This document provides advice and guidance for writing short film scripts. It discusses important elements like character, plot, tone, and cinematic techniques. Key points include that short films should have a simple premise told in a straightforward linear narrative; establish the world and characters quickly through visuals and minimal dialogue; ensure every scene advances the plot, character development, or theme; and focus on telling the story in a visual, cinematic way with minimal dialogue. Successful short film scripts keep the narrative engaging while communicating meaning in a concise format.

1. “The Script” Exam
Katie Ranns – A2 Media Studies

2. 1. Why are some directors driven to write their
own scripts? (1)
• Largely due to their impatience and frustration of wanting to advance in the
creation and making of the product.

3. 2. You shouldn’t make an intense character study
if you are scared of what? (1)
• Actors.

4. 3. What should you be careful of if you only
have 5k to make your film? (1)
• Its wise not to develop an action story requiring car chases, stunts and special
effects as these are quite costly features.

5. 4. If a feature film might be described as a
novella, how might a short be described as? (1)
• A short can be described as a Haiku since it can only explore one idea.

6. 5. What are the length boundaries different film
festivals stipulate in their short sections? (2)
• It is usual for a festival to accept anything under 30 minutes.
• Programmers and curators warn that it is difficult to place “long” shorts, like
those over 20 minutes. If it is over 20 minutes, the characters and storylines are
able to be explored in much more depth.
• The majority of UK funding is intended for shorts around 10 minutes.

7. 6. If the function of your short is to make your
audience laugh, how long should it be? (1)
• Keep it short with a time restriction of 2-3 minutes maximum.

8. 7. What are the three basic elements any kind
of dramatic story requires? (3)
• A World
• A Character
• A Problem

9. 8. Why can it be useful to set your film around
a familiar event/ritual? (3)
• By using instantly recognisable scenarios/events/rituals you are able to take
for granted your audiences familiarity with such situations, e.g birthday
parties, first day of school, funerals, family gatherings etc.
• This gives the film-maker the ability to create narrative/character shortcuts,
developing them much quicker and in more depth for the time limits of a
short.
• Also, familiar situations tend to carry barely suppressed emotions which are
helpful in crafting dramatic tension and give a finite time frame.

10. 9. Why can a literal journey be a good setting
for a short film? (2)
• Literal journeys can help expand on and relate to the emotional,
metaphorical journey that the story inevitably takes the character on since the
majority of shorts focus on pivotal, significant events in the life of the main
character.

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

12. 11. One of three things must drive your
character through the story? What are they? (3)
• A want
• A need
• An obligation

13. 12. What crucially must accompany this
element? (3)
• An obstacle, force of opposition or prevention.
• Something that is stopping them from pursuing or achieving their want, need
or obligation.
• If something is making it hard for the main character then it evolves into a
problem.
• Without a problem a film ceases to exist, or at least one with no dramatic
narrative.

14. 13. Why are a lot of short films about children
and teenagers? (1)
• The age of children and teenagers provide a lack of life experience and
understanding of the adult world.
• A diverse and hefty amount of universally recognisable problems are then
generated from this feature of shorts.

15. 14. What is one of the most important ways that
you can demonstrate your skill as a filmmaker and
not just as a storyteller? (1)
• The process and way in which you physically demonstrate and incorporate a
character’s inner problems into the heart of your film helps fortifies your ability
as a filmmaker rather than solely a storyteller.
• How you show the characters doing things in relation to what they are thinking
and feeling; books give us the ability to be inside a characters head but film gives a
physical representation, what you do with that physical representation is what
matters.

16. 15. What does ensuring that something is at
stake in the story mean the audience can do? (1)
• It means the audience is able to identify and understand that a loss can be
suffered by the character in question if they do not solve their problem.

17. 16. How can a different POV change the story?
(2)
• The meaning of the story is largely involved with who the story is being told
through and what happens to them in the end.
• A different point of view can change how the entire story of a film is
presented to the audience, how the audience responds to the style of the
story being told and can change the entire outcome of the story in
comparison to who the original POV may have been. E.g changing from a
protagonists POV to a minor antagonist, or the antagonist themselves, can in
fact change the purpose of the film all together, for instance, change it from
fairy-tale to cautionary story.

18. 17. Why do many short film scripts fall down?
(3)
• Many short film scripts fall down because a link between the main characters
journey and the writers intention of the story has not been established.
• Audiences can be left unable to identify with the main character, if not any
characters, in the story if the scripts switch from clearly depicting one then
strangely convert to another. Little or no connection is established between
character and their journey and the audience.

19. 18. Why does an awareness of the meaning
inherent in your story matter? (3)
• Scripts aren’t written with the moral and meaning immediately known and
understood; as long as you’re conscious of attempting to communicate with
the audience through even the vaguest idea of how the story begins and
ends, you are then able to identify its meaning.
• Having a clear indication of its meaning can help you make important
choices whilst refining and developing your script.

20. 19. What is tone intimately connected to and
what are the implications of this? (3)
• The tone of the film is intimately connected to genre, being that genre is less of
an issue with shorts there is this need to think of what kind of film is being
written in broad terms.
• Giving clues to the audience about the kind of story being told is key as there is
not enough time to make shifts in the tone.

21. 20. How does tone emerge in a film? (2)
• Tone emerges through the construction of the elements that build upon and
support the underlying ‘meaning’ of the story.
• The specific tone being expressed also helps to define the reaction from the
audience when a certain event occurs. E.g. in a comedy when somebody is
hospitalised its presented as humourous because of the tone but if the tone
was more dramatic ‘real world’ it would be sad and sensitive, with the
audience being sympathetic. How tone is established is guided by the
director, production designer, composer etc. but the main indicator of tone
comes from the script.

22. 21. What is a common flaw of most short
scripts submitted for funding? (1)
• Most scripts have had far too little development so it is imperative to iron
out the bumps; interrogating friends and family is a good place to start.

23. 22. What is the ten point plan to test the spine
of your story? (10)
1. Title
2. Genre/Tone
3. Setting (Time & Place)
4. Main Character
5. Want/Need/Obligation
6. Opposition
7. Catalyst for change
8. Climax
9. Resolution
10.The audience feels (Theme)
How to test the spine of your story – be able to pitch it in under a minute
with this 10 point plan:

24. 23. What points does Marilyn Milgrom make
about unity? (1)
• Each scene needs to reveal something that escalates the audiences
understanding of the character and their problem.

25. 24. How can we make sure that what happens
in the end could not have happened earlier? (1)
• Causality – each scene must move the story onwards

26. 25. What is the step outline and what does it
ensure? (5)
• Do a step outline on large filing cards and use one card per scene, to check
that you have no slack in your film, and on each card write:
One 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 a indication of significant theme?

27. 26. Every scene of significant action should
deliver something on at least two out of three
possible fronts. What are these fronts? (3)
• Plot
• Character
• Theme

28. 27. What is significant by the “order” in which
to tell the story? (1)
• You can tell it forwards, backwards, with flashbacks etc. but it usually works
best as a straightforward linear narrative, like most award winning films.

29. 28. What do audiences instinctively know? (1)
• When something is pretentious or dishonest.

30. 29. As a writer what is the crucial thing you are
looking to ensure? (1)
• Finding ways of telling the story that adds meaning and keeps the audience
engaged, without leaving them confused.

31. 30. How do we establish the world and the
character? (2)
• Maximum speed
• Minimum dialogue

32. 31. What advice is given for making the film
CINEMATIC once you have a good story? (8)
• Establish world and character.
• Use visuals and sound; sound is able to suggest a world outside the frame you can’t afford to shoot and
enhance the impact of your story.
• Establish a consistent tone.
• Keep an active main character i.e. makes choices/does things that allows us to understand them.
• Best to show character changes (via props, vital objects, relationships to other) instead of through dialogue.
• Use cinematic devices (builds tension and moves the story forward with maximum economy)
• Revise your step outline to check that all significant things created manifest to your audience in the most visual
way possible.

33. 32. What final advice is given for ensuring that
a short is more cinematic, less televisual in feel?
(1)
• Leave writing the dialogue until last and keep it minimal.

34. 33. Who is the first audience for your film? (1)
• A reader of the script

35. 34. How can you help the reader SEE the film
you are intending and not get irritated? (3)
• Follow the screenwriting conventions (www.scriptfactory.co.uk)
• Read scripts (features/shorts) to familiarise yourself with ways of conveying
action and tone on the page (e.g www.scriptpimp.com, www.script-o-
rama.com)
• Avoid writing camera directions and stuff that is going on inside a character’s
head that the audience can’t see.

36. 35. Why is SIMPLE a useful descriptor for your
short? (1)
• “simple” doesn’t mean superficial or facile but that a small story can make a
big impression if told with cinematic flair, capturing all the depth and
thematic resonance of the idea.

37. 36. Name some of Daniel Mullloy’s shorts and
the awards they have won. (8)
• His first film, Dance Floor, won a BAFTA Cymru Award for best newcomer.
• Mulloy’s second film, Sister (2005), was awarded the ARTE Grand Prix in
Hanburg and another BAFTA.
• Antonio’s Breakfast won the Short Film BAFTA in 2006.
• Dad (2006), premiered in the Edinburgh Film Festival.

38. 37. Compare/contrast Antonio’s Breakfast with
Dad. (4)
• Antonio’s Breakfast, was shot in one location as Mulloy knew money was almost non-
existent. The short followed the lead, Antonio, conveying a strong sense of his
character and dilemma.
• Similarly, Dad was shot in the same building but as the antidote to Antonio’s Breakfast.
The characters were almost in reverse of those in Antonio’s Breakfast.
• In Antonio’s Breakfast, a young man cares for his father where as Dad contrasts in the
respect that it is of a middle-age man who lacks the mental strength to leave his
elderly parents small flat.
• Another contrast is the presence of strong sexual scenes in Dad countering the
suppressed sexual tension in Antonio’s Breakfast.

39. 38. Explain what Mulloy is “aware” of and has
a “strong sense” of when developing scripts.
(3)
• He writes his films aware that he will need to finance them with very minimal
funds.
• Meaning that he is able to translate the scripts to film from his own company
and does not depend on a producer to pick the project up.
• He has a strong sense of what needs to be communicated, where he then
works with the artists in rehearsal until they have made the performances
their own.

40. 39. What does Neil Hunter suggest is the best
way to tackle a short which covers a lot of
ground? (1)
• Covering a lot of ground has to be part of the point and part of its style.

41. 40. What idea did the short film ‘The Sickie’
develop from? (2)
• A character overhears the voice-over of the film he’s in.
• The script kept things simple, direct, funny, short and with a point.