How To Write A Screenplay And Make Sure It Gets Read

By Author: William Thomas
Total Articles: 38
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Anyone can learn how to write a screenplay, the tricky bit is figuring out how to get the people who are in charge of deciding which films get made to read it. Obviously, it's critical that you put hours into learning how to create believable, compelling characters, plots that reel in readers and realistic dialogue. However, you also need to know how to sell your movie idea. And to do that you're going to have to sell your idea and figure out a way to get people hooked by making sure that they understand what makes your film special and unique from the word go.
There are numerous books and courses that claim to teach you how to write a screenplay, but too often they leave out the nuts and bolts of how to sell your idea and get others on board and excited to see your vision become a reality.
Film producers and studio executives are given thousands of pitches a year. They very quickly learn to make quick decisions so that they can find the gems quickly based on their gut impression of your quick pitch.
So you see when it comes to getting your movie made, learning how to write a screenplay is just half of what ...
... you need to do. You also need to hone a description of who your characters are, the goal that they are trying to achieve and what events or adversaries will get in their way as they attempt to succeed.
Beyond that, you have to be able to quickly explain without hesitation what makes your movie idea unique and compelling and worthy of being produced over other films with similar premises.
If you can't say what is special and unique about your script then you need to spend some more time with it until you can tell people without hesitation what makes your script stand out.
Let's look at one example from a recently popular film "Meet the Parents". If somebody were to ask, hey what about the concept of "Meet the Parents is so special and unique?" you could say answer like this:
The thing that stands out about this film is that the character of Greg Focker goes on a journey from boy to man during the comedy by forcing him to act outside of his natural character and comfort zone and lie to reach his goal even though his foe is basically a human lie detector.
What it does is amplify the already fraught event of meeting your future in-laws and requesting their blessing in marrying their daughter but having to use a useless strategy of lying and lying and lying even though the antagonist is a highly trained ex-CIA agent.
That's what makes "Meet the Parents" a unique film. It marries this already tender, romantic yet stressful human event and amplifies it by adding a futile struggle against an undefeatable foe.
This is what you have to remember as you learn how to write a script. Although learning the mechanics of how to properly format a script is important and it's crucial that you hone your craft until you can use dialogue to move the action forward and create a compelling, engaging movie you also have to be thinking about how you'll sell this movie so that you can earn a living doing this and see your dreams come to fruition.

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