Beginner’s guide to effective script writing

Scriptwriting is the exercise of writing stories in the screenplay medium. While story writing is all about the plot and its content, scriptwriting includes writing down movements, actions, expressions and dialogues of the characters in the story, in a strict screenplay format. To properly portray the story through a screen, certain formatting methods are required. Screenplay format is employed to communicate a story visually. Scriptwriters write for films, television, video games and online media services. 

Scrip writing is a little more complicated than simple story writing as the writer does not need to put the plot into a visual perspective but for scriptwriting, the main agenda of the writer is to formulate a plot that can be visualized with the help of actions and dialogues. The script can either make or break a project. For anyone who desires to take up scriptwriting, just starting anywhere with a pen on paper, but to truly master it, they need to continuously practice and hone their skills, with a few tips to help along the way! 

Knowing how to start can often be difficult and it can cause a mental block too. So, a good place to start writing is penning down anything or any idea that comes to you and then formulating a plot from there. The first pages of the screenplay are critical when you are presenting it to anyone as most often these people will only give little time to get them interested. This is why the script must have an intriguing beginning.

The dialogues need to be thought out and put into the scenes accordingly. They should be crisp yet straightforward enough for people to understand in one read. No one wants to listen to dialogues that are long, boring and confusing. 

Visualizing the scene clearly in your mind is extremely important. If a scene of the script cannot be visualized properly, then it is definitely missing something. Any good script should evoke images in the reader’s mind in an instant!