How to write a scene in a screenplay
A scene is a unit of change. It opens with two people who want things that cannot both happen, and it closes with at least one thing different between them: a piece of information, a relationship, or a decision. You set it up in two lines of heading and action, you come in late, and you get out before it explains itself. Here are the steps, followed by one scene written twice so you can see the difference on the page.
What makes a scene more than a place and a time?
The scene heading tells the reader where and when. That is what a scene is on paper. Its job in the film is to move the story one step. Before you write any scene, answer two questions in a single line: what does each person here want, and what will be different when it ends?
If you cannot answer the second question, you are writing a place the characters pass through. The film is better served by folding it into another scene or cutting it than by dressing it up with dialogue.
How do you write the scene heading and the action in two lines?
The heading has three fixed parts: interior or exterior, the location, and the time of day. For example: “INT. FAMILY KITCHEN. NIGHT”. It carries no description and no feeling.
After it come one or two lines of action in the present tense, holding only what the camera catches and what we hear. “The father cuts an advert out of the newspaper” can be filmed. “The father worries about his daughter’s future” cannot. Pick one thing in the room that plays a part in the conflict and leave the rest to the production designer. The full rules for where each element sits on the page are in our screenplay format guide.
Where do you enter a scene, and when do you leave it?
Enter at the moment the tension starts. Arriving home, taking off shoes, saying hello: the audience already knows those minutes. Start with the question already in the air.
Leave when the change lands, before anyone comments on it. A line that explains what just happened takes away the pleasure of working it out.
How do you know the scene changed something?
Write down where each character stands at the start of the scene and at the end, two words each. If the two descriptions match, the scene stands still however much happens in it. Here is the example: one scene, two drafts.
First draft
| Element | Line |
|---|---|
| Heading | SCENE 4. INT. FAMILY KITCHEN. NIGHT |
| Action | Sara comes in, takes off her shoes, and drops her bag on a chair. Her father sits at the table drinking tea. |
| SARA | Good evening, Dad. |
| FATHER | Good evening. How was your day? |
| SARA | Dad, I need to tell you something important. I’ve decided to leave medical school because I want to study film. |
| FATHER | (angry) What? That’s impossible! |
| Action | Sara feels sad and remembers all the years she spent trying to please him. |
Revised draft
| Element | Line |
|---|---|
| Heading | SCENE 4. INT. FAMILY KITCHEN. NIGHT |
| Action | The father cuts an advert for a medical careers fair out of the newspaper and pins it to the fridge door. Sara stands in the doorway, her bag still on her shoulder. |
| FATHER | The fair is on Thursday. |
| Action | Sara looks at the clipping. She takes a folded sheet from her bag and sets it in front of him. He reads the first line: a request to transfer to the film department. |
| Action | He takes off his glasses. |
| FATHER | Who signed this? |
| SARA | I did. |
| Action | He takes the clipping off the fridge and folds it twice. |
| What changed | Why |
|---|---|
| The arrival, the greeting and the shoes are gone | The scene starts where the tension starts |
| The father pins up the fair advert before a word is spoken | His want is visible, so the conflict exists before the dialogue |
| The decision became a sheet of paper on the table | A visible object carries more than a line announcing the decision |
| “(angry)” and “feels sad and remembers” are gone | Neither can be filmed, and the anger shows in the glasses and the clipping |
| The scene ends on the folded clipping | The change has landed, and we leave before anyone explains it |
In the first draft Sara says everything and her father shouts. In the revision the audience reads the decision and the reaction from two pieces of paper and a pair of glasses.
How do you write the opening scene of a film?
The first scene teaches the audience how to read your film. It needs three things: a character doing something we can see, a world whose rules we pick up from the action, and a question still open after the last line. Do not start on a long wide shot describing the city. Start on an action that shows who the character is and what they lack.
Write it last, once the draft is finished. When you know your ending you know what the opening has to plant. The steps for building the whole film are in how to write a feature screenplay.
How do you test a scene before moving on?
- Delete it in your head. If nothing after it changes, it is surplus.
- Read the dialogue aloud. Any line where someone says what both characters already know goes.
- Underline every sentence that cannot be filmed, then turn it into an action or cut it.
- Read scenes from produced screenplays and notice where they start and where they cut. The BBC Writersroom script library offers complete scripts to read, and the Writers Guild Foundation library is devoted to film and television scripts and their craft.
Questions about writing a scene
How long should a single scene be?
As long as the change in it needs. A page runs roughly a minute, and most scenes fall between half a page and three pages. A scene that runs long without anything changing gets cut down.
Should I write camera angles into a scene?
No. The shot is the director’s call. Write what happens in an order that suggests what we see first, and name a shot only when the story cannot be understood without it.
When do I need a new scene heading?
Whenever the location changes or time jumps. Moving from the kitchen to the bedroom is a new scene, even with the same character in the same moment.
Can a scene have no dialogue at all?
Yes, and many of the strongest scenes are silent. There is one condition: something we can see has to change.
Write your first scene now
Write the heading, then a line of action, then the first line of dialogue. Risha puts every line in its standard place, right to left in Arabic or left to right in English, and adds each scene to the story outline so you can see whether it changes something before you move on.