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Rules of the Road As you embark on writing your first draft, its helpful to get acquainted with the formatting rules and expectations around your project. This is helpful not only because it will help you figure out a goal for how many pages you should be writing each day to reach your goal, but also because if you ever want to sell your project, it will need to be in proper length format. Depending of whether you're writing a screenplay, TV show, or novel there are very different expectations. I've outlined each for you below: Screenplays - can be anywhere from 90 to 110 pages. Technically you can get away with more pages, but the more pages it is, the more it will cost to produce (and the less distributors are interested. Scripts usually translate to a page a minute, so a 120 page script is a 2 hour movie. This is fine if you’re Scorsese or Tarantino but its hard for anyone else to get away with it.) To learn the proper rules of formatting a screenplay click here (I highly recommend using script software that will automatically format it for you. More on that in another lesson) TV Pilots - if your project is meant for television, the game is a little different. You’ll need to write both a pilot (a first episode) and a Bible (which is a vision for the whole show, detailed explanations of the arc of the main characters the audience will be following, examples of future storylines, themes you'll explore.) More than just a well written script, they are looking for you to really sell them on the characters and concept. They want to see if it has the legs to run for a long time. I recommend taking the first 6 weeks to write the Bible and then the 2nd 6 weeks to write your Pilot episode. As far as page numbers it can get a little picky too. If you envision your show as a network show, then you have to follow very specific guidelines for both ½ hour (22 minute) and 1 hour scripts (48 minutes) as they expect very specific act breaks to make room for commercials. The 1/2 hr show is often between 22 - 45 pages long and the hour long show is between 45 - 75 pages. (It's best to look at sample scripts of successful network shows to learn by example. I'll provide in the next section). If you envision your show on a streaming platform, then there is wiggle room for it to be a little longer, as they don’t have commercials and are not confined to a strict timeline. But, if you're not sure, it's best to just stick with the network standard. To get even more detailed info on formatting and page length for TV scripts click here . The Particulars of Screenwriting (vs. Novels) In order to enter this discussion properly, it helps to think big picture about what a screenplay actually is. It's not really a piece of writing meant for readers. What it actually is is a blue print meant for film producers, directors, DP's, production designers, actors and on and on to use as their workbook in order to produce a film. Each of them are using your script, marking it up all over the pages, in service of what they are bringing to the table in order to make this film real. And there is a very specific industry standard for the way they expect that information to be delivered. So here are my best tips to ensure your storytelling fits inside of the industry standard they are expecting. Remember that film is a visual medium. As writers you hear the term "show, don't tell" over and over again, but in film you need to times this by 10. Two characters talking to each other in an uninteresting setting is never going to fly in the film world. You need to tell your story as much through the environment and the action taking place on screen (what we're seeing) as you do the dialogue (or what we're hearing.) Every scene needs a strong beginning, middle and end. At the end of the day, a screenplay is just a series of scenes, strung together, that make up a story. Each scene must have a strong beginning, middle and end and it must have a reason for being. Screenwriting is a very concise form of writing (only 110 pages typically) and therefore there is no room for wandering. A scene needs to matter or its gone. Now to be clear, when I say a beginning of a scene, I don't mean that quite so literal. Sometimes a scene could start right at the heat of a moment. For the audience it could feel like they're walking in on something. What I mean by beginning, middle and end is more from the story arc point of view that the characters start at one point of their knowing at the top of the scene and are at another point by the time it's done. Setting. Location Description. Actions. Dialogue. As I mentioned, since a screenplay is a blue print for a film, the parameters within which you can express your story are very specific. Essentially with every scene you are only allowed to write the: Setting - which establishes for the film crew which location the action will be taking place, whether its inside or outside, and what time of day it is. These are all very important things for a film crew to know as they often base their entire schedules around them. In the format of the script, it is expected that its always the first thing you establish at the top of each scene you write and should be as simple as for e.g. INT. BOB'S KITCHEN - NIGHT Location Description - if its the first time we've ever been in this particular location, then the very next thing you need to write is a very brief description of what the location looks like. This is for the production designer to know. For e.g. the kitchen is a disaster with beer bottles and a molding loaf of bread on the counter. If a few scenes later you return to the kitchen in your story and nothing has changed, you don't have to say anything, but if it's suddenly clean you do need to mention it. Anything the production designers and set dressers need to know. It also "shows" rather than tells a lot about your characters and or circumstances, so you have a chance to pack a lot of storytelling in these brief descriptions of what we're seeing. You just don't get to make a comment on it about why. You have to let it stand and paint a picture for your audience. Trust that they are gathering the information and getting a full picture of this story as you slowly supply it, just like you do when you watch a movie. You don't always know why something has been established at first, but eventually you do. Actions - Once you've established the setting and description of where this scene is taking place, now you have to describe the action taking place. Yet again, the description of the action needs to be as concise as you can make it, and it truly has to be a description of what we're "seeing" emphasis being on "see". As a screenwriter, you do not have the luxury of saying what your character is thinking or feeling in order to move the story forward (like in a novel), instead you are challenged to figure out how to convey the characters thoughts and feelings relevant to the scene via their physical actions and behaviors and then let the actor take it from there. For e.g. she drums her finger on the kitchen table rather than saying she is nervous or impatient, or she avoids eye contact, staring a hole through her shoes rather than saying she's feeling guilty. This takes practice, of course, but it is so worth it because, truth be told, 90% of communication in real life is via body language, and so being forced to communicate your story via body language and physical actions forces a level of believability into your writing. Unlike the setting and location description which usually only happen once at the top of the scene, the descriptions of the action taking place obviously happens through out the scene and usually toggles back and forth between dialogue and action, dialogue and action. ***Important pro tip: don't overdue it with the action. You do not have to write every little thing the characters are doing, just the actions that are important to know in order to move your story forward, or get to know the character and their personality better. Actors and directors pride themselves on being able to interpret characters and actions and want to add a layer of truth onto the story themselves, so they don't need you to overly direct the action from the page. Dialogue - and then of course there is the dialogue. What your characters are saying with their words. I have created a whole exercise in regards to creating great dialogue, but the main thing to remember here is that in real life people seldom say what they mean, or mean what they say. And they seldom speak in the form of monologues except in those moments when they are on their soap box about something. Also dialogue is more than what a character is saying to another person, its a chance for you to convey so much about what type of person they are by the way they talk. Whether they speak fast or slow. With a lot of slang or perfect English. This is yet again a chance for you to "show" rather than "tell". Each time a character speaks in a script - you have to put the characters name and then the dialogue, letting the actor know this is their characters turn to speak. For e.g.... PAM You little shit. What makes you think you can come in here and steal my chicken. So that's really the main things you need to keep in mind with screenwriting. To give you a quick example of how the masters tackle it, here a scene from the pilot episode of Scandal. Watch the way she handles all the things I just talked about and be amazed! So good. (Also FYI - this is a shooting script - meaning the crew has already gotten a hold of it and created scene numbers and its likely undergone many revisions which is why there are occasionally large gaps in text etc. Your script wouldn't have all the notes or large gaps of space.)