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How to Write A Screenplay – 20 Lessons from Star Trek

LESSON #1 – Intrigue!

A movie must deliver a lot – people want the drama, the thrill of the ride, the love interest, the mystery to solve, and some comedy thrown in to boot! That’s a tall order to fill! But if your script can seamlessly integrate all of the above you’ve got a hit on your hands!

Now the romance doesn’t have to be full blown just indicated as an attraction between two people. Star Trek did an excellent job of this between Spock and Uhura.

LESSON #2 – Characters Who We Care About

They brought to life characters!

What makes a character worth watching?

1. They are consistent – they consistently have the same reactions.

2. The way the characters interact with each other is what makes us want to watch.

One way to create a character we care about is by having him experience some form of suffering – because pretty much every person has had some type of suffering  in his/her life and in a sense can relate to his story even though they’ve never fought in a galactic battle or lost a father the way Capt. Kirk has. It’s the emotional storyline that captures the audience.

LESSON #3 – Respects the Audience

The writers creatively came up with a solution by making the story occur in an alternate timeline. Proof that simple is the way to go.

This movie doesn’t talk down to the audience – it respects our need for logic. The alternate timeline means that anything that happens here that didn’t or couldn’t happen in previous episodes/movies of Star Trek can be done here! What a fantastic approach to make it work for us! It’s a great way to handle what definitely would have been a daunting task.

LESSON #4 – Survival Plot

We identify with suffering in general and especially survival as these are common experiences for most people. Do you know why your movie should be a survival plot?

Let me start by citing the evidence:

Out of the Top Grossing Movies 35 are survival plots! and the top ten movies on IMDB are all movies on survival.

Because so many top movies are about survival it stands to reason if you write a movie based on survival you have a chance for it to succeed in the box office.

LESSON #5 – Traceable Hero

The audience has to easily be able to identify which character is the hero of the story, what he wants (his motivation), the problem the hero must face, and how he overcomes the problem. If we can follow the hero this means there is a clear sense of continuity in the script.

LESSON #6 – Emotional Storyline Incites that Action and Drives the Plot Forward

Each character has to have something he/she desires. This desire is connected to something which has an emotional meaning to them. This desire is called the B Storyline and it is what creates the actions the character chooses to take – the A Story Action line.

The reason the hero is tossed out of his familiar life must be connected to the emotional line (B Story Line). The predicament the hero ends up in stems from his inherent problem, the thing he has to face in his life that he has not yet faced until this point. It’s quite clear that for the Hero, Kirk, it’s facing his past.

For Spock it’s obviously the loss of his home planet, Vulcan, it’s people and more specifically heart wrenching for him is the loss of his mother.

Both Vale and Truby discuss this. Truby, author of The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master Storyteller says “One of the most important blockbuster elements is what I call the ‘double track line.’ Hit films always have a character line and an action line, or, to put it another way, a personal story and a case to be solved.”

LESSON #7 – Animosity is necessary between the Hero and the Bonding Character

Think of it this way – you’ve got more than one person jockying to be heard. Each has his own view on how things should be done and it can’t be identical – you miss a whole level of tension if you eliminate this!

If you compare any big movies you’ll see animosity exists between these characters:

Kirk vs. Spock
Luke vs. Hans Solo
Wolverine vs. Cyclops

There’s a great moment in the movie when Young Spock is confused and appalled when he realizes his older self not only feels a great camaraderie with his adversary but that somehow Capt. Kirk has rubbed off on him changing how he handles things! He never would have expected himself to cheat (not tell Kirk the truth that he could meet himself and it wouldn’t cause a paradox). Because cheating is the major reason why young Spock disliked Kirk in the first place. It’s these moments that makes the relationship between the characters sparkle.

LESSON #8 – Characters are Contrasted

Kirk vs. Spock!!!!! Each one is so different it makes the other stand out. Contrast helps give a clear picture of what each character stands for.

LESSON #9 – The Characters Get to Practice Before They Engage in a Life or Death Battle

The “team” gets to practice before the big threat! Important element! This happens in Star Wars where Luke has his training with Yoda. It also happens in Lord of the Rings where the Hobbits practice their sword skills. And it obviously happens in Star Trek where we see Dr. Mccoy learning how to practice medicine on Kirk, and of course the big scene where Kirk cheats on the test Spock designed.

LESSON #10 – An Incident Forces them to Act Before They Are Ready

We got to see the dire straits these fresh, still in training, young people had to face. They were thrown into positions of responsibility and they assumed them because basically they had to if they wanted to survive

They were called upon to fulfill their duty before the expected time because of an inciting incident.

LESSON #11 – The Characters Demonstrate Intelligence

Eugene Vale, who wrote an excellent book for screenwriters called “The Technique of Screenplay Writing” in which he discusses how as an audience we have an intellectual need – it’s a craving we have from movies but hardly ever get satisfied. We usually get people in the movies telling us the entire backstory or how some scientific concept works as if we’re not intelligent enough to figure it out ourselves.

It was great to see the main characters come up with ideas and solutions some which worked and some which did not work.

And we got to see them put those ideas into action.

LESSON #12 – Moral Decisions to be Made

Write this part still*

LESSON #13 – Humor Through Characters and Situations

How do you know something is funny? Every time you think about it it makes you laugh again.

As a writer you get to determine the sense of humor for each chara: funny, playful, sarcastic, etc. We see this humor in Dr. McCoy’s character.

Humor isn’t an afterthought you try and squeeze into your script. It is something that will develop out of your characters’ sense of humor. Here’s where you step outside of yourself for inspiration and look to those you surround yourself with – friends, family, interesting people you meet, etc. Your characters will have a sense of humor that is not like yours. They will say something funny that makes you laugh and you know that’s not something you’d say or think of. It’s pretty interesting to see your characters take off like this. Sometimes you’ll be able to pinpoint the influence of your character’s sense of humor – “Hey my friend would have made a joke like that!”

Humor – one time everyone in the theater simultaneously laughed in unison – it was when the voice recognition software didn’t recognize the Russian Guy’s command because of his accent. It was clear that the reason everyone laughed was because each of them has had a frustrating experience with voice recognition. In fact on the way to the movie theater I didn’t know the address so I called a toll free directory to get it and the damn machine couldn’t understand what I was saying. After four attempts I finally hung up and went to a different theater. It’s the universal experience that strikes a cord with the audience.

Funny: when spock says It’d be self-serving to say to his younger self “Live long and prosper.”

LESSON #14 – Life or Death Time Crunch

They didn’t have the luxury of time to sit around and contemplate – they had to move now as it was a life or death situation not only for themselves but for their civilization which would be destroyed if they failed.

LESSON #15 – Theme!

Spock’s intimate moments with each of his parents. The writers took excellent advantage of this opportunity for getting across the theme of the movie (the message that’s important to them that they want us to learn).

LESSON #16 – Keep Audience Engaged By Not Answering All their
Not knowing what’s happening.

ex. we knew the bad guy is out to get Spock but we didn’t know why – and this intrigued us.

As a writer it’s your job to dole the information out a little at a time.

LESSON #17 – Unexpected Twists

Example: The Hero doesn’t get the affection of his love interest. And we definitely don’t expect old Spock to be waiting in a cave for young Kirk at that moment. Fun!

LESSON #18 – The Audience Has to Believe for Moment the Hero is Going to Fail!

It was a little over the top when the villain, Captain Nero, blatantly says I’d rather face a harsh death than accept your help – pa-lease – and even though kirk offered to help it seems a shade unbelievable as kirk couldn’t possibly extend such help when he can barely save his own ass from being sucked into the black hole! I can see why the writer/direct put this into the movie though because it serves to give us a moment where the ROLES ARE REVERSED suddenly kirk is the moral one and Spock still pissed about his mother’s murder is revengeful and says that he wouldn’t have extended a helping hand to the villain.

When they were just sitting around at the edge of the black hole for no apparent reason I was “like what are they doing? This black hole is going to suck up anything in the nearby vicinity haul your asses out of their you morons!” Then they start shooting at the damn ship that’s being sucked into the black hole – pretty silly. Unfortunately I felt this was all at the expensive of the credibility on the part of Capt. Kirk’s character. Somehow in a dazed state he was able to piece together from a phrase he heard through the loudspeaker that the Romulans have used the Vulcans to plant a trap for the starfleet yet suddenly he can’t spot the imminent and must I say OBVIOUS threat of a black hole EVEN though old Spock just finished telling him how he himself got sucked into a black hole!

Of course then you get to see them scramble to safety and there’s a moment where you think Shit they’re not going to make it (which of course is why it was left in – that’s a point that a movie must nail). But our rational mind tells us of course they make it or there wouldn’t have been any future stories for these characters which have already been written and viewed!

LESSON #19 – Hero Saves the Day!

Save the day – you feel like you’re there with them – that’s something many movies fail to provide and it’s such a necessary element that the movie-goer seeks! These were the moments in the film when I wanted to belt out “Whoooo!!!”

LESSON #20 – Characters Learn Something From Each Other

Characters learn something from each other even though they don’t want to admit to it because they are adversaries.

For example, Spock doesn’t want to admit he learned anything from Kirk – but in the end he asks for permission to board the ship as his first mate and says he can provide references – hilarious! Because obviously the best reference he could have given was his older self speaking to young Capt. Kirk about their friendship in the future.

So there you have it 20 lessons Star Trek taught us about how to write a blockbuster movie! Right now I’m writing a book called “7 Steps to Create a Marketable Script” and you can see for yourself how these seven steps work by testing these steps with any blockbuster hit. And check out my article on my website of how I use Star Trek 2009 to illustrate how the seven steps work.

About the Author

I’m a screenwriter who likes watching and writing good movies. I have devised a process which allows me to complete a script in one week. I call it: 7 Steps to Create a Marketable Script. Check out my website for free tips on how to write a screenplay!

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