Screenwriting: Learn the Craft
Everything here is written for someone who intends to finish a draft, not someone collecting theory. Structure, loglines, treatments, page counts and the rewrite passes, in the order you actually need them.
What Is a Logline? Examples, Formula & Free Generator
A logline is one sentence that says who a screenplay is about, what they want, what stands in the way, and what it costs them to fail. It is not a summary of the …
Guide 2 of 12How to Write a Logline That Sells Your Script
Write the logline in a fixed order: the ending first, then the want, then the obstacle, then the irony, and only then cut it to a single sentence of 25 to 50 words. Each …
Guide 3 of 12Logline Examples: 20 Strong and Weak Loglines Compared
Ten weak loglines, each rewritten into the version that fixes the specific fault, with a note on what changed and why. Every pair is an invention written for this page rather than a real …
Guide 4 of 12What Is a Beat Sheet? Save the Cat and 3-Act Structure Explained
A beat sheet is a list of a screenplay's major story beats, each with an approximate page number where it lands. It is a structural map rather than an outline: the outline says what …
Guide 5 of 12What Is a Treatment? Screenplay Treatment Format Explained
A treatment is the whole story written out in present-tense prose: no sluglines, no character cues, no scene numbers, usually between five and twenty-five pages. It exists so a producer, financier or executive can …
Guide 6 of 12What Is a Screenplay? A Complete Beginner's Guide
A screenplay is the written blueprint for a film: the story told in scene headings, action, character names, dialogue and transitions, formatted so that one page runs close to one minute of screen time. …
Guide 7 of 12How to Write a Screenplay: A Step-by-Step Guide
Writing a screenplay is a repeatable process, not a talent lottery. You find a premise you can state in one sentence, break it into beats, draft fast and badly, read it aloud, then rewrite …
Guide 8 of 12How to Write a Short Film
A short film is not a small feature. It runs five to fifteen pages, commits to a single idea, and delivers one turn the audience did not see coming. Everything that makes a feature …
Guide 9 of 12How Long Is a Screenplay? Page Counts and Runtime
A feature screenplay runs 90 to 120 pages, and 110 pages is the centre that keeps readers and producers comfortable. Comedy tends to land nearer 90–100 and drama nearer 105–120. Page count matters because …
Guide 10 of 12How Many Screenplay Pages Equal One Minute?
One page of a standard-formatted screenplay equals roughly one minute of finished screen time. The word doing the work in that sentence is roughly: the ratio is an average across a whole script, not …
Guide 11 of 12How to Write Character Introductions in a Screenplay
Introduce a character the first time they appear on screen: their name in ALL CAPS, an age in parentheses if it matters, and one short phrase or action that tells the reader who they …
Guide 12 of 12How to Write Action Lines in a Screenplay
Action lines describe what the camera sees and the microphone hears, in the present tense, in the third person, with the character as the subject of the verb. Everything else follows from one constraint: …