How to write a screenplay: a step-by-step short film guide with a sample page

Short answer: A screenplay is written by carrying the idea onto the page step by step: a one-sentence logline, a half-page synopsis, a scene-by-scene treatment, a scene breakdown and finally the formatted screenplay page. The page contains scene headings (INT. or EXT., location, DAY or NIGHT), action, character names and dialogue. In Courier 12, one page is roughly one minute.

You have an idea for a short film in your head: a scene, a face, maybe a single line. When you open the blank page, though, the first questions are about format: how do you write a scene heading, where does dialogue go, how many pages should it be? This guide focuses on short films; it covers the path from idea to screenplay page, the standard format, an original one-page sample, and where AI stands in this work.

What is a screenplay, and what stages does a short film script go through?

A screenplay is the written text that sets out a film's scenes, events and dialogue in a shootable order; dictionaries define it as the text that shows the scenes and flow of a work. A short film script follows the same path, only shorter: idea, logline, synopsis, treatment, scene breakdown and screenplay page. Each stage tests the one before it.

How do you write a logline, a synopsis and a treatment?

A logline sets up the story in one sentence: a character, what they want and the obstacle in front of them. A synopsis tells the same story from start to finish in half a page and does not hide the ending. A treatment is written scene by scene, in the present tense, the way the camera would see it. None of the three contains dialogue; the point is to see that the backbone of the story works before you go to the page.

Logline example: An old tailor getting ready to close the shop he has run for forty years finds, on his last night, a suit on the rack that its owner never came to collect, and decides not to pull down the shutter until he has delivered it.

Synopsis example: Master Nuri has handed over the shop; his granddaughter Defne helps pack things into boxes. From behind the hangers comes a navy suit with an old ticket. The name and neighborhood on the ticket are still legible. Defne looks up the name and reaches the son of the suit's owner. The young man who comes to the door close to midnight explains that his father had the suit made for his wedding, but the wedding never happened. Nuri irons the suit one last time, hands it over and pulls down the shutter.

In a treatment each scene becomes a paragraph and records only what can be seen: "Nuri holds the ticket up to the light and pushes his glasses up onto his forehead." By contrast, the sentence "Nuri thinks about his past" cannot be filmed. The camera does not see thought, only the movement that gives it away; the treatment builds this habit before the screenplay.

What should screenplay format look like, and which font is used?

Standard screenplay format consists of six elements: scene heading, action, character name, parenthetical, dialogue and transition. The convention is to use the monospaced Courier font at 12 points. Because every letter is the same width, a similar amount of text fits on every page; the "one page is about one minute" rule comes from this layout.

English-language screenplays use the abbreviations INT. and EXT. (Turkish scripts use their own, İÇ. and DIŞ.). Some writers put a dash between location and time, others a slash; what matters is staying with one form throughout the script. Camera directions such as CLOSE-UP belong to the director; use them in a screenplay only when the story requires it. You will find what each shot type conveys in our storyboard guide.

How to write a screenplay, by example: what does a one-page short film scene look like?

The scene below was written from the logline above and runs about one page in standard format, so around a minute on screen. We adapted the format for a web page: scene headings in bold, character names in capitals, parentheticals in italics. In a real screenplay file the character name and dialogue are centered and the page is set in Courier 12.

1. INT. TAILOR'S SHOP - NIGHT

Half-empty shelves. Boxes on the floor, marked in felt-tip pen: SPOOLS, LINING. The fluorescent light on the ceiling flickers. NURI (72), a tape measure in his waistcoat pocket, takes down the last hangers. His granddaughter DEFNE (17) tapes up a box, a pencil in her mouth.

Nuri stops at the hanger at the very back. A dark navy suit wrapped in plastic. A yellowed ticket pinned to its lapel.

DEFNE

(takes the pencil out of her mouth)

Is that going too?

NURI

That's not ours.

He unpins the ticket, pushes his glasses up onto his forehead and holds it to the light.

NURI (CONT'D)

November ninety-eight. Kemal Aydın, Yeldeğirmeni. Paid the deposit, never came to pick it up.

DEFNE

Twenty-eight years? Are we throwing it out?

Nuri does not answer. He takes the suit off the hanger, lays it out on the ironing table and plugs in the iron. Defne puts down the tape.

DEFNE (CONT'D)

Grandpa, we hand over the shutter tomorrow morning.

NURI

Then we hand this over tonight.

Defne looks at him for a moment. Then she takes out her phone and types the name from the ticket onto the screen.

2. EXT. IN FRONT OF THE SHOP - NIGHT

Wet pavement. The shutter is pulled halfway down. Steam from the iron fogs the shop window from inside. Defne stands with the phone to her ear, rocking on her feet.

DEFNE

(into the phone)

Are you Mr. Kemal's son? Your father left something with us.

CUT TO:

Notice three things in the example. Feelings are not written; they are shown through action: Nuri does not answer, he plugs in the iron. Every line does a job: one asks, one refuses, one decides. The scene ends on a decision and the second scene shows the result of that decision; the viewer needs no explanation between the scenes.

How many pages should a short film script be?

The target length sets the length of a short film script. In standard format one page corresponds to roughly one minute, so for a 5-minute film you write around 5 pages. Although awards rules define a short film as anything up to 40 minutes including credits, 3 to 10 pages is a manageable target for your first film.

The one-page-one-minute rule is an average, not a measure. A scene written in a single line, "The chase begins", can run two minutes on screen; a page of quick back-and-forth dialogue can run under a minute. Silent, action-heavy scenes run long, joke-heavy scenes run short. The most reliable method is to read the page aloud with a stopwatch.

For a film to be produced with AI, it is better to think in number of scenes than in pages. As of October 2026, on Yeşilçam a scene runs 5 or 10 seconds at the Draft and Standard tiers and 4, 6 or 8 seconds at the Cinema tiers. A one-minute screenplay then becomes a scene breakdown of 6 to 15 scenes.

How do you write good dialogue?

Good dialogue is short, clearly owned and useful: every line asks, refuses, hides or decides something. Characters do not name their feelings; what they leave unsaid carries the scene. Reading aloud is the fastest test: lines that trip the tongue, that could come from either character's mouth, or that deliver information like a lecture show up on the first read.

• Do not make characters talk to deliver information. Instead of "You know, I've been in this shop for forty years", show the forty-year-old tickets.
• Give every character their own voice. Let one speak curtly and contrarily, and the other ask questions.
• Protect the subtext. Nuri says "That's not ours" but irons the suit; the contradiction is the scene itself.
• Keep lines short. Break up a long speech with lines of action.
• Write it the way it will be read. Spell out numbers and abbreviations; this matters even more if the text will be voiced.

In a film that will be voiced with AI, spelling rules become even more important; the guide to preparing scripts for Turkish AI voiceover collects these details. For animation dialogue, see also the guide to writing dialogue with AI.

Do you need screenwriting software?

Not for a first short film; someone who knows the format can write a screenplay in an ordinary word processor with a ready-made template. Dedicated screenwriting software formats scene headings, character names and dialogue with a single key and produces the scene breakdown automatically. The real gain is not in the format but in keeping order on a long project and sharing the text with a team.

• Word processor template: you already have it; you set up the margins and paragraph styles once.
• Dedicated screenwriting software: runs on the desktop or in the browser; it applies the format automatically and keeps track of revisions and scene reports.
• Collaborative documents: good for comments and version history; you have to maintain the format by hand.
• AI-assisted film studios: produce a draft with a scene breakdown from a story and connect it directly to image generation.

How does Yeşilçam Studio turn a story into a screenplay, and what does it cost?

In Yeşilçam Studio you paste your story; the studio turns it into a screenplay with a scene breakdown: a title, a one-sentence logline, the cast, and for each scene a summary, duration, characters on screen, lines and narration. The screenplay arrives as editable scene cards; the storyboard, image, video and voice steps all read from these cards.

1. Paste the story or a screenplay you wrote yourself; start a new paragraph when the location or time changes.
2. Read the scene breakdown: merge short scenes, split those carrying two ideas, fix the names.
3. Lock the face, costume and voice with the character bible.
4. Generate and approve the storyboard frame for each scene.
5. After video, voiceover, lip sync and music, assemble the film.

As of October 2026, the price list puts a storyboard frame at 4,376 tokens per scene and assembling the film at 5,834 tokens; the storyboard strip for a six-scene short film comes to 26,256 tokens. Website Promo has a separate flow: at October 2026 prices the screenplay step there is 58,334 tokens, about $0.35 at the Basic rate. In that flow the first rewrite is free; details are in the promo video prices article. The price of every generation is shown before it runs, and failed generations are refunded.

How to write the input is explained in detail in our article on going from a one-page story to a shootable screenplay, and which fields the screenplay is built from behind the scenes in our article on the inside of the director. If you have photos to start a scene with, see the photo to video guide, and for current prices the pricing page.

What does AI do well in screenwriting, and what can it not do?

AI is good at building structure: it splits a scattered story into scenes, drafts a logline and synopsis, picks events to fit a target length and applies the format consistently. What it cannot do is your voice. Only you can supply the subtext, the meaning of a silence, the way of speaking that belongs to one character alone, and the personal detail that makes the story yours.

• Originality: the model leans on patterns it knows; the first draft often feels familiar. You have to add the unexpected detail.
• Subtext: generated characters tend to state their feelings outright; cutting lines down and putting the unsaid back is the writer's job.
• Local texture: neighborhood speech, age-appropriate talk and comic timing often need fixing by hand.
• Copyright and rights: adapting someone else's novel, play or character requires the rights holder's permission; having AI write the text does not remove that obligation. The legal status of AI-generated text is assessed differently from country to country; get legal advice for a commercial project.
• Long structure: in a feature or a series, character arcs and the payoff of planted clues need human oversight.

For a short film headed to festivals, a competition entry or a package to pitch to a producer, treat the AI draft as a starting point; the final text should come from your hand. Working with a screenwriter or a script editor on your first project gives you feedback no tool provides.

Frequently asked questions

What font is a screenplay written in? The convention is the monospaced Courier font at 12 points. Because every letter is the same width, the page layout stays fixed and the one-page-per-minute rule works. If the festival or competition you are entering asks for a different format, follow its rules.

How many pages should a short film script be? Write as many pages as your target length: in standard format one page is roughly one minute. For a first short film, 3 to 10 pages is a manageable range. Action-heavy scenes run longer than their page count, quick dialogue scenes shorter; read aloud and time it.

What do INT. and EXT. mean in a screenplay? INT. says the scene takes place indoors, EXT. that it takes place outdoors. The scene heading is made up of this abbreviation, the name of the location and DAY or NIGHT. It is the first line read when the shooting schedule, lighting and budget are worked out.

What is the difference between a treatment and a synopsis? A synopsis summarizes the story from start to finish in half a page; a treatment tells it scene by scene, in the present tense, the way the camera would see it. The synopsis tests that the story works, the treatment that the scenes work. In a short film a treatment usually runs no more than a few pages.

Is software required to write a screenplay? No. By setting up paragraph styles once in a word processor, you get a page very close to the standard format. Dedicated screenwriting software applies the format automatically and produces scene reports; it saves time on long projects and when working with a team.

Can a screenplay written with AI be used? As a draft, yes; as the final text, with care. AI builds the scene breakdown and the format quickly, but the voice, the subtext and the original detail must come from you. If you are adapting someone else's work, you need the rights holder's permission; get legal advice for a commercial project.