Field guide 01 · 4 lessons

Story Foundations

Premise, story, theme and the essential decisions that give a screenplay a reason to exist.

Field guide 01

Essential reading

Build the foundation before the technique.

Start with what a screenplay must communicate and how writing for the screen differs from prose and theatre.

Understand when the terms overlap and which format film, television, stage and audio writers should use.

Read in order, or pick what you need today

How to tell whether an idea has enough life for a whole film—and what to do when it is still only a promising fragment.

A clear way to describe your film in one sentence without squeezing all the life out of it.

How to give a screenplay something to say without making your characters sound as though they know they are in an essay.

How to create the particular feeling of your film, keep it consistent and still leave room for surprise.