how i write a short script

writing is hard. let me share with you how i go about it.

first is some loose concept. i don’t ever think “hmm, what should i write about.” i already have some kind of idea. i actually keep a big omni outliner file full of them. omni outliner is great for things like this. i have headings for ideas for shorts, features, places to keep snippets of dialogue i think, real bits of dialogue i hear in the street, character descriptions, words i make up, ideas for drawings or any other visual things, etc. it’s a rather large file. i also put a date next to any idea when i think of it just because i like to keep track of things like that. if you don’t already do this, start a collection of snippets for ideas. this way you don’t start from nothing.

ok so i review this file of ideas. certain things will interest me at different times. then i think of the parameters of the specific project. if it’s a short, i’ll consider length, budget, genre. this is before i write a single word. you have to know what the final product is going to be.

so i’m going to pretend i want to make a 10 minute short. i’ll look at my snippets of ideas and see what might fit, what interests me, and see if i can combine them to come up with something else.

i’ll use humpty dumpty as an example. once i have the general idea, i’ll outline it like this:

- humpty dumpty sitting on a wall.
- he falls.
- king’s horses and king’s men try to put him back together but can’t.

that’s my whole outline. i try to keep each sentence short. i don’t want too much detail. i just want to see the general flow of the story.

then i expand each of those main beats. let’s look at beat 2, where he falls. i’ll make lists of alternatives. maybe instead of falling, he’s pushed. or he’s tricked. or he didn’t fall, but the floor was poorly constructed and now he wants to sue. i’ll write down any questions that i’ll need to answer, like, was he alone? was he alseep? drunk? how high off the ground was he? etc. then under each of those, i’ll have a list of possible answers. i never take the first thing that comes to mind. i always try to fully explore the idea to get something more interesting.

when i get to this level where i’m analyzing each beat, i always end up changing the story because you get more ideas, you realize some things don’t work, and other things are more interesting. so then i’ll revise my outline to reflect that.

- humpty dumpty sitting on a wall.
- he’s depressed, he jumps off the wall to commit suicide.
- they put him back together as a faberge egg.

now i’ll look at this story so far and see what else i can do to it. i want it to be more ironic. i also want more cause and effect, not just random events happening that aren’t connected to each other.

- humpty dumpty sitting on a wall.
- he’s depressed because the kingdom is wealthy and everyone is eating gourmet food. nobody wants to eat lowly eggs, so he jumps off the wall to commit suicide.
- they put him back together as a faberge egg. he’s beautiful. everyone likes him.
- there’s a famine. everyone’s starving but humpty is inedible now. the king is spiteful, and so smashes him.

i usually end up with a couple different variations of the story that i like, so i’ll email it some close friends and see which ones they like. actually, it’s usually better to pitch your stories in person, because then you get instant feedback based on their reaction. if you’re pitching a comedy and they laugh, that’s good. if you’re pitching a heartfelt drama tragedy and they laugh, not so good. (check out the book Crafty Screenwriting for more on pitching ideas before you start writing.)

once i decide which version i like, then i’ll start writing out what happens. i’ll write in movie magic screenwriter or final draft, but i’m not concerned too with style or format at this point. i just want to lay out what happens. if i don’t know yet, i’ll just write a placeholder, like “something happens to distract humpty and somehow he falls.”

if i have lines of dialogue, i’ll write it in, but if i haven’t figured it out yet, i’ll write something like “the doctor tells humpty he won’t live.”

don’t get stuck on any one part. get to the end. write whatever placeholders you have to.

then you rewrite. you look at what you have so far, and you figure out your story in terms of the big picture first. you refine your dialogue, cut out things you don’t need, etc.

that’s all polishing. for me, the main work of rewriting is coming up with a solid outline that works. it’s kind of like how the bulk of making a movie is during preproduction. ok, good luck.