This document provides guidance on developing the key elements of a screenplay idea, including coming up with a high concept plot or hook, defining the main characters of the hero and adversary, and establishing the hero's internal flaw or need. It stresses the importance of having a remarkable one-line idea, or logline, that pitches who wants what but is blocked by whom. Templates and examples are given to help the reader understand these fundamental components for telling a compelling story.

1. how to write a
screenplay
or tell a better story
By Sajid Peña

2. First things first.
What’s your IDEA?

3. It should have a HOOK.
It should be HIGH CONCEPT.
Which means...
It should be
remarkable.

4. high concept: adj. a story based on a striking and easily
communicable plot or idea
(Oxford English Dictionary)

5. SOME IDEAS
• A cop who has to kill robots might be a robot himself.
• During a preview tour, a theme park suffers a major power
breakdown that allows its cloned dinosaurs to run amok.
• A suicidal family man is given the opportunity to see what the world
would be like if he had never been born.
• A guy who complains about God too often is given almighty powers
to teach him how difficult it is to run the world.
• After an Alaskan town is plunged into darkness for a month, it is
attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires.

6. You need a PLOT
and a STORY.

7. PLOT
the hero WANTING something
one event causing another

8. STORY
the hero NEEDING something
revealing the hero’s character

9. You’ve got your IDEA.
Tell it to me in one line.

10. Your one-line idea, or LOGLINE, should include or suggest these
three elements:
Someone (the hero) wants something (the
goal) but is blocked by something (the
adversary).

11. INTERESTING LOGLINES
• An 8-year-old boy, who is accidentally left behind while his family
flies to France for Christmas, has to defend his home against
idiotic burglars.
• A cowboy toy is profoundly threatened and jealous when a fancy
spaceman toy supplants him as top toy in a boy's room.
• A weatherman finds himself living the same day over and over
again.
• A naive young man battles heartless authorities to protect the life
of his girlfriend when it’s revealed that she’s not human— she’s a
mermaid.

12. If it helps, you can also describe the TONE of your movie
with an “X meets Y”, “X with Y” or “X in Y” one-liner.

15. Your idea in one
word.
(This is your THEME.)

19. Okay, you have an idea.
Who’s your hero?

20. To define your hero, ask:
What does he
WANT? What does
he NEED?

21. a WANT is external.
a NEED is internal.

24. One more question.

25. What is his FLAW?
[What he NEEDS is related to his FLAW.]

28. You’ve got a hero.
Who’s the adversary?
They might not be your villain.

29. An adversary embodies the hero’s FLAW.
An adversary forces the hero to face his
FLAW.

32. Idea? Check.
Hero? Check.
Adversary? Check.
Let’s talk
STRUCTURE.

33. NEED A HELP?
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR WANT A
PROFESSIONAL HELP WITH YOUR SCRIPT.
PLEASE EMAIL ME AT shadowshooter@outlook.com