When AI first debuted and could be used by everyone with ChatGPT, AI’s role in screenwriting was simple – it was your assistant and nothing else. Now it’s evolved into a sophisticated tool that’s capable of deep script analysis and research.
AI can’t replace human authors – no matter how hard people have tried. Amazon, a trillion-dollar giant, purged thousands of AI written books recently because the complaints and refund requests due to their low-quality was starting to cost them. And this is a company that recently introduced ads to their Prime Video subscribers, solely so they could charge an extra $2.99 a month to remove those same ads. What I’m getting at here… Amazon loves money!
AI’s integration into screenplay software like ScreenplayIQ enables writers to optimize their creative processes by handling repetitive and analytical tasks. This frees up your time for more complex aspects of storytelling.
But you don’t have to use a prepackaged service like ScreenplayIQ and for a broke writer first starting out, we suggest that you don’t. Instead, put some effort into developing your prompts correctly and know that with scripts, a few prompts aren’t enough, you need a complete prompt chain.
The Right Application of AI
Before we dig into prompts, let’s tackle the biggest mistake that screenwriters make in using AI within creative fields. You can’t replace human creativity with AI. Stop trying, it’s a waste of your time, and you’re not going to crack the code because there isn’t one. AI has limitations, and human creativity is one of them.
Instead, AI excels in areas where humans falter, like repetitive tasks and in-depth analysis of content. For example, it’s impractical for a writer to analyze every word for its implications continually, but AI can maintain a fresh perspective, offering insights into how dialogue, tone, and character development are perceived by an audience.
Essentially, AI can monitor your script in real time and alert you whenever you change tones or styles. Whenever a character says something or does something that doesn’t make sense.
Human emotional response to text can’t be replaced by AI because AI has no emotions and therefore can’t understand human creative expression. If you wrote a truly gut-wrenching scene full of loss and pain, AI can’t differentiate that emotionally from the scene of your protagonist grabbing a quick coffee.
AI as a Scriptwriting Assistant
AI can break down the writing process into manageable parts and help keep you on track. It excels in areas requiring detailed, systematic thinking, like evaluating dialogue or character development using specific parameters. You can automate these aspects with AI, which will allow you to focus more on creative and enjoyable parts of the experience.
Improving Story Structure & Narrative Depth with AI
AI can assist writers in understanding the structure of their stories by analyzing character intentions and scene effectiveness. This breakdown helps ensure that every scene contributes meaningfully to the narrative, enhancing the story’s flow and engagement. By understanding character goals and motivations, writers can craft more compelling and coherent narratives.
AI tools can also help you view their script from various characters’ perspectives, ensuring all characters are well-developed and contribute to the story’s depth. This multi-perspective analysis often reveals overlooked aspects of the narrative, allowing writers to enrich the storyline and character arcs.
For example, remember when you wrote that your main character’s boyfriend said he doesn’t like blueberries three months ago? Well, AI does, and it will remind you allowing you to work back into the story when relevant or alerting you when you write that her boyfriend had a blueberry smoothie before going to the gym.
AI can handle the minutia while you focus on what matters the most – character and plot development.
Structured Prompts Examples
The following examples are designed to guide you through writing a scene. These are rudimentary examples at best solely meant to give you a general feel of what a chain of well-crafted structured prompts look like. You’ll need to change these, probably a lot, for your own scripting purposes.
Step 1: Define the Scene’s Objective
Prompt Example: “Identify the main objective of the following scene where the protagonist confronts the antagonist for the first time. Provide a brief description of what each character wants to achieve.”
This initial prompt helps set the stage by ensuring that the AI understands the scene’s fundamental conflict and objectives, which are necessary to push the narrative forward.
Step 2: Analyze Character Dialogue
Prompt Example: “Analyze the dialogue in the scene for emotional tone. List each line of dialogue and describe the underlying emotion the character is expressing.”
By dissecting the emotional undertones of each dialogue line, AI can provide insights into whether the emotions conveyed align with the characters’ objectives and the scene’s overall tone. Please remember that AI doesn’t experience emotion – not even a little. So this is an academic exercise for the AI you’re using, but it’s still helpful. It’s a level of character analysis that can point out weaknesses, strengths to build on, flaws, emotional concerns, and the list goes on.
Step 3: Evaluate Dialogue Relevance
Prompt Example: “Evaluate whether each line of dialogue advances the scene’s objective. Suggest alternatives for any line that doesn’t contribute effectively to the scene.”
This prompt encourages AI to critically assess the usefulness of each dialogue piece, ensuring that every line plays a role in moving the scene toward its intended outcome. This can prevent a lot of superfluous and often boring dialogue that your readers scan over before losing interest entirely. Gone are the days when a reader will digest a 700-page novel. Those 700 pages must each keep their attention, or they’ll go back to YouTube.
Step 4: Check for Character Consistency
Prompt Example: “Compare each character’s behavior and dialogue in this scene with their behavior in previous scenes. Identify any inconsistencies and recommend adjustments.”
Consistency in character behavior is vital for believability. This prompt ensures that every character acts and speaks in ways that are consistent with their established traits and past actions. A decade ago, as readers, we were all more forgiving. Now, we have social media and snarky GIFs and entire Twitter/X accounts devoted to pointing out plot holes or overly convenient uncharacteristic personality changes.
Step 5: Suggest Enhancements for Scene Description
Prompt Example: “Review the scene description for vividness and clarity. Suggest enhancements to make the setting more immersive and relevant to the scene’s mood and actions.”
A detailed scene description can dramatically improve the reader’s visualization and engagement. AI can assist by suggesting more descriptive language or additional elements that might enhance the scene’s atmosphere.
Step 6: Optimize Scene Structure
Prompt Example: “Outline the structure of the scene, including entry, climax, and exit. Evaluate if the current structure effectively builds tension and resolves it by the scene’s end. Suggest any structural changes.”
This prompt asks AI to consider the scene’s pacing and structure, ensuring that it builds appropriately towards a climax and resolves in a way that is satisfying and propels the story forward.
Step 7: Final Feedback Loop
Prompt Example: “Provide a summary of the scene’s effectiveness in terms of character development, plot advancement, and thematic expression. Offer any final suggestions for improvement.”
The final step in the process involves a comprehensive review of how well the scene fulfills its role in the larger narrative, including character growth, plot development, and thematic depth.
To use the above prompt styles, you don’t need ScreenplayIQ, any well-suited LLM AI can handle it including ChatGPT, Gemini or AkzisAI.
AI for Reactions
AI can’t feel, but it can analyze, and it can tap into its massive knowledgebase. That means it can simulate potential audience reactions and provide you with rapid feedback. It can help you refine your script – tighten up any continuity issues and weaknesses, and make sure the final product resonates with its intended audience.
In conclusion, while AI can’t replace human creativity in screenwriting, and never will, it can work with you as a partner to enhance the scripting process by automating analytical tasks and providing new insights into narrative structure. It can also help you stay on track and keep to your outline of development while paying attention to small things like grammar, inconsistent facts, or dialogue that just doesn’t advance your story or characters.
Put AI to work, and you’ll end up with a better script that you’ll produce in half the time.
