Screenplay Format & Structure

Help me develop a screenplay using the following project details:

Format: [FEATURE FILM/TV PILOT/SHORT FILM/WEB SERIES]
Genre: [DRAMA/COMEDY/THRILLER/HORROR/ACTION/SCI-FI/ROMANCE]
Target Length: [PAGE COUNT - 1 PAGE EQUALS APPROXIMATELY 1 MINUTE OF SCREEN TIME]
Logline: [ONE-SENTENCE SUMMARY OF YOUR STORY]
Protagonist: [BRIEF CHARACTER DESCRIPTION]
Setting: [WHERE AND WHEN]
Tone Reference: [NAME TWO TO THREE FILMS OR SHOWS WITH A SIMILAR FEEL]
Experience Level: [FIRST SCREENPLAY/SOME EXPERIENCE/ADAPTING FROM ANOTHER FORMAT]

Please develop the following six sections:

Section 1 - Screenplay Formatting Fundamentals
Provide a comprehensive guide to industry-standard screenplay formatting, because incorrect formatting is the fastest way to get a script rejected unread. Cover scene headings with proper INT/EXT designations, time of day conventions, and location naming consistency. Detail action line conventions including present tense, active voice, visual writing, and the white space principle that keeps pages readable. Cover dialogue formatting including character cues, parentheticals used sparingly, and the difference between on-screen and off-screen dialogue. Address transitions, montages, flashbacks, text on screen, phone calls, and simultaneous action. Explain how to handle voiceover and intercut sequences. Provide formatting for dual dialogue, continued scenes, and series of shots. Include a sample formatted page demonstrating every major element. Recommend professional screenwriting software and explain why standard word processors are insufficient.

Section 2 - Visual Storytelling and Show Don't Tell
Explain the fundamental difference between screenwriting and prose writing: screenplays can only describe what the camera sees and the microphone hears. Teach the discipline of visual storytelling, where internal states must be externalized through action, behavior, and environment. Demonstrate how to write action lines that convey character, mood, and subtext through specific visual choices rather than directing the camera or explaining what characters think. Provide before-and-after examples showing novelistic screenplay writing transformed into proper visual screenplay writing. Address the concept of writing for the director's imagination, providing enough visual specificity to establish tone without dictating every shot. Cover the art of the visual reveal, the plant and payoff through props and environment, and how to use visual motifs to create thematic coherence across the script.

Section 3 - Three-Act Screenplay Structure
Map the screenplay structure using the industry-standard three-act paradigm calibrated to the target format. For features, detail the setup through page twenty-five to thirty, the confrontation through page eighty-five to ninety, and the resolution through page one hundred to one hundred twenty. For TV pilots, explain the teaser, acts, and tag structure for the target network or streaming format. Identify the major structural beats: the opening image, the catalyst or inciting incident, the debate sequence, the break into Act Two, the B-story launch, the fun and games section, the midpoint, the bad guys close in sequence, the all is lost moment, the dark night of the soul, the break into Act Three, the finale, and the closing image. For each beat, explain its dramatic function and provide the page range where it typically falls. Apply this structure to the writer's specific story, mapping their concept onto these beats with concrete scene suggestions.

Section 4 - Screenplay Dialogue Craft
Teach dialogue writing specifically for the screen, which operates under different principles than stage or prose dialogue. Explain the compression required, where screenplay dialogue must be shorter and more impactful than realistic conversation. Cover the principle that great screen dialogue sounds natural but is actually highly crafted, trimmed of the filler and repetition of real speech. Address subtext as the essential ingredient of screen dialogue, where the most important conversations are the ones characters are not quite having. Provide techniques for differentiating character voices through rhythm, vocabulary, and verbal behavior. Address exposition delivery, the screenplay writer's greatest challenge, with techniques for burying necessary information in conflict and character moments. Write three sample dialogue scenes demonstrating different dynamics: a power struggle, a comedic exchange, and an emotional confrontation.

Section 5 - Scene Construction and Pacing
Explain how to construct individual scenes as miniature stories with their own goals, conflicts, and outcomes. Cover the principle of entering late and leaving early, where scenes begin as close to the conflict as possible and end as soon as the essential dramatic business is complete. Address scene transitions that create momentum and meaning through juxtaposition. Demonstrate how to vary scene length and intensity to create rhythm across the full script. Explain the sequence approach, where three to five scenes combine to form a narrative unit with its own arc within the larger structure. Apply these principles to the writer's specific story by outlining five key scenes in full detail, including scene heading, action lines, and dialogue, demonstrating proper formatting and craft simultaneously.

Section 6 - Industry Standards and Submission Guide
Provide practical guidance on screenplay submission and industry engagement. Cover title page formatting, script registration with the WGA or copyright office, and the importance of the logline, synopsis, and treatment as selling documents alongside the script. Address the screenplay competition landscape, identifying the competitions that actually lead to industry access and explaining what readers and judges look for. Explain the role of query letters, pitch meetings, and the current spec script marketplace. Cover the development process from option to production, explaining the realities of screenplay development including notes, rewrites, and the collaborative nature of filmmaking. Address the reality that screenwriting is a craft that also requires business acumen and relationship building. Provide a realistic timeline for screenplay development from concept to polished draft.