It all starts with story: Part 2.

It happens more often then not that I get to a scene in a script and begin writing only to discover that I wrote dialogue and actions for a character end up breaking character. It is important to know your characters before you try telling their story.

I have spoken with many people who do not like to outline their scripts because they want to discover the characters as they write. I am very wary about believing this to be a good way to write. If you don't know where your story is going then you don't know what needs to be told and what doesn't, often time creating an inconsistant through line for your characters.

Outlining a script is one thing but is it does not tell you who your characters are and how they are going to react to situations. The outline is usually a list of key events that need to happen to create a compitent story without plot holes, but an outline is not going to tell you how a character speaks to someone or responds to a comment or even their speach patterns. You may have some idea of how your character interacts with other people, but you won't know the core of the character by an outline.

There is a way to not get stuck in the situation of breaking character. A complete biography of your character usually will help. This is where the challenge comes in, many times I have started to write a character biography and after about 1 page, sometimes 2, I figure I have written enough and can move on. This is where you need to force yourself just to write, let the words flow and don't worry about grammer or spellin -- just write. Repeate things you have already mentioned get everything down to the last detail: where he/she was born, when was he/she born, where did they go to school, their friends, family, hobbies, fears, boyfriends/girlfriends, jobs, were they ever fired, did they quit, their grades, were they liked, etc.

Any and everything you can think of write it down. Again you may only get to page 2, force your self to write to at least page 5. Write more if you like. The idea behind creating a biography of your character is to get to know how they will react to people, how they will talk, what they can talk about, etc. Your dialogue will run smoother and your characters will be speaking with meaning rather than made up circumstances.

Unfortuanately and fortunately it doesn't stop there. After the biography is done you'll have another set of things you can do to prepare yourself to write the script.

It all starts with story: Part 1.

It is a given that without a script you can't make a movie. Well how hard is it to write a script. Obviously we are not all screenwriters but for those of us who are, what makes it so hard at times.

I have always found that writing act 2 is the most difficult part of a screenplay. It is normally the part in a movie that gets really slow and sometimes boring. How do you make act 2 easier to write and more interesting. Well, I was watching a DVD put together by Syd Field, the author of the book "Screenplay" and numerous other works about screen writing. He gave a very good example that helped me greatly.

Some of you may remember the video series from the 80s and 90s "Where There's a Will There's an A." Well in that series about how to get good grades the professor talking mentioned the idea of study times. He suggested the idea that if we study in long lapses of time we are more likely to forget the majority of what we study. He used a diagram showing a dip in attention from when we start to when we finish. The start and end having the best attention span and the middle, being the bottom of the dip, having the worst amount of attention thus resulting in a loss of recall.

His recommendation was to break up your study period into 10 or 15 minute periods so that you are less likely to forget what you study. It's funny how this applies to screenwriting as well. Syd Field mentioned that he finds it easier to write in 30 page segments, so that would cause a problem considering that act 2 is normally closer to 60 pages.

Syd Field proposed the idea that you split your act 2 into two sections the Mid Point being the divider. The result is you are now working in 30 page segments again. The only problem is you still have the issue of keeping act 2 interesting. Field mentioned a few other tricks. He posed the idea of have what he called a Pinch and the 1/4 mark of act 2 and the 3/4 mark of act 2. The 2/4 mark or 1/2 point being the mid point. The Pinch is another element that helps to drive the story forward. The last thing that was mentioned was splitting each half up into 14 points. When I started doing this I realized how valuable splitting the two halves of the act up into 14 points was.

You first have to make sure that the order of points or key events are in sequence with your movie so that things make sense, but once that is complete it becomes much easier.

In an interview I read with Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio, I believe it was on the moviefone.com website, the two fantastic writers of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy mentioned that they work on their script in 2-3 page segments. They mentioned it was easier to manage the story and not get overwhelmed with the entire scope of the script.

With the 14 point idea you technically only need to write about 2 pages per point, you may go over 2 pages on some you may go under 2 pages on others but if you average 2 pages per point you get nearly 30 pages per half of act 2 thus achieving a 60 page act 2 and only having to work on it in 2-3 page segments.

Next is learning the best way to edit act 2 of your film after it's been shot. Also what I consider the hardest part of editing a film.