Short Film Script Ideas

I have been planning on making a short film this summer. I have been tossing ideas about in my head these past
few months. I was planning on improving a short film script I wrote a year ago. However after playing about with
the idea for a while I realised I had no passion or care for the story.

I was unsure where to go after that and then an image appeared in my head. A rope ladder falling from the sky
and a woman climbing up and into the clouds. A new story is taking place inside of my head.

My previous Short Film Script Ideas came from a need to create something for college and university. I dont think
my past short films have been all there, rushed and simple too long. Below I have made a list of ideas that could
prompt a story. A little Short Film Script Ideas generation.

I have also created a workbook that looks at how story ideas are formed you can download this for free below.

Idea Prompts for short films

1. Write about something that has brought you great pain or happiness
2. Work backwards, write a great ending first then work out how to get there
3. Find a location first, write various scenarios of what could happen there
4. Write about a topic you are passionate about eg music genre, art style
5. Stick to a genre, work within the typical genre conventions
6. What is your favorite film and why, place these reasons into your own story
7. What is your favorite book and why, what about this story stays with you
8. What scares you the most, torture your protagonist
9. Make a short film based around a feature film idea you had
10. Work with what you have access to, write down equipment, location, props
11. Who or what is the antagonist, what is going to hold your protagonist back
12. Use the lyrics of your favorite song as a basis for a short story
13. Write about something you are dealing with in your life right now

Where feature film ideas came from

1. Based on a true story Joy, The wolf on wallstreet,
2. Influenced by other films Star Wars, Kill Bill, Big Trouble in Little China,
3. Based on a short film Bottle Rocket, Toy Story, Evil Dead
4. Based on legends Mulan, Gladiator,
5. Based on a novel Dexter TV series, Blade Runner, Jaws,
6. Influenced by Dreams Blue Velvet, Inception,
7. Inspired by art King Kong, Lost in Translation, Metropolis
8. The writers own life Taxi Driver, Being John Malkovich,
9. Based on a short story Artificial Intelligence, Little shop of horrors
10. Inspired by Poetry Wings of desire, O brother where art thou,
11. Would I have been friends with my parents in high school? Back to the Future
12. Writing about time spent with my friends in New York City How I met your mother TV series
13. Spending time with my niece during summer holidays My neighbour Totoro
I have created a story idea workbook which could be helpful to screenwriters . It looks at how I went from my story
idea to a first draft in more detail (idea, premise, synopsis, draft one). You can download this for free via PDF
below