Scripting

You have the equipment.  You have an idea.  You may even have a few friends to volunteer acting and helping hold the microphone.  Great!  Now let’s organize your thoughts down on paper.  Do you have to run out and get some specialized software to get it down?  No, not at all.  What you need is some organization and a few things to keep in mind.  This part will become easier with practice, but for now, here are a few rules.

Rule 1. 

Keep it short.

Unless you have seasoned actors, do not make your dialogue too long.  What you are going to want to do is give each actor no more than three lines of dialogue before you cut to another camera angle.  This way your actor won’t worry about memorizing all their lines and you can discuss how best to deliver them.  So write short dialogue for your story.  If you want a long monologue, there are some tricks , but that's something we’ll discuss later. 

Rule 2.

Use what you’ve got.

Use locations that you know you can secure for hours on end.  Most of the time spent while shooting a movie is spent setting up equipment and making sure the lighting is right.  Actually filming your actors takes a small amount of time by comparison, so create your story in areas that you can be at for hours on end, like an apartment, or even a single room (think Reservoir Dogs).  

Rule 3.

Keep it inside.

Filming inside is best for these types of projects, because you won’t have to worry about filming at the same time of day, every day, and its easier to control the lighting.  If you film a long scene outside at sundown, then you’ll have about 15 minutes of light to get it just right.  If you don’t, you’ll have to wait till the next day around sundown to have another 15 minutes to get it right.  If you can set your movie inside, then you can shoot almost any time of the day or night and it will look the same.  The reason Clerks starts off with the shutters not being able to open is so that the crew could shoot the movie at night, but make it appear to be day time.  

If you can modify your original idea within these rules, you’ll have a lot easier time shooting your movie.  Since you’ll probably be the director, making a script using these rules will give you better control and organization when you have actors on set and looking to you for instructions.  Good Luck!