How to Write Your First Feature Film

How to write a script for your film:

In this article you will not learn about the three arc structure, this is not an official course in screenwriting of any kind, this is how I went from my first script being dull and boring to my second script being way more interesting and entertaining.

If you want to learn how to write a script or how to structure a story then search google for info.

Why don't we start this off with what I learned from my first script that ended up being filmed and then proceed to the second script which I'm currently shooting.

The first script, which is The Garden’s Keeper, was me just writing things out, making scenes up as I go along and moving the story forward. That’s it. There was no drama in anything that happened and everything just flowed along without any problem of any sorts. In short, it was a mess and you can prove that with the negative reviews it has on Amazon. I did learn my lesson and researched how to write a better script so my second movie would not suck as much as my first one even though the first film is still making money on Amazon but that is a story for another article.

Example of my two scripts:

• The Garden’s Keeper 1: I went to the store to buy some gum and came back to my house.
• The Garden’s Keeper 2: I went to the store to buy some gum but I forgot my wallet at my house. The clerk thought that I was stealing the gum and called the cops, I panicked and everything got worse when the local priest pulled up to the store. I did not want him to see what was happening and I bolted out of the store with the gum in my hands running all the way home.

One is boring and the other one is a million times more interesting and you actually want to know if they catch the main character at the end or not.

That was an example, now I will talk about the actual plot of my second script.

What did I change on my second script? Well, the answer to that question is…Everything. First I took some online classes on scriptwriting, secondly, I found a theme for the film, the theme was death because I was dealing with the death of all of my grandparents in the span of one year and I did not take it well. I had no idea how to deal with all the pain and everything I felt so I decided to try and express it through my art form of making movies.

In the film, the main character Luis is dealing with the death of his best friend and the whole movie revolves around him not being able to deal with “Omar’s” death. So that is the theme, but what is the story about? Well, I ended up doing a parody of slasher films, where he ends up in a ranch in the middle of nowhere and strange things start to happen like people starting to die hence “death” the theme of the movie pops up.

After establishing the theme of the film I ended up constructing every scene with an obstacle for Luis or Kara to deal with. Kara is the Co-Star of the film and I gave her the opposite motivation of Luis. Luis wanted to get out of the ranch immediately but Kara wanted to stay and figure out what was happening but she had an ulterior motive that created a problem for Luis in every decision that he wanted to take and as we know problems create drama and drama is interesting.

The most important thing to take into consideration when writing a script is how to create problems for your character. This way, even if the story sucks at least people will watch it all the way to the end, or be forgiving about quality just for the fact that you entertained them for a while with your characters solving problems until the end of the movie, or until they get what they wanted (or they don’t).

If you want to talk marketing, film or post-production you can find me on Instagram @adrianperinv, I’m looking forward to our chats!

My first film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime all around the world in about 80 countries so you can look for it an learn what not to do.