Writing Short Films

1. Drama's Core: Active Character & Conflict

Drama relies on two important rules. There must be: A character (the protagonist), who will take action to achieve something. This character will meet with conflict.

Fundamental principles. At its heart, every compelling narrative, whether a short film, novel, or play, hinges on a protagonist who actively pursues a goal and encounters significant opposition. This dynamic interplay between desire and resistance is what generates tension and keeps an audience engaged. Without a character driven by a clear objective and facing genuine conflict, a story risks becoming a mere sequence of incidents, lacking dramatic purpose.

Audience connection. Film, as a temporal art form, demands immediate understanding and emotional connection from its viewers. Unlike reading, where one can re-read passages, film unfolds in real-time, requiring actions and conflicts to be clearly understood as they happen. This immediacy means screenwriters must externalize characters' inner lives, conveying thoughts and feelings through observable behavior and reactions, rather than relying on internal monologues or extensive narration.

Practical application. Directors and actors prioritize identifying a character's objectives and the source of conflict within a scene to bring it to life. Even simple dialogue gains depth and interest when imbued with underlying purpose and opposing desires. This principle extends to the entire film, where a character's wants and the obstacles they face provide the essential framework for the plot, ensuring the audience remains invested in the unfolding drama.

2. Short Film's Essence: Simplicity & Focus

A short film differs as much from a feature as a short story does from a novel.

Focused narrative. Good short films thrive on simplicity and specificity, typically exploring one main conflict or incident from inception to climax. Unlike features that can leisurely develop multiple storylines, shorts must establish their core conflict early and stick to it, avoiding incidental material that could dilute their impact. This concentrated approach allows for a deep dive into a single, compelling situation.

Unique advantages. Short films can effectively tackle difficult or niche themes that longer mainstream features might avoid due to commercial pressures. Their brevity allows for examination of unsympathetic protagonists or challenging social issues, as the audience is asked to invest a shorter amount of time. This freedom from commercial constraints often leads to bolder storytelling and a willingness to take risks, which is highly valued in the industry.

Impactful brevity. The success of a short film often lies in its ability to deliver a satisfying emotional experience within a limited timeframe. Whether it's a poignant character study or a sharp comedic sketch, the best shorts are concise, impactful, and leave a lasting impression. They demonstrate a filmmaker's mastery of storytelling fundamentals, proving that powerful narratives don't always require extensive runtime.

3. Character Drives Story: Want, Need, & Emotion

For a protagonist to operate successfully in a story, the screenwriter must answer three important questions about her character. What does the character want? Why does he want it? What does he need?

Defining motivation. A character's "want" is their conscious story goal, providing direction for the plot. The "why" explains their conscious motivation. Crucially, the "need" refers to an unconscious, inner force that compels action, often in ways the character doesn't fully understand. This distinction between conscious wants and unconscious needs adds depth and complexity, frequently creating internal conflict that drives the narrative.

Emotional authenticity. Emotion is the universal language that connects audiences to characters. Recognizable emotional responses make characters feel real and believable, fostering empathy and identification. Screenwriters must conceive characters whose emotional lives are accessible, allowing their feelings to drive actions and reactions. This emotional progression, from fear to anger to empathy, enriches the story and makes scenes more compelling.

Character revealed under stress. A character's true nature is most vividly revealed when they are under pressure, forced to make difficult choices in the face of conflict. These choices, especially moral ones, strip away pretense and expose their core values and weaknesses. The dramatic tension arises not just from external obstacles, but from the internal struggle as characters confront their fears and make decisions with significant consequences.

4. Structure as Blueprint: Setup, Rising Action, Climax

A script is more architecture than literature.

Foundational framework. A screenplay serves as the architectural blueprint for a film, providing the essential structure that guides the entire production process. This structure typically follows a three-part form: a beginning that sets up the dramatic problem, a middle that develops rising action and conflict, and an end that culminates in a climax and resolution. This framework ensures coherence and purposeful progression.

The setup's purpose. The opening of a short film must quickly orient the audience to the characters, setting, mood, and central conflict. Unlike features, which have more time for exposition, shorts demand immediate engagement. The main exposition provides vital information, while the inciting incident acts as a catalyst, forcing the protagonist to respond and setting the story's forward motion in earnest.

Building tension. The middle section, or rising action, is where the conflict escalates through a series of increasing challenges. These can include various obstacles—antagonists, physical barriers, internal struggles, or even "mystic forces." Each confrontation creates a crisis, building tension and forcing characters to make decisions that propel the story towards its ultimate main crisis and climax. A strong midpoint often serves to re-energize the narrative.

5. Plotting: Orchestrating Conflict & Surprise

Plot is a series of interrelated actions that progresses through a struggle of opposing forces to a climax and resolution that defines the meaning of the work.

Purposeful arrangement. Plot is not merely a sequence of events, but a carefully orchestrated arrangement designed to achieve a specific effect and convey meaning. It relies on causal relationships, where one action directly leads to another, building momentum and ensuring continuity. This cause-and-effect chain is crucial for creating a coherent and compelling narrative that keeps the audience invested.

Conflict's multifaceted role. Conflict is indispensable for dramatic storytelling, serving multiple functions beyond just engaging interest. It reveals character by stripping away defenses under stress, forcing individuals to show their true selves. Conflict also externalizes and intensifies emotion, making scenes more vibrant and relatable. When conflict develops with both positive and negative outcomes, it adds unpredictability, preventing the audience from easily foreseeing the ending.

Surprise and reversal. To maintain audience engagement, a plot must frequently surprise. This can come from unexpected turns in the narrative, startling character behavior, or sudden revelations. A powerful technique is the "reversal," where the story spins in an opposite direction, often at the midpoint, changing fortune from good to bad or vice versa. These surprises, while unexpected, must remain rooted in the realm of the probable within the story's established reality.

6. Openings: Hooking the Audience Instantly

Every great film revolves around a problem for the protagonist and other characters.

Immediate problem. A strong opening immediately presents a compelling problem for the protagonist, which defines the story's action, direction, and often its theme. This problem can be subtle or overt, but it must be apparent and significant enough to affect the characters and their world. Without a clear central conflict established early, a short film risks feeling aimless and failing to capture audience attention.

Efficient exposition. Due to time constraints, short films must convey essential information quickly and efficiently. Main exposition, vital for orienting the audience to the protagonist and their problem, can be delivered through various methods:

• Narration: Voice-over or on-screen narrators can quickly provide background.
• Written Presentation: On-screen text or cards can convey crucial details concisely.
• Visual Dramatization: Images and sounds can establish setting, mood, and conflict without dialogue.
• Dialogue: Conflict-driven conversations can naturally reveal necessary information.

Strategic engagement. Good openings elicit curiosity, raising questions that compel the audience to watch further. They often begin near a point of decision or crisis, or with a significant change in the environment that directly impacts the protagonist. The goal is to establish the dramatic question as early as possible, ensuring the audience is immediately invested in whether the hero will achieve their goal.

7. The Middle: Sustaining Tension with Obstacles

In a story’s middle, we need conflict and action to heat up.

Escalating confrontation. The middle section of a short film is where the protagonist's confrontation with problems intensifies. This "rising action" requires a continuous escalation of tension, achieved through a variety of increasing conflicts. If conflict doesn't build or remains repetitive, the audience's interest will wane, and the story will lose momentum.

The protagonist's plan. Once the main conflict is established, the protagonist typically formulates a plan of action to achieve their goal. This plan, whether conscious or unconscious, guides their subsequent actions and reactions. The gap between the protagonist's anticipated results and the reality of the obstacles they face creates surprise and drives further struggle, revealing their true character.

Strategic use of suspense. Suspense, the mental state of uncertainty and anticipation, is crucial for keeping the audience engaged in the middle. Techniques to build suspense include:

• Strong Antagonist: A powerful adversary keeps the hero's success in doubt.
• Dreadful Alternative: High stakes and severe consequences for failure heighten tension.
• Unexpected Complications: Sudden twists that make the situation tougher for the hero.
• Ticking Clock: A limited timeframe for the protagonist to succeed.
• Crosscutting: Shifting between opposing forces to show their progress and increase anticipation.

8. Endings: Revelation, Climax, & Resolution

The ending is, of course, why we came to the party in the first place.

Purposeful conclusion. The ending is the film's ultimate purpose, revealing what the entire experience has been about. It provides more than just entertainment; it offers something for the audience to reflect upon. A strong ending ensures that the film's themes and conflicts are clarified, leaving a lasting impression.

Story revelation. Revelation is a striking disclosure of previously unknown or unrealized information, often coming as a shock but always making sense in retrospect. In short films, revelation frequently illuminates a main character's motivations or back-story, explaining why the dramatic problem took the form it did. This insight is most powerful when dramatized through action and conflict, rather than expository dialogue or flashbacks.

Climax and resolution. The climax is the peak of intensity, where the conflict is finally resolved, and the film's premise or theme is clarified. It's the culminating point for all preceding decisions, actions, and crises. The resolution, or falling action, ties up any remaining loose ends, solidifying the characters' fates and the film's world. In shorts, the resolution is often concise, sometimes integrated directly into the climax, and frequently delivers a final ironic twist or character insight.

9. Scene Construction: Visuals & Purpose

A scene is a unit of action. It’s a single event or exchange between characters, with unity of time and place. It propels the plot forward, toward the climax and resolution.

Building blocks of plot. Scenes are the fundamental units of a screenplay, each designed to advance the plot, deepen the audience's understanding of characters through their behavior, or provide essential expository information. Strong scenes often combine these goals, ensuring that every moment contributes meaningfully to the narrative. Unlike theater, film scenes leverage the camera's ability to move freely, offering intimate views and transcending physical limitations to create a sense of realism.

Visual storytelling. Screenwriters must prioritize visual storytelling, showing rather than telling. Characters' actions, movements, and interactions with their environment are more dynamic and engaging than static dialogue. The setting itself can contribute to mood and provide opportunities for revealing "business"—small, personal actions that define a character's personality and inner state more effectively than words.

Purposeful progression. Every good scene has a single main point and builds towards it, avoiding anticlimax. A "button" or inciting incident within the scene kicks off the action, leading to a climax within that specific unit. Scenes are often grouped into "sequences" around a single idea or incident, allowing for focused development of character motivations, decisions, and their consequences, contributing to the overall rhythm and momentum of the film.

10. Dialogue & Subtext: Show, Don't Tell

When characters imply rather than state “on the nose” what they’re feeling, it allows the audience make these associations and connect more deeply with the characters.

Illusion of conversation. Dialogue in a screenplay is not real conversation but a crafted illusion of it. Its primary functions are to advance the plot, reveal character, provide necessary information that cannot be shown visually, and set the film's tone. Effective dialogue is concise, purposeful, and sounds natural, differentiating characters through their unique voices, diction, and speech patterns.

Beyond the spoken word. Subtext is the hidden layer of meaning beneath the surface words and actions, revealing characters' true emotions, thoughts, and unconscious motivations (their "needs"). It's what characters don't say directly but convey through their behavior, physical attitudes, and the context of the scene. This indirect communication engages the audience more deeply, as they actively interpret what's truly going on.

Revealing subtext. Screenwriters reveal subtext through various techniques:

• Contradictory Emotion: When a character's feelings clash with their words (e.g., saying "I'm fine" while visibly distressed).
• Physical Attitude: Body language, facial expressions, and gestures that betray inner states.
• Business: Small actions or habits that subtly reveal personality or hidden motives.
• Atmosphere: Using weather, time of day, or setting to mirror and reinforce characters' emotional states.

By mastering subtext, writers create multi-dimensional characters and richer, more compelling narratives that resonate on a deeper emotional level with the audience.

11. Staying Focused: The Protagonist's True Desire

What does the protagonist really want? This is the most important question to ask.

Core questions. When a screenplay loses focus or writer's block sets in, returning to two fundamental questions is crucial: "What is the story about?" and "What does the protagonist really want?" Re-evaluating the overarching theme and the protagonist's core desire helps to realign the narrative and ensure every element serves a unified purpose.

Protagonist's driving force. The protagonist's clear goal or unconscious need is the engine of the screenplay. Every scene should contribute to this driving action, revealing character, providing information, and stoking the central conflict as it rises towards the climax. If the protagonist's want or need is underdeveloped, uncompelling, or unbelievable, the plot will falter, and the audience's engagement will diminish.

Antagonist's role. A strong antagonist, with their own clear wants and needs, provides a distinct and understandable opposing force. Their conflicting desires with the protagonist create the necessary tension to drive the story forward. Even if the antagonist isn't a person, the opposing force must be personified or clearly defined in relation to the protagonist's struggle to maintain dramatic clarity and momentum.

Last updated: August 14, 2025