The lazy way of coming up with science fiction film ideas is to take any an existing movie title and add ..in space! to it. Like High Noon ..in space! (Outland) or Jaws ..in space! (Alien). It’s become a tried and trusted method, but while it has led to the occasional classic - no-one is going to argue against Alien being a sci-fi classic - there are a lot more films in the mediocre pile. So where do we find new ideas ripe for science fiction? Well as you might expect they’re all around you, all you have to do is start looking, but it requires that you leave your SF prejudices at the door and open your eyes to the wider world of sci-fi storytelling. This workshop looks at sources of new ideas, basic tools to gather and store them, explores exercises for taking an idea and turning it into a story and we’ll actually take an idea and break a story with the audience in the room.

1. WRITING THE
SCIENCE FICTION FILM

2. Who am I?
¨ Robert Grant (no, not that Rob Grant)
¨ Screenwriter, critic, and script consultant
based in London
¨ I wrote this book (pub. MWP, April 2013)
¨ 12 year veteran of SCI-FI-LONDON
¨ Literary Editor at sci-fi-london.com
¨ Currently on the jury of the Arthur C.
Clarke Award for Science Fiction
Literature

3. Did I mention I wrote a book?
¨ Published April 2013, Michael
Wiese Publishing
¨ Available to order at Amazon
¨ Stunningly good value for money
¨ Make great gifts – buy one for each
of the family!
¨ No really, buy a few...

4. What are we going to talk about?
¨ What is science fiction?
¨ Why write science fiction?
¨ Where do you get your ideas from?
¨ How do I turn an idea into a story

5. WHAT IS SCIENCE FICTION?

6. Science fiction or fantasy?
¨ Not easy to pin down, like “what is good taste?”
¤ Space ships and aliens are just a small part of it
¨ The clue is in the name – it’s science fiction
¤ The story must rely on the science to work
¤ Back To The Future
¨ If it doesn’t then it’s fantasy
¤ Sliding Doors / Groundhog Day

7. Why write science fiction?
¨ Science fiction asks big “What if..?” questions
¨ Plays with day-to-day realities in our world by
exploring those in worlds we create
¨ Examines big social and technological issues without
actually pointing fingers
¨ Forces us to think about society in a different way
¨ Ultimately science fiction is about allegory

8. Why write science fiction?
If you want to write about the nature of
humanity and its relationship to the
world around it, you pretty much have
to write science fiction.

9. A genre or a setting?
¨ Hang on, what?
¨ What genre are you really writing?
¤ Thriller/Comedy/Romance/Horror
¤ If you’re really writing a thriller, know the thriller story
beats first, before dressing it up as SF
¨ But some tropes are purely SF
¤ space travel/aliens/time travel/alternate history or
reality/superpowers

10. The science fiction landscape
¨ Hard SF or Soft SF?
¤ The hard sciences – physics/chemistry/biology
¤ The social sciences – psychology/politics/law/
economics
¨ The SF sub-genres
¤ Alternate history/post-apocalypse/alien encounters/
utopia & dystopia/space opera/superhero/mundane
¤ The ‘aesthetics’ e.g. cyberpunk/steampunk

11. FINDING YOUR STORY

12. Did I mention I wrote a book?
“Robert takes you on a fascinating journey through
cinematic otherworlds, showing how the genre has
changed over the years while remaining one of the
most popular with movie audiences. Concise,
illuminating, and simply a swell read, whether you
want to write sci-fi or just watch it.”
Joe Dante, director
Gremlins, Explorers, Innerspace, Small Soldiers
Available to pre-order on Amazon right now!

13. The half-decent screenwriting process TM
1. Find your inspiration (newsfeeds etc.)
2. Turn it into an idea (What if ....?)
3. Expand it into a premise (maybe
this/maybe that)
4. Set out your principle characters (Use
Schechter's Unity of opposites)
5. Write your log line (use the combined
Schechter/Snyder template)
6. Start outlining plot points and story
beats (can be out-of-sequence)
7. Fix your beginning
8. Fix your ending
9. Brainstorm
10. Write a treatment (use the
Schechter/Snyder hybrid template)
11. Add details to your treatment (inc.
dialogue/blocking/set-up & pay-off
etc.)
12. Write your screenplay (1st draft)
13. Re-write your screenplay (2nd draft)
14. Edit your screenplay (as few words
as possible while retaining the story)
15. Submit

14. Finding the future in the present
¨ It’s not coming up with the idea, it’s how you develop it.
¤ You could be lazy, take a film title and add ..in space!
¨ So where are the ideas ripe for science fiction
treatment?
¤ All around you - all you have to do is start looking.
¨ Finding ideas isn’t the problem, it’s choosing from the
100s out there.
¨ Science fiction dates much faster than other genres.
¤ Don’t fixate on the science or the technology - find the
human story behind it.

15. Everyday tools for collecting ideas
¨ I collect ideas every day. Some days one, some days half dozen,
often not a full story, just an interesting element.
¨ I use:
¤ An internet connection
¤ An RSS newsreader
¤ A web browser
¤ A web-clipping account
¨ In addition I use:
¤ Text editing software
¤ An ‘ideas folder’ on my hard drive
¤ A notepad and pen

16. Everyday tools for collecting ideas
¨ Find an interesting
website
¨ Look for the RSS feed
¨ Subscribe in your
Newsreader
¨ Read in your browser
¨ Clip with your clipping
software
¨ Start the “what if..?”
process

17. What if? and the vast pool of story sources
Doomsday Ark to be
housed on the Moon
– A Remote Access
Toolkit To Rebuild
The Human Race.

18. What if? and the vast pool of story sources
¨ Let’s play a little “What if..?”
¤ What would it need to contain? / What’s important? What isn’t? / How
do you judge and who makes that call?
This isn’t just about what ‘stuff’, this is about what is the essence of humanity?
¨ What if the only people selected to save were scientists and politicians?
¤ What if they held a lottery? / What if it turned out they were all white?
n Would they try to change things or go with the best qualified people?
¤ What would be the criteria?
Equally important is what we would leave out.
¨ What if we didn’t include information about religion or politics?

19. What if? and the vast pool of story sources
Now lets go the other way - what if the information was wrong
or got corrupted in some way?
¨ What could go wrong? / Were the genetic codes wrong? /
Did the seeds and embryos become mutated?
¨ Will we end up destroying the Moon? / Is it in our natures to
destroy wherever we settle?
We can always switch it up for a different feel.
¨ What if the survivors split into factions and refused to co-
operate? / What if someone was murdered and seeds were
stolen? / Could a black market in rare food crops spring up?

20. Close to home or far, far away
¨ A key part of “What if..?” is when your story is going to take
place.
¤ present day – has familiarity as an advantage
¤ A few years into the future – very hard but very rewarding
¤ 100s of years from now – where (almost) anything goes
¨ Your choice has a big impact on the world you build
¨ Consider
¤ The Known knowns
¤ The Known unknowns
¤ The Unknown unknowns

21. PLOTTING

22. Turning an idea into a story
I can’t help you write a plot but I can help you with some exercises to help build one
and point out some mistakes to avoid along the way, so here goes.
¨ A brief word about structure.
¤ The Beginning - don’t be boring
¤ The Middle - is not a space filler
¤ The End – should reach a proper and satisfying conclusion
Useful Tips
¨ Know whose story you’re telling and make that character as active as possible.
¨ Keep the structure strong.
¨ Have enough conflict.
¨ Don’t have too many characters.
¨ Don’t slow down.

23. Brainstorming exercises
¨ Write a list of 50 things that could go wrong.
¨ Figure out your ending as soon as possible.
¨ Add genre layers to your idea.
¨ Mindmap your story ideas.
¨ Do some research.
¨ Get it down on paper.
¨ Move your scene locations.
¨ Dissect another screenplay.
¨ How do the rules of your world change things?
¨ List everything that won’t happen.
¨ Use images as triggers.
¨ Write the mundane details of your characters lives.
¨ Try the rule of three.

24. Did I mention I wrote a book?
“If you need like me to work with wild
robots, cannibal mutants, or creatures from
outer space, this wonderful book isn't only
useful, but indispensable!”
Marc Caro, writer/director
Delicatessen, The City of Lost Children
Available to pre-order on Amazon right now!

25. What are you trying to say?
¨ Science fiction highlights big concerns by telling stories rather than
preaching messages.
¨ It looks at People, Place and Technology, extrapolating possible end results.
¨ It works best when set between two growth-stages of society.
¨ To see a particular problem you must look at the whole system. To change
the problem you must change the whole system.
¨ You must have your own clear vision of how your world is and how your
society can change and grow without destroying what went before.
Despite the apocryphal nature of a lot of science fiction there is usually a
positive message.

26. Establishing theme
¨ Theme is the central question that you’re trying to explore in
your screenplay.
¤ It is not the moral message implicit in the story
¤ It is the concept upon which the entire foundation of the story rests
¨ Theme is universal and should be instantly recognisable
across countries and cultures.
¤ In The Matrix, the theme is ‘belief’.
¨ Often you won’t know your theme until you finish writing
¨ Once you do, always address theme as you re-write

27. Avoiding clichés
Cliché [klee’shey] noun
1. (in art, literature, drama, etc.) a trite or hackneyed plot, character trait or
development, use of speech, colour, technology, musical expression, stereotype, etc.
that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse.
¨ The giant list of overused science fiction clichés is vast (really, try Googling it)
¨ Just don’t...alright!
¨ Not all clichés are the kiss of death to your screenplay
¤ Bombs will always countdown to 1sec before being defused
¨ But don’t be lazy – all-new clichés are springing up – avoid them!
¤ Post apocalyptic societies..!!!

28. Avoiding clichés
It is generally acknowledged that if a
character, plot or setting has been used in
the Star Trek universe it is tainted beyond
the capacity for re-use at any time by
anybody - even JJ Abrams.

29. Drinks at the bar...?
THAT’S ALL FOLKS!

30. Did I mention I wrote a book?
¨ Published April 2013, MWP
¨ Available to Order at Amazon
¨ Great value for money
¨ Would I lie to you...?