I came across this interesting article, Hollywood's Best Kept Secret: The Expanded Scene Breakdown on Writerstore.Com
It gives some really good pointers on the process of writing a screenplay.
Starting with a five (5) step process:
Step One - Come up with an Idea
Step Two - Write a Mini-treatment
Step Three - Develop and write a Scene Breakdown
Step Four - Further develop and write in more detail an Expanded Scene Breakdown, and then finally,
Step Five - Sit down and write the Script
It's Christopher's belief that if you 'follow this process (then) your script will be exponentially better than if you went straight to the script'. I happen to agree with him! At my internship, I read Treatments and Scene Breakdowns before the screenwriter has even written a word of the script.
Step Two - Write a Mini-treatment
Step Three - Develop and write a Scene Breakdown
Step Four - Further develop and write in more detail an Expanded Scene Breakdown, and then finally,
Step Five - Sit down and write the Script
It's Christopher's belief that if you 'follow this process (then) your script will be exponentially better than if you went straight to the script'. I happen to agree with him! At my internship, I read Treatments and Scene Breakdowns before the screenwriter has even written a word of the script.
So, what else does Christopher suggest?
1. Write the story idea in a page or two.
2. Structure the mini-treatment in four pages, in three acts, using prose. Focus on the big events, as if you’re speaking to a five-year with a short attention span.
3. Break the entire story down into one-line scene headings, showing where it happens and the main action of the scene with the reason for the scene’s being always feeding the context of the story. For each scene ask two questions: Who’s in the scene and what’s the central action?
Example: Joan tells Revi that her husband knows about their affair.
That’s it. One line per scene. Use the same four-page breakdown you used for the mini-treatment: Act I on Page 1; Act II on Pages 2 and 3; Act III on page 4. By doing this step you’ll see a lot of logic holes that need to be filled, scenes you need, scenes you don’t need. You’re starting to move in on the story, from a most exacting point of view.
4. Once you get this down, you begin the Expanded Scene Breakdown. Start with the Scene Breakdown from the beginning of Act I. Begin with the first scene heading and expand it, in prose, building in details, character, dialogue, atmosphere, and location, whatever you feel the scene needs. Load it up. When you get to the actual writing of the scene in the script you’ll have a lot to choose from.
Taking one scene after another, work your way through the entire script.
That’s it. One line per scene. Use the same four-page breakdown you used for the mini-treatment: Act I on Page 1; Act II on Pages 2 and 3; Act III on page 4. By doing this step you’ll see a lot of logic holes that need to be filled, scenes you need, scenes you don’t need. You’re starting to move in on the story, from a most exacting point of view.
4. Once you get this down, you begin the Expanded Scene Breakdown. Start with the Scene Breakdown from the beginning of Act I. Begin with the first scene heading and expand it, in prose, building in details, character, dialogue, atmosphere, and location, whatever you feel the scene needs. Load it up. When you get to the actual writing of the scene in the script you’ll have a lot to choose from.
Taking one scene after another, work your way through the entire script.
Christopher believes that following these steps, and not just sitting infront of Celtx or your pad of paper and writing the screen play, is vital. Why? Because Christopher argues that:
If you jump too quickly into the actual writing of the screenplay, the work on the page becomes more permanent. The writer is less inclined to change something already written in screenplay stone.
The idea is that you 'test' out your idea. I think this is a great idea. I am a real believer in this. In all phases, I ask people advice on what they think, do they like it? Most importantly, would they watch it?
If not, I might think my premise is a good idea. But, just like a tree falling in a faraway forest is not heard by many, your screenplay may after months or years or toil and swea, it would be horrible if my screenplay was read or seen by even less.
But that's not to say give up, it just means that I need to try again. Back to step 1, come up with an idea....
If you would like to know more, I suggest reading Christopher's full article:
Hollywood's Best Kept Secret: The Expanded Scene Breakdown on Writerstore.Com
