How to Write a Story

Great screenplays tell writers a lot about how to write a story, no matter what medium they're working in. Great storytelling is great storytelling, and anyone who knows how to write a story has something to teach other storytellers.

The best screenplays, from the point of view of someone who wants to learn how to write a story for the screen, would have to be those screenplays that can teach the most. The ones who do a certain style better than anyone else.

I always like to find a screenplay with well-written action. A good pace, a lean style that makes the screenplay as thrilling as the thrill packed movie it should become. Here’s a few favorites with links to free screenplays. I re-read them all the time, for pleasure as well as to learn. Each time I read them, I learn a little bit more about how to write a story (and about how to write a story for the screen), and the lessons I learned before sink in just a little deeper. That way they’re more accessible to my subconscious, who, let's face it, does all the real work around here.

Of all the great screenplays that failed to have huge hits as movies, this is the best. The movie is four, maybe four and half stars for me. The screenplay is a solid five. There has never been a better thriller screenplay and the style is nothing short of poetic.

This is how action should be written. It’s lean structuring and incredible sense of flow makes it no surprise that two almost unknown writer/directors were given sixty million and free range use of Fox’s spanking new Aussie studio.

I had to throw in at least one by William Goldman, and while I do recommend ‘Magic’, it hasn’t aged as well as Butch and Sundance. A classic.

This is a great story but what’s best about this screenplay is the ending. Everything gets wrapped up so fast and so well that there’s none of that dawdling around that other movies of the 60s (and a few from today) suffer from. A masterpiece of economy.

This complex thriller is best known on screen for its steamy love scene, but on the page it’s a brilliant example of how to fit a lot into a little. There are many characters, many twists, no one is who they seem to be and they’re all furiously busy double crossing one another. The ability of this screenplay to make itself clear is a whole masterclass of lessons in how to write a story packed with thrills.