How to Write a Screenplay or Tell a Better Story

I woke up sometime last week and decided I wanted to write a Storytelling/Screenwriting 101 presentation. For one, a bunch of my friends have been asking me to take them through something like this. But moreso, I wanted to make a deck that I’d want my younger self to read, before making all those awful short movies and scripts through college. So if you dig it, please spread it around – hopefully someone with a time machine will read it and let me send it back to little me.

These tips and guidelines are a collection of stuff I’ve found useful as I’ve learned about storytelling and screenwriting. Nothing here is set in stone and all these “rules” can be broken. I learned a lot of this stuff from the books I’ve read – do yourself a favor and read them! I’m also barely scratching the surface here.

As for me, I haven’t written an Oscar-winning screenplay, a summer blockbuster or The Great American Novel. I did write and produce the documentary Second Skin, which premiered at SXSW, won a bunch of awards, and was distributed internationally. I’ve also written a bunch of screenplays, one which was a Sundance Film Lab Finalist. Besides ?lm, I’ve worked on establishing stories and voices for Skittles, Star Wars and other brands. I’ve also published a bunch of articles and poetry. And of course, I’ve got that un?nished novel in the desk drawer.