About The Screenwriter’s Checklist

Welcome to THE SCREENWRITER’S CHECKLIST.

I’ve launched this website in order to pass along some of the techniques I’ve developed while working as a Hollywood screenwriter and script doctor for the past 20 years. Hopefully, you’ve seen some of my movies (imdb link) and if you haven’t, please consider watching them as I plan on using examples from my work to teach you what I’ve learned through my time in the trenches.

Okay, so why a checklist?

Well, the initial inspiration came from “The Checklist Manifesto,” by Atul Gawande (link to Amazon). The central premise of Gawande’s book is that many of the world’s most complex businesses use checklists to ensure that proper procedures are followed and mistakes avoided. For example, before pilots fly your plane into the friendly skies, they’re obligated by the FAA to walk through an extensive, pre-flight checklist. (link to pre-flight checklist.) The purpose of this checklist is simple: to make sure that nothing essential is overlooked.

Anyway, as I began to read “The Checklist Manifesto,” I started thinking about how its concepts might apply to my own job as a screenwriter. After all, while every screenplay is different, there are numerous story attributes that are pretty much mandatory for a screenplay to work. And if your screenplay works, it has a much better chance of being developed by a studio or financer – and more importantly – a much better chance of engaging its audience.

So, in the years after reading Gawande’s book, I made a conscious effort to change the way I viewed movies. I began to ask basic questions about what elements were present (or missing) in characters, scenes, sequences, acts, and entire movies. For example:

SCENE QUESTIONS:

Does this scene have conflict? ✅

Does the conflict’s resolution advance the plot in any way? ✖

CHARACTER QUESTIONS:

Does this character have a conscious goal? ✅

Does this character have contradictory attributes? ✖

It quickly became apparent to me that the more checks a movie had, the better the screenplay was. So I started scribbling these story questions down, using them to meticulously craft my own personal checklist; a checklist that is now an essential part of my script development process.

And now, I’m going to share the fruits of all that labor with you.

I’d like to make something clear upfront: some of the greatest films in cinema history – many of which are personal favorites – would probably score low on The Screenwriter’s Checklist. And guess what? They still work and they still engage. More often than not, this is due to great performances, an innovative visual style, or a conscious choice by the filmmaker to make something less narrative-driven. That said, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read the work of a fellow screenwriter and had to ask them basic questions like: “Who am I supposed to be rooting for here?” Or: “How is your protagonist different at the end of the script than at the beginning?”

Instantaneously, these seasoned screenwriters would melt into puddles of shame and self-abuse. How, you may ask, can successful screenwriters (one of whom is Oscar-nominated!) overlook basic elements of their chosen profession? For the same reason experienced pilots sometimes crash planes – because they’re human! We all are. And that’s why checklists are invaluable tools. Because they help to dummy-proof the process. Or, as Gawande puts it: “Checklists…remind us of the minimum necessary steps and make them explicit.”

So that’s why I’ve created The Screenwriter’s Checklist: to make all the essential story elements explicit by organizing them in an easy-to-grasp checklist.

Now, a final confession: my ultimate goal here is not just educating you, it’s also educating me. I’m always looking for an edge – a way to improve my work. And the more I can systematically develop and hone my checklist, the better my own work will be. In time, I plan on turning The Screenwriter’s Checklist into a textbook for screenwriters – something you can use to develop your own screenplays or analyze the scripts you’ve already written. In the meantime, though, I’ll try my best to update this site a few times a month with new checklist items.

I’m not going to lie – screenwriting is among the hardest creative tasks out there. And thanks to the increasing pace of movies, the job is becoming harder every day.

The Screenwriter’s Checklist won’t turn you into Quentin Tarantino – but if you apply it to your writing process, my bet is it’ll make your work a whole lot better.

Okay. Let’s begin…