Step+Three

=Step Three: Write Your Screenplay=

I'll describe this step as having two stages, but some groups find it better to do them concurrently. I recommend that you do this work using the Google Docs application, as it works particularly well when you want several people to be able to work on the same document. You can cut and paste the raw text for the scene you want from the MIT [|online Shakespeare site] as a starting point.


 * Part One:** First, you'll want to edit the raw text. Depending on the scene you have chosen, you may want to cut the dialog by 50%, if not more--the film versions we have watched have cut Shakespeare's text in the typical scene //at least// this deeply. Of course, be careful to preserve enough text to carry the action and preserve the poetry.

As needed, you may make changes to Shakespeare’s text beyond simple cuts--it's perfectly okay to move pieces of dialogue around or give them to different speakers, and you may make minor substitutions or additions as you see fit.


 * Part Two:** A screenplay contains much more information than just lines for the actors; to transform your edited script into a screenplay, you'll insert descriptions of action, setting, images, and sound into the text, transforming Shakespeare's unadorned dialogue into a document that describes a detailed and complete vision for your eventual film. To get a better sense of the information a screenplay contains, check out the following annotated sample screenplay (taken from the useful screenwriting guide for students, which is worth checking out in full--start with the section titled "Scenes" on page 26 and read to the end).



For more detailed information about screenwriting, you can check out [|screenwriting.info].

You can find hundreds of other screenplays [|online] if you want more examples. Here's the opening to the film //Twelve Monkeys// that we've used in class:



Pay attention to formatting details, as I'll be looking to see that you get these right (every scene introduced with a slugline, capitalization used correctly, dialogue indented correctly, etc). Note the ratio of "action" to "dialogue" in the sample screenplay--a director should be able to "see" the writer's vision for the film just by reading the screenplay.