There is a lot more to it, but these 6 points are essentials to getting started with your scriptwriting journey.

1/ Brainstorm

The first thing to do is to brainstorm all of your ideas, often helpful with a friend/colleague, and write down everything and anything that enters your head.

Forget the computerised world for a few moments, grab a pen and paper write things down and have a proper brainstorming session!

2/ Theme

What is the overall theme of your script? Be it love, friendship, overcoming the odds, death, etc.

If you think your script doesn’t have a theme, then look in to it deeper, it will. If the theme is lacking, look how to work the theme in to a more important role as it should be the main purpose of the script.

If you look at fantastic stories (a couple of examples being: Shawshank Redemption, Star Wars, Romeo and Julliet, Lord of the Rings) they all had clearly defined themes.

3/ Character vs Setting

Will your script revolve around the strength of characters and the journey they embark upon, or will it be based on a setting with characters added to that setting.

Titanic is an interesting example. Most people would think that it was setting based – based upon the Titanic ship, but truth be told the story could have took place on an airplane. It was the love story between the Di Caprio and Winslet that created the movie.

4/ Script Length

Fairly simple. How long is your film going to be? With correct formatting, the loose rule is that a page equals one minute, so this should help you figure out in your perhaps lesser used left-side of your brain, the type of script you’ll be writing.

A short film can pretty much be anything. A lot are around 5 or 10 minutes, but they can be 30minutes if you desire.

For a feature film you should be aiming for 80-120 pages (up to 2 hours in screen time).

5/ Conflict

A good story requires conflict (or an antagonist). Make sure to have an obstacle or person more your character/s to overcome.

Syd Field said “without conflict you have no drama, and without drama you ain’t got no screenplay.”

6/ Story Planning

When I was learning script writing, I used to make sure everything was planned, it was set in stone what would happen. Then as I was writing I would find that I wanted things to end differently/things to happen differently.

Clive Bradley once told me that when he was writing he likes to know everything about the characters, the world, the theme and let them tell you the story.

I’ve found that as you write more and more, you become more confident and relaxed in your writing, which can make it seem less stilted. So if you want to plan everything, that’s fine, but make sure you allow yourself some wiggle room and don’t stick completely to what you’ve planned, as something else will no doubt enter your mind whilst writing.