Whenever you begin your journey into screenwriting you’ll be faced with a vast variety of storytelling structures that are all considered “the best”. Obviously that can’t be true. The truth is that storytelling structures are a means to an end to help us reach our story’s narrative potential. However, different writers respond to different structures. Finding a structure that resonates with you could be what’s needed to give you inspiration for your scene headers and plot whilst bringing your script to the next level and
Here are some screenplay structure templates that can help you.
Save the Cat: Blake Snyder Screenplay Structure Template
Difficulty Level: Easy
Use Case: If you’re just starting out, writing a screenplay while using Save the Cat can help you grasp the basics and churn out a story that has a strong backbone. It also helps you stick to a solid screenplay format because it has so many key beats and components.
The Hero With a Thousand Faces - Joseph Campbell
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Use Case: It is hard to write a story that sticks fully by this structure, but if you’re a writer who loves Save the Cat these script templates may be a logical next step that gets into the finer details of how story works.
The Story Circle - Dan Harmon
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Use Case: Harmon’s goal was ostensibly to make a structure that anyone can use. I think it requires some base level knowledge of storytelling structure first, but it’s fantastic once the suitable foundations have been laid. You’ll also need to have a strong grasp of screenplay formatting in order to apply this.
22 Building Blocks - John Truby
Difficulty Level: Medium
Use Case: If you want to write a screenplay then Truby’s method is best paired with another structure, especially for beginners. If you’re more experienced the 22 Steps could prove very useful.
Syd Field’s Paradigm Screenplay Structure Template
Difficulty Level: Hard
Use Case: If you’re an experienced writer and have a strong grasp of the fundamentals, Field’s Paradigm may suit as a guiding light whatever time of day or time of year you write.
Roadmap of Change - John Yorke
Difficulty Level: Hard
Use Case: Yorke’s structure works best for a confident writer who knows how to structure a plot and is more interested in figuring out how to write character arcs across a story.
Good luck writers!
