Screenwriting 101: How to Write a Screenplay for a Short Film - Part 3!

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Screenwriting 101: How to Write a Screenplay for a Short Film - Part 3!
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Screenwriting 101: How to Write a Screenplay for a Short Film! How do we write a short film with a compelling Plot Point 2? Good question. That's what we're looking at today--the second half of Act 2! I'll dig deeper into page 4 and 5 of the Star Wars: Rivals short film script in order to determine how to write a short film. I use my own work (which I co-wrote and co-produced) to describe how writers can construct their own short film scripts. Are you working on a short film script or even a feature length screenplay? Comment and let me know! And if you've got questions, ask away!


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TRANSCRIPT HIGHLIGHTS:

Screenwriting 101: How to Write a Screenplay for a Short Film - Plot Point 2

In this video, we’re going to talk about the end of Act 2 and the beginning of Act 3.

The second half of Act 2 continues the escalation of CONFLICT from the first half of Act 2...

And ACT 2 ends with a significant plot point that pushes us into the resolution that will happen in Act 3.

In our film, that’s pages 4 and 5.

Let’s dig deeper into the script of Star Wars: Rivals...

What’s up, Storytellers and Star Wars fans...

On today’s video, I’m continuing our series on HOW to WRITE a Star Wars short film. We’ve already covered the first half of the script, and today we’re digging into pages FOUR and FIVE.

If you want more details about the process of writing and producing science fiction and fantasy stories… SUBSCRIBE to this channel and check out more of our videos.

In the last video, I ended on the Mid-Point of the story where Skye was starting to let the ANGER take over.

We left Skye and Kel back in their tent, but now we’re transitioning into a new scene and a new location…

Let’s take a look at the finished film before we dig deeper into the script…

All right, let’s take a look at how that scene was written.

I was super stoked about our location for STAR WARS: RIVALS… but, due to a miscommunication, we did get kicked out of one of our locations--I’ll talk more about that when I talk about the process of producing our film.

But, we did secure a gorgeous location.

You’ll also see the note about the satchel…

We’ll notice we’re right back into Kel’s bullying of Skye, the central concept we’re trying to push: that bullying causes people to feel fear, and that fear can turn to anger, then suffering, and then that leads to the dark side.

We don’t get much description about Skye’s lightsaber here, but we did see in the previous scene that she was struggling to make it. And, by the way, co-writer and co-producer of the film, Nathan Scheck and his brother Caleb--built this lightsaber!

Kel continues to push Skye and intimidate her by starting to spar early--even before Cuthar arrives.

You’ll notice that there’s not a TON of description here about the fighting itself. That’s because our director, Ben Anklam worked with a fight coordinator to come up with the choreography of the fight. The key points of the fight ARE included in the script however--especially related to the emotions the characters are facing.

Kel slices Skye’s saber in half, which was a fun special effect.

And then… Skye, despite her fear, continues to get angrier and angrier at her sister.

And Force pushes her sister back. Both Skye and her mother yell “NO!” Which indicates her mother may be guiding her through the Force…

At which point we hit our second plot point. Skye reaches back and pulls her MOTHER’S LIGHTSABER from the satchel--the one we saw in the tent. And when she ignites it… it’s RED!

More on that in the next video.

Now that we’ve talked through the script in more detail, let’s watch that portion of the film again before we get into today’s takeaways and pro tips.

All right, now, for today’s takeaways...

TAKEAWAYS:

You’ll notice that we’ve CONTINUED to increase the CONFLICT. I keep talking about that, but it’s super important.
We’ve also seen Skye’s full turn to anger at this point, which is critical to her emotional journey.
And the RED saber signals to us that Skye is giving in to her anger--meaning we have visual, audio, and emotional cues in play as we head into our resolution...


For one more PRO TIP: STAY TUNED...

AND, my FINAL pro tip: Teamwork. I never even met our fight choreographer. Not once. Which meant I had to rely on Ben Anklam, our director, to work out a great fight scene. Making a film--even a short film--requires teamwork, so build a great team.