Thread: I am completely stuck

I am writing a movies script (my first one) outline and I am on the 19th scene and do not have any idea what to do next. I have been stuck the last two days.

I don't know what I am looking for in help. I don't know if it will help if I explain what the movie is about or what is going on at this point in the outline.

I guess one bit of information that would help is whether you are under contract or not...? If you are the being stuck thing is pretty bad, but if you're not then the best thing to do probably is just to relax and wait a little while longer. If I run out of ideas with one project, I just work on another for a little while and then usually the ideas start to come back at some point.

Do you already know the ending? Can you think ahead several scenes about what could happen and then come back and fill in the gaps? How about thinking about the characters, what do they enjoy doing, eating, wearing, ect... figure out who they are and what their reactions would be if they were people. So I know that if given a chance my character would jump at attending a pottery class but can't afford it right now. So take a notebook or note cards or whatever and fill out what your characters would like to be doing, then what they have to do. Maybe you'll find something that will fit into your story line.

I am not under any contract or time constraint. This is just for me.

I do know the ending, in fact the start of it is the ending, or near it. I have a path in my head that I am trying to follow, I guess I just need more filler, or think I do. Like I said this is my first time writing a script and all I have learned about writing a script I learned online.
write now I am just writing an outline, so I am not putting much in depth into what is going on, no dialog. basically a few short sentences to let me know what I want to see happen and then go from there with the dialog.

I am not sure about what my characters would like to do, the story is a start of an apocalypse basically. So it is all about survival while getting from one place to another.

If you know how it ends you could start writing the ending scenes, then start working backward from those. Then eventually try to join the beginning and end together. Hopefully you'll have some more ideas by the time you get there.

whenever you get stuck: deus ex machina

Originally Posted by mwd

If you know how it ends you could start writing the ending scenes, then start working backward from those. Then eventually try to join the beginning and end together. Hopefully you'll have some more ideas by the time you get there.

That is a great idea. I will try that out.

If I have more questions, or when I do have more questions, should I just keep asking in this thread?

Screenwriting has been studied and shaped into various techniques, that while not always good, they are generally effective and functional. Adhering to format isn't always a good thing, but when in doubt it can always be a good thing to follow, until you have a reason to break it.


I'll give you some of these guidelines, not so you can follow it but perhaps you can draw from it

The traditional way to divide a movie script is a modification of the typical format for theater, but the 2nd act was made into two acts, devided by the midpoint which would usually be where the intermission was placed in the old days.

You start off with act 1, trigger to first major plot point. What kicks off the story and how does it get to the first major alteration in the story.

Here starts act 2 that runs up until the midpoint, where the story takes it's biggest turn yet. Here you banish the hero from the realm, find the wife cheating or other huge events.

This takes you to act 3 which leads up to the last major plot point. This is when you plant the means to end the story. The hero devises a plan to save the damsel, or the cops find a lead that takes them to the killers home. Act 4 ends the movie.

Each act is approximately the same length and includes the same dramatic process as the whole film on a smaller scale.

Like I said, this is just the standard method, but you can find it even in the most original movies to some extent or another

Originally Posted by WolfieReveles

Screenwriting has been studied and shaped into various techniques, that while not always good, they are generally effective and functional. Adhering to format isn't always a good thing, but when in doubt it can always be a good thing to follow, until you have a reason to break it.


I'll give you some of these guidelines, not so you can follow it but perhaps you can draw from it

The traditional way to divide a movie script is a modification of the typical format for theater, but the 2nd act was made into two acts, devided by the midpoint which would usually be where the intermission was placed in the old days.

You start off with act 1, trigger to first major plot point. What kicks off the story and how does it get to the first major alteration in the story.

Here starts act 2 that runs up until the midpoint, where the story takes it's biggest turn yet. Here you banish the hero from the realm, find the wife cheating or other huge events.

This takes you to act 3 which leads up to the last major plot point. This is when you plant the means to end the story. The hero devises a plan to save the damsel, or the cops find a lead that takes them to the killers home. Act 4 ends the movie.

Each act is approximately the same length and includes the same dramatic process as the whole film on a smaller scale.

Like I said, this is just the standard method, but you can find it even in the most original movies to some extent or another

Thanks for the advise.

Don’t worry about it, as it’s a script and as such can be split into scenes, leave it out and continue with scenes that you have worked out in your head, as you start at the end already, presumably at some point in the story you will need to get back to this point so you do have a goal that you can aim for, this is just the first draft and it will undergo many more before you are happy with it. For my first feature script I was working on it for over 5 years and chopped and added scenes, all over the place before I got a version I was happy (enough) with, and even now if I go back to it, (as I still need to sell the thing) there will be things I would want to change, the important thing is to try and let the characters write themselves, that way the story will come naturally, so carry on writing and when you come back to this part you should have more of an idea over what needs to be included.

I found out, quite by accident, that writing two different stories can help your productivity. Sometimes we get so focused on one thing our brains aren't free to float around and solve problems so we get stuck. When that happens working on a different project can help free up the mind to problem solve. Not only that, but sometimes you have an idea for one story that doesn't work well, but works great in the other. The added bonus of course is that you're actually getting two things done instead of one.

yeah its not like you have to write the whole script in order. its best to stick with what you know and write out other scenes you have a sense of. From there im sure youll have ideas for the scene you're havin trouble with.
Moving away from the work for a day or two helps too. I think of something im writing as already written somewhere inside me, and its a matter of getting it out of me. sometimes getting your mind off it entirely for a short period of time really helps!

Thanks for all the help guys, I much appreciate it.