Despite all the romance of the former, planning works best. A full-length script should contain 90 to 120 pages. This will, in turn, consist of many different scenes, settings, groups of characters, and plot lines that propel the story forward.
To sit down and randomly start typing will result in random results. A story should follow a carefully crafted plot line, with each event building off the previous one as the tale moves forward. An outline of scenes will be of tremendous help, further defined by which characters are present, where the scene occurs, and when the scene takes place along the story's timeline.
If, for example, you decide to write the cafe scene where Sondra learns she's not the daughter of Queen Torvald, it has to occur after the event which brought Sondra to believe she was a princess in the first place.
Or, the climactic scene of Darren declaring his love for Berneice cannot occur if Darren has never before met Berneice.
Granted, these may seem far-fetched examples, but scriptwriters can be so close to their work that they intuit things about the plot lines and characters that may exist only in their fertile imaginations.
Many are the times when I've read a script, become confused because of a similar point, and heard the scriptwriter respond with "Oh, yeah. I forgot to include the part where . . ." and then go on to describe something that was in mind but did not yet make it to paper.
And that's the cardinal point: what is on paper. Whether it's a drafted script, a formal outline, notes in a computer file, or scratchings on a napkin, until the writer has actually consigned the idea to a reproducible and sharable medium, it's only a idea, not a part of a script.
So make some plans. If you have a half-hour to work on the script, can you complete the fight scene? Or would it be better to work on editing another scene, or perhaps drafting a new scene?
Only you can determine which plans work best for your script. No plan is probably the worst decision. There is an old saying that begins, "If you don't know where you're going . . ." and ends with many variations:
- You'll probably end up somewhere else.
- Any path will take you there.
- You might not get there.
- You won't know when you've arrived.
- You won't know if you're on the wrong road.
- You may arrive at a destination you didn't intend
Make sure you have your road map and plan, so you know where you are and remain true to the destination of your vision.
