SOCRATIC
SCREENPLAY OUTLINING

Have you seen “Edge of Tomorrow”?

If you enjoy action movies, science fiction, and stories with fun, unusual premise and structure – and haven’t seen that film – what are you waiting for?!

I brought up that movie because of a scene that comes to mind when I think of screenplay outlining. In that scene, the hero of “Edge of Tomorrow”, Major William Cage, battles an army of creepy-looking aliens, and he is defeating them effortlessly and with almost ballet-like grace because he already knows where and exactly at what moment each of these creatures is going to attack him. (You’d have to watch the movie to learn why he knows that. I’m not going to spoil it for you.)

So, one day when I was watching that movie, I asked myself: wouldn’t it be cool to make screenwriting feel as effortless as this?  How can that be achieved? How can I give my students the unfair advantage similar to Major Cage’s superpowers?

And then I realized that this can be done, and that I already know how to give every writer just this kind of superpowers.

I, as a writing teacher, already knew where the proverbial “aliens” were going to appear, and at what moment they are going to strike! All I have to do is give the instructions.

These instructions can come in the form of statements. “Do this” – but it may be more fun if they a expressed as questions. Asking questions allows the writer much more creative flexibility!

That’s how the idea of Socratic Outlining was born, and I quickly sketched the necessary questions and put them into the document you’re about to download.

I hope you like it and find it useful!