How to Write a Film Segment for Aspiring Screenwriters
Learning how to write a film segment is something that many aspiring screenwriters will consider during their career. Fortunately, it’s not as challenging as you might have previously believed it to be. As long as you understand the various requirements and the steps to outlining your segment for success. Segmenting your film is all about planning out the entire picture.
So that you can determine how much of your story will be delivered in each segment and how many segments you will have in total.
Breaking Down Your Story
The first step to learning how to write a film segment is to break your story down. It’s unlikely that you will write just one segment, as that majority of the time segments are one of several that makeup a series.
Therefore, before you write the segment, you’re first going to break up your story so that you can deliver only a certain portion of it in each segment.
For a typical series, you will have 8 or 9 segments on average, but if you intend to have multiple seasons then each season would add another 8 segments or so.
How Many?
The best way to break your story down is to decide how many segments you will have first. And then determine what overall elements of your story will be shared in each segment.
Keep in mind that you will need to have a good cliffhanger as a stopping point for each segment that will keep your audience engaged and interested in what is going to happen next.
Each segment should have some kind of a cliffhanger that keeps your audience interested and anxious to see more.
Your segmented story will either:
- Be an ongoing continuation of your overall story that picks up where it left off each time. And ultimately results in the story being finalized at the end of the season.
- Be an entirely new story each segment, that begins and ends during the segment with very little overall picture or storyline for the season.
Planning Overlapping Time
When you write a segment as part of a series, it’s important for you to consider how your time will overlap within the story. Most segments have a ten minute overlap in which the end of the first segment is the beginning of the second segment and so on.
This helps the audience to “catch up” to what they missed or may have forgotten in the previous segment. Before they view the new segment each week or each day when a new episode comes on.
Planning the overlap is important. Make sure that you don’t write a segment that is too long due to the overlap! Most likely a 10-20 page script is going to be long enough for most segments.
The Act Structure of the Segment
While you’re writing your segment, it’s also important to make sure that you are focusing on the overall 3 act structure of a typical story. This means that you will use the same 3 act structure that a feature film would use, in which there is the introduction or setup.
Confrontation which takes place after a rising action, and resolution which occurs after a crisis. However, you will likely have a smaller 3 act structure for your segment. While each segment is also part of a total 3 act structure for the overall picture.
In this example, the typical 8 segment series would include the following:
Act One:
- Segment 1 – The inciting incident and introduction.
- Segment 2 – The predicament or main conflict and the character reaching a point of no-return.
Act Two:
- Segment 3 – First obstacle. As well as raising stakes.
- Segment 4 – First culmination. Representing the midpoint of the story.
- Segment 5 – Subplot begins to appear and there is rising action
- Segment 6 – The main culmination of the story.
Act Three:
- Segment 7 – There is new tension and a plot twist.
- Segment 8 – A resolution occurs.
In Summary
Learning how to write a film segment is really all about breaking down your story and focusing on how you will form cliffhangers at the end of each segment to keep your audience engaged. It’s fun, and interesting for the screenwriter and for the audience.