there are that you will lose your audience as you go. So I would recommend you to stick to 90 minute rule. The other thing I wanted to mention is index cards. And index cards are simple nodes that you can use to help you write your film in more efficient and faster way. Let me show you what I mean. For example, if we have three scenes exterior house, interior diner an interior car. In this order, as I mentioned, what we can do and this is the beauty of index cards, I can move them. For example, if I want to start with interior diner, followed by exterior house, followed by interior car, we can simply change the order visually before we commit to write. Many screenwriters prefer this way because you can simply move index cards around and see what works for you. I started writing screenplays this way. In fact, my first five future film screenplays were written very fast because of index cards. I really enjoyed it, but then I discovered the 90s way and I stick to that to this day. So far, I found that the 90s way is the most efficient and the fastest way to write the first draft of the script. After that, of course, you go to Rewrite and you make your story as best as possible. 11. Copyright: Copyrights. Listen, guys, we are all adults. Let's just talk about copyrights. You know, we just have to get this once and for all out of the way. Sometimes you heard the stories that screenwriter wrote a film and it got stolen by some other filmmaker or an agent or a studio. Well, let me tell you one thing. If you don't protect your stories, it will be absolutely stolen, and there is nothing you can do because you cannot protect an idea. Anybody can have an idea that's very similar to you. However, there is one thing I always do when I finish a script, and that is I would print a final draft of the script. Put it in an envelope, seal it, take it to the post office, and send it to myself. And once it arrives, I will not open it. I will put it in a box with other scripts like that. And God forbid, if one day a time will come to court, I will bring that envelope. I will let the judge open that envelope for the first time and see that I wrote that script on that day. When you send it, however, it's very important. It's crucial, in fact, that it specifies the day and time it was delivered. Luckily, in our day and time, every delivery service does it. This might sound crazy, but guys, this way of protecting your own word goes a long way in Hollywood, and it's for a reason because it works. If you don't like this option, there are other ways. Now, I'm not going to go very specific on this because I don't know where you are watching this from, but if you are from UK, US, Canada, Australia, all of those countries they have copyright offices where you can go in for a small fee register your work. The only downside about that is usually it's only for five to ten years copyright, and then you have to renew it. Which hence why I like to do the old school way, it is put in envelope and mail it to myself. But take copyright seriously. Technically, as soon as you write the story, you are the copyright owner of that story. But we live in a very tricky time. So try to protect 12. Conclusion: Guys, thank you so much for sitting through this course, and I hope the information I provided you today is going to help you make your film because screenwriting, unfortunately, is very hard craft and very underrated. I hope that what you learned today will help you make your film, get your film out there, and start or advent your filmmaking career. And as always, happy screenwriting. I hope you are going to be the next big screenwriter.