ABSTRACT

Prewriting Your Screenplay cements all the bricks of a story’s foundations together and forms a single, organic story-growing technique, starting with a blank slate. It shows writers how to design each element so that they perfectly interlock together like pieces of a puzzle, creating a stronger story foundation that does not leave gaps and holes for readers to find. This construction process is performed one piece at a time, one character at a time, building and incorporating each element into the whole.

The book provides a clear-cut set of lessons that teaches how to construct that story base around concepts as individual as the writer’s personal opinions, helping to foster an individual writer’s voice. It also features end-of-chapter exercises that offer step-by-step guidance in applying each lesson, providing screenwriters with a concrete approach to building a strong foundation for a screenplay. This is the quintessential book for all writers taking their first steps towards developing a screenplay from nothing, getting them over that first monumental hump, resulting in a well-formulated story concept that is cohesive and professional.

part Act 1|51 pages

Story origins

chapter 1|20 pages

Premise

chapter 2|22 pages

Genre

chapter 3|7 pages

The brainstorm

part Act 2|108 pages

Character creation

chapter 4|8 pages

Character development

chapter 5|18 pages

Protagonist

chapter 6|14 pages

Antagonist

chapter 7|6 pages

Can the protagonist be the antagonist?

chapter 8|14 pages

Love interests

chapter 9|12 pages

Mentor

chapter 10|7 pages

Dual mentors

chapter 11|12 pages

Allies

chapter 12|15 pages

Final reflections on characters

part Act 3|46 pages

Culmination

chapter 13|5 pages

Some assembly required

chapter 14|6 pages

From concept to story

chapter 15|8 pages

Loglines

chapter 16|20 pages

Three-act structure

chapter 17|5 pages

Reverse engineering from plot to premise