3 Essential Elements Your Screenplay Needs To Get Picked Up

It can be difficult to sell your script. Many screenwriters don’t know what it takes to sell their script and thus, go in blindly. In this post, I’ll go over the 3 essential elements your screenplay needs to get picked up.

Remember this acronym; CCP. No, not Chinese Communist Party, you dolt. CCP stands for character, conflict and plot.

1. Character

Character is important because it’s who the movie is centered around. If your character isn’t good, don’t bother writing it. People want a character they can identify with. A character that is flawed, but likable. A common mistake is making a character too perfect to the point that they’re a mary sue. People can’t relate to such perfect human beings if you can even call them that since all humans are flawed.

2. Conflict

Conflict is what’s needed to engage the audience and keep them enthralled by the story. You have to write the conflict so that the protagonist is constantly in a chasing position. There’s a goal that the protagonist is trying to achieve and people try to throw wrenches in their plan to keep them from attaining it. There must also be a secondary conflict that makes the problem worse. When you do this, you’re adding a twist that drives the story forward and doesn’t die by the second act.

3. Plot

The amount of people that have a great idea but no plot for their story is astounding. Before the scriptwriting process, each act of the script must be planned out. It would behoove you to know the ending of each act and how you plan to build up to it. Having an idea is a small part of the work. Plan accordingly for the acts you are going to write. You’ll find that if you do this, you may not even need an outline as you’ll know what each scene is supposed to achieve.

Following these 3 essential elements to get your screenplay picked up and it’ll help you get your script where it needs to be.

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3 Essential Elements Your Screenplay Needs To Get Picked Up

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