A ROAD-MAP TO WRITING A HOLLYWOOD-CALIBRE SCREENPLAY

Writing (and rewriting) consumes anywhere from two months to a few years. It's mostly about hitting your head on a wall and spending quality time staring at a blank screen. I believe that once there's a concept, you trust the process. In the early phase there are dozens of ideas, but the one that stays and you can visualize through, is it!

So many script writing books, right and what is wrong. Legacy and opinions of their own. I was puzzled.Filmmaking has never been about black or white.I stumbled at one of the best posts about writing. Only in 20 steps.

1. Have a great idea for a movie, film or screenplay.

2. Get screenwriting software. Don’t worry, there are free options out there that are just as good as the paid options. Or, if you like to use a typewriter, learn Studio Format.

3. Choose your protagonist or main-character.

4. Choose the quest or goal he needs to accomplish by the end of the film (what the movie’s about).

5. Give him a character-arc or internal-conflict.

6. This character-flaw must be preventing your protagonist from succeeding in his goal or quest.

7. Choose a theme.

8. Create a First Turning-Point.

9. And a Second Turning-Point.

10. Create an Inciting-Incident or a Cold-Open.

11. Create a False-Victory or a False-Defeat for your Mid-Point.

12. Create your Supporting-Characters and their Sub-Plots.

13. Create your Love-Interest and your Love-Story (if required).

14. You know the basic outline of your plot by now (each of the three acts, the inciting-incident, and the two turning-points), so start structuring it!

15. Interweave the various plots into a cohesive whole.

16. Create your Final Battle.

17. Create your Climax.

18. Create your Denouement.

19. As you craft your structure and put it all together, make sure it conforms to the proper Page Counts.

20. Now, you literally have a road-map to your finished screenplay! You know, almost page-by-page what you have to accomplish! Now, it’s as simple and easy as sitting down with your roadmap and actually writing it all down! You spent a ton of time just planning ahead - and it all pays off now! It’s as easy as paint-by-numbers now! Just filling in the blanks! And, once you’re done, you’ll have a Hollywood-style screenplay under your belt!

It doesn't have to be perfect, yet. All you need to do is:

Write, Write & Write