Script Writing for Beginners
Writing a theatrical script for others to perform in the backyard, at a party or on a real stage is a challenging way to flex your imagination and relive the childhood fun of playing "let's pretend." Here's a look at the basics of script writing.
Elements
Plays are comprised of settings, characters, dialogue, parenthetical cues, physical actions and scene transitions. Unlike a book, descriptions are kept to a minimum.
Types
Plays can embrace any genre, theme or era, and are classified as skits, one-acts, full-length (two- or three-act productions) and musicals.
Format
Scripts are typed in Courier 12 pt. font on one side of 8½-by-11 inch white paper, and single-spaced with hard returns separating scene, action and dialogue blocks from one another.
Length
Play scripts can be as short as five minutes or as long as three hours. The majority of full-length productions are two hours long. One typed page of a script (if properly formatted) is equal to one minute of playing time.
Structure
Even very short plays follow the traditional three-act storytelling formula of beginning, middle and end. The shorter the play, the smaller the cast, the fewer number of scenes and the less complex the plot.
Conflict and Resolution
Whatever conflict is introduced at the beginning of the play needs to be resolved by the final act. There also needs to be sufficient opposition to the hero's quest in the form of a villain and/or plausible obstacles.
