Every screenplay starts with an idea. But an idea isn't a story yet.
You may have an interesting gimmick, compelling character, intriguing scenario, fascinating world, or amazing scenes and sequences. But that's not enough to start a new screenplay. You should take time to figure out what kind of idea you have and what kind of cinematic story it could become.
That's where brainstorming comes into play.
What Is Brainstorming in Screenwriting?
Brainstorming isn't about sitting down in front of your computer and forcing yourself to come up with every scene, story beat, plot point, character arc, twist, and turn. It's about asking questions and allowing your imagination to find the answers.
The great thing about brainstorming is that you can do it anywhere, anytime. You can do it while driving, walking, running, working out, riding a bike, cooking dinner, lying in bed, or daydreaming.
Some of the best concepts, stories, and character development happen when you simply give your mind time to wander and ask yourself questions.
With that in mind, here are several brainstorming and story/character development questions you can ask yourself to help get your brainstorming going.
1. Brainstorm the Genre
Genre is much more than deciding whether you're writing a comedy, drama, horror flick, thriller, action movie, or sci-fi/fantasy tale. Choosing a genre umbrella helps define the cinematic experience you're offering the audience.
A horror movie needs a lot of scares while a comedy needs lots of laughs. A good thriller needs suspense, while an action movie needs plenty of action beats to keep the rollercoaster going. But you can also blend genres and play with audience expectations.
To brainstorm what genre your idea should fall under, ask yourself:
- What genre is the story?
- What tone should the story have?
- What is the atmosphere?
- Should the story be dark and moody?
- Should there be humor?
- How can I find humor within a darker story?
- Does my comedy have dramatic elements?
- Could I combine this genre with another genre to make the story more interesting?
- What books, movies, and television series are similar in genre and tone?
- What can I learn from them?
- What are audiences going to expect from this genre?
- What can I do differently?
- How can I play with those expectations?
You don't need to follow every convention of the chosen genre. But you should understand what the expectations are going to be from the audience's perspective, as well as Hollywood's perspective, when they sit down to consider your eventual screenplay.
Once you explore the genre rules and expectations, you'll be able to pick and choose which ones you want to follow, emulate, bend, or break to make the biggest possible impact.
2. Brainstorm the Concept
The concept is the core idea of your screenplay. It's what you'll eventually communicate through your logline. Before you start building an entire story around that concept and populate that story with a cast of characters, you need to make sure that there's enough to sustain a feature-length screenplay, and you'll need to make sure that the concept hasn't been produced already. If it has, take comfort in knowing that Hollywood and audiences love the familiar, but only when the familiar is handled in a different way. That's where brainstorming the concept can be so fun.
Ask yourself questions like:
- What is the core concept or logline? (Write multiple loglines for your idea)
- What is the central conflict?
- What are the stakes?
- What makes this concept interesting?
- Has this concept been done before?
- Is my story too derivative of another movie, television series, or book?
- How can I make my concept different from what came before it?
- What movies, television series, or books have similar concepts?
- What can I learn from them?
- What can I do to play with people's expectations of this concept?
- Would the concept be more interesting in another genre?
- Could I combine it with another genre?
- What time period does the story take place in?
- Would the concept be more interesting in another time period?
- Would the story be more interesting if it took place over a shorter time window?
- What world does this concept allow me to explore?
- What themes naturally exist within the concept?
- What do I want people to take away from the story?
- How do I personally relate to this concept?
- How can I put more of myself and my life experiences into it?
- Is this a story I want to spend months of my life writing?
That last question may be the most important of all. Writing a screenplay takes time. Rewriting takes even longer. And if things go well, you may be talking about, pitching, rewriting, and developing that same story for months or years. Make sure the concept is something you really want to explore.
3. Brainstorm the Characters
Once you have the concept, start thinking about the characters who will inhabit it. Great concepts can get people's attention, but compelling characters make the audience care about what happens to them within that concept.
Start with the protagonist, and ask:
- Who is the protagonist?
- Why should the audience care about them?
- How will audiences relate to this character?
- How do I relate to them?
- What scares the protagonist most?
- Is the protagonist damaged in some way?
- What emotional baggage are they carrying?
- What is their internal conflict?
- What is their external conflict?
- What do they have to lose?
- How will they change throughout the story?
- Are they reactionary, or do they take action?
- What is the worst thing that could happen to them?
- What would they do in a fist fight?
- Would the protagonist be more interesting if I changed something significant about them?
- Is my protagonist too similar to another existing character?
Then turn your attention to the antagonist, and ask:
- Who is the antagonist?
- What do they want?
- What scares them most?
- Are they truly a villain, or simply someone whose goals conflict with those of the protagonist?
- Are they stable or unstable?
- Do they need a backstory?
- Is their motivation relatable?
- Could the protagonist and antagonist ever have been friends?
- Could the antagonist actually be the good guy in the end?
- Is my antagonist too derivative of another existing antagonist?
Then look beyond those two characters, and ask:
- Who are the supporting characters?
- How does each supporting character relate to the story?
- Does each supporting character have their own mini-arc?
- Who is the love interest?
- Does the story need a love interest?
- Do the characters sound and feel real?
- Does the story have a diverse group of characters?
- Are there opportunities to create a more diverse cast of characters?
- Are there redundant characters I could combine or eliminate?
- Which characters should survive?
- Which characters shouldn't?
There's no need to write ten-page biographies of every character. Just asking a few questions about who they are, what they want, and what they fear will tell you everything you need to know as you keep brainstorming your idea and characters.
4. Brainstorm the Story
The story is the physical and emotional journey your characters take because of your screenplay's concept. It's what happens to them and how those experiences affect and change them.
Some ideas are just gimmicks that can't fully sustain a whole screenplay. You need a story to tell. To develop a story around an idea, ask yourself:
- What world does the protagonist live in at the beginning?
- What pushes the protagonist into the central conflict, adventure, or quest?
- What is the protagonist trying to accomplish?
- What are the stakes?
- What do the characters have to lose?
- What is the protagonist's internal conflict?
- What is their external conflict?
- What physical challenges will the characters face?
- What emotional challenges will they face?
- How are those physical and emotional challenges connected?
- What additional conflicts can I throw at them?
- What is the worst thing that could happen to each character?
- What doesn't the protagonist know?
- What revelations will the protagonist discover?
- What revelations will the audience discover?
- What mysterious elements could be added to the story?
- How will the protagonist change?
- How will the supporting characters change?
- What themes are beginning to emerge?
- What lessons, if any, does the story offer?
- How will audiences relate to what these characters are experiencing?
- What will these characters do after the story ends?
These story development questions will help you start to see the story you want to tell. Every answer you have, long or short, to these questions will help you form a story that you'd like to tell.
Yes, some of these questions overlap with character development brainstorming questions - that's because story and character are heavily connected. A character's actions and reactions to the conflict within the concept create the story.
5. Brainstorm the Plot
People often use story and plot interchangeably, but they're two very different narrative elements.
Story is what your characters are experiencing. The plot is how you arrange the events that make them experience the story.
To start thinking about how the story actually plays out, ask yourself:
- Where does the story open?
- What's the most interesting way to open it?
- What will keep the audience engaged during the opening?
- Does the story take too long to get going?
- What pushes the protagonist into the main conflict?
- What is the structure of the story?
- How can I keep the second act interesting?
- Is there enough conflict?
- What additional conflicts can I introduce?
- What twists and turns can I add?
- What misdirects can I insert?
- How can I surprise the audience?
- What revelations can I reveal along the way?
- How can I creatively deliver necessary exposition?
- What clues can I plant early that will pay off later?
- How can I foreshadow where the characters and story are going?
- What is the ending?
- Is there a stronger ending?
- Is the climax satisfying?
- Do I have too many endings?
- What happens to each character during the climax?
- What story points can the screenplay live without?
- Are there redundant scenes or moments I can eliminate?
- Does the story have a good rhythm?
- How can I improve the pacing?
This is where your initial idea has been brainstormed enough that it starts to feel like a movie. You'll start seeing scenes, sequences, reveals, twists, turns, conflicts, etc. You'll also start to see the beginning, middle, and end of your movie.
Brainstorm How to Make It Better
Once you have the broad strokes of your concept, characters, story, and plot, there's one more round of brainstorming that can make a huge difference.
Ask yourself this one question first:
How can I make this better?
Then you can start challenging everything you've come up with by asking yourself:
- Is there enough conflict?
- Are the stakes high enough?
- Can I make the protagonist more interesting?
- Can I make the antagonist more interesting?
- Are either of them too similar to characters we've seen before?
- Can I make the central conflict more difficult?
- What's the worst thing I can possibly do to my protagonist?
- What additional conflicts can I throw at the characters?
- Can I make the opening more interesting?
- Can I get into the story faster?
- Can I make the second act more compelling?
- Can I increase the pacing?
- Can I make the twists less predictable?
- Can I surprise the audience more?
- Can I make the climax bigger, more emotional, or more satisfying?
- Can I make the ending stronger?
- Are there scenes I don't need?
- Are there characters I don't need?
- Can two supporting characters become one stronger character?
- Can I add mystery?
- Can I add humor?
- Can I add more emotion?
- Can I better plant and foreshadow later reveals?
- Is there a different genre element that could make this story stand out?
- Am I giving audiences what they expect too often?
- Where can I give them something they don't expect?
- Is there something personal from my own experiences that I can bring into the story?
- Could this concept potentially continue into another story or franchise?
- If so, where could these characters go next?
- Most importantly, what would make me more excited to write this screenplay?
Don't settle for the first answer that your imagination conjures. Challenge yourself. If you come up with an answer right away, ask yourself what other options there are. Sometimes the fifth idea can be much better than the first.
Have Fun Brainstorming
Brainstorming is the true fun of screenwriting. Why? Because anything is possible. You're creating your own worlds, characters, and stories. You're using your imagination the most when you're brainstorming. And this doesn't stop when you start writing your story. You can ask yourself all of the above genre, concept, character, story, and plot development questions throughout the whole writing process.
Have fun!