Tony Savant

CRAFT OF SCREENWRITING
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Screenwriting Exercise – Outlining a Story #3

Choose one of the following stories taken straight from real newspaper or magazine articles, or
find a real magazine or newspaper article on your own.

1. From the information given in the one-sentence synopsis, fill out what the rest of the
story will really be about. You can do this in a short paragraph or two.
2. Decide on the characters. Choose a protagonist and antagonist. Give them names,
fill out some of their leading three dimensional qualities, especially a few excessive
qualities, their immediate objectives and their spines.
3. Form a premise/theme.
4. Decide on a Point of Attack, and Inciting Incident and the Ending Climax and
Resolution of Act III.
5. Using the Short Outline Guide to help you, complete a potential Short Three-Act
Outline for the story, filling in all the major crisis points for each act.

1. A 16 year old boy develops a relationship with an 18 year old girl through social media,
then they both devises a plot to kill his parents and run away together.

2. Gossip between adults in a small town eventually turns nasty and cruel, destroying
friendships, and eventually leading to a once friendly, well-loved person's suicide.

3. A 32 year old, female school teacher convicted of sexual abuse and corrupting a minor
spends three years in prison, then immediately contacts the now 19 year boy she had a
relationships with, one week after being released.

4. An old Holocaust survivor is forced to confront anti-semitism in her small, Minnesota

town.

5. A family struggles to save their long-time family-owned restaurant after it was forced to
close due to Covid-19.

6. A farmer and his wife put a sign up in a field on their farm stating they need a kidney
donor for their 7 year old daughter. They were surprised who answered the call.

7. After their spouses of many years pass away, two old high school sweethearts meet again
and fall in love for a second time.

8. Two neighbor families who feuded for years are brought together when one family's
beloved dog runs away.

9. A small town man wins $4.2 million in a state lottery, then learns just how many “close
friends” and relatives he really has.

10. An ex-con is released from prison, and soon terrorizes his ex-girls and her fiance.