Screenwriting 101: Laura Kosann

“I really draw inspiration from everywhere. Observation. Photography. All different mediums of art. Books. Articles. Music is really big for me. The second I have an idea for a screenplay, I make a soundtrack for it. That’s huge for me. I’ll then take walks and listen to that soundtrack and I’m imagining scenes. Letting the plot unfold. It’s just inspiration from a lot of different places…

I have a few weeks where I’m immersing myself in the world it’s in. Consuming everything concerning that world. I’m starting to write scenes. I won’t go into Final Draft until I am totally ready. Sometimes I’ve literally written 40 pages of script in journals or on my iPhone notes app before I even start writing the script.

I definitely have a process where whatever I can map out, I do, in terms of the acts. I’ll put something down on paper in terms of a progression. But it’s very loose. I don’t like to be married to it. I like to give myself the ability to freely let it evolve as I’m writing it.

And then at some point, I have this epiphany where I know I’m ready. And it’s going to pour out of me. Usually, at that point, when I go to the script, I write it very quickly.”

— Laura Kosann

From Go Into The Story interview, June 2022

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