It terms of how many minutes, it’s fun to see lots of opinions given about the correct length of a play. Of course, there is no real answer unless you know which market it’s aimed at.

If you’re looking for an Edinburgh festival fringe play, then 30 minutes can look good, although many run up to an hour or so. Whatever you do, don’t let them run further than an hour as time and space is at a premium at the event and anyone trying to show a two hour play will fight to gain seat sales unless they’re a really well known ‘name’.

Radio brings many options for play lengths. Shows can run for ten minutes, twenty minutes, the half hour and anything more. The radio station will let you know how long plays can run for all their play ‘spots’. If it’s a commercial channel you’ll lose time for advertisements, so remember to allow for it.

When you look at producing a play for children to watch, you need to consider the audience’s age. Younger children might not want to sit still for more than a half hour, but if it’s action packed, like a pantomime, then two 45 minutes acts work well.

Writing for an amateur society might take you towards two forty minute sets. The fewer words the amateurs have to learn, the more ‘professional’ they look, although no doubt many will argue against that having learnt ‘War and Peace’ for stage.

The commercial theatres will almost certainly want two acts plays, with both acts in the region of fifty to sixty minutes long. This gives a generous break in the middle for food and drink sales and also gives value for money to the audience. Many will argue that it’s quality that counts and not quantity, but if your play is too short, people will feel short changed. Ask them to sit for three hours and your cast will watch the ticket purchasers uneasy in their seats, wanting to leave for the bathroom facilities at the wrong moment.

Many playwrights scribe one hour plays. They hope to be able to sell them to radio and maybe to television. What we don’t see enough of is two one hour plays being promoted together in commercial theatres; one before the break and one after. It’s about time someone started changing the rules.

Ernie’s play ran for about ten minutes, and will be watched for years. Quality will always win through.

Your antagonist is usually a person, because it’s easier for your hero to be struggling against someone they can physically fight with, talk with and understand the differences between them. They don’t have to be human, though. They can be an alien, they can be the sea, they can be a house, but you will need to see them/it at some stage so your audience can get confirmed proof of defeat.

The level of conflict must increase as your writing continues. At each stage the task must be harder; the battle must be longer, the conflict more difficult to overcome than the previous set. Racking up the level of conflict is a screen writer’s target ensuring that it reaches a mighty crescendo at the end of your film.

There can be a number of challengers that wish to ensure the status quo is not maintained. They must always have one person/alien/tornado that is much worse than the rest. The first few can be there for training purposes so your hero learns to overcome stronger and stronger challenges.

As your protagonist manages to find a way to win small battles, the antagonist will be searching for ways to keep the hero’s goals in the distance by placing more and more obstacles in the way.

The best antagonist has a nice side to them somewhere. The audience will want to find some part of the anti hero that they can link to, to believe that the adversary could change, if shown the way, to be a thoroughly decent fellow.

When writing your conflict, you’ll need to find a large enough difference that can be maintained throughout the entire movie. So the conflict must be believable in the sense that if it doesn’t look as though it’s a big enough challenge, your reader will give up and your script won’t see the light of day any further with that person.

The hurdle must always look like one that can be beaten, but you must spend almost your entire screenplay acting as though your hero can’t find a way to beat it.

If you are able to have both lead opposite characters in scenes across your movie, the actual conflict, rather than perceived conflict will have your reader wanting to throw punches for you. If you don’t let the two be seen together, then the sense of a showdown will need to be enormous for the reader to believe you’re going against a challenge of a lifetime.

Remember, the higher the hill, the greater chance of a reader meeting you on the other side.

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That motivation has already been provided by the writer of the screenplay. If the writer has constructed correctly, the actor will know the character arc of their performance and will understand what the character has to do to travel their journey through the film making process.

It’s the motivation for the actor to do something to get them from this scene to the next that sets the tone for the movie. The writer needs to show what the character ‘wants’ and what they ‘need’ as they’re potentially two very different plans of action.

What they want may take them down various roads with dead ends awaiting them. What they need may not be revealed until close to the movie’s end, but will eventually be so clear cut, they’ll wonder why they didn’t see it all along.

The conflict between your hero and your antagonist will set the motivation for both teams to win their goals. The theatre ticket purchaser will know that there can only be one winner, but do you have to win at all costs?

The motivation must ramp up as the film progresses. The obstacles must get harder and harder to overcome. The motivation must increase as the end comes into sight. The obstacles must appear almost impossible as your lead becomes embroiled in harder and tougher opponents.

When writing your screenplay you must look at all of the elements that have brought the character to where they are today. What makes them tick? What makes them get through from day to day? You need to assess where their final targets are. This will provide the motivation that you’ll need to write into your character’s actions and dialogue as they meet each challenge knowing that they’re motivated by the need to achieve a set target to move along.

If you want to study motivation; read stories about people who became millionaires or billionaires by working hard at building their business up from scratch. Read how Olympic swimmers devote hours every day in training just for the opportunity of shaving a tenth of a second off their previous best time. They’re motivated to get that gold medal, but it’s also the small steps they must take on the way that push on their targets to the biggest objective of all.

A lack of motivation will slow down your script and help your reader place it in the nearest trash can. If you don’t need to root for your stars, then why are you reading? You certainly won’t want to watch an actor who meanders along with no real intention in life.

You need to remember that motivation is relative to where the person started from. An overweight child may strive to play for the school football team, while a school star footballer will expect to go on to play for their national team. We all have our targets, we all have our motivation and luckily, we’re all different, as are your characters.

Need help getting your screenplay ready to show to a reader, producer, studio or agent? Check our screenplay analysis service first. No second chance to make a first impression!

Once you’ve read and taken in the section on screenplay planning, you’ll know that you should have the overall plan for your writing ready, before you write.

You can use Save The Cat software to plan those scenes for you so you know exactly what will happen in each scene before you write it. Movie Outline cuts a similar flow as does Movie Magic.

You may choose to have your 3×5 cards (one for each scene) on a pin board over your desk so you can see the whole screenplay in one image.

Don’t number your scene headings; they won’t be needed until your movie goes into pre-production.

Each scene heading (called a slug line) gives you information about when and where the scene exists. It has three parts:

1. INT. or EXT. – either an interior or an exterior shot
2. Where – the tangible location where the action takes place
3. The time of day – day or night.

Examples could be:

EXT. HEATHROW AIRPORT – DAY
INT. TOM’S DINER – NIGHT

If you move from an INT shot to an EXT shot, use a new slug line. Keep the reader informed.

Scene locations must be unambiguous and descriptive. If it doesn’t matter what type of train station you’re in, then no name is necessary, but if it must be Grand Central, then say so. It tells the reader where you are. They can picture it, the people and the structure. Once you use a location, always call it the same throughout your script otherwise confusion may arise.

You may have wasted an opportunity to show the reader a ‘picture’ of the location if you don’t name it, but naming Don’s book shop in Manchester when it doesn’t mean anything to anyone (sorry Don) won’t help.

Your scene must contain sufficient emotional content to move your lead characters on. There must be conflict to ensure the movie moves forward.

Don’t bore the reader. Make them want to read to the next scene as soon as possible. Make them want to turn the page.

Make your characters different from each other. Make them stand out. William M Akers has a great line that goes ‘get into the scene as late as possible and get out as early as possible.’ You don’t want to have your characters doing things that aren’t necessary. When someone walks into a house, unless it’s for dramatic effect, we don’t need to see him or her get their keys out, put them in the lock, open the door and walk in. Cut to the chase.

Your action and dialogue must be worth every word you write. Show and not tell is better than telling the reader everything. Let them use their mind to see what you’re after.

Don’t direct either actors or the cameraman through scene instructions. They’re the experts and with the director, they’ll work out what to do.

After you’ve written a scene, cut out all the loose writing. The extra words you don’t need.

Finally, make every scene memorable. If it’s not, change it around until it is, or cut it out.

Need help getting your screenplay ready to show to a reader, producer, studio or agent? Check our screenplay analysis service first. No second chance to make a first impression!

You don’t decide to go on holiday abroad and just get into your car to go. You need your passport, you need to pack your case. You need to know how to get there, what you need to know to get there and you need to know your next and preferably your final destination. Okay, you could just drive, but you’d need to know to which airport or seaport or border crossing point. You’d need to know which road gets you there at the very least. You’ll need to search for somewhere to stay if you’re on the road too long. Don’t forget that fuel for your car. All of this is planning.

You can have a loose structure. Many people work this way. They may not know the ending, but they have a perspective of where they’re headed.

You can have a definite structure. Some writers spend as much time on getting their structure complete as they do on the actual writing. They break down every scene with minute detail so their journey is accurate.

Which structure is the right way? There isn’t a simple answer to that.

Blake Snyder uses his ‘Save The Cat’ fifteen beats plan to show you the way from fade in to fade out. There’s no doubting the concrete planning to his structure matches the needs of any Hollywood successful movie.

Michael Hague’s six point stage structure can also be matched and plotted across most major movies.

John Truby’s twenty-two step story structure is another devoted plan. It creates master plans used by many on our tiny planet.

These are just examples (but the very best) of many options available to you.

At the end of the day, they are all versions of the three act play. We all know from school that you need a start, middle and an ending. It’s how all stories run if they’re successful. It’s what you put into those three acts that become the plans set out by our screenplay writing experts.

1. In act one you’ll have the introduction to your problem, your main star or two with an opportunity presenting itself to your protagonist.
2. They’ll enter act two when they set off on their voyage. Here they progress and change their plans until they reach the mid point of your movie; the point of no return.
3. The stakes get higher now before they reach a major setback. Act three takes them in to the final resolution, the big climax as they find out how it all ends followed by the after effects.

No matter what you do, don’t let structure stop you from writing. It’s better that you put pen to paper (well, use your computer) and write regularly and then worry about structure later, than to start with structure as a means to procrastinate to stop you essentially, from writing.

Let us know how you get on with structure – which way works best for you?

Need help getting your screenplay ready to show to a reader, producer, studio or agent? Check our screenplay analysis service first. No second chance to make a first impression!

The minimum pay rates in the United States are set at just below $7 per hour, until President Obama gets his hands on raising those rates. In the UK they suggest that just under £6 per hour in the lowest you should earn. At least in the US you’d benefit from the dreadful indirect taxation called ‘forced tipping’ in many jobs, while the Brits think you should only tip if the work was extra special. As a screen writer, don’t expect any tips that come in dollar bills. You can, however, expect many free words from mentoring, encouragement and correction.

Wait a moment, those rates are for employed positions – you’re writing a screenplay on spec; hoping that someone will want to buy it from you. You don’t get paid anything for writing on spec. You thought it was only the actors who had to work the tables in LA didn’t you? Most newbie screenplay writers carry second (or should that be first?) jobs to pay the bills.

You wouldn’t want to earn the minimum rates though, would you? So how many hours did you log writing your screenplay? You’d have to be one in a million to be logging how long it takes you to write and re-write a screenplay unless you’re being paid by the hour by a studio.

Go look over our previous article about WAG rates here.

If you look at average salaries, then $40,000 in the US and £30,000 in the UK is less than the Writer’s Guild of America’s (WGA) suggested rate for one screenplay. That doesn’t sound too tough, does it, but can you sell one per annum, every year? How many do you have to write to get to one success per annum?

The writing isn’t the problem (well it may be to some extent) it’s the selling that is the hard work. Some producers may only buy an option to produce your screenplay. That means they’ll give you a small advance (perhaps just $500) and hold you to a period of time while they try to get funding and attach actors and directors to make the film. Only when the next stage payment is due (yes, the film is going ahead!) will you receive real money. However, hold on a moment, because the bulk of your funds may only arrive when filming really starts. Could it really be three years since you wrote the script until someone brings down the clapperboard for the first time?

So now your earnings from the movie are over a much longer period so you might need to divide your rewards across a three year period (if you’re lucky). Fortunately you’re such a skilled writer that you write four screenplays a year, at least. That way you have one you’re trying to sell, one in development, one on at the movies and one that didn’t make it anywhere.

You’ll need to divide your time between writing, selling and having a real life with your family and children knowing that over 100,000 screenplays get registered for copyright in the US alone each year while just 1,000 movies get made. Can you hack it?

By Ethan Beh

It is very important to set goals. Having a target helps you take action, focus on important things and prevents time and effort spent on unnecessary things. Many people underestimate the importance of setting goals.

Like the old saying goes ‘If you fail to plan, you plan to fail’.

Differentiating between end goals and mean goals when doing goal setting is very important. End goals is what you ultimately want to achieve or get. While mean goals, as it’s name suggests, are used as means to attain end goals. Anytime when we set goals, we must ensure that we are setting end goals not mean goals.

For example, let’s take the common goal of wanting to be rich. This is an example of a mean goal and not end goal. Think about it, what you ultimately want is not more green paper or higher numbers in your bank account balance. What you are seeking for is actually happiness, security, freedom etc which you think money can give you.

Sadly many people fail to see that and got caught out by it. They try hard to amass more wealth but eventually still end up unsatisfied. This is because they did not get what they ultimately wanted. All this because they put their focus on the wrong goal.

How many times have we heard a story similar to this. A young man starts out in his career. He dreams of earning the big bucks so that he and his family can live a life of happiness, freedom and security. He starts out at the bottom of the corporate ladder and spends 20 years working hard to rise up to the top. He finally becomes the Managing Director, and has a big fat salary. But because he has spent most of his time working, he doesn’t enjoy any freedom or happiness.

So in the end he achieved his goal, but sadly he found out that it did not give him what he wanted.

When you set a goal, give your all to achieve it, finally attain it only but only then discover that it did not give you what you wanted is very discouraging and distressing.

Take your time when setting goals. Don’t be anxious to get it over with. If you get it wrong, all your time and effort will eventually go down the drain. Think it through thoroughly first because you want to get it right the first time.

Article Source: http://www.affsphere.com/Self-Help/Goal-Setting/Goal-Setting-Tips-End-Goals-vs-Mean-Goals-1.html

Your screenplay needs to stand out from the crowd; your formatting needs to blend in with one and all.

The format must be the same that everyone else is using, not just in Hollywood, but all over the world. Why, you ask? Because anyone reading your screenplay – reader, producer, studio, agent – needs to know that they’re going to spend their time reading your screenplay and not waste time trying to decipher the style in which you’ve written it.

If all screenplays are formatted in exactly the same manner, your writing will have the chance to stand out. If you try something fancy like not using the right font (twelve point courier typeface) then your screenplay is already on its way to the trash can. It won’t even get read because you won’t get treated like a professional screenplay writer.

For the actual words on the page, the BBC’s format guide takes you through the main set up planning. Download it and keep it by your side as you type. You’ll find it most useful. You can find it at: http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/picture/upload/image/general/screenplay.pdf

The advantage of using industry standard software like Final Draft is that it’s easy to send a copy of your work to someone else using the same software. This saves you printing your 110+ pages, boxing it up professionally and posting it safely so it arrives in pristine condition, all for the cost of a small mortgage, so the reader believes they’re the first to see it. Some companies in LA will do this work for you if you email them the script. You could try http://www.hollywoodscriptexpress.com/prices.html and if you go to their formatting page they provide all the useful up to date information you’ll require to set up your screenplay.

It’s at http://www.hollywoodscriptexpress.com/formatting.html They show you the materials to use paper, covers, binding, how to set up the title page and exact dimensions for margins. They’ll even send the script on for you. An advantage of using a script delivery service is the speed at which it arrives with the reader. This will be crucial and especially important to your probable cash flow if you’ve just been asked to send your script for a reading!

Industry software is also useful if you collaborate on a script and your partner doesn’t live in the same building.

It’s best to use an industry standard quantity piece of software like Final Draft www.finaldraft.com/ or MovieMagic Screenwriter www.screenplay.com both of which you’ll pay for, or if money is tight, then try Celtx from www.celtx.com as it’s a free download. If you want a Microsoft Word editor, then Script Wizard from www.warrenassoc.com is a good bet. Whatever you choose, they may still only be 99% correct. You’ll still need to go line by line and check your formatting is correct.

Formatting needs lots of white space and short sentences of both dialogue and scene action description. Lots of dense typing tells the reader that the screenplay wasn’t written by a professional. When you flick through a completed screenplay you want to see space, plenty of it. Shorts lines of dialogue; that’s how we really speak so keep to it. Short action and scene descriptions keep the pace moving well.

Don’t direct your actors. It goes without saying that directors want to direct the actors and actors want to decide how to portray your words. Please don’t try to tell them what to do. You can give occasional hints, but don’t step on their toes.

It’s easier to decide upon format for screenplay writing, but if you want to write a theatre play, there are many different formats in use, different for the US and the UK, for the BBC and for local theatres. You’ll need to check with the theatre or producer that you wish to write to and ask for what format they require, as there are so many.

At the end of the day you’ll want your reader to forget and not even notice your formatting so they can enjoy your writing.

Need help getting your screenplay ready to show to a reader, producer, studio or agent? Check our screenplay analysis service first. No second chance to make a first impression!

Don’t confuse the viewer or reader. We all want to know who the hero is, early in the screenplay, very early and often it’s best if they’re the first person we meet. The protagonist must have the most difficult hill to climb. The audience will need to find them the most interesting person in the movie, rooting for what the hero has to go through, helping him/her on their way. You see, the reader is going to travel the journey with the protagonist and it must be a well travelled journey.

Whatever happens, the hero must solve his/her own predicament. It’s not sufficient for another character to help them to come through whatever it is that required skill, courage and determination. Your audience will leave deflated if the key character gets too much help.

The character arc passage must be greater for the lead over any other character. We all want them to succeed, even if they’re on a journey we don’t agree with. They might be fighting a war we don’t believe in, but we’ll still go with your screenplay if you make their actions believable in the part that they act through, providing they’re consistent with the role you’ve given them.

Your hero can be an alien or a dog, but he/she must create enough empathy within the reader so that you care enough to worry when plans go wrong – that’s how our hero learns to overcome their difficulty.

The stakes you set your hero must be set in concrete. We must know where they’re going and why, so that when you set them barriers on the way, we’ll know what they must achieve to gain success. We’ll climb over that mountain with them if we know what’s on the other side when they get there, but if the target isn’t big enough we won’t care enough if the mountain is a molehill or Kilimanjaro.

We want to put ourselves in the hero’s place. We want to be inside their mind asking ourselves, ‘just what would we do next?’ Of course our hero must nearly always do something else so we can ask ‘why did they do that; get back on track man or you won’t get to your purpose.’ Finally your protagonist will inevitably get back on the boulevard having fought and beaten the antagonist.

You’ll support your hero even when he’s politically incorrect, providing he makes it to the end of the yellow brick road.

Your lead can depart this life by the end of your movie, but they’ll have shown the world (even if their world is small) what they set out to complete and accomplish it.

When you need help with getting your screenplay ready to show to a reader, producer, studio or agent, check out our screenplay analysis services first.