Outline your short script using scenes (with scene headings) and around 15-20 total beats spread across those scenes. Structure your
outline as follows:
Scene Heading (also look in the textbook -- feel free to use that for reference)
- This happens.
- This happens.
- This happens.
Scene Heading
- This happens.
Scene Heading
- This happens.
- This happens.
Scene: A scene is unified by 3 things - camera placement (interior/INT. or exterior/EXT.), location, and time (these are the 3 things that make up a scene heading. FOR EXAMPLE: INT. JOHN'S HOUSE - NIGHT
Beat: Every important moment in a scene. Don't be too wordy -- don't write paragraphs; keep it simple with just a few understandable words strung together to describe a moment or action. You will have as many beats as you need in a scene; there is no standard number per scene. Group each scene's beats under it. Keep them action (verbs we can see) oriented. Don't write description or backstory. Don't write dialogue unless it's REALLY important. Do write in the present tense (to get used to it, since all of your work in this course should be written in the present tense).
BEATS DON'T:Jane goes to the shoe store and runs into Clark, who was also looking to buy some shoes. She is shy, and he tries to make her come out of her shell by making her laugh with silly jokes. Their consersation continues while they shop. When they check out, they split the BOGO special, and he lets her keep the half-off pair. He asks her out for coffee. (This is way too detailed.)
BEATS DON'T:Jane goes to store. (And then? Why is this important?)
BEATS DO: Jane runs into Clark at the shoe store. He asks her out. (This is the perfect amount of information to include in a beat.)
Attached are 3 documents: Enchanted shows an example of what 11 minutes of beats looks like (not broken into scenes); Breaking the Story Guide shows the movie Burn After Reading broken down into beats within sequences (a series of scenes with its own mini-story); and I've also included Inside Job, a short script I wrote, so you can see what it looks like.
Remember, it's better to have too much story than not enough -- it's easier to cut than to add beats as you write."Enchanted" - A Partial Beat Sheet
• Pop-up book intro to the story
• Giselle sings about true love's kiss
• Prince Edward is hunting trolls and hears her singing; he follows her voice
• Nathaniel knows the Queen will be furious so he sets the troll free to go after them
• The troll tries to eat Giselle
• Pip tries to help Giselle (he is unusually heavy for a chipmunk and weighs down
the tree branch)
• The troll is flung far, far away
• Giselle falls from the tree into Edward's arms
• They sing together and they are to be married
• The Queen is watching through her portal and is pissed
• Giselle arrives at the palace for the wedding in her gown
• Nathaniel locks out all of her animal friends
• Giselle is stopped by the old hag, who takes her to the wishing well
• Pip sees this from a distance
• The old hag tells her to close her eyes, lean over the well, and make a wish
• The old hag pushes her into the well
• Pip runs for help
• The old hag turns into the Queen
• Giselle falls and falls and is attacked by sparkly things that turn her real.