How to write a movie:

First of all, you should know the basic genres:

• Action: generally involves a moral interplay between "good" and "bad" played out through violence or physical force.

• Adventure: involving danger, risk, and/or chance, often with a high degree of fantasy.

• Comedy: intended to provoke laughter.

• Drama: depends mostly on in-depth character development, interaction, and highly emotional themes.

• Horror: intended to provoke fear and/or revulsion in the audience.

• Mystery: not understanding in full the plot of the movie until the end.

• Romance: dwelling on the elements of romantic love.

• Thriller: intended to provoke excitement and/or nervous tension into audience.

• Crime: places its character within realm of criminal activity, or within organizations attempting to prevent said activity (or sometimes both).

• Fantasy: speculative fiction outside reality (i.e. myth, legend).

• Film noir: portrays its principal characters in a nihilistic and existentialist realm or manner.

• History: taking place in the past amidst notable historical circumstances.

• Prison: story is about life in prison, the guilty and the innocent.

• Science fiction: defined by the effects of speculative (not yet existing) technology (i.e. future space travel, cyberpunk, time travel).

• Sports: sporting events and locations pertaining to a given sport.

• War: battlefields and locations pertaining to a time of war.

• Westerns: wilderness on the verge of civilization, usually in the American West.

Now, you have to choose the basic genre of your movie. A movie, doesn't have to fit in one genre only. It can be a mix of two different genres like horror comedy. Ever seen "Shaun of the Dead"?

Now that you know the genre of your movie start thinking about the story. Let's say you want a hard laugh comedy. It's quite easy if you have a sense of humor and a bit of surrealism. I say:

• Day Spa

• Mount Everest

• Spy

Quite random stuff. On top of mount Everest retired super spy James Blond wants to open a spa. His only client is Bigfoot who has just divorced Paris Milton and has gone there to relax. Blond and Bigfoot, after going through a lot in the salon, decide to go back to doing what they do best... Blond scaring people and Bigfoot being a spy.

See? In five minutes I made up a (rather silly) plot. Now, decide how long your movie will be and start splitting it in scenes. I say I want a ten minute film.

• 0:00 - 1:00 : Opening Credits

• 1:00 - 2:30 : Blonds latest mission

• 2:30 - 3:00 : Blond fills in his retirement

• 3:00 - 5:00 : Blond tries out different jobs

• 5:00 - 6:00 : Blond is setting up his spa

• 6:00 - 8:00 : Bigfoot arrives, they talk while massaging and stuff

• 8:00 - 9:00 : All is back to normal. Blond is scaring people and Bigfoot is a spy

• 9:00 - 10:00: End Credits

Start writing, scene by scene, don't rush yourself. How to format your script:

The start of your script is going to be like the start of every scene you write with a scene heading. If the scene takes place on the inside, the scene heading will begin with INT. for interior. For outside scenes the scene heading will begin with EXT.

Example:
INT. SPA
EXT. EVEREST

The scene heading is not complete yet. Once the setting is listed, it is followed by a slash and either Day or Night.

Example:
INT. SPA - DAY
EXT. EVEREST - NIGHT

As seen in the examples, the scene heading is in all caps. You can also get more descriptive with your scene headings. Say you want to focus on the massage room of the spa, the scene heading would be written like this:
INT. SPA - MASSAGE ROOM - NIGHT
There are a few exceptions when using EXT. or INT. Cars driving on the road can be interchanged with EXT. or INT. It all depends on who is reading it, there are different opinions on the subject. Once your scene heading is in place, skip a line. Now it is time to write what is known as Action. This is where you will describe the setting, actions of characters and introduce characters. It is important to always put in an line of Action, also known as a Slug Line to start and end every scene. When a character is introduced in any scene for the first time, their name is fully capitalized. The caps applies to animals in most cases too.

Example:
INT. SPA - DAY

JAMES BLOND sits in front of an empty classroom. He's a white male in his thirties, and wears a blue shirt and blue jeans

You can get as descriptive as you want with the character description, either leaving it to the reader, or fully visualizing the character. When writing action it is important to write in present tense and avoid using "-ing". Writing this way, makes reading the script easier, but sometimes is hard to notice. After a read-through of the script you will begin notice the use of this, but it is an easy correction and a script free of these mistakes will help make it look more professional. With your action written it is time for the dialog. There are many factors when writing the dialog. The first one to look at is the alignment. Dialog is all centered. The name begins at 3.5 inches across the page and is in all capitals. After the name is typed, the actual dialog written is one line below and is 2.5 inches across the page.

Example:
 

There can be more added to the dialog too, in parentheses next to the name.

Example:
 

.
When you are having a conversation with two people, a couple of things in the formatting is added.

Example:
 

 

 

 

There are no limits in imagination,

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