Coe William K. The Screenwriting Bible
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The Screenwriting Bible™
Sir William K. Coe™
back and celebrate with a glass of wine, or champagne, or whatever else
suits your disposition.
Put your screenplay on the desk in front of you and see how many pages
you've written. Then take a week off. The hardest part of the
screenwriting experience is complete. Now the work really begins.
ASSIGMENTS
• Begin by focusing on the subject, action, and character when
writing an idea. The subject is the guideline for you to follow
as you structure the action and character into a dramatic story
line. Take your idea and write it in three sentences according to
action and character. Be general, avoid detail.
• Next, from your one-sentence story, write out the plot in first
the three-act method, in three paragraphs, one for the beginning,
one for the middle, and one for the end. Obviously, you cannot
include all of the characters in this brief synopsis. Once this
is done, re-evaluate your story, then break it down into the
paradigm as such:
Act I (p 1-30) Act II (p 30-90) Act III
(pg 90-120)
First half Second half
Beginning | middle | end |
M | p
P30-60, 45 p 60-90, 75
Setup 60 resolution
Plot point I, pp. 25-27 confrontation Plot point II
Pp 85-90
• Now write the logline for your movie. It should reflect character
and plot as did the example given for Air Force One.
• Now devise a title for your movie. Use these guidelines to help:
o Do you have a working title that inspires you?
o Will this title titillate the audience? Is it a "grabber"?
o Does it convey something of your story concept or theme?
o Does it conjure up an image or an emotion?
o Is it short enough to appear on a marquee? (Not always
necessary.)
Write a four-page treatment (double-spaced). Summarize the beginning of
your story in one page, the middle in two pages, and the end in one
page. Focus on two to four main characters, the key events (plot
points), and the emotional undercurrent of the story. Although somewhat
difficult, this exercise will help tremendously in laying a strong
foundation for your story. Now answer these questions:
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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The Screenwriting Bible™
Sir William K. Coe™
o Is the central conflict of the story clearly defined?
o Are the character's goal and need clear?
o Are the stakes of the story big enough for a commercial
movie?
o Does the story evoke an emotional response?
o Will the audience cry, get angry, laugh, get scared, fall
in love, get excited, etc.?
o What makes this story unique, fresh, and original?
o Is your story too predictable? Have we seen this before?
o Are the facts of the story plausible? (They don't have to
be possible, just plausible.)
o Will people be emotionally satisfied at the end?
• Identify the parameters of your story.
o What is the genre? (Action/adventure, thriller, romantic
comedy, etc.)
o What is the time and setting?
o What is the emotional atmosphere, and the mood?
o What, if any, story or character limits exist?
More on treatments later.
It’s time to write your screenplay’s action. On each single 3x5 card,
write out the full story. When the atmosphere, setting, etc., changes,
this is time for a new card (as you will learn you are making the
individual scenes without regard to format, which you’ll learn later).
These cards should then be placed in their right position on the
paradigm (you may need to put the paradigm on poster board for more
room. Do not write dialogue just yet unless you find it absolutely
necessary. On the top of the card, give the location and time of day or
season, such as KELCEY’S HOUSE – MIDNIGHT. This will save you a lot of
time when you reformat these cards in the next chapter. Look at your
other movie people; identify their goals. Their goals will drive their
individual plots (actually subplots). Do these various plot lines
intersect, resulting in adequate conflict for drama or comedy? You can
use the lower right-hand corner for pacing and tracking plots. Some
writers use a highlighter and identify plots by color. Blue is the
action story, red is the love story, and so on. You can identify scenes
as fast or slow, action or dialogue. If you discover that you have four
dialogue scenes in a row, all with the same characters, you can adjust
this pacing problem by moving scenes around, cross-cutting with action
scenes, condensing, or even omitting an unnecessary scene. Once
completed, your step outline will become the basis for writing your
script. More on step outlines later.
Now that your step outline is complete, ask yourself these questions:
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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The Screenwriting Bible™
Sir William K. Coe™
• Are your scenes well paced?
• Do the major turning points come at about the right time?
• Do things just happen, or is there a cause-and-effect
relationship between character actions?
• Do the subplots intersect with the main plot, creating new
complications?
• Are your characters' actions motivated, or do they exist just
to make the story work?
• Does action, conflict, and dramatic tension build, or just
repeat and become static?
• Are your central and opposition characters forced to take
stronger and stronger actions?
• Does the conflict rise naturally to a crisis/climax?
• Don’t forget to choose an opening from the list of openings found
in this chapter. Each scene must have a beginning, middle, and
end. This is similar to the step outline.
• Finally, from the list of genres found in this chapter, determine
which genres best fit your movie and note it. You will later use
this information at a later date.
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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The Screenwriting Bible™
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Scenes
How to make a scene
Screenplays are comprised of acts, broken into sequences, into scenes,
and into beats. Scene is a dramatic unit consisting of the camera
placement (INTERIOR or EXTERIOR), a location, and time. When one of
these elements changes, the scene changes.
Headings
Scene Headings
Location of camera: INT. for interior (indoors), EXT. for exterior,
INT./EXT. for both.
Location of scene: KITCHEN - . Can include season, dream, etc. after
time.
Time: DAY/NIGHT are preferred or a real time. Others: CONTINUOUS: the
next scene takes place same time previous did; LATER: passage of time.
Examples:
INT. KITCHEN – DAY
EXT. TOKYO BAY – TWILIGHT – SUMMER, 1945
Space three times after scenes.
Montage
Sequence of brief shorts expressing the same or similar single idea:
passage of time, stream of consciousness
MONTAGE – MY DREAM
-- A clown walks up to me and spits in my eye.
-- A park - A fly jumps off a cliff
End with a new scene heading. Focus is on beats of action but okay to
add dialogue.
Series of Shots
Similar to montage, but of quick shots that tell a story leads to
dramatic resolution or action
SERIES OF SHOTS – THE UNIVERSE
A) The earth spins.
B) Mars rotates.
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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The Screenwriting Bible™
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INT. BEDROOM - DAY
Use sparingly, often interchangeable.
Flashbacks/Dreams
Often abused. Used only when needed to move the story forward.
INT. BEDROOM – DAY - FLASHBACK
The killer stalks the victim, then stabs them to death.
INT. BEDROOM – DAY – PRESENT TENSE [end]
Inserts
To draw special attention to a prop.
INSERT – THE LETTER
“Dear, [indented like dialog]
This is a letter.”
INT. BEDROOM – NIGHT [end]
Description
Limit paragraphs to 4 lines, do not indent. Keep it to only what we
need. One paragraph per beat of action or image. Try not to end a page
in mid-sentence or in mid-speech.
Character First Appearances
CAPS when first introduced. Possessive form has a small-cap “s”. Goes
for when characters have more than one name, such as WOMAN then TERI.
Character Descriptions
Brief, only about nature of character. Used when first introduced – do
not use licensed names and do not write so much it restricts cast.
Character Names
Characters with one or two lines of dialogue generally not given names.
All others do. Avoid OFFICER 1… etc. Use on-two word descriptors: CHUBY
OFFICER.
Redundancies
Avoid saying things more than once.
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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INT. HOUSE – DAY
They enter the house.
SIGNS, NEWS HEADLINES, SONGS, BOOKS, MAGAZINES, NOTES, LETTERS
Put in caps.
Sounds
Use only important sounds and put in caps. Optional.
Special Effects, Transitions, Editing Directions, Music, Camera
Directions
Avoid unless important, then put in caps. Camera directions: CLOSE-UP,
ECU (EXTREME-CLOSEUP), WE SEE. Transitions are margined as outlined in
margins.
Subtitles/Supers:
Superimposed on screen to add special meaning to what we see or hear.
SUPER: “this is a subtitle.”
Tips:
Don’t intrude. Show it don’t tell it – Can he do it?
CONTINUED/MORE no longer use in splitting dialogue and scene page-
breaks.
Keys to Great Scenes
Each scene should move the story forward in terms of both plot and
character. The scene you are now writing should be motivated by a
previous scene, and should motivate the next. One creates anticipation
for another in cause and effect. If the central character gets involved
your scene is probably moving the story forward. All scenes should
direct us to the Showdown at the end, which is the biggest scene, or
sequence of scenes, in the movie. What is the payoff for this scene?
Who do I need this scene? What is my purpose for this scene? Does the
scene reveal something new about a character and/or story? At the end,
does the audience want to know what happens next?
Never tell what you can show. Be as visual as possible. Rather than
someone talking about someone doing something, show us that person
showing us that thing.
Avoid talking heads. Add events behind just two people talking.
Every dramatic unit has a beginning, middle, and end.
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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The Screenwriting Bible™
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Start the scene as close to the end of the scene as possible. Cut out
unnecessary items. Challenge any scene that runs over two pages. Some
scene should be long. You may find ways to improve them and shorten
them, strengthening pace of your story.
Pace your scenes. Provides peaks and valleys of emotion and tension,
with peaks ascending downward a climatic conclusion. Follow action
scenes with dialogue scenes. Contrast heavy scenes with light scenes.
Make sure pace quickens as you close in on the Crisis and Showdown.
Don’t focus on action and events.
Scenes should culminate in something dramatic – a decision or imminent
decision. Could be a reversal, cliffhanger, or revelation – some event
that makes us want to see what’s going on next. Twists and turns in
plot are essential. Do not allow it to progress the way the audience
expects it to. Scenes should end with a punch, with some kind of
tension that leads us to another scene. In dialogue scenes, generally
the last line should be the strongest.
Strive to create effective transitions between scenes. Not editing
transitions. Find ways to fit the scenes together. You link your scenes
with transitions only when appropriate. Transitions can be visual,
verbal, thematic, and so on. It’s okay to sharply contrast scenes. If
it moves the story forward, use it. Straight cuts from one scene to
next is the norm. Give the story cohesion.
Each scene should contain a definite emotion or mood. Focus on that
emotion as you craft the scene. What is my character’s intention or
goal in this scene? What is my character’s feeling? What is my
character’s attitude?
Focus the scene on well motivated conflict. Even in less dramatic
scenes, a conflict should exist, regardless of how minor or subtle it
is. Two people with same goal often disagree or bother the other. Even
in love scenes, there may be some resistance at the beginning. Conflict
is one of the tools to build suspense.
Beats
Scenes are made up of 'beats'. Even the shortest movie scene will have
several beats within it. Scenes in plays run much longer and may
contain dozens or even hundreds of small beats that reveal character
nuances, enhance conflict and move the plot along.
A beat is a contained moment. The beat changes when something happens
to change the mood or the intent of the characters.
Directors and actors break their scene into beats to help them
understand the emotion and subtext of the scene and so they can wring
the most drama and entertainment from each moment in the scene.
A mundane example of a beat breakdown within a scene:
A Detective walks into an interrogation room to confront a Suspect.
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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The Screenwriting Bible™
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Beat one: The silent interchange that occurs as the Detective enters
and faces the Suspect.
Beat two: The Suspect harangues the Detective for making him wait so
long.
Beat three: The Detective responds to this rant by holding up a piece
of evidence that connects the Suspect with the crime -- a bloody shirt
maybe.
Beat four: This physical evidence quiets the Suspect temporarily. He
stews as he contemplates how to explain away the bloody shirt.
Beat five: The Detective goes on the offensive, probing deeper with
questions about the shirt.
Beat six: The Suspect stops stewing and starts sweating.
Beat seven: The Detective circles the suspect as he talks, moving in
closer, invading the Suspect's personal space. It appears that the
Suspect is about to 'break'.
Beat eight: Instead of breaking, suddenly the Suspect grabs a pencil
from the Detective's pocket and stabs him in the eye with it --
Great scenes have several beats with surprises and tiny twists of
emotion, dialogue, gesture or action that reveal plot, character and
emotion.
Look at a scene you've written that you feel works well. Break it down
into beats, you'll see why it works. There is probably plenty going on
to keep the audience engaged with the characters and their conflict.
Likewise, if you have scenes that aren't working, break them into beats
and you might discover why. You need beats that will surprise and
thrill your audience as they reveal the nuances of the characters and
their conflict.
Tools for building Suspense
Evoke emotion
Create characters we like. They Must be believable since they act as a
conduit through which emotion can pass to us. We need to feel what they
feel.
Create Conflict
Rising conflict creates suspense. Conflict is drama, two committed
forces in conflict will always heighten suspense.
Provide Opposition
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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The Screenwriting Bible™
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Give central character a powerful opposition, then force character to
battle this foe. This opposition should be in a position of strength,
capable of doing damage.
Build Expectation
Create expectation for trouble. The audience should expect something to
happen.
Increase tension
Put the audience in a superior position. Make them know something the
characters don’t.
Use surprise
Throw an occasional twist, or sudden turn of events.
Create immediacy
When something vital is at stake for a character, that something
becomes vital to us, the audience, as well. It can be the physical
safety of the world, moral redemption of a juvenile delinquent,
emotional fulfillment of two lovers who find each other, protection of
a secret document, or triumph of value. The higher the stakes, the more
intense the suspense.
Establish consequences
Closely related to immediacy is the establishment of terrible
consequences if the central character does not achieve their goal.
Limit time
Put a ticking clock on it. Deadline create suspense because they
introduce additional opposition – time.
Maintain doubt
If there is reasonable doubt about how a scene or movie is going to
end, the suspense is intensified.
Leave them laughing (comedies)
Have strong story and characters than on gags. Comedy is drama in
disguise. Have conflict. Comedy requires clarity and good timing – a
sense of humor. Love situations and other personal situations are easy
for us to identify with and are ripe for comedy. That’s one reason the
family situation comedy has done so well. Comedy makes good use of
surprise and reversals, in revealing the truth about people,
situations, and life. Comedy generally takes a point of view through
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have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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The Screenwriting Bible™
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exaggeration, deception, overstatement, understatement, contrast,
parody, a ridiculous point of view, or obsession. Comedy characters
need to present the same contrasts that dramatic characters do. Comedy
presents people with pretenses or facades, then removes them little by
little.
Writing Dialogue
Contains 3 parts: Character caption, actor’s direction, and dialogue.
Character caption
The character name, in all caps. The actual name used throughout.
Actor’s Directions
Parenthetically; Avoid telling actors how to act. Use to refer to a
person in a group. (to Tim)
Dialogue
Indented, ragged right margin. Brief, conveys one thought. Fragments
okay, 1-2 sentences. Avoid long speeches.
Avoid CONT’D and MORE and continuing.
Off-screen
Used when a character is speaking offscreen but in the scene KELCEY
(OS)
Voice Over
Indicates speaker is off screen and not in scene; best for narrations.
KELCEY (VO)
Overlapping Dialogue
Speaking at same time. Indicate “simultaneous” in character’s
parenthetical.
Telephone, Radio, Walky-talkies, etc. Voice
Use VO.
Telephone Conversations
Use INTERCUT – cross into two people’s conversations. See people at
same time.
INTERCUT – DAD’S HOUSE/MY HOUSE (two scenes at once)
INTERCUT TELEPHONE CONVERSATION – DAD AND ME
Action/dialogue
End with new scene
Writing Great Dialogue
This material is © and ™ 2005 by Sir William K. Coe™. All rights reserved. Reader agrees to
have read and abide to the license, warnings, and additional documents listed within the
beginning chapters of this book. Includes third-party content not owned by Sir William K. Coe™.
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