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Just creating amazing characters in a memorable world, and writing a story with an original voice still isn’t enough to start a screenplay. A novel, maybe, but not a script. The prose writer has freedom to use anything, go anywhere, use any tense, and explore any point of view. Screenwriting, however, is essentially filmmaking on paper. It’s a visual medium after all, so the screenwriter must write in PRESENT TENSE - only what the audience can SEE and HEAR. Imagine sitting in the theater yourself and seeing your words as the reader would. If you write a scene…

Screenplay Genre: Drama / History / Thriller Movie Time: 130 Minutes INCITING INCIDENT After BEN JOHNSON (Sebastian Armesto) is arrested for a play he wrote deemed salacious, the Earl of Oxford EDWARD DE VERE (Rhys Ifans) frees Ben from prison and gives him a play he wrote. Edward tells Ben he must stage his plays under Ben Johnson’s name. (00:21:05)