Scriptwriting And The Need For Synopsis

We – who studied scriptwriting in film schools, seminars, courses, lectures – were told many times that the first step in writing a script is a deep knowledge of the background of the main characters. We have to know everything there is to know about their life up to the first time that they appear on the screen. Such background is supposed to provide us with the inner self of the character so that every step he makes or every word that he says on the screen will be the outcome of his ” unseen life ” before he ( or she ) was introduced to us on the screen. . The essence and guideline of the script is the synopsis or treatment upon which the script will be based. What story are we telling in the script.
How many of the professional scriptwriters have written a script that is exactly in line with the synopsis (or treatment) that they had when they started writing the script? I bet the answer would be “none “.
The basis for all art creations is the idea or the spark. It is like a car that will not go anywhere if it does not have the spark that will start it. After that you got to know what you are going to write, what goal you wish to achieve by writing it.
Years ago – when we did not have the advantages of the computer and we used to handwrite or type (on a typewriter) – we were in trouble if we wanted to delete or insert text on a sheet of paper. Nowadays it is easy and we can change any of the text in seconds. One of my scripts did not read well from page 40 to 75 and when I knew how to rewrite these pages I had 20 new pages instead of 35 and they were much better. The new pages were easily inserted in the script and it was tighter and shorter.
The characters get their “life” during the writing. We build our characters step by step while writing the script and by the time we reach the 60th pages the characters become real and touchable. They start to have their own lives and wills. We are no longer the writers. The characters take over and tell you how to go on. The minute it happens you can feel it and know that your characters are not fiction any longer they are alive.
We do need a synopsis only when a “potential buyer” wants to know what the script is about. Therefore a synopsis should be written after several drafts of the same script were written. At this stage the whole concept is written and we will know exactly how to write the synopsis or the treatment because by then you know the whole story – from line one to the “End”.