Hey, everyone. This is the writers desk.
My name is SC Lannom .
I'm a writer and director and I also produce content here for StudioBinder.
And today, we're going to be looking at.
How to write a fight scene?
[Music]
Their tends to be some confusion on this topic.
How to format?
How much detail do you add?
How much do you leave up to the director?
And the good news is that it's relatively simple.
Referencing other screenwriters
who write fight scenes in some of your favorite action films
can really help.
So StudioBinder has asked me to show you how to write a fight scene from scratch.
And we're going to do it in five minutes.
Our fight scene today is going to be inspired
by everyone's favorite dog lover - John Wick.
Now, "John Wick" fight scenes are very unique.
We're going to tell you why, all throughout this video.
Before we get started,
make sure to subscribe below so you can see more videos just like this one.
You know, man.
I don't think I can do this.
It just doesn't feel right.
It's just I can't do it. I'm sorry.
That's better.
Since today's fight scene is inspired by "John Wick"
we've decided to create our own character Sean Cord.
Sean is going to do the same thing that John Wick does,
he's going to go through a wave of gunmen in stylish fashion,
and then afterward he's going to get into a one-on-one fight
with someone a little more formidable.
So today for this video,
we're going to be using StudioBinders free screenwriting software.
Ready?
Let's go.
Alright, so.
Interiour Nightclub.
Penthouse.
Night.
[Music]
And is disabled by an elbow to the face.
Time out.
What I did was, I made it so that Sean is beating up people
but he's also shooting people.
That's a big part of a "John Wick" fight
is that he mixes melee combat with gunplay.
Let's get back to it.
[Music]
Okay, time out.
One of the things
that both John Wick scripts and I like to do
is when you have a big group of people,
you want to show how many are left.
It keeps the reader understanding and tracking the action
but it also allows the stunt coordinators to understand how many people are left.
[Music]
Okay, time up.
So one of the things that you want to do
is have forward momentum.
That's one of the things that John Wick always does
as he`s always moving forward and he's very calm.
So it's nice to add a little qualifiers
like calmly or quickly.
It's something that gives it a real layer.
It gives it some style.
John Wick always reloads during the scenes
and in fact he`ll reload in between kills.
It`s much more realistic
and you also get a little bit of extra style.
Let's get back to it.
[Music]
Two left.
Okay, so then.
Sean then fights with.
[Music]
Okay, time out.
So what he's done now is he's beaten the eight people
but we want to have our one-on-one fight
because it's in line with John Wick style
and in our case Sean Cord style.
So what we're going to do is were actually going to transition.
From our setting to a new setting,
so that we can have a moment
that really gets to breathe in a new place
with some set design and things like that.
So we'll do interior.
Night Club.
Kitchen. Continuous.
[Music]
Okay, time up.
One of the other things that you want to do
is you want to be using onomatopoeia,
whenever a big moment in the fight happens,
so slams the gun into the wall,
snap when it comes to a neck break, something like that.
That really sells it, it makes the reader enjoy reading your script.
Snap.
Okay.
So, as you can see,
we just finished in five minutes.
We've got a nice setup where we have a bunch of people,
who get taken out by Sean in sort of quick fashion,
and then it gets a little one-on-one fight,
but we just got a comment from one of our producers.
"Just make sure Sean actually gets shot in the scene at one point."
Now, when you get notes from the producers
you can't resist, you can't fight
what you need to do is incorporate.
Figure out a way to take your style, their note and put it in your script.
Okay, ambushed by Igor, pulls a gun and shoots Sean
in the shoulder.
Add some pain to your main character.
You have to create an obstacle for them to overcome.
Igor, say, dashes through a set of double doors.
[Music]
To, say, trade blows.
He breaks Igor's neck.
And we'll go with fade out.
Okay.
So now we're done.
The basic idea is
that you want a minute of screen time to take up a page
in your screenplay.
This should maybe take about 30-40 seconds of screen time
this entire fight scene.
So we'll go up here.
We'll check out the comment
because we're done, we incorporated it.
And now we've got a happy producer, got a good script,
we've got a great movie.
So now you know how to write a fight scene.
I hope you found this helpful.
Now, obviously you're going to have more than five minutes to write your scenes,
but it's good to get in the habit of working within a deadline.
That's what professional screenwriters have to do.
So what are your favorite fight scenes?
Tell us in the comments below.
Maybe you have your own script that you want to write.
Why not try StudioBinder screenwriting solution.
I used it all throughout this video.
It`s completely free,
and we have a link in the description below.
So scroll down, click, and start writing.
See you on the next one.