Here are previews and download links for these 20 Free ScreenPlay Templates to help you prepare your own ScreenPlay quickly.
A Screenplay or what most people commonly refer to as script is a written story of a movie or a television show. Before a movie is produced, the producer and director search for a story that is interesting enough to make the movie a hit at the box office. Sometimes, the producers have an idea in their mind about what the story will look like so they ask professional scriptwriters to create a screenplay. Other times, producers search for exceptional piece of work among new and existing writers to find the one story that stands alone among all of them. A screenplay might be referred to as the written story of a movie or a TV show but it’s more than that as it will also include emotions, actions, important movements, expressions, and most importantly, dialogues.
Free ScreenPlay Templates
Here are previews and download links for these Free ScreenPlay Templates.
Source: Microsoft Templates
Key Elements for a Successful Screenplay:
Choose the type of Screenplay:
There are various different types of screen plays including original screen play, speculative screen play, stunt screen play, off-book screen play, and adaptive screen play. By the time you decide to write a screenplay, you already have a story in your mind that just needs to be transferred on the paper. At this moment, you should decide the type of screenplay that you want to create, and for better understanding, go online and take a look at some of the most common types of screenplays.
Decide How it’s Going to End:
If you are into writing screenplays, you have watched hundreds of movies. As a viewer, you can confirm that you might not remember how a movie started even if it’s your favorite but you always remember the ending of your favorite movies. This is because the end of a story is what makes it memorable. Whatever happens between the start and finish line is just the requirement of the script and although it’s important, not as important as the end of the screenplay. You should make it clear in your mind that the end of your story should be the most interesting part of the entire screenplay.
Always Move the Story Forward:
When you are writing your screenplay, it’s definite that you have the whole story in your mind including how it will all start, what will happen in the middle, and how it’s going to end. This means with the finish line clear in your mind, it’s just a matter of reaching there within the timeframe. While writing the screenplay, make sure to move forward and add enough action drama, and suspense to keep the audience interested in the story. There is nothing worse than a story that’s stuck in time and someone at the end, the writer just skips all the action and moves to the finish line.
Actually Finish the Screenplay:
You will be amazed to know that 1 out of 10 people think that they have what it takes to write a movie script. Some of these people act on their instincts and start writing a screenplay while others keep waiting for a better time. The most common problem that writers have is when they can’t finish a screenplay, they don’t move to the next story. This is what you need to avoid. There are few in a million chances that your first script will be nominated for an Oscar and the odds of a producer picking it for production are also not good but that’s a good thing. Even if you don’t like the ending of your script, just finish it and move on to the next story. That’s the only tip to move forward and finally create a piece of excellence.
Get Professional Help if Necessary:
Getting professional help just to top off your first screenplay doesn’t mean you need to hire a professional screenplay writer and ask him to evaluate your story but it can be something very simple i.e. looking at some successful screenplays to understand what made them successful. If you have a passion for writing scripts, you must have an idol whose stories and scripts you love the most. Search for some of his best pieces of work and get inspiration and professional guidelines for your own script.
Market Practices of Screenplay:
When it comes to screenplays, there are various formats to choose from but it mainly depends on you how you want to tell your story and how you wish to portray the characters of your story. Basically, there are three most common formats that are being used in the market including;
Three Act Format:
Most of the new people who start writing screenplays usually stick to three-act formats because this is simple yet provides all the relevant information to the readers without any interruption. The basic idea here is to tell a story in 3 parts; start, middle, and end. This is the format of storytelling that’s been in use for centuries and even our grandparents used to tell us stories with a beginning, then moving to the middle part with all the suspense and drama, and then to a happy ending. In this format, only the most important parts of the story are discussed.
Real-Time Format:
A real-time format of a screenplay moves in a continuous motion. This means there are no interruptions or breaks in the storyline. In this format, each moment of the story counts and when you are using this design for your screenplay, you should understand that wasting time is not an option here and by wasting time, we mean telling the parts of the story that don’t matter. The challenge here is to drive the story and action of the script in such a way that it doesn’t feel like it’s jumping from one point to another instead, everything feels well-planned.
Numerous Timeline Format:
This one here is also among the most common formats for a screenplay. Here the writer adds more than one story in the script and each story moves at its own pace. Sometimes these stories are connected with each other but in most cases, they don’t have to do anything with each other. Each story is told from a separate point of view and it has its own ending but at the end, when the story finishes, the viewers get to see the point that somehow these all stories were connected with each other and that’s how life works where actions of one person affect the life of people around them.