Script writing is an art that requires limitless imagination along with detailed knowledge about the script’s story and a good hold of the language(s) in which the script would be written. The horror genre adds more challenge to the scriptwriter. The story should be compact and with its own set of twists, that should not seem out of place. The script should have a simple story, although it could be portrayed in a complex manner if desired, all at the risk of the comprehension level of the target audience. This report showcases a few steps about writing a horror film script.

a.The opening scene should be special. In most cases, it is a good idea to have the audience off the hook before they can expect any suspense. Having mentioned that, the opening suspense scene must not be a forced one, and should be in tune with the script altogether.

b.The central character should be introduced next. Most often, writers tend to introduce their central character in a scene that brings out the script’s main story line. However, a better idea would be to give the central character some screen time without being made to cope with the tragedy that’s approaching him/her. The audience could then relate and emphasized with the character in a better way.

c.The central character should have a flaw that would lead him to the misery that follows. It could be a fear or phobia of something; or a wrongdoing of the past. It is up to the writer’s imagination and his vision of the story, to relate the character to the script’s main plot.

d.There should be some misleading scenes meant to bring the audience to the edge of their seat. The central character should ideally be in a helpless condition, and a series of well-timed scenes could be brought, which would scare the audience, but would be normal in reality.

e.Supposedly, the script should be reaching half way by now, and it is high time to unleash the evil completely. It would be ideal if the main character could identify the evil and the truth behind it, either by accident or by some brave investigation.

f.Once the main story is out, the final chase begins. It could be either way: the main character trying to demolish the evil; or running away to save his/her life. It should be taken care of that the main character doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary that makes the audience lose faith in the film.

g.After a series of events, we should be reaching a conclusion by now. Again, the conclusion could go either way: the hero wins, or the evil. However, it would be safe to have the hero win over the evil.

h.The closing scene could be filled with suspense again. In case the hero had defeated the evil, there could be a scope to continue the script in a sequel, by portraying that the evil never dies completely. A subtle hint that the evil is lurking somewhere could do the trick.

A Film script treatment for a specific script is a short summary of the story that may be four to fifteen pages long. It usually reads like a novelette, describing how the story unfolds, with only sparse use of dialogue. It is quite different from the synopsis. While a synopsis summarizes the script and provides an outline of the story, the treatment is a novelette or short story in itself.

Script treatments are very powerful tools that attract the studios and potential investors even before the complete script is ready. This is indeed very useful for the scriptwriter as well, since the treatment would help him understand whether the flow of the story is indeed what he desired for. So, we can revise or cancel scripts before we put in our valuable time and energy is writing the actual script. However, for a spontaneous writer, treatment could be more of a bane, and that is why treatments are not absolutely essential component.

There are three different methods in which a treatment can be written. However, the main aim of writing a treatment is similar to that of a synopsis: to attract the reader and keep him glued all throughout.

a.Header-specific: This type of treatment would have the key scenes put down as headers (in capital letters), while a few lines could be chipped in below it, describing the scene precisely. This would allow the reader to breeze through your treatment, if required and is much more attractive if the content is good enough. An example would go like (from “Bluey” with permission of writers):

EXT. WALLIS HOUSE – NIGHT

Beatrice and Bertha, followed by Sarah, run out of the front door of the
house.

Bertha pushes Sarah down the steps.  Lighting illuminates the
sky as Sarah painfully lands on her knees into rain puddles and a
a torrent of rain soaks her.

This would also help us condense the treatment into a couple of pages, and also ensuring that the main scenes are described properly with proper dramatization, wherever necessary.

b.Prose-Style: This type of treatments tend to go longer, as the key scenes are explained with lot more details than in header-specific treatments. It is like writing the story without the details irrelevant to the scene. This type of descriptions would serve a script that needs the details to be fed to the reader. The script also contains the emotions and feels that the actual script might have. The above header-specific example could be translated to prose-style as:

As she steps out of a police cruiser, Sergeant Sandra Bohm, a police fortyish police officer with non-regulation bright red nails, irritably regards  Harold and asks him what his problem is.  Harold offers her a rude gesture instead of a verbal response.  Sergeant Bohm comments that she doesn’t have time for this and writes up a ticket.

c. Hybrid style: Well, as the name suggests, this type of treatment is a mixture of the above two methods, and is most popularly used, as it provides the flexibility and the freedom to exploit both procedures, while giving it an innovative yet attractive look.