SCREENWRITING 101 (Write your first screenplay in 7 days)

SCREENWRITING 101

From Idea to Screenplay — A Practical Guide for First-Time Screenwriters

You have a story. Now learn how to turn it into a screenplay.

Screenwriting 101 is a practical, beginner-friendly guide created for aspiring screenwriters who have great story ideas but aren't quite sure what to do with them.

Whether you've never written a screenplay before, have a story sitting in your head, or have started several scripts but never managed to finish one, this book will walk you through the fundamentals of screenwriting in a simple, practical and easy-to-understand way.

Inside, you'll learn how to:

• Develop a strong story idea
• Write compelling loglines
• Build memorable characters with wants, needs, flaws and goals
• Understand story structure
• Work with the 3-Act and 5-Act structures
• Explore other storytelling frameworks like the Hero's Journey and Story Circle
• Create conflict and raise the stakes
• Build effective scenes
• Write screenplay dialogue
• Move from an idea to a complete story
• Develop your own short film screenplay from scratch

But this isn't just a book to read.

It is designed as a workbook you can write in.

Each lesson includes practical exercises, worksheets, reflection/notes sections and guided prompts designed to help you apply what you're learning immediately.

By the end of this book, you won't just understand screenwriting.

You'll have started writing your own screenplay.

Created by Jemimah Amonahini (JemimahTheWriter) — Founder of Dedot Screen Expressions and a screenwriter with 100+ screenplays to her credit, whose works have garnered millions of YouTube views and received recognition including an official selection at AFRIFF 2024, a 2025 Film Joints Awards nomination, a 2025 Hipsterwall New York Screening Soiree Award, and Universal Film Festival 2025 Award Finalist recognition.

This is where your story stops living in your head and starts living on the page.

Your story. Your screenplay. Your start.