Your Original Screenplay Idea (Developing)
Introduction
So, you were laying in bed one night, tired from a long day of work, and slowly drifted off to sleep. Your subconscious began playing a dreamlike aria… lulling you into a new world of pillowy clouds and warm breezes… when suddenly, your next big film idea struck! You jumped out of bed and ran to your computer, staying up all night writing your magnum opus until the bright morning sun met your eyes. You sat back, fingers interlocking behind your head, and felt a ray of light bounce across your forehead; you let out a sigh that said: I’ve done it.
Then, a bird crashed into your window, waking you from your delusional daze. You shook your head and glanced at your screen; No. No. No! Turns out, the feature script you wrote was really about thirty pages, lacked any substance/conflict, and had no identifiable protagonist.
Don’t worry, it’s okay! You are simply in the developmental phase of writing—a sometimes long and arduous journey you must take before getting that green light at the biggest studio in town!
“Don’t panic.” - Douglass Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy.
Prerequisites
Development can mean a number of things in the industry. At a studio, if a film is in development, it could mean that they have a writer and director attached to a project and are actively curating a story. It could also mean that they are optioning IP—intellectual property (story rights)—and searching for a writer to craft a story the execs would love. The bureaucracy of studios can slow the developmental process and even halt it all together if executives don’t like what they’re seeing; this is called Development Hell.
“When someone is directing a film, they're thinking about it every waking hour, and even processing it in their dreams. The problem is, if you're a studio executive, you tend to think about it for 10 minutes on a Wednesday.” - George Miller, about the making of Mad Max: Fury Road.
For the sake of this blog, we will define development as the literal ideation process of taking an idea and putting it into words to tell a compelling story.
Warm Up
Think of a few of your favorite movies. One of mine is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013), directed by Ben Stiller. Now that you have your favorite movies in mind, search up what their development processes looked like. Did an independent writer/filmmaker direct the films? Were the ideas such a massive hit amongst studio execs that they breezed through development and went straight into production? Or did they linger in Development Hell for eons? Walter Mitty sat in development for nearly nineteen years and faced a multitude of hurdles, such as five directors, four lead actors, three different studios, and even a lawsuit. Yikes.
“The Hollywood process is like trying to grill a steak by having a succession of people coming into the room and breathing on it.” - Douglass Adams, fighting through Development Hell while adapting The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy.
Ideally, your script will be so desirable it avoids the mess of studio auctions and optioning and jumps straight into production with ease!
So, You’ve Got an Idea, But Do You Have a Character?
Assuming you’ve already struck gold with a concept, let’s jump right into arguably the most important aspect of what makes a great script: characters! Who is your protagonist? How do they perceive the world and exist within it? How do they handle conflict? Who is their foil?
A story must have an identifiable protagonist, otherwise audiences won’t know who to give their energy to. Humans desire connection, and having an identifiable protagonist soothes that desire, even if your lead is dislikable. It’s highly recommended to have a character sheet, a separate document where you’ve written every attribute—physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, their backstory and how they speak or walk—of your character, making it easier to sit and write them.
Once you get an idea of who your person is, writing their dialogue becomes much easier! Many writers complain about the difficulties of dialogue, as it’s hard to make sound natural and not premeditated. I’d argue that once you’ve developed your character with your character sheet, it becomes much easier to write their dialogue, as you’d know how they would react to conflict in their words and actions.
“That's my job, that's what I do, I'd like to think if you're seeing me you're having the worst day of your life.” Jake Gyllenhaal as Lou Bloom from Nightcrawler, after Bloom filmed a man dying.
Note: Your protagonist does not have to be likeable! Many critically acclaimed films have lead characters who are detestable. Think The Social Network, Nightcrawler, and more recently, Obsession. Each of these story’s leads are dislikable and don’t have very many redeeming qualities (if any), and yet audiences feel enamored by them and will even root for their success. There’s something about a disgusting character that we love! (Perhaps it’s a projection of our own intrusive thoughts and a subconscious voyeurism we can’t get enough of, but that’s a longer conversation for another time.)
Steel, Cables, and Electrical Wires
I’m sure you were taught about story structure in elementary school, but it’s often overlooked when crafting a story! Story structure is what holds the story together; the scaffolding to a skyscraper. The metal wires beneath the clay in a stop-motion puppet. It’s how a story is told.
A story typically consists of three acts, with an inciting incident kicking off the story (Act I), rising action leading to the climax (Act II), the climax itself and falling action leading to a resolution (Act III). Syd Field, an author and TV producer, created his own paradigm, describing proven ways to hook an audience through story beats (plot points). Acts I and II should contain at least one plot point; these are meant to propel the story further into the action of Acts II and III.
Plot Point I could look like the character first encountering their arch nemesis and losing, or discovering something about themselves that they must overcome. Plot Point II is where the character is challenged by their foe—themselves or an opposing force—even more than before; this is a fulcrum moment for your character. How will they respond? Will they feel defeated? Or will they rise above?
Act II is incredibly valuable in a story. It’s where the midpoint and two “pinch points” exist. The midpoint of your script is where a new twist/plot point is introduced, revealing something new to your protagonist or audience. This moment is meant to engage the audience further in the dramatic premise, otherwise they could get bored or, even worse, guess the ending to your film; keep the audience on their toes! The pinch points work in tandem with the midpoint as they remind the audience of who your character is and how they respond to conflict. They are micro-challenges for your characters to face; whether they succeed or fail is up to you. Pinches act slightly differently than plot points as they help develop your character more, whereas plot points develop the plot more.
“When you're in the paradigm, you can't see the paradigm.” - Syd Field, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting.
The first ten pages of any script are vital! They act as the hook for your entire story; if the studio exec or the intern who lays first eyes on your script is bored, the remainder of the script likely won’t be read! If you can introduce your character(s), describe the dramatic premise (what the story is about), and delve into the dramatic situation all within the first ten pages, you’re golden!
“I hate you.” “But I love you.”
Conflict, conflict, conflict!
To synthesize an idea that Syd Field talks more in depth about in his book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting: Drama is conflict. No conflict, no character. No character, no action. No action, no story. No story, no screenplay. Every scene should contain some form of tension, whether it be interpersonal or personal.
Creating a foil to your protagonist is a great way to develop conflict in your story. Remember that character sheet you created for your protagonist? Let’s do it again, this time for your antagonist. This character should challenge your protagonist’s morals. What are the lengths your protagonist will go to succeed in their goals, and how does the antagonist impede those goals?
Conflict can look like many different things; of course, a character who represents the inverse of everything your protagonist represents is a surefire way to engage in conflict. But what if your character has a splitting headache throughout the entire film? What if no matter how much good they do for others, they are met with bad fortune in nearly every scene? What if they are on a journey home, driving across the country, but are met with roadblock after roadblock, never making it home by the end of the movie?
“All the things you wanted to be and then all the things you wished you never wished for. It was a delicious itch you want to scratch but you find it under the skin and can't reach it. So the delicious itch becomes unbearable. It told you what you most want is what you most can't have and that the most you can't have is what you already had and lost. It was a song of all the promises I failed to keep. And it told me I don't really want to go home.” - Matt Damon as Odysseus from The Odyssey, about the siren’s songs.
Adding a single line of dialogue is such a satisfying way to incorporate conflict. Though difficult, the outcome can lead to a spiraling set of new issues between each of your characters. This line doesn’t need to be between the protagonist and antagonist either, it could be between best friends, lovers, or two strangers. “I hate you.” “But I love you.”
Conflict is more than interpersonal; it can be situational, it can be emotional, philosophical, or even surreal, diving into the character’s psyche. No matter what you want to write, comedy or tragedy, conflict is everywhere. Just think about your own life. I doubt there’s been a day where nothing has gone wrong, and if there is, then that’s conflicting against the laws of nature!
Conclusion
Now that you’re a master at creating a character, developing an outline for your story to flow, and have loads of conflict for your character(s) to face, your script will soar! All you must do now is practice! Write as often as you can, even if it’s for thirty minutes a week. The more you write, the more second-nature storytelling will be to you, it just takes time, patience, and, of course, practice. Vomiting your idea onto the page is step one; refining it and using the techniques discussed in this blog is how you can elevate it from a too-short lackluster script into a green-lit master-class film.
So take a deep breath, feel that ray of light bounce across your forehead, and keep chugging along!
Resources
Your Script Is In Development, But What Does That Mean? - A few definitions of what development means in the film industry.
How to Develop a Movie Script — Characters, Structure & Goals - An in-depth checklist for laying a foundation for your script.
Script Writing: The A to Z of Script Writing Explained - The basics of script writing.
Scriptwriting Success: The Art of Writing for the Silver Screen - From ideation, to the act of writing, and to pitching your script, this article breaks down each step of development.
Inside Ben Stiller’s Daydreams: The Making of ‘Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ - Dive into the struggles of developing The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) with this behind-the-scenes article by The Hollywood Reporter.
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