Screenwriting : Short Film Structure by Aamir Anjum

Hey, Aamir! Do you know structure for a Feature?

No matter how long the script, a beginning, middle and end. I've seen many shorts submitted to festivals that are pretty much a single scene. Get it started, flesh it out, pay it off, leave the readers (and ultimately the viewers) more than satisfied. As Shawn points out, it's the same structure as a feature. Just shorter.

Same as a feature. Difference might be that in a short you should have a much smaller and tighter time line for your story to take place. Less scenes, less settings, a lot of times there are less characters. Other than that, the structure should remain the same.

PS... and leave them wanting more!

Shawn , Philip, John - Yes, I am aware of a feature's structure. For my short I tried to write the third and fourth draft as per " Save the cat " - Beat sheet. The film ended up more as a collage of different shots rather than a coherent narrative. I think that the beat sheet is not meant for this format of storytelling. As every one above mentions a reference to the feature script, I after failing at two films primarily because of poor structuring, think that using a feature structure for a 10 minute short is not a practical solution. Currently I have written a 12 page short, suggest the page numbers as per you the acts should finish. Inciting incident is on page one .

It really is the same formula, cut to fit the shorter format. Inciting incident in a short on page one is more than fine.

I would agree with what everyone else is saying. Most stories, not just scripts, follow a similar formula and it can be applied at any length. Have you let any other writers look at it for you while following along with the beat sheet? Maybe a new set of eyes can help bring coherence you feel you're missing.

I will look at it and help you if you need help.

Shorts are tough because you don't get the leeway to let things "simmer". The key, I believe, is to keep whatever you're trying to do SIMPLE. A simple character has a simple want, and a simple obstacle in their way. And by simple, I mean easy to digest and understand for the viewer.

Shorts get a single concept across normally. There is no real structure. I've done some 10 page, 2 page etc. Just get to the end, with as much conflict and challenge as possible.

Agree with the helpful folks above who have said that short film structure varies and has no standard. Some short films have a condensed 3-act structure (beginning, middle, end), while other equally valid shorts could be a single scene. You could shoot a horror-comedy short about a zombie dancing across the street. Maybe that's a one-shot short. You could shoot a different version of the zombie deciding to walk across the street (beginning), walking (middle), and then getting hit by a party bus (end). There's no standard when it comes to shorts.

I'd be happy to take a look at them and offer some critique if you'll do the same in kind. My email address is tonycella37@gmail.com.

I partially agree with Erik on the angle of " Keeping it Simple" . This was the problem of my first script. Thanks all for your valuable inputs .

have a beginning, middle and end. thats aboit all the structure you need in a short. just tell a story.

I'm no guru but I can tell you what worked for me. I wrote a 12 pager that got requests off Inktip and was eventually snapped up for 10 grand. It could have been a fluke but my strategy was to leave out act 1 and the first half of act 2, start at the midpoint and write through to the climax. So there was structure and a through line but no huge amounts of set up. Also if you keep the theme and world simple and specific, the stuff you normally need to set up in act one is already obvious by the time you reverse it at the midpoint. For example: if I come in on a marriage imploding I don't have to see that they were happy once or how problems started. I want to know where they're going and how it will end. If I come in on police pursuing robbers it's self-explanatory there was a robbery. I don't need to see how it was setup etc. I'm interested in whether or not they get caught. If you write your script cleverly you can do the necessary exposition without being obvious or heavy-handed. Also remember certain genres necessitate setup more than others as do certain story lines. So keep it simple and exciting. Take me straight into the action. That's my 5 cents. It worked for me but maybe I was just lucky lol. Hope that helps and all the best with it.

The biggest challenge with short films is how to end it. Some bad short films have no ending. They just stop. And it's all too obvious that it's a scene from something larger. A really good short film has a really good ending. Usually a twist of some kind. Also, keep it really short. Festivals don't like anything over 7 minutes typically.

Story by Robert McKee https://www.amazon.com/Story-Structure-Substance-Principles-Screenwritin...