ABSTRACT
Filmmakers and screenwriting teachers have established a number of universal scene-writing rules that apply to nonfiction storytelling as well. This chapter presents Screenplay structure, Scenes, Writing dialogue, Film grammar and cinematic writing, Setting scenes, Elegant exposition and Loglines. Every scene has a beginning, a middle and an end, and contains strong story elements like desire, action, conflict and change. That makes it “a story in miniature”, as screenwriting teacher Robert McKee puts it in his brilliant book Story. Recognising the difference between subtext and text is also what screenwriting professor Richard Walter emphasises aspiring screenwriters should focus on. Screenwriting has a tool for that, and Shonda Rhimes says in her MasterClass lesson on television writing, every pitch should start with a logline.
