Writing a movie script can be daunting, especially if it’s your first screenplay. Where do you begin? How do you create the set pieces, design, and entangle the plots? How will you introduce and explore the characters?
If you feel this pressure and self-doubt before writing your first screenplay, consider writing it as a play. Staring your movie writing career by writing a play can be an excellent way of learning the essential basics of storytelling. It can provide a solid foundation for plot and character development and allow you more freedom to master the fundamentals. Let me explain further:
The Art of Dialogue
In a play, dialogue is the primary means of telling the story, making it an excellent place to start for new writers. Whereas, with a screenplay, you can quickly get caught up in the visuals of camera work and even worry about the lengths and angles of shots, with a theatre script, you only need to concern yourself with critical movements and props and the rest of your focus is entirely on developing characters and story through the spoken word.
To keep the audience engaged, playwrights must create characters that can hold the audience’s attention with their words alone. Writing a play can help screenwriters develop their skills in crafting compelling dialogue, an essential element of a great movie script.
Understanding the Importance of Pacing
In a play, few visual effects, soundtracks, or special effects distract the audience from the dialogue. Budgets are low, focusing predominantly on simple scene settings and primary effects. The pace of the space is controlled entirely by the actions and interactions of the characters.
Playwrights must learn to create tension, build suspense, and maintain the audience’s attention throughout the play. This skill is essential for a movie screenwriter who must understand how to structure scenes and control pacing to keep the audience engaged.
Developing Strong Characters
In a play, the characters must be well-defined and multi-dimensional, as they are the story’s primary focus. For most stories to work, playwrights must create believable, relatable, and engaging characters, as they will carry the story forward.
Developing solid characters is crucial for movie screenwriters, as they must create characters that can hold the audience’s attention for an entire film. One common error most first-time screenwriters make is creating too many characters rather than believable and relatable characters. In a play, poorly developed characters are quickly exposed and highlighted.
Understanding Story Structure
A play has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Playwrights must create an engaging story from the opening scene, builds to a climax, and provides a satisfying conclusion. While a screenplay can consist of over 100 scenes and changes, with a play, you are limited to a handful of scenes and actions, making the story arc more transparent.
Understanding story structure is essential for movie screenwriters, as you must create a compelling story that can sustain an audience’s interest for the duration of a feature-length film.
Building Confidence and Discipline
Completing a play is a significant achievement, and it can help screenwriters develop the discipline and focus necessary to write a movie script. Writing a play can help the screenwriter gain confidence in their ability to create compelling characters, craft dialogue, and structure a story, which can be invaluable when writing a movie script.
Moreover, writing a good play also gives you plenty of opportunity to get it stage-read or performed. Many theatre and drama groups happily accept play scripts. While trying to get a screenplay made can be a long and extremely difficult achievement, it’s a much more realistic ambition to get your play performed.
Having your stage play read and workshopped by actors is also another level of valuable development. Seeing it performed on the stage, and watching audiences reacting, is, again, invaluable feedback. If you are setting out to be a screenwriter or struggling with the development of your first screenplay, please consider writing it as a play.
