Ike Nnaebue’s session at Connect Nigeria’s Writers’ Conference was most instructive for me.
One of the things I found ironic was this: every day, writers bombard producers with scripts, and yet every day, producers are looking for scripts. Apparently, scripts are being written but they are just not what producers are looking for!
So, how do you write a screenplay that a producer will consider worth producing? A lot was said and participants went home richly educated, but here are 10 things I didn’t know about writing a winning screenplay:
1. Writing a winning screenplay means writing a screenplay that can be turned into money. Yes, you write to entertain and educate, but the purpose of enterprise is to MAKE MONEY.
2. There is no screenplay without a unique idea. Producers are looking for stories. When you find that unique story, it WILL sell.
3. The art of storytelling is pretty much like the art of seduction. If your story doesn’t seduce, draw, hook your audience into wanting to stay till the end, you have pretty much failed.
4. Create an emotional bond; your audience should like your characters, hate your characters or be sympathetic towards them. Make sure you have an inciting incident, and use the inciting incident as early as possible to catch your viewers’ attention. Make your audience ask questions.
5. Put a surprise in every scene. If you can take a scene out and your story will still be complete, then there’s no need for that scene. Remove it.
6. Make your screenplay believable. When your story is believable and people can connect, half your work is done.
7. As a screenwriter, you must have unique dialogue. Even if it has been said before, don’t say it the way it has been said before. Don’t take the first lines that come to your head. When the usual lines come, think deeper and come up with something unique.
8. Don’t be a parrot … it’s a visual art. Show, don’t tell.
9. Make your story unpredictable, and make sure you end it very well.
10. There are many things to consider when writing for the Nigerian market. Pay attention to the market, budget, and logistics. One of the first things that will discourage a producer from taking up your script is cost of production. Write stories that will be easy to produce but highly creative.
Were you at the Writers’ Conference? What did you learn from this session? Please share in the comment box!
