1. The document provides advice and questions for developing short film scripts. 2. It discusses important elements like character, problem, stakes, and ensuring every scene moves the story forward. 3. The document also addresses practical considerations for short films like budget, length, and using familiar events and journeys as settings.

1. Marilyn
Milgrom-
The Script.

2. Why are some directors driven to
write their own scripts?
The irritation and ambition to produce something
that they had imagined they would create for a
long time.

3. You shouldn’t make an intense
character study if you are scared
of what?
If you are scared of actors you should not make
an intense character study.

4. What should you be careful of if
you only have 5k to make your
film?
You should be conscious of creating a short film
which requires lots of action such as car crashes,
special stunts and special effects which could
increase the budget dramatically.

5. If a feature film might be described
as a novella, how might a short be
described?
A short film would be described as a haiku, a
haiku can only identify and analysis one
theme/issue within each film.

6. What are the length boundaries
different film festivals stipulate in
their shorts section?
Most festivals designate a 30 minute limit for
short films but some advise a 20 minute limit
and the majority of UK funding accommodates
10 minute projects.

7. If the function of your short is to
make your audience laugh, how long
should it be?
If your short film is going to be for comedy purposes
than it should last 2-3 minutes maximum in length.

8. What are the three basic elements
any kind of dramatic story requires?
A short dramatic storyline needs to include a world, a
character and a problem.

9. Why can it be useful to set your film
around a familiar event/ritual?
The events and worlds need to be easily recognisable to
the audience so they can establish already familiar
emotions. Using already experienced events can release
familiar emotions for the audience surrounding that
event, as the dramatic tension and story events unfold.

10. Why can a literal journey be a good
setting for a short film?
Shorts usually focus on a single central key point within a
characters life (Main Character) allowing for the character
to be put on a metaphorical journey throughout the story.
Using a familiar literal journey can help to parallelise the
real world and the metaphorical film world.

11. What are the 5 most important
questions to ask when you begin to
develop your story?
1. Who is the main character?
2. What is their problem?
3. How will the audience recognise the problem?
4. Are the stakes high enough?
5. Am I telling the story from the best point of view?

12. One of three must drive your
character through the story. What
are they?
Either a want, a need or an obligation needs to be
present within a short film, one of these will be the
drive pushing the character forward.

13. What crucially must accompany this
element?
Something needs to be in the way making it difficult
for the character to pursue their want, need or
obligation.

14. Why are a lot of short films
about children and teenagers?
This is usually because of their age using younger
children helps to show lack of experience of the
adult world allowing for vulnerability to be an
issue. Another reason would be the universally
recognisable problems which are present along
side children such as stranger danger.

15. What is one of the most important ways
that you can demonstrate your skills as
a film maker and not just as a
storyteller?
The transformation of a characters inner
problems becoming the main point of the film
and making sure the audience and see what it is
and how it happened.

16. What does ensuring that something
is at stake in the story mean the
audience can do?
What the character is at risk of losing if they do
not succeed and solve their problem.

17. How can a different POV change a
story?
Telling the story through a different point of
view will change the perspective of the story and
what happens. The story attaches to a character
and what happens to them.

18. Why do many short film scripts fall
down?
The story being told by the main character is
different to what the writer is trying to say so
the two stories are being told from different
perspectives.

19. Why does an awareness of the
meaning inherent in your story
matter?
There is always some meaning within the story
which the writer is trying to convey. Once a
writer has a beginning and an end, they should
be able to make important choices and decisions
which will allow them to refine the story.

20. What is tone intimately connected
to and what are the implications of
this?
The genre and tone are intimately connected an
implication to this could be that if the tone is not
set correctly then it could convey a different
message to what the writer had first planned.

21. How does tone emerge in a film?
Tone emerges from each narrative element e.g
event, character and technical codes. The tone
supports the meaning of the writers message so
each element has to be working together to
create an accurate understanding of the message
being conveyed to the audience.

22. What is a common flaw of most
short scripts submitted for funding?
Most scripts submitted for funding have not had
enough development work done to them so they
are not able to gain funding as the scripts would
need further work to make them successful.

23. What is the ten point plan to
test the spine of your story?
Being able to pitch the film in under a minute using ten criteria’s which are:
1. Title
2. Genre/Tone
3. Setting (Time and Place)
4. Main character
5. Want/Need/Obligation
6. Opposition
7. Catalyst for change
8. Climax
9. Resolution
10. And how the audience thinks/feels about the theme.

24. What point does Marilyn
Milgrom make about unity?
Every scene must reveal something that increases our
understanding of the film e.g character and their
problem.

25. How can we make sure that what
happens in the end could not have
happened earlier?
Each and every scene must move the story
forward showing the audience that what is
happening is the only option.

26. What is the step outline and
what does it ensure?
Using one of the following options in each scene:
•A sentence that summarises what happens
•What is revealed that is significant to the plot?
•What is revealed that is significant to the
audience’s understanding of the characters?
•Is there an indication of a significant theme?

27. Every scene of significant action
should deliver something on at
least two out of three possible
fronts. What are these fronts?
These fronts include plot, character and theme.
These are the main elements to a film so two of
these should be in an important scene of a short
film.

28. What is signified by the “order”
in which to tell the story?
What order the story is told in whether it be
through flashbacks, in a continuous forward
motion or backwards also whether it is told in a
linear or non-linear way.

29. What do audiences instinctively
know?
Audiences know instinctively whether what they
are being presented with is dishonest.

30. As a writer what is the crucial
thing you are looking to ensure?
Finding a way to tell the story which adds to its
meaning and keeps the audiences attention on
what is being shown to them.

31. How do we establish the world
and the character?
With a small amount of dialogue and a lot of
speed so the audience can establish an
understanding of the character and world on
their own without being forced into a certain
opinion.

32. What advice is given for making
the film cinematic once you
have a good story?
• Establish the world and the character with a small amount of dialogue and a
lot of speed.
• Remember to use visuals and sound.
• Establish a tone, keep it the same throughout.
• Make the main character active: making choices and doing things that enable
us to understand them.
• Show a change through action rather than dialogue.
• Use cinematic devices to build tension and move the story forward.
• Check that everything significant is made clear to the audience in the most
visual way.

33. What final advice is given for
ensuring that a short is more
cinematic, less televisual in feel?
The dialogue will make sure that there is a
cinematic feel this is why the dialogue is
advisably written last.

34. Who is the first audience of your
film?
The reader of the script would be the first
audience of the film.

35. How can you help the reader
see the film you are intending
and not get irritated?
You could do this by following the screenwriting
conventions, reading scripts and avoid writing
technical directions.

36. Why is simple a useful
descriptor for your short?
A small story told with cinematic elements that
captures all the depth can make a big
impression.

37. Name some of Daniel Mulloy’s
shorts and the awards they have
won?
•Antonio’s Breakfast (BAFTA Film Award) 2006
•Baby (Bronze medal) 2011
•Son (Golden Unicorn) 2008
•Sister (BAFTA Cymrus Award) 2005
•Dance Floor (BAFTA Cymrus Award) 2002

38. Compare/contrast Antonio’s
Breakfast with Dad?
In Antonio’s Breakfast a young man looks after
his invalid father; in Dad a middle-aged man
does not have the strength to leave his elderly
parents’ home.

39. Explain what Mulloy is “aware”
of and has a “strong sense” of
when developing his scripts.
He is aware that he will have to finance his films
with minimal funding. He has a strong sense of
what needs to be communicated.

40. What does Neil Hunter suggest
is the best way to tackle a short
which covers a lot of ground?
The timescale has to part of the point and part
of it’s style e.g making the timescale of the film
the same as the real world time.

41. What idea did the short film The
Sickie develop?
The character overhears the voiceover of the
film he’s in.