Thread: need help from someone who knows how to write a screenplay pleaseee!!

i have this idea for a story and i told it to my sister and she convinced me to turn it into a movie, but i am a writer, not a scriptwriter and now i need help formatting and turning it into a script! im pretty serious about this but i dont know where to begin.


basic synopsis.

*a girl is the daughter of the devil
*goes to college to try to get a degree in psychology
*shes supposed to be harvesting souls for him, but is not very good at it
*she has 5000+sibilings all over the world doing satans bidding
her father calls her and tells her to be careful because several angels have been spotted in her area and the angels are out to destroy satans spawns, but she just brushes it off, the girl has never encountered an angel
*she gets a job and is invited to a heaven and hell party
*wears her horns out, everyone is dressed as either angels or devil
*she meets an angel there and the angel knows shes one of satans spawns. the girl is uncomfortable and decides to go home before anything happens
*the angel follows her and tells her that she must destroy her. so the angel grabs her and they get thrust back into biblical times where they fight. the angel is beating her up and the girl doesent want to fight. but its either fight or die.
*the girl turns into her true being, a horrific demon with weapons, but the angel is not deterred. they fight
*eventually the girl gains the upper hand and grabs the angels halo and shatters it accidentally. the angel becomes human and the girl casts the angels soul into hell.
*the girl is thrust back home to modern times and is injured. her roommate saves her but she needs to heal and she cant in earth.
*her father, satan comes and gets her and takes her home to hell where she heals. he then shows her the angels soul that is suffering in agony. he tells her how proud he is and hes been thinking about a successor and shes the only one that has ever destroyed an angel, and she feels terrible about it.
*she then returns to the surface much to her fathers dissaproval, he tells her angels are going to be looking for her to destroy her, but she just wants to get home.
*she returns too the surface and notices that she is being followed by an angel.
*he finally gets her alone and wants to destroy her, and then another angel comes out and tells his brother that their father wants to see her.
*so they take her to see their father who is god.
*god tells her that she sent one of his childrens soul to hell. and the girl begins to tell him that she didnt mean to and she would do anything to get the angels soul out.
*just then satan shows up and is wondering why god is talking to his daughter, he is cocky and confident that god is slipping up
*god tells satan that is was just protocol to meet the demon who took one of his childrens souls.
*the girl and satan walk away with god watching and then he takes her out to dinner and discuss matters that she does not really care for
*he then leave her and a couple of days later the angels return and tell her that there is a way to bring their sisters soul back from hell.
*the girl has to complete four missions and forge the angels halo back together and then her soul will be saved
*she completes the 4 missions with angels and demons after her
(there are a couple of battle scenes)
*at the end god sends her a package with a note attatched to it and in the box is a halo for her
-the end.


if anyone is interested please help!

From someone who's been writing screenplays for about 4 years now, I suggest not making the transition to screenwriting with something as vast in scope as this. Not only will it be complicated to write, but even if you know every bit about script formatting and style, you'll still find something like this an impossible sell as an unproduced screenwriter. To produce such a script would require at least several million dollars, and that's only on a SyFy channel budget - to make a serious film like this would be north of $15mil at the bare minimum.

If you want to tell this story, you're best writing it in book form and then if it garners attention, you can go about adapting it for the screen or having someone adapt it with or for you. If you want to write screenplays, then I suggest starting smaller. Read lots of books (Screenwriting for Dummies, The Everything Filmmaking Book, Save the Cat, How to Make a Good Script Great, Screenplay), and watch lots of movies and then write lots of scripts. Screenwriting, like novel writing, is a craft its own. Some will say, "A story is a story." Not to be dramatic, but, well... they're dead wrong. Writing for film is a very difficult process which requires an absolute minimum of words to communicate an entirely visual point.

It's taken me 5 years to get to the point where I truly feel that my scripts are of good quality, and I'm only just now to the point where I feel I can alternate between writing novels and writing screenplays. They're two very different processes and you should be aware of the differences and the art of each before trying to make that transition.

Good luck with your story. It sounds quite interesting, which is a huge plus for you whether it's a screenplay or a book.

Heavy Thorn

thanks so much for the feedback. ive actually started writing the story i feel so much comfortable doing so rather than writing a screenplay. i bought screenplays for dummies and it just confused the hell out of me, i didnt realize writing a screenplay was so much work! i think its interesting so far so hell maybe one day itll be made into a movie

No problem. Again, good luck with the project! What length are you shooting for (novel, novella, etc.)?

sorry it takes me so long to reply! i want it to be a full length novel, 2-300 + pages, i write a lot but have never completed a story but this is one that im really into and want to complete

How could it be plausable that Angels destroy children of Satan? They aren't exactly supposed to be violent or attackers in mythology.

I do think it's possible to write a script first, I did before writing a book.
I personally took a class in screenwriting from my local community college in through the Community Ed. dept. very cheaply.

Originally Posted by Cat Laurelle

How could it be plausable that Angels destroy children of Satan? They aren't exactly supposed to be violent or attackers in mythology.

Are you kidding me? Angels are anything but pacifists. They can basically serve as anything from God's assassins to divine nukes, that is when they aren't delivering memos for Him. They even fought in a civil war during Lucifer's rebellion. They can kick ass if they have to.

That said, KissMySass, I agree with your decision to write it as a story. Nobody would invest the millions needed for a high budget movie unless the screenwriter was famous or had someone famous vouching for him/her, and writing a screenplay is not as "simple" as writing a novel. There are so many rules that you have to adhere to, and you really need to know the medium that you are working with. You have probably read many books, but I doubt you have read many screenplays ;P

Also, if you want to read up on how to write a good screenplay(perhaps for later), study the format and the technical details and take a look at the books HT listed, but also study lots and lots of dramaturgy. Many things true for theater are also true for cinema, and what isn't directly applicable is often good to know and relate to, as long as you don't try to write a filmed play.

Did you ever notice how in the Bible, when ever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to see an angel? -Thomas Daggett, The Prophecy (1995)

Originally Posted by Syren

Did you ever notice how in the Bible, when ever God needed to punish someone, or make an example, or whenever God needed a killing, he sent an angel? Did you ever wonder what a creature like that must be like? A whole existence spent praising your God, but always with one wing dipped in blood. Would you ever really want to see an angel? -Thomas Daggett, The Prophecy (1995)

deep.
and no one wants an angel to come down on us with such force. mere mortals come and go and that is enough .
as one person I knew said
God is not a nasty spirit that prays on us day and night and whenever he or she gets bored send an angel to punish each one of us.
dear. whoever thought out such vilany on a compiled and heavy worded ordeal of fear and fire and called it a bible , is a truly sad individual of such wickedness that makes the devil looks and sound a mere fainting shadow in thebackground.
good riddance to a religion that prays on mortals and terrifies the daylight living out of them!