The only way you can improve as a screenwriter is to write. No amount of books, classes, or webinars will help you improve as a screenwriter if you don’t set aside time to write and practice the skill of screenwriting.
Screenwriting involves several separate skills. The easiest skill to learn is how to format a screenplay. The hardest skill to learn is how to tell a story. The second hardest skill to learn is how to tell a story in screenplay format.
So tackle the hardest skill and learn to tell a story. Start by simply describing the story as plain text. Keep refining your story until others can read it and wish they had come up with the idea instead. When others praise your story, that’s the time you can start translating your story into screenplay format.
While you’re learning to create and tell a story, practice learning the formatting elements of a screenplay. Watch a scene from a favorite movie and write that scene in screenplay format. Since the story of that scene has already been created, you can focus less on telling the story and more on formatting a screenplay.
Pick a scene from a favorite novel or short story. Then rewrite that scene in screenplay format. The point of doing this is simply to get familiar and comfortable with screenplay formatting so it will become second nature to you when you start formatting your own stories.
Since the only way to improve as a screenwriter is through writing, you’ll need to develop the habit of writing as often as possible. Read the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, and you’ll learn how to create good habits and how to rid yourself of bad habits.
To create a good habit of writing regularly, start slowly and simply. Rather than try and force yourself to write a full-length screenplay, start by simply writing at least one page of a screenplay. Do that every day and soon you’ll develop the skill of learning to write and format a screenplay.
“Atomic Habits” emphasizes several ways to make establishing a good habit easy. First, start by focusing on 1% change. Anyone can improve by 1% so this goal is easy to achieve. Because it’s easy to achieve, it’s more likely you’ll do it.
Second, stack a new habit with a current habit. If you currently have a habit of checking your social media account for 30 minutes every morning, make sure you also write at least one page afterwards. By linking a new habit with a current habit, you’ll be more likely to start establishing a new habit as well.
Third, make it easy to accomplish your new habit. If you want to write, put screenwriting books and movie posters around your desk to remind you of your goal of writing screenplays. Remove distractions like your phone from your desk if checking your phone might distract you from writing. The goal is to make establishing a new habit as simple and mindless as possible to encourage you to do it.
By reading “Atomic Habits”, you can learn to establish the habit of becoming a screenwriter. See yourself as a screenwriter, not just as someone who wants to learn screenwriting. When you see yourself as a screenwriter, you’ll be more likely to perform tasks that reinforce your belief that you’re a screenwriter.
The only way you’re going to get better as a screenwriter is by writing, so practice as often as possible. Writing will show you what you know and what you need to learn, so keep writing as often as possible. When you develop the habit of working like a screenwriter, you’ll increase your chances of actually becoming a screenwriter who may one day even get paid.
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