Go Into The Story Resource: How To Read A Screenplay

If you’re serious about learning the craft, here are some ways to dig into scripts.

On May 16, 2018, Go Into The Story turned 11 years old — you can read the very first blog post here. I led with this paragraph:

Welcome to Go Into The Story! Right now, it’s nothing but a humble, threadbare blog, but I hope it will evolve into an active resource for aspiring screenwriters, as well as a community for anyone interested in storytelling and the creative life.

And evolve it did! To the point where it was recently named “Best of the Best” Scriptwriting Website in the 20th Annual Writer’s Digest Best Websites for Writers list.

To celebrate 11 years of blogging about screenwriting, writing, Hollywood, movies, TV, and the creative life, each day in May, I’m going to feature a piece of Go Into The Story trivia, plus a writing resource you can find in the site’s archives. This is not an exercise in self-congratulations so much as I figured readers could use some tips about how to best use the site. With — to date — 26,416 articles and over 100 archive topics, there is a LOT of content here. Hopefully, these posts for the next 31 days will clue in more recent followers and remind long-time readers about resources you can use to facilitate deepening your understanding of the writing craft.

Today’s trivia: Funny story. When I first launched my blog in 2008, one of my good friends and screenwriters — who will remain nameless — told me this:

“Scott, wait. You’re going to give away all that information… for free? That’s just… crazy.”

I couldn’t really disagree with him. My response was simply this.

“I don’t know. It just feels right.”

At the time I came up with the idea of Go Into The Story, I was working as a TV producer. Fine work, but movies have always been my passion.

When Joseph Campbell says the central theme of the Hero’s Journey is “Follow your bliss,” I take that quite literally.

Every time I’ve had an opportunity to follow my creative impulses — such as starting a blog which at its roots is “just… crazy” — I’ve taken the leap.

It’s led to a life with lots of ups and lots of downs. But I know this: It’s an authentic existence.

Here’s to you having the courage to follow YOUR bliss!

Today’s Go Into The Story resource: How To Read A Screenplay.

In this series, I have laid out one approach to reading and analyzing screenplays. This is not intended to train you to be a script reader, but rather to provide a set of tools for writers to dig deep into a screenplay and study its structure, characters, themes, style, and so forth.

As I say, every writer is different and has different needs, either personally or per project. If you resonate with any ideas here, feel free to use. If not, feel free to lose.

Reading scripts is a key part of immersing oneself in the world of cinema, something we all should be doing.

Remember: It’s more than just writing a screenplay. It’s about learning to think like a screenwriter.

For Part 1: The First Pass, go here.

For Part 2: The Scene-By-Scene Breakdown, go here.

For Part 3: Plotline Points and Sequences, go here.

For Part 4: Subplots, Relationships and Character Functions, go here.

For Part 5: Metamorphosis, go here.

For Part 6: Themes, go here.

For Part 7: Style and Language, go here.

Each day this month, I want to take the opportunity to thank you for supporting Go Into The Story. I’d love to hear from you in RESPONSES. When did you start following the blog? What are your favorite features? And as always, if you have any suggestions, feel free to suggest away.