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Hey everyone!!
So, I’m taking a drama class for school. And we have a pretty small group, so we’ve decided to write our own script to perform. Well, they found out I was a writer so I was commissioned to write the script!
We already have the plot, characters, and all that jazz figured out. But I need help with the actual writing of the script. Any tips you guys might have on writing a script?
(I don’t even know who to tag… XD)
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
Hello hello!
I have done a small amount of this because I write comics. Because you have narration, dialouge, and action all in the same writing, you can use colors to differentiate them. If you can’t use colors, try something like this.
Narrator: Esther was writing a script, but she didn’t know how to finish it.
{Min enter from left, fanning herself with her script papers}
Min: “Well I’m sorry, but I can’t help you much.”
{Min tosses papers on the ground}
{Esther looks disgruntled}
Narrator: Esther was upset at her friends lack of helpfulness, so she turned to the internet for help instead.
{Esther exit to right of stage}
Ok ok I had way too much fun with that, but you see how the {} breaks the actions from the dialogue? Hope that helped!
"And so I left this world just as I had entered it. Confused."
I have done a little bit of screenwriting, but I’m not very good at it
But from studying scripts from movies *coughs* mostly Marvel movies
it’s helpful to be as clear as possible in the script of the actions, making sure you pay attention to the emotions too
Miley: It’s hard writing plays…
(Her voice was worn and as she stopped the sentence she looked off in the distance, thinking about all the times she had tried)
You want your script to be detailed enough in the characters’ personalities so the actors can really get in touch with their characters
Do me a favor…. Tell Cress I meant it
-ThorneHow fun! I have written a ton of plays when I lived in a neighborhood with a lot of kids even one about the board game “Clue.” I still write some now to preform when I see them all again, my longest being around 17 pages. I can try to help you out, 🙂 I think some good tips would to have everyone have around equal lines, if they want. Another is to not make it to elaborate and crazy 😀 I struggle with this a ton, lol! Also, people love comedy!
Heres an excerpt from one of my best plays.
The scene will switch and you will see Claire Kemp (Violet) In her dimly lit office. She is drinking coffee and eating a sandwich, staring at a computer. Within seconds red lights began flashing and a different sound alarm went off.
Violet: *Mumbles and looks up* Not again.
Gwenna: What happened Claire?
Violet: *Stands up* Bank robbery.
Gwenna: *Gasps and runs out of the office*
Violet grabs her keys and handcuffs, runs out of the office and as she’s running she bangs on a door labeled “J. Jones”.
Jonah: *From inside his room” What are you banging on my door for you idiot?!
Violet: Bank robbery sir.
Jonah: Well I will be there in a bit! Don’t rush me!
Violet runs down the hall and out the door. You can hear the sound of a car turning on and sirens driving away. Jaxon Jones (Jonah) Sticks his frosting covered face out the door, looks around, stuffs a donut in his mouth and goes back into his room.
So this scene I wrote is for a play about two naughty baby’s robbing banks.🤣 It a comedy and pretty hilarious, like this scene below (I am a rich and snooty actress, lol!) But we figure out we got robbed by (guess who!) The baby’s. 🙂
*Allison and Quinn get out of the car.*
Quinn: Here we are! The most beautiful bank in the city! *
Allison: *Sticking her head in her bag and pulling out a check* Possibly the world!
*They walk inside and are greeted by the bank teller lady (Kayla aka Margret Reese)
Kayla: Welcome to the Sparkling Spruce bank. How may I help you?
Quinn: We would like to make a deposit. A generous amount.
*Kayla leans forward. Eyes become wide.”
Kayla: Wow! Alright, let me go deposit that for you. *Walks away*
Allison: *excited* This seven hundred thousand dollar check will definitely change the numbers on our bank account!
Quinn: *Sighs* Seven hundred thousand. We can do so much with that!
Allison: Add that to all the rest and we should have enough to purchase that elegant mansion on the coast!
Quinn: The one with 8,000 acres and a private beach?
Allison: The very one!
*Kayla returns looking confused and hands Quinn a slip of paper*
Kayla: You’re all set! Your total in the bank today is seven hundred thousand dollars and zero cents.
*Allison and Quinn are speechless*
Allison:*Very angry* WHAT?!
Kayla: *Very happy* Seven hundred thousand dollars and zero cents.
Quinn: WHAT!?
Kayla:* Very seriously* I just told you.
Quinn and Allison: That can’t be right.
Kayla: Well it is. *Shows them a piece of paper*
Allison: *gasps* We never withdrew all the five million on June 21st
Quinn: And we never would empty our emergency account.
Kayla: *Frowning and reading the paper* Well this is very serious. You guys are the thirtieth people to complain.
Allison: *Hysterically* We were robbed!!
Kayla: I’m afraid so.
Quinn: Isn’t this supposed to be the most secure bank?
Kayla: It is, but nothing is secure from the goo-goo babies.
Quinn: Wait. The what babies?
Kayla: Goo-Goo!
Allison: Oh no.
Quinn: Not good
*They both run out of the bank very fast*
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I would recommend having a bunch of different types of characters, people who are funny (the baby’s and Jaxon Jones), the serious one (Claire Kemp), the annoying ones who can either turn good like we did or stay annoying 😀 (Me and Quinn), and the nice to have around ones, (Kayla and Gwenna).
If you have any questions I would be happy to help! Hopefully that made scene 🙂
"Would you kindly...?"
Oh, and since you have the characters and plot figured out (How did I not see that??🤣) Just make sure Its to to elaborate and complicated and you add lots of details and description!
"Would you kindly...?"
Sounds fun!! Min and Allison gave pretty good examples. I don’t really have that much experience writing scripts, but I wish you luck!
Lolol 😂
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. ~ C.S. Lewis
Awesome! Scripts are so much fun to write.
I’ve worked on two plays, one of which was a five minute skit for a homeschool end of year promotion and the other…a full length play…maybe will get finished one of these days.
We wrote the skit in a sort of half pantomime where the only character which actually speaks is the narrator (a Victorian author) and the characters act out the story (the whole thing was sort of a parody of an author’s interactions with her characters). The script went something like:
Author: [dreamy, flourishes her feather as she writes] Once upon a time (castle enters stage right) in a land not so far away (tree enters stage left) there lived…a prince.
Donavan: enters from behind castle.
Are there any particular things you’re worried over or having trouble with? Is this a full length play, a skit, or something in between?
First Grand Historian of Arreth and the Lesser Realms (aka Kitty)
Fork the GorkAlright, thanks!!
I love the example. XD 😉
Thanks for the tips!!
Those plays sound like so much fun! 😊
Thanks!!
That would be a really fun skit to see. XD
Um… I don’t think so. At least not right now. (I’ve only sort of started…. Ok, I’ve written half a line. 😂)
It’s probably more along the lines of a skit. It’s only supposed to be about 10 minutes long. And I think we’re only having five or six scenes.
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
Cool. I was in a similar situation a couple of years ago when I took a Drama class. They are pretty fun to write but a bit different. I am pretty sure you can get some movie scripts for free on the internet (if you want references). Generally speaking I have found that if you read the lines out loud in voices it can help you with editing.
Through darkness,
light shines brightest
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