The art of pre-writing

People always say that you need to walk before you run and run before you fly.

It makes, the more prepared you are to do anything, the easier and smoother the actual doing will be, and screenwriting (or any writing for that matter) is not the exception, which is why screenwriters across the industry, rely on pre-writing to succeed in the bumpy process of screenwriting.

The Whats, Whos and Hows.

The first thing you need to think of when preparing to write a script is, naturally, what the story is going to be about (plot), who it is about (characters) and how the story will be told (genre). Once we’ve defined these key elements, we can start outlining the smaller parts that will, combined, make our script.

The Logline

Loglines are important. They are a widely used tool in terms of production because they summarize the script, allowing busy people, like producers and executives, to know upfront if the script is something they might be interested in, before spending the time in reading all 100 pages. But aside from producers, the logline is very important and useful for you as a writer, because it allows you to clarify and always keep in mind what it is that you want your script to be.

A logline is a one-sentence summary of the whole story and therefore can be intimidating, however, it’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have and, believe me, you will need it.

• The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

The Godfather (1972)

• Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover with unforeseen complications.

Casablanca (1999-2007)

• The capo of a New Jersey syndicate goes to a psychiatrist to deal with the changing nature of his business, a wife who no longer trusts him, kids who are growing up, and his murderous extended family.

The Sopranos (1942)

* A logline should tell us who the main character is, what does he want and why can’t he get it.

The Synopsis

You’ve heard about this one before, probably many times. A synopsis is a summary of your story and varies in length and content according to its objective. A long synopsis is commonly used by executives, directors, and film festival judges, basically, people that will be interested in knowing the story completely, including the ending. This kind of synopsis is usually about a page long. 

A short synopsis, on the other hand, will be used for pitching and telling the story when unsolicited. These are usually half a page and may or may not include the ending, again, depending on who you’re showing it to.

Finally, there is the sales/pitching synopsis which is short and concise, doesn’t include the ending, and leaves some sort of cliffhanger, as the name suggests, these are meant to sell your story, it’s the one that you’ll see on the back of the DVD box and VoD platforms.

During the pre-writing process, it’s best to work on the long synopsis so that you have a clear path of where your story is going and how it ends.

The outline or beat sheet 

This will be the map to the hidden treasure, or else, the path your script will follow from beginning to end. This is a list of scenes, moments, or beats, in chronological order, that take the story from point A to B to C (and so on). At this point, you don’t need to be very detailed, but it has to be clear to you why things are happening in this order and how they move the story forward.

There are many ways to create an outline, from bullet points, to complete scene descriptions to actions, it’s solely up to you how you do it. I for instance am very visual, so it’s easy for me to be detailed when describing setups and actions, but it doesn’t have to be.

You might be familiar with the Save the Cat outline - or beat sheet, this is one of the most famous forms of outlines and you can learn more about it here.

The treatment

As we get closer to writing our script, our pre-writing will become more detailed and so it’s the treatment. The treatment is a longer document where the beats will be described in detailed prose, this is still a summary though, so you shouldn’t take more than a page for each scene, it includes descriptions of actions and can have some sparse dialogue. This document should be understood by basically anyone, with or without screenwriting knowledge, so think of it as a guideline for the whole story.

Like the logline, treatments are important to present your project to potential producers, agents, and executives, so that they have a complete idea of your story without having to read the complete script.

Depending on your style and your story’s specific features, the length and information of your treatment will vary. You might focus on character description or the world your script takes place in, this also, is up to you and you will find your own voice as you write and rewrite it.

Now, there’s really no wrong or right to how long you should spend in pre-writing, what matters is that you feel prepared and comfortable to move into the actual writing of the script, in the right format, and with the proper software. You can always go back to these documents even when you have started the script and make changes from there, without compromising the progress of your screenplay. Also, not all projects require necessarily all of the documents, try them out and stick to whatever works for you.

Happy (PRE) Writing!

Regine

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