How to Write Your Movie Script

You have a great idea for a movie that is sure to be a hit. Now you just need to write the script for your movie so that you can pitch it to the movers and shakers in the movie industry that can get it onto the big screen. The pointers outlined below following will help you to write a professional and polished movie script that has a better chance of a reading by industry execs, than the chance of a toss into the nearest garbage can.

Before You Sit Down to Write Your Movie Script

An idea or concept for a movie idea is fantastic; however, you need to take care of some preliminary work before you actually sit down to the work of writing your movie script.

• Brainstorm and flesh out all of the details involved in your idea so that you have a solid foundation of understanding about what you want to convey with your movie, the genre your movie will fall under, and where to go with your movie idea from this point.
•Research the genre that best matches the type of story your movie depicts, and learn the rules of writing, and script writing for that specific genre.
•If, your story takes place in locations and settings that you are not familiar with or your characters speak a foreign language, research these details so that you have the information you need to create strong storylines, characters, and dialogue throughout your story.
•Develop an outline so that you can follow and track characters and scenes as you create them to make sure you have not forgotten important elements for your story.
◦You can divide your outline into three sections. The first is the opening, in which you introduce the hero, the dilemma the hero needs to conquer, as well as introducing the story’s antagonist, and supporting characters. The second section is where you give the story’s protagonist a centralized positioning to the dilemma faced in the story. Here is where you also heighten a sense of anxiety and hopelessness towards successfully conquering the dilemma. In the third section, the hero enters amidst great anxiety and hopelessness to an intense confrontation to which he or she must triumph over for closure to the story’s dilemma.

Now you are ready to get down to the writing of your script. Follow these guidelines to writing a movie script to industry standards.


Industry Standard for Movie Script Formatting

•Font: Courier
•Size: 12 pt.
•Spacing: Single
•Page Numbers: Do not start numbering your pages until the second page of your script
•Header: Do not place on the cover or first page of your script. Starting on the second page of your script, right-justify the header and include script title, and page number within the header
• Cover Page: Centered, No Header and No Page Number, Script Title, Author’s Name, and Copyright Info, Hit Enter-Once, Justify Left, Input Author Contact Information
•Script Opening: Use-Fade In
•Script Ending: Use-Fade Out
•Script Voice: Present Tense
•Setting/Scene Labeling: Use-INT for indoor settings and EXT for outdoor settings. Include a description of where and what time of day scene action and character dialogue takes place. An indoor setting/scene label could look like this. INT. Kitchen- Early Morning //or// EXT. Driveway- Sunset.
• Character Dialogue: Hit tab button 4 times and type the name of the character before hitting return, and then hitting the tab button again three times, which you will then be ready for typing in the dialogue. ◦Attempt to keep all dialogue within the width span of two tabs however if it spills over into another page, end the previous page with Continued on Next Page, and Open the next page with: Continued.◦ Whenever you make references to speaking characters in your script, their names should be in all CAPS.

Julie Morris, Freelance writer. The Write Station LLC, 2009. All rights reserved. Contact author about this article.