{"id":3557,"date":"2020-10-08T10:32:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-08T10:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/?p=3557"},"modified":"2025-09-02T08:18:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T08:18:54","slug":"how-to-write-a-short-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new-blog.artlist.io\/blog\/how-to-write-a-short-film\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write a Short Film"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the explosion in digital cinema and gear becoming more affordable, making short films has never been more possible. However, just because a movie is short doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s necessarily easier. Since the basis for every film is its story, learning how to write a short film is probably the most important part of your workflow. Indeed, telling a meaningful and memorable story in a short amount of time can be even harder than one that is longer.<\/p>\n

The crafting of the story is everything before starting production, and the more developed your story is ahead of time, the better. No matter what genre of film you are making, follow these steps to get your story in the best shape possible.<\/p>\n

Clarity<\/strong><\/h2>\n

You may already have a concept in mind for what you want to shoot. Maybe it\u2019s about a certain topic, theme, character or genre you\u2019re interested in. For your short film script, pick out what you find most interesting about the subject matter and ask yourself the following question: What is the\u00a0emotional\u00a0<\/i>experience that I want the audience to have as a result of watching this?<\/p>\n

The\u00a0emotional<\/i>\u00a0question is important since this is not an essay. You\u2019re engaging feelings, not the intellect. The greater clarity you have on this subject, the better since it will provide the core around which you build your story.<\/p>\n

The other reason to have absolute clarity on this point is that short films are\u2026 short! The longest ones are around 50 minutes, and most are much shorter. You don\u2019t have time to make the story about multiple things. Having a singularity of purpose will help you simplify and be selective when you get to the writing.<\/p>\n

Structure<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For the next part of breaking down your concept, start to think about how you would deliver that experience to a viewer in a clear and engaging way. You\u2019re going to deconstruct that experience to its basic parts.<\/p>\n

For example, imagine that your story is about a blind kid who thinks one of his neighbors is abducting children. No one else suspects the neighbor but this kid, which is the point. You want the audience to experience the power of\u00a0insight<\/i>\u00a0rather than\u00a0sight<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"840\"<\/figure>\n
Describe what it’s like to be a blind kid (taken from Oleksandr Ostapchuk’s story\u00a0Child at Home<\/a> on Artlist)<\/figure>\n

Now that you have that bit of clarity, how might you lay that experience out? It\u2019s important to remain abstract in this phase and not get too dragged down into the story elements just yet. You\u2019re only focusing on the power of \u201cinsight\u201d over \u201csight.\u201d<\/p>\n

To answer this next part of the question, ask yourself why you\u2019re writing this story to begin with. Perhaps you have this plot in mind and you feel as though people are too distracted to \u201csee\u201d the real problems in the world.<\/p>\n

If that\u2019s the case, then the experience of the story can be laid out as follows:<\/p>\n